RPM dependent engine groaning sound on friend's 19 Ram V6.

We're all supposed to hang out this weekend, so I'll go over it and everything y'all told me to check out. If not, I know I'll see him sometime next week.
 
Is your friends truck the classic or the new body style? Does it have the 3.6l E-Torque? If so, could it possibly be something with that system causing the sound? 🤔
I’m just curious as to why you can’t hear it while outside with the hood up but you can while inside the cab.
Not sure about the E-Torque. Any way to identify if it is or not? I know absolutely nothing about these vehicles, and he's not much of a car guy haha. I always changed the oil for him back when he had his old F-150. I think it had near or over 300,000 miles on it. The tranny finally gave up the ghost on it and he gave it to one of his cousins.
 
All 5th gen pentastar powered Ram 1500's have E-torque standard. I wonder if it has something to do with that. I owned a 2017 Ram 1500 w/ pentastar. It was smooth/quiet the few years and ~50K miles I owned it.
 
Not sure about the E-Torque. Any way to identify if it is or not? I know absolutely nothing about these vehicles, and he's not much of a car guy haha. I always changed the oil for him back when he had his old F-150. I think it had near or over 300,000 miles on it. The tranny finally gave up the ghost on it and he gave it to one of his cousins.
As JTK said above, he would have the E-torque in the new body style. I myself am not familiar with the characteristics of the E-Torque system on those, I was just wondering if there was something about the system itself that could be making the sound that you’re hearing.
In what way is the sound RPM dependent? Does the sound match RPM’s up and down or once you get to a certain RPM it becomes noticeable? That’s one reason I was curious if he has the “Active Noise Cancellation” in his truck as an option. That can have a certain drone at certain RPM’s from what I’ve read. There’s 4 speakers in each corner of the headliner and a module, like an amp under the drivers seat that controls it. Some people have figured out how to delete the ANC because it bothers them so much. Overkill thinks it may only be available on Hemi equipped Rams, and he may very well be correct, but I thought that it could be optioned in on a V6 model. Anyway, just tossing some ideas. 🤔
I just know that if it was an alternator, tensioner assembly, pulley, etc…you would hear it even better standing in front of the truck with the hood open, and you’d be able to pinpoint it.
Let us know what you guys figure out. Cheers! 🍻
 
Any update on this issue? I’m really interested in hearing what you guys figure out.
We haven't hung out all week. He wasn't feeling good, had this weird cough, so I've stayed my distance. If he's feeling better this weekend I'm going to go check it out.
 
Looked at the truck tonight, as he'd called me and said the sound was getting worse. It's definitely louder than it was a few weeks ago. Same noise but louder, a whining/whirring sound that's engine rpm dependent. The higher the rpms, the higher pitched the whining. As he drove off when he left, it's really loud.

His engine does have the etorque apparatus on the front of the engine.

Any ideas what could be causing the noise? It'd definitely coming from the serpentine belt/pulleys/etorque areas. I just can't figure out exactly where.
 
Me too, it ended up being the tensioner pulley, but it sounded just like a power steering whine.
Yes that's what I'm thinking too, because when I looked at it yesterday, it sounds like it's coming from (if you're standing in front of the truck with the hood open looking into the engine compartment) the small left pulley on the very bottom.
 
Not sure what's to the lower left on these. On the non-Etorque 3.6's, the lower left pulley would be the alternator. On E-torque equipped, that whole alternator/motor apparatus is kind of top right
 
are you sure its not situation normal with ANC?

my jeep 2.0 had it and it was more annoying than anything.

"Any unwanted noise that makes it past the glass is met with another piece of ingenious technology: active noise cancellation. In the Ram, that means four separate microphones in the cabin that detect undesirable noise and then actively broadcast sound waves through the speakers to cancel out the offending sounds."

It increases in loudness with engine rpm to cancel out the engine noise.. but it sounds more like static than anything.

If you pull the radio fuse and test drive it should disable ANC..(but not positive)

It would fit with the louder in the cab than outside...
 
Etorque is covered for 8/80k, but I don’t think the tensioner and belt drive items are?

If you rule out the belt drive, then I would take it to the dealer.
 
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Get an automotive stethoscope or even a length of garden hose and listen as you move it around to different spots on/around the engine. That should narrow it down.
 
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