DougM

Whenever I start my car cold, I get a little rattle that sounds like it is coming from the exhaust. It sounds like a small piece of metal in the muffler blowing around. It goes away after a few seconds and only happens on cold start. I have tapped the exhaust system with a rubber mallet to see if there is something loose but I can't repeat the noise unless started. Any suggestions? The car is a '95.

iJeremy

How about when you close either door pretty hard... Do you hear the same rattle?

Chris Prack

With the windows up.

DougM

Never notice it when closing doors. I fired it up and went behind the car. Definitely sounds as if it comes from in the exhaust. Kind of like shaking a few popcorn kernels in a coke can. I thought I read somewhere about a fan bearing that can go bad and make a cold start rattle?

chris walrod

Sounds like lifters pumping up.

matt777

I thought this was normal. It is more prevalent when the engine is cold.

jenskleis

Could be something as simple as a lose screw. Have a good look at the heat shields around the exhaust.

I had a rattle from there, and found it by gently taping the heat shields in different places.

Fred, Long Island

Chain tensioner leaks down leading to start up chain rattle. Once pumped up, rattle goes away.

geolab

If you have the original cat , it could be chunks of honeycomb catalytic that ended in your mufflers. I have seen that with 100k+ mile cars...