Engine bay fire on the 2016 RAM 3500
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When engine bay fire gets reported
There are 4 reports of engine bay fire on the 2016 RAM 3500, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 24,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $4,000–$20,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure, every year of the RAM 3500
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Nhtsa recall number: 17v-562. The description provided in the notice reads: "a water pump failure resulting in an engine compartment fire can cause the vehicle to crash without prior warning increasing the risk of injury to motor vehicle occupants or persons outside the vehicle." I contacted the dealer where I purchased the vehicle, tate branch dodge in carlsbad, nm on 11/21/2017. They stated that nothing can be done, even after I asked if I just have to hope that the vehicle doesn't catch on fire, to which they said, "yes". Also, the vehicle has an occasional "lull" with the accelerator which leads to extreme loss of power when accelerating. This has almost caused several accidents with myself and my wife. I have an appointment on dec. 14th to have the problem looked at for the second time.
Manufacturer recall numbert51 NHTSA recall number17v-562 recall statusrecall incomplete, remedy not yet available summarythe water pump may experience a failure which may result in an engine compartment fire. Safety riska water pump failure resulting in an engine compartment fire can cause the vehicle to crash without prior warning increasing the risk of injury to motor vehicle occupants or persons outside the vehicle. Remedythe water pump must be inspected and replaced if required. Dec 20,2017 manufacturer recall numbert79 NHTSA recall number17v-821 recall statusrecall incomplete, remedy not yet available summarythe brake transmission shift interlock (btsi) locking pin may become stuck in the open position. A btsi locking pin stuck in the open position may allow the transmission to be shifted out of park and to or from any gear position without depression of the brake pedal and/or without the key in the ignition, if a key is applicable. Safety riskthe transmission may be shifted of the park position without a key in the ignition or a brake pedal application. This increases the potential for an unintended vehicle rollaway that may…
Manufacturer recall numbert51 NHTSA recall number17v-562 recall statusrecall incomplete, remedy not yet available summarythe water pump may experience a failure which may result in an engine compartment fire. Safety riska water pump failure resulting in an engine compartment fire can cause the vehicle to crash without prior warning increasing the risk of injury to motor vehicle occupants or persons outside the vehicle. Remedythe water pump must be inspected and replaced if required. Dec 20,2017 manufacturer recall numbert79 NHTSA recall number17v-821 recall statusrecall incomplete, remedy not yet available summarythe brake transmission shift interlock (btsi) locking pin may become stuck in the open position. A btsi locking pin stuck in the open position may allow the transmission to be shifted out of park and to or from any gear position without depression of the brake pedal and/or without the key in the ignition, if a key is applicable. Safety riskthe transmission may be shifted of the park position without a key in the ignition or a brake pedal application. This increases the potential for an unintended vehicle rollaway that may…
Also reported on the 2016 RAM 3500
Other steering problem
Other powertrain problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Other engine problem
Other suspension problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does engine bay fire happen on the 2016 RAM 3500?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 25,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is engine bay fire on the 2016 RAM 3500?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed