Let me preface this by saying I’ve not been nice to my car. About 2 years ago I ran over something in the road and I ended up damaging the transmission pan. My car currently requires additional transmission fluid every month or so, and recently it seems to have gotten a leak in the antifreeze tank as well which I’ve been refilling. It has some acceleration problems, and I’m going to get the transmission pan replaced next week, not sure if that will fix any of the problems.
My main concern now is that I’ve noticed a tapping sound when the car is idling coming from the engine. It seems to be loudest when I cold start the car, but if the engine is still warm it seems to not be quite as intense. Any ideas what this might be?
For reference it is a 2000 Saturn LS2 V-6, with about 93,000 miles on it.
There is a possibility that the damaged pan may not be the only problem and the two problems you are talking about could be related and the noise also. This would not be good and sorry to say it, putting off that repair could have had some part in not noticing it in time to prevent additional damage. Don’t despair yet, but you need to have it all checked and I would have it ALL checked before starting a partial repair. It should not take the mechanic long to do a quick check to see if the worse may have happened. Chances are good it has not, but there is a possibility.