The 2 most likely:
A. Timing is off.
B. Oil is low.
sounds like you ac compressor is about to crap out.
The ac compressor is shot. Usually what your hearing is a bearing that is moving around.
What causes a hard rattling knocking sound under the hood when you start your 98 ford windstar? Lack of oil, lack of oil pressure, badly worn camshaft or crankshaft or a combination of all the above.
it could be your valves or your engine
A bad transmission. The sound is from metal grinding on eachother.
something might be lose under the hood u might want to get that checked out there could be something wrong with ur car how good is its condition
belt slipping?
well it could mean two things. one you probably strained the harmonic balancer this would also cause lack of horse power. two you probably have a bad lifter . both can cause serious damage to your engine although your car is running fine right now i would have it checked to avoid further serious engine damage.
It could be the camshaft synchronizer
Serious engine knock or valve train noise. Have this looked into by a pro.
Check to see if any of the air intake pipes/tubes have come off or are loose.
Could be the rocker arms in the engine, change your oil and if you ever get into the engine check those little SOBs out. ;)