Thread: Tap in engine on cold morning starts

Hi Folks, perhaps someone can assist me here prior to taking the car in to have this fixed under warrentee. This was first noticed in late June during a cool morning in northern Alberta when starting the car.

The mechanic told me that I would have to leave it overnight for a cold start check but with the weather warming considerably I knew nothing would be heard and nothing was heard all summer. Now that it is colder out the tap has returned. The tap can lasts aproximately 5 to 10 minutes if I do not drive and if I drive it after a 3 or 4 minute warm up then it goes away. Sometimes it lasts under 2 minutes.

Now here is where the problem is. The dealership told me that GM had put out a notice stating something along the lines of this is normal for this car and as long as the tapping does not last over two minutes then it will be considered normal and does not need worked on.

The dealer manager would time the length of the tapping to ensure it was out of norm before allowing repairs.

I will be going to the garage this week and would like to know if this is actual fact just incase the tapping lasts under two minutes.

Oil has been recently changed although they put regular oil in by mistake and then put synthetic in.

Any responses would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Barry

My 06 GXP does the same exact thing. Only on cold starts too. I just did my first oil change on it and pull full syn in it and of course we havent had any cold mornings yet to see if this fixed my issue. Sounds like a clicking noise for a couple min then fades away.

Also another sound I cannot figure out is the what sounds like a compressor running right when the car is started. I know some of the Buicks have a auto leveling system on it and I do not know if thats what that is but it confuses me. I thought it might be the lumbar system but i tried messing with it but the sound did not change.

BTW I love this forum!!!!

Ok.... Had the coldest start since the oil change to full syn and i heard no tapping. Sounded beautiful. LOL. Just still hearing that compressor sound.

I discovered what the tapping sound was. The week before it came off warrantee I told the shop manager that I could not trade it in for a newer car with that noise. He soon agreed to check it out. Apparently, no one in the shop could hear the noise on any of the shop visits but everyone at work could hear it from across the parking lot when I started the car. The car has had a broken head bolt for many years. So they basically replaced the top end of the engine in order to complete a proper repair. I still have the car and that shop has not gotten another cent out of me.