Cold Engine Knock

[Cliffy433]

2001 3.1L V6 LS 90000km - knocks on cold start, loud, but fades quickly, sometimes heard faintly when at operating temp

I've also seen this dealt with, and found these two articles... any sage advice on them from you guys?

This one mostly deals with GM trucks, but suggests it might be an issue through the entire GM Line:
http://www.lemonlaw.com/gm-engine-problem.html

This one is from a well-respected Canadian Automotive Journalist:
http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/jk/020320.htm

In short, I own a Malibu, I know I should probably be worried, but can someone lie to me and say the friggin' thing is fine?

[sswpriz]

I have a 98 with the same engine, 135K on it. I have been getting the knocking noise for the last 15K miles. I talked to my mechanic and he said it is fairly normal for that engine !! Sort of built in ?? He said there isn't much that can be done except to rebuild it and that isn't in the financial podssibilty right now. Mine quiets down after driving about a half mile.

[sswpriz]

I have a 98 with the same engine, 135K on it. I have been getting the knocking noise for the last 15K miles. I talked to my mechanic and he said it is fairly normal for that engine !! Sort of built in ?? He said there isn't much that can be done except to rebuild it and that isn't in the financial podssibilty right now. Mine quiets down after driving about a half mile.

[RahX]

when gm designed the engine the piston skirts werent long enough and they cause the piston to 'slap' back and forth a bit. the only fix is to put a different piston with a longer skirt on there. its nothing to worry about until it gets super loud. ive worked on several that have more than 200k on the original engine and they all make the noise and are still goin strong so i dont think its overly killer.