Howdy All,

I have a 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 w/ 5.9L v8 & 67,000mi. I've had the truck for about 6 months now and while it's been a great truck, I've noticed a few problems with it that I've been wanting to get taken care of. I do some towing on the weekend with it, but it's usually just a short 30 mi. trip hauling a 2 horse trailer.

1st problem is a hissing under the hood. It's not very noticeable at idle, but once you rev it to about 2k-2.5k rpms the it is VERY noticeable. I've been thinking it may be a vacuum leak. It seems to be related to the A/C. When the truck is at idle the A/C works beautifully, but once I rev it up the A/C stops blowing cool air and goes to hot air.

2nd problem is a crackling sound when I turn left or right. It does this all the time.. It doesn't feel like there is any play in the steering wheel, but it seems the slower and sharper a turn I make then the worse the crackling.

Now just a normal question. . I've been thinking of changing the differential fluid in the truck, but have never done it before. I don't know whether I have a limited slip diff. or not. How hard is it to do this?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!
Spatch!