What's wrong with my Corolla?

[amddude]

I have a 2004 corolla that makes a loud rattling (almost a hollow clicking) sound when I first turn it on and whenever I'm stopped but still in gear. I don't think it makes the noise when the car is moving but I'm not sure I would be able to hear it over the sound of the road.

Does anyone have a suggestion what might be wrong? It happens regardless of the A/C being on.

Thanks for any help!

 

[BassBomb]

rough idle?
motor mounts?

 

[Arkaign]

Could be the heat shield over the exhaust manifold. Sometimes if things get a bit loose they can make that noise.

Also, motors make odd noises when low on oil, have you checked your fluids lately?

 

[amddude]

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Could be the heat shield over the exhaust manifold. Sometimes if things get a bit loose they can make that noise.

Also, motors make odd noises when low on oil, have you checked your fluids lately?

You know my oil change has gotta be way overdue. I recently moved and totally forgot about that. I'll try that first.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: amddude

Originally posted by: Arkaign
Could be the heat shield over the exhaust manifold. Sometimes if things get a bit loose they can make that noise.

Also, motors make odd noises when low on oil, have you checked your fluids lately?

You know my oil change has gotta be way overdue. I recently moved and totally forgot about that. I'll try that first.

Yeah, when oil gets low, you often can hear a clattery noise, particularly at idle. When throttle is applied, the oil that is remaining gets spread around a bit more vigorously, lowering the noise a bit.

But yeah, running low on oil is bad, and worse if you don't have a good synthetic or paraffin oil in there.

 

[StageLeft]

It's PROBABLY not this, but I once heard a scraping kind of geary sound with an old accord when it would just be idling and it turned out to be a dying transmission. I bet your problem is much less, though.

 

[steveox]

Which model do you have? Many Matrixes\Corollas\Celica's making a ticking at idle and in the winter it's magnified. Not sure how loud your noise is.. but it could be harmless...