Fan possibly??
 

Hi,

I am new here and hope someone can help me. I have a 1998 Mazda MPV van. I have developed and loud tapping. It is not in the motor as the vehicle runs like a champ. I have had to the garage twice and they can not find where its coming from. I am a women and the mechanics take nothing I have to say serious. You know "what does a women know about cars thing".

It has been doing this tapping for two months now and getting quite annoying. It seems its coming from the fan. Here is what happens.
You start it up and no tapping. After it warms up about 4-5 minutes it starts.
after you hit 2000 rpms it subsides a great deal. Giving me the idea that the fan stops running there abouts. But at an idol its loud. What ever it is has not effected the running ablility or performance of the van.
I would take it apart myself but its in the negative weather right now and no garage to put it in.

Could someone shed some light on this possibly? Is there a fan bearing or something that would do this?

Thanks for you help cj

I wouldn't look at the fan unless it is completely intermittent. I would guess that its an idler pulley. that would explain all of the symptoms. I have dealt with this on multiple vehicles and most of the time, a bad idler is explained by the idler being exposed to moisture. in your case, probably snow.

idler
 

No I just had that replaced as that was doing a major squealing. This developed after the new idler was put in. When the rpms are up and the fan stops so does the noise.