Three problems related to diesel engine have been reported for the 1997 Dodge Ram 2500. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Vehicle engine compartment fire resulting in the destruction of vehicle.
50,284 mileage with cracked block from one core plug to the other.
1997 Dodge 2500 4x4 pickup with cummins turbo diesel. Purchased new Nov 1996. Owned 6 years with 92k miles on truck at time of incident. While driving on the highway, the upper timing case housing alignment dowel pin fell into the rotating timing gears. The pin jammed between the upper gear and the case causing a 1" by 3" hole in the case. Oil splashed out of this hole (approx two quarts) until I completed my return from work. I noticed a big puddle of oil under the truck later that night and upon inspection found the hole in the timing case. After further investigation, this turns out to be a well known issue with these motors (model year 1997 until mid 1998 when the design was changed). In fact, the incidence of this failure is so widespread that owners of these model trucks have developed a kit to locate and drill a "blocker bolt" to keep the dowel pin from falling out! damiler/Chrysler claims no knowledge of this issue (I opened ticket #10864363 with their customer service center). Cummins is aware of the problem but says it's statistically insignificant and has not initiated any recall.