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Gurgling/Water Noise at Idle

12K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Five9Dak 
#1 ·
I noticed about a week ago a noise that I could only discribe as sound like gurgling water or boiling water that is coming from behind the dash....

It happens when lightly accelerating from a stop, and last about a second or two and then it goes away. It also changes with the RPM's. Also, I noticed that if you stop and then immediatly accelerate, it won't do it. You have to wait a few seconds (which you will then faintly here it).

I just tested it again before posting this, and it will actually make the noise if the truck is in park or neutral, and you give it some gas. It is most noticable in the truck, as I can't hear it when I have the door open and my head hanging out (I haven't been able to get someone to give it gas while I am looking in the engine compartment.

I have checked the passenger side carpet (as I have read it can sometimes be a bad heater core) and the carpet is completely dry.

However, given that it sounds like water, I could assume it has something to do with the cooling system or even the A/C (I tried to listen with the A/C on, but it either doesn't do it with the A/C on, or the fan overpowers the noise). So, given this, I had the following done withint he past six months:
  • Accident repair in early December (Replaced A/C condenser and radiator along with coolant and refrigerant repalcement)
  • Thermostat replacement last March along with new coolant

Any ideas of what I should be looking for?
 
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#2 ·
*bookmark*

Mine started doing the same thing in ~March.
All I did was took apart some brackets off the engine to be powdercoated. Took steering pump off and now steering is shitty. I also have tha same water noise.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Don't know which engine you have. The 3.9/5.2s have a (mal)formed heater hose that runs along the firewall & then along the pass valve cover and up & into the front of the intake. This "design" has problems with air bubbles. You may simply be hearing these. I had this problem with mine until I re-routed the heater hoses to prevent the bubbles. Nothing to worry about - just a minor annoyance.

It could also be a heater core failing. This is also a noise you'll hear when they start to leak. The noise you hear is air replacing water in the heater core. You'll know if your core is leaking because you'll have water on the floor of the cab. Probably the pass side.

Good Luck
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the new posts, it also gurgles when using the air conditioning, so I am pretty sure its the cooling system.

Ranger50: I'll check the overflow bottle right after I post this. As I mentioned in my first post, I had the engine coolant drained and replaced in March/April, so perhaps not enough was added.

Disaster: As I mentioned in the origianl post, I checked the carpet on the passenger side and its as dry as can be. Any other thing I can do to check the condition of the heater core?
 
#6 ·
Disaster: As I mentioned in the origianl post, I checked the carpet on the passenger side and its as dry as can be. Any other thing I can do to check the condition of the heater core?
Unfortunately you can't even see the heater core in this truck. To access it the entire dash has to be removed. (And you need to remove the windshield to remove the dash.........) It sits at the top of the firewall behind the A/C ductwork. It's miserable. The heater hoses at the firewall of the truck slide over the 2 heater core inlet/outlet tubes. The core is immediately behind the firewall inside the cab.

If you don't detect any water in the cab I would discount the heater core leak as a potential problem. You could still have air trapped in the core. No idea how to blead it out. But it sounds like the typical trapped air issue in this system. I believe it's due to the formed heater hoses. I resolved the problem in my truck when I changed from the formed hoses to the straight hoses.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Spoke with my mechanic and he doesn't think the heater core is the issue. He gave me some ideas.

I checked the coolant with the engine cold and the resevoir is full, so I doubt there is any leaks in the system.

I'm going to buy a new pressure cap, since my mechanic suggested this would be the easiest and cheapest first step.

The only thing I am thinking, as that the coolant was replaced (not flushed) in March by the dealer. Perhaps the system wasn't preoperly purged and air is stuck in the heater core. How succesful do you guys think I will be, to try and get the dealership to purge the system for free (since it didn't gurgle before the thermostat replacement)?
 
#8 ·
As a follow up, the dealership pressure tested the system and it was fine. Once that was done, they pressure tested the cap and it was faulty.

So to those that have gurgling noises and coolant is not leaking, try replacing the cap first, before spending $130 ad the dealership just to be told its the cap :forehead:
 
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