neons, man, i hate those pos

 

i love the crackling!!

 

Ok, here's the deal...

I'm 99.9% sure you're not backfiring. If you were, you would know it for sure, as would all of your neighbors, friends, etc.As for the crackling, what happensis that when you rev the engine, say at WOT, you have positive flow, but when you suddenly let off the throttle, the engine is now making a vacuum (around 18" Hg) and you have to remember that the exhaust valves are still opening and sucking COLD, fresh, (unburned) air back up the exhaust to meet a VERY hot catalytic converter where a small amount of unburned fuel is waiting to meet that cold fresh (unburned) oxygen. Bang! Snap! Crackle, POP! Don't forget that cars should run slightly rich at WOT, so that slightly rich mixture leaves a small amount of unburned fuel in the exhaust.

Now, if your are runningEXTREMELY rich, that small crackle could turn into a much louder (backfire) sound. The crackle, pop, or gargly sound is normal after coming off a quick rev or going WOT.