97' Ram 1500 5.9L V8 Magnum 112,000 miles

I was driving to The Home Depot today to pick up a few things, and I noticed a "popcorn" like sound coming from what seems to be the passenger side of the engine. It kind of sounds like guzzling then a popping noise, similar to popcorn. It only happens when I step on the gas from a stop or when I accelerate after coasting. When I maintain a steady speed or idling there is no noise. When I got to the parking lot I tried to pinpoint the noise coming from the engine, but it only happens when I'm driving. I haven't really had any problems with this truck before so it's strange to me. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

could be the heatercore boiling, when you push the gas it spool's the waterpump pushing more coolant through the engine which goes through the heatercore thus going inside the passengerside of the dash then back out, most likely thats what you're hearing.

Try burping your system, jack up the frontend of the truck and open your radiator cap turn the heater on high and let it run for about 20 min. it'll force the air pockets if there is any to rise up to the front and it will burp out of the radiator.

 

hey thanks I'll give it a shot tomorrow. Hopefully it works out!

 

Heater core for guzzling is my 2cents. the popcorn though.. I got nothing.

 

does it do it when turning and when going straight?

 

So I drove up some ramps today to lift the front end and let it run with the heat on full blast. I took it for a drive after about 20 minutes and I did notice that it only happens when I would go above 2500 rmps, and there is also a slight loss of power. It was happening both while turning or going straight. So I took it back up onto the ramps and held down the gas so it was above 2500 rpms and ran it for a little while, but my ******* neighbor had the day off and came and yelled at me for making too much noise, haha. So I took it for and drive and the noise was pretty much gone, but I could still hear it sometimes. I think I will try again tomorrow when he goes to work. I think this is going to fix the problem, thanks.

 

Just like a used car it sounds like you need to get rid of your neighbor... Obviously there was to much loud noise running out of his/her mouth.

Does it sound like rattling at all, I had a CAT brake apart on my Jeep that made a pop / rattling noise only at certain RPM.

 

When you have air coming out of the vents, does the air change to the defrosters? Because it sounds like a vacuum leak to me.

 

I thought I heard a little rattling noise when I would step on the gas but when I rolled the window down I couldn't hear it. It did not have as much of a power loss around 2500 rpms this time. The engine actually sounded pretty nice today, and I can't wait to put on new pipes! When I had the heat on today I had it set on the defroster setting so the vacuum leak will have to wait for tomorrow too.

 

With the CAT problem i just layed under the Jeep and had a friend slowly press the throttle. To make sure i used a long screw driver and put the steel tip on the cat and the handle to my ear and i could hear the pieces rattle around.