Tap tap tap tap.....this is not good...

[OremuS]

Ok, let me start off by saying... :puke: It started 2 days ago as a very faint sounding tap coming from under my hood, but now it has become more prevalent. I have a 1999 Grand Prix with approx 138k highway miles. The car fortunately had a 100k bumper to bumper warranty on it and right at 100k I had the entire bottom end of the motor rebuilt because of a similar tapping sound that started while I was on a ski trip approx 200 miles from home. That time it was from a main crank bearing going bad.

Anyhow, I know that tapping could really be anything, but I was wondering if anyone my have thoughts on what it could possibly be and how much I could potentially shell out to get it fixed. Thanks.

And yes in previous posts, I recommended a Grand Prix for someone to buy. I revoke that statement and vow never to buy another Pontytrash for the rest of my days.

[bachviet]

Sorry to hear about your car man.

[nomoney]

Which motor?

[shoeish]

Does the speed of the taps increase with engine rpm speed? Is the sound a clicking or deeper tapping? Does it sound like its coming from the top of the motor, down low, beneath your feet when driving your car, up high?

[SnowSurfer]

turn your music up louder...you wont hear it

anywho is it a manual or automatic

[OremuS]

Which motor?

3.8 V-6


Does the speed of the taps increase with engine rpm speed? Is the sound a clicking or deeper tapping? Does it sound like its coming from the top of the motor, down low, beneath your feet when driving your car, up high?

The speed of the taps definitely increases with speed. When in the car, the sound seems to be higher up. When I went under the hood and reved it, the sound seemed to be smack dab in the middle of the engine. The only weird thing is, it is starting to sound more and more like it did when one of the main bearing went. I am not sure though.

[rollhard]

soundslike the main is going again. When they rebuilt it they may have gotten it good enough to get you past the warranty. Sorry man. Thats why I dont buy American cars.

[DarkFury]

soundslike the main is going again. When they rebuilt it they may have gotten it good enough to get you past the warranty. Sorry man. Thats why I dont buy American cars.
So are you saying that things like this ONLY happen to American cars?

Geez... :2far:

[Bires]

So are you saying that things like this ONLY happen to American cars?

YA!

(j/k)


Funny thing: I actually had a pontcrap's transmission fail on me during a used-car test-drive about 8 years ago. No joke.

[OremuS]

soundslike the main is going again. When they rebuilt it they may have gotten it good enough to get you past the warranty. Sorry man. Thats why I dont buy American cars.

I stopped today at the one auto repair place I am pretty certain I can trust and had a guy look at it. After about 5 minutes of listening with a stethescope, he said that it was indeed on the bottom end of the motor. And to think, on the last repair, the pulled the engine, replaced the crank, 2 pistons, all bearings and a few other things.

Now it is time to decide if I pony up the $2500 or so for a new engine or try to trade this thing in and get out of it without losing much. I owe approx $5200 on it still and Kbb.com was showing a dealer trade in value of approx $4800.

If I do get a new ride, I think I might try a Mazda 6. Trying to keep my payments in the $300-350 range, so basically I would be looking at about $18-19,000 tops.

What would you do in this case? Buy a new engine, or get a new ride? The only thing stopping me from immediately saying a new ride is that my wife's Explorer has 200k on it and we will need to replace that sometime in the not-so distant future. Hmm...

[Jeffbx]

Dump it! It's past its useful life... get any $$ out of it you can on a trade in. I actually like Pontiac (have one of the new Grand Prix's - it's nice!) but I sure wouldn't keep one past 100k miles.

As long as it's still running, trade it in on a new car at the dealer.

[Burzhui]

when they rebuilt it you should have goten some kind of warranty on it

[Jihforce]

If I do get a new ride, I think I might try a Mazda 6. Trying to keep my payments in the $300-350 range, so basically I would be looking at about $18-19,000 tops.

Funny you mentioned that...went car shopping this past weekend and we did take a look at the mazda6....i've test driven it last year, but i couldn't get past the nasty plastic interior....this time around, i still couldn't....so my wife and went with the Mazda3 instead....MUCH better looking inside (the outside ain't too shabby either), you can get one fully loaded at 22k with nav. I haven't seen many people getting this car for too much below MRSP tho. Since its relatively new and popular.

[OremuS]

Funny you mentioned that...went car shopping this past weekend and we did take a look at the mazda6....i've test driven it last year, but i couldn't get past the nasty plastic interior....this time around, i still couldn't....so my wife and went with the Mazda3 instead....MUCH better looking inside (the outside ain't too shabby either), you can get one fully loaded at 22k with nav. I haven't seen many people getting this car for too much below MRSP tho. Since its relatively new and popular.

Yeah, I think I have officially nixed the 6 from my list of cars. Had a mechanic friend recommend that I not get one. My brain hurts. This whole car thing is really a hassle.

[Jihforce]

Yeah, I think I have officially nixed the 6 from my list of cars. Had a mechanic friend recommend that I not get one. My brain hurts. This whole car thing is really a hassle.
Cars usually are, its like one of those necessary evils....wait until you start paying more payments again....hate the fact cars depreciate like they do. I'd invest that little bit extra and get maybe a Honda Accord. Preferably V6. :)

[OremuS]

when they rebuilt it you should have goten some kind of warranty on it

Oh sure, they offer a warranty...12 mos or 12,000 miles. Too bad I am at 18mos and 38,000 miles. Actually, I talked to the service manager and he said that if one of the parts they replaced is what failed, then there MIGHT be a chance. Only thing is, I would be responsible for the teardown cost which is 5-6 hours at $77 per hour.

And my latest update is that I will probably only get $2500-3000 out of my car which leaves me with a couple thousand extra to cover on my own. Leaves me to wonder if I should just pony up the $3k for a new motor with installation and keep on truckin in this car. With my luck, the tranny would blow out in another 10k. ha... :puke: ...ok, not as funny as I thought.

[Jeffbx]

And my latest update is that I will probably only get $2500-3000 out of my car which leaves me with a couple thousand extra to cover on my own. Leaves me to wonder if I should just pony up the $3k for a new motor with installation and keep on truckin in this car. With my luck, the tranny would blow out in another 10k. ha... :puke: ...ok, not as funny as I thought.

Cut your losses - You owe $5200 now - do you really want to add another $3k on top of that for a debt of $8200 on a car that's worth about a quarter of that? You know what'll happen - just like you said, you'll have another major problem in the next few months & now you have a $8000 loan to pay off on top of having to get a new car.

Take the loss... roll it into your new car loan & don't look back.

[shoeish]

Cut your losses - You owe $5200 now - do you really want to add another $3k on top of that for a debt of $8200 on a car that's worth about a quarter of that? You know what'll happen - just like you said, you'll have another major problem in the next few months & now you have a $8000 loan to pay off on top of having to get a new car.

Take the loss... roll it into your new car loan & don't look back.

I agree.

[rollhard]

uve already rebuilt the motor once and doingit again wont do much. it will probably just happen again. I am assuming that you have not abused your car so for it to be having these problems only tells me that its a flawed design. Sorry about your problems man. Good luck

[Yossarian]

thats all your prix is worth? mines a 94 and worth about 4.5k

[Nanotech9]

a gal at work has the same car...

shes had to replace the timing chain, water pump, twice, heater core, clutch slave cylinder, and oil pump i think... bad part is, all the stuff that needed replacing, is buried and you have to tear down half the motor to get to it... hell, to get to teh clutch slave, you have to seperate the transaxel from the output shaft of the engine.

dump the car now.... even though i think it could be the hydraulic lifters (if your car has them anyway).

BTW DF - my BMW had almost 200k miles on it when we tore it down... the cylinder walls still had the factory break-in cross-hatching on them, no lips on the walls, and all the mechanics at the biggest chrysler / jeep dealership said the main and rod bearings looked like they had 40 - 50k miles on them.... this was after i drove it aroudn for 6 months when it had a failed oil pan gasket and was sucking up about 50% air / 50% oil into the pickup tube and not preassurizing the oil system completely.... and hitting the revv limiter in 1st 2nd and 3rd on a daily basis.

show me an american car that can live through that. :dead:

[DarkFury]

BTW DF - my BMW had almost 200k miles on it when we tore it down... the cylinder walls still had the factory break-in cross-hatching on them, no lips on the walls, and all the mechanics at the biggest chrysler / jeep dealership said the main and rod bearings looked like they had 40 - 50k miles on them.... this was after i drove it aroudn for 6 months when it had a failed oil pan gasket and was sucking up about 50% air / 50% oil into the pickup tube and not preassurizing the oil system completely.... and hitting the revv limiter in 1st 2nd and 3rd on a daily basis.

show me an american car that can live through that. :dead:
Well since I've never driven ANY car that far.... I can't prove it yet.

But I bet that my T-Bird and HEMI will be "clean as whistles" 10 years from now if "I" have anything to do with it. :D

[OremuS]

thats all your prix is worth? mines a 94 and worth about 4.5k

According to KBB and Edmunds, retail on it is around $6500, even with the miles it has on it. Dealer trade in on the other hand is $4000 according to them, but from a used car dealer friend, she said that I would prolly get an offer of $3-3500. So we shall see. Going to give my negotiating skills a real run for their money.


Cut your losses - You owe $5200 now - do you really want to add another $3k on top of that for a debt of $8200 on a car that's worth about a quarter of that? You know what'll happen - just like you said, you'll have another major problem in the next few months & now you have a $8000 loan to pay off on top of having to get a new car.

Take the loss... roll it into your new car loan & don't look back.


This is the logic I was using last night when explaining things to my wife. Then she saw the light. lol. Not a huge fan of rolling the added debt into the new loan, so I will prolly just pay that outright instead of a down payment. Not sure yet though. Thankfully, I have my father-in-laws 02 Explorer to drive for the next week while I am car shopping. Thanks Dad.

[seqiro]

I got about 250K miles out of my 1997 Grand Prix GTP before too many things started going wrong. Between 200K and 250K when I sold it, my alternator, fuel pump, front wheel bearings, water pump, radiator, and power steering pump all bit the dust. This was in 2001. I sold it to a friend for $2250 with the radiator and power steering pump both malfunctioning. He just wanted the body anyway.

But I drove it hard. The supercharged 3800 Series II begged to be driven that way. ;)

[OremuS]

I got about 250K miles out of my 1997 Grand Prix GTP before too many things started going wrong. Between 200K and 250K when I sold it, my alternator, fuel pump, front wheel bearings, water pump, radiator, and power steering pump all bit the dust. This was in 2001. I sold it to a friend for $2250 with the radiator and power steering pump both malfunctioning. He just wanted the body anyway.

But I drove it hard. The supercharged 3800 Series II begged to be driven that way. ;)

By and large, the 3800 Series II is a great engine, I just had the bad luck of getting one that had a leaking intake manifold gasket, followed by the bearings going bad.