I just came across a 1997 12 valve cummins 5.9 truck runs good but really no more than a back road or auction truck but I don't know much about them so if anybody has any input it would b greatly appreciated...and as far as exhaust if it's just stock exhaust to get a little more noise out of her what do I cut out meaning muffler and or cat if anybody has any input I sure would appreciate the advice

Anything other than a muffler will make it louder, just don't straight pipe it and make it stupidly loud.

Those older 5.9 motors are good ones. What's the mileage?

280,300. This happend this weekend if you have any advice or where to start please let me know ...the truck actually left me stranded this weekend and is still sitting where it died...to exaplain what happend I really don't know we had a baby this weekend so I drive from canton to Longview truck runs great whole way that was Thursday baby was born yay :))) Friday I got in it and drive to Cracker Barrel to meet family truck runs fine yesterday morning it's time go home I run down to truck about 9:45 to start truck give it plenty warm up Time so the steps I took were enter vehicle turn ignition on wait for light to go off start truck idle for 5-8 minute put truck in reverse back up ten feet it died I put back in park turn key off then in wait for light start truck put in drive it dies ok I get it into parking spot now will only turn over truck has diesel...I call a local mech he tell me some steps and what not ended up at lift pump trying to prime motor the little ripper boot is leaking fuel would this keep it from running or even starting??? I appreciate it

Any fuel leak can stop a diesel. Especially in the high pressure side where it feeds the injectors. Fix the leak or have it towed to a good shop. Your insurance usually pays for one tow per year.

Thanks a lot...so some people make the milage sound negative for it to have 283,000 miles is that motor the motor is surely capable of producing more miles shouldn't it

Never even blinked over 283k. That's what diesels do.

I'm actually really excited to own the truck just ready to drive the thing with confidence

Any fuel leaks will cause it to do that. If it's leaking fuel it also means air is getting in thus causing it to run bad or not start at all. I have 2 late 90's 6speed 12 valve single cab flatbed duallys we use to pull triple axle gooseneck dump trailers loaded with dirt and construction waste. They both have about the same mileage and purr like kittens. I don't think there's anything on the planet you couldn't pull with them.

Check the fuel cut off solenoid, had a 96 solenoid went out same symptoms. Can take some wire or zip tie & temp it so it will run till you can replace

I was going to say the same thing about the fuel solenoid. Tied one up and ran it that way forever. The 5.7 is one of the best engines built.

Stuff is gonna wear out on any vehicle, but you can get a half a million miles out of that engine if you give it proper maintenance and specifically do NOT go looking for ways to modify it such as "...to get a little more noise out of her what do I cut out...".

It was the shutoff solenoid got her replaced and she running like a charm thanks for all the input I do appreciate it

1. Go to Ebay and search by that model truck and diesel.
2. Filter your search by mileage, high to low..
3. That's a pretty good picture of how much life you can expect out of that truck/engine combination...