My Sony TV made a pop noise followed by a odor, when we turned back on no picture but there was an intermittent rattle noise, help?

a shredding fan belt?
why not get the car checked out.??? buy a SHOP
you shut the engine off, and when you do, that it coasts to a stop
and did the noise come from the engine bay? and did the noise happen as engine was coasting to its natural stall or after that?
noises that happen, not moving are easy to find. so
get a competent mech, to find it. it be easy for them.

Sorry bad news these TV's work off of lights that shine thru the back of the screen if you heard a pop it was the power board that turns on those lights not an easy fix sorry.

This is a color wheel problem.
I would recommend to use professional help because you can make more damage to the optical engine. Not to mention index delay have to be re-adjusted in special service menu after repair is complete.
Regards.
Russ.

3 times blink shows lamp cover is removed or not installed properly on TV.
Please take out lamp inside TV and check, seems its broken as you heard loud pop.
Thanks.

If you have a Sony DLP, then the loud pop you heard is your lamp.  The lamps last approx. 4K-6K viewing hours.  Read your manual for replacement part number to reorder and very simple to replace yourself.

my first question is have you checked the bulb. the loud pop sound like the bulb blew and the rattling sounds like the lamos trying to fire. remove the bulb cover and unscrew the bulb

sounds like the lamp has shattered. check the lamp

Sounds like the lamp - Sony XL-2100U part# A-1606-034-B

Dont plug it on your tv the FLYBACK of your tv was defective. Need to replace your flyback or else more parts inside was damage. Bring your tv to a Electronic tech.

Has anyone heard of something like this where the cable box/service is causing popping sounds? yes & it is common problem. And is this something I should be concerned about causing damage to the TV's speakers? not at all. The Sony tech-support representative (over the phone) diagnosed it further to a problem not with the TV but with the cable box/service because there were no popping sounds when I played a DVD on my Playstation 2 that is attached to the TV. they are right that your problem is not due to tv. it is due to cable box/service? yes but not defective it reqires to change the way you have connected tv to cable.please call tech to get it connected in such a way so that you do not get popping sound when you you put off cable box.