I’ve got a '99 Ford Escort (150k miles) that occasionally has a rattling/stutter problem at startup. The rattling is directly in front of the driver, and sounds as though it comes from the very front of the car.
The rattling and stuttering generally stop within about 2 minutes, or the first half-mile of driving. Any thoughts on what it could be? Stuttering in the past has turned out to be loose spark plugs, but I’ve checked those.