I have a 1998 ram 4 X 4 with 360/auto. It has 136k miles. I have a couple of noises I've been hearing for a while now that I can not find where they are coming from. I have an idea, on both, but wanted a second opinion:

1. At about 2,000 rpm or so I hear a leaking or air sucking sound. It does not happen at high or low rpm's as much, just that middle range. If it goes into overdrive (lower rpm's), it will stop. You can change the pitch of the sound by giving it throttle or letting off. I did not notice it until after I cleaned the throttle body. Maybe I exposed a rough place on the throttle body and the sound is air crossing it. I do not know. Have not found any vacuum leaks. I disconnected and plugged vacuum lines to brake booster, but that wasn't it. I made sure the plastic air intake was on right several times, so that isn't it. I just wanted to see if anyone else has or has had that sound. It annoys me.
2. At low rpm's (1500), as in I'm in overdrive going 45 to 50, I hear a buzzing sound. If I open the back glass, I can hear it better. It will stop at higher rpm's, even if you keep it under a heavy load (lots of gas). It wil do it with overdrive on or off, but it's hard to lug the motor enough to do it with overdrive off. It's been doing it for probably the last 40k miles, and I thought it was probably the transmission; however, it still does it after the transmission was rebuilt. Has gotten a bit louder over the last 40k miles. I'm guessing it's just the way the gears in the axle have worn. If it's a pinion bearing or u-joints, I can't move the drive shaft (has no play).

Finally (and this is just annoying, not a sound), if the truck is in OD, I can't get it to drop down a gear without going into passing gear. It has been doing this a long time, maybe since new. I didn't notice it too much until I drove a Z71 with low miles. It would drop out of OD into a lower gear w/o going immediately into passing gear. TV cable is adjust correctly (as manual states). I'd be a little nervous changing the adjustment, as the other shift points are great. Crisp, but smooth.

If anyone has any suggestions on any of these, I'd appreciate it. I've had the truck since new, and have fixed everything that's gone wrong in an attempt to keep it like new. I just haven't ever been able to fix these 3 things. Probably none of them are anything major...yet.

 

have you kept up with tranny fluid/filter changes every 15K? thats about the milage when the tranny needs a rebuild...the 46re transmission is weak..

 

Yes, every 30k. I had to have it rebuilt at about 132k anyway. Noise / double downshift persists. May be one of the sensors, selenoid....I dunno.

 

I have both symtoms in my truck. I have crossed them off as normal. For the first one, that is just air rushing into the intake. A engine makes noises. Different engines make different noises, and this is the noise our trucks make. If you dont like it, put the factory intake and air filter back on.

Mine does the second noise, too. It annoys the hell out of me!!! When I hear this noise, I just take it out of overdrive. I suspect that the exhaust pulses at this RPM and load make a very low noise that just rattles the crap out of the bed.

 

It does it with factory intake and filter. Even tried changing the stock air box and filter with another stock unit off junked 98 model. Like I said, noticed it after cleaning carbon off tb. Shoulda left it on there. The other noise, I may see if I can tighten bed bolts and replace exhaust hangers, see if that helps. Glad to know it's normal though. Thanks. Maybe I'll just keep the radio turned up and get a louder muffler.

 

did you replace the air cleaner gasket?

 

Yes. Even tried putting on 2 gaskets to get a better seal. No change.

 

The first one could be your air cleaner not properly seated (that thing is a pain the the **** to seat), could be air cleaner gasket, could also be the throttle body gasket.

After I took my air cleaner off, I could never get it to sit exactly right, I've just learned to live with the noise.