I finally figured it out! After almost a year of wondering what that tapping noise was in my engine, it's running super quiet now. After a replacement of the timing chain to no avail I started wondering what else it could be, then one day on my way home I noticed the tapping dampened when I turned a corner sharply, especially when going slower. Sure enough, after I took the belt off the power steering pump, the rattle/tap went right away. Go figure. Anyone else ever had something like that before? What would make a pump do that? Bad bearing? Too much fluid? The reservoir did seem way too full, maybe that's what caused it?
Fowie