After turning my engine off, 30 seconds to a minute after the engine is off I hear a strange sound from the rear of the vehicle..... It sounds like a small door slamming shut in the rear of the vehicle. That'* the only way I can desribe it as I've never hear something like this before..... I've not been able to locate where this noise is coming from and it does NOT always do it. Any ideas??

Its the mice leaving the running wheel.

Actually, that year ran on hamsters. They switched to mice for the 2000 model year.


In all reality however, the only thing I can think of that is back there is the fuel tank, exhaust system, and brakes. Fuel tank could be possible if for some reason there is a vacuum being pulled on the tank and the tank is trying to implode and it expands back to its natural shape with vacuum bleeding off, or something in the exhaust is contracting from cooling down. The latter I would expect to be less likely however because the exhaust tends to make more metallic sounds. I seriously doubt brakes because of the way it'* behaving.

This would be my guess.

You could to leave the fuel cap off for a time with car engine idling so that the tank fails to achieve vacuum or pressure. The FTP will illuminate the CEL for an EVAP Leak, but that'* no biggie.

If the popping sound keeps happening after this..........buy a cat and let lit live in the car.