I was sitting at the Dunks window today and i notice and popping sound from my engine compartment while it was idling, it sounds liek somone cracklign paper or somthing. Is that bad?

 

i don't think its normal. is it skipping any or running rough. a grounding spark will make a snapping sound. you can usually see it a night, its a pretty blue color.

 

i looked the other night and didn't see anything, but i think i'll pull the heat sheilds off and see if they're causing it to ground (maybe too much Dielectric grease?)

 

I have a 2001 Ram and mine has always done that ( the 2 years i have owned it at least)
I dont know what it is either

 

I have a 2001 dodge ram 5.9L, mine does the same thing... Dunno what it is... . Maybe if yours is a v8 you might wanna try running premium.... I'm pretty sure its best for all v8's to runon premium... I can def tell a difference when I use it.

 

Running preminum isn't really an option, but i don't think it would really make a difference. It's like a crackling sond coming from the drivers side.

 

There is a type of noise I can think of that can be hard to trace and does no immediate harm, but good it isn't.

What I am thinking of is dry pulley bearings (or bushings) that emit a scraping sound, some will squeal, but not always.
The easy fix, but you have to be careful you don't get it on the belt, is to get a can of Wd-40 and insert that little red tube into the nozzle, then give each pulley a quick squirt of lube right into the part where it rotates.

If that doesn't fix it, you've done no harm and it usually quiets things down at least some (but watch the belt, don't get the wd-40 on that).
It's worth a shot, only takes a few minutes and is cheap to do.

Good luck.

 

mine does the same thing it kind of sounds like something is vibratingagainst the firewall. i just noticed it today it drive me nuts.

 

See this sounds like sombody crinkling paper. I only notice it one in a while, especially when it's warmed up.

 

i was listening to it again today and it sounds like popcorn popping but a bit faster i opened my hood and i cant hear it ?