need help with 1998 lumina

i know this question has been ask often,but i need additional info.i have a 1998 lumina and i`ve been adding water daily.when i first start it up in the morning i hear a tapping sound it usually stop after it get hot,but now it continues.i knew my lower intake manifold gasket needed to be repalce but i continued to ride in it .i just add water every day and it was fine.but now the tapping has gotten louder and now it won`t stop .what have i done.it has never overheated on me.is the water in the oil causing it ti tap so loud.thanks in advance for your response

If you check your owner's manual, it says in there NEVER to add just plain water as it dilutes the proper balance in the antifreeze mixture. You are supposed to add a 50/50 mix (I believe that's what it said) or you will ruin the engine. We got a 1998 Lumina that had a blown engine because of this. The engine never overheated...no lights came on, etc. The book actually states that this will happen. It basically overheats but does not set off any sensors. Why it is like this is beyond me, but it is in the book! When my DH's boss was driving the car we have, it just died. No lights came on at all. Towed it in and was told it needed a new engine. He didn't want to invest the $4,000 the dealer wanted to replace the engine so he sold us the car for $500. We found an engine out of a 2000 Monte Carlo at the junkyard for $400 that some kid had just wrecked and popped it into the car.

When we took the engine out of the Lumina, the crank shaft was broken and there were two heads totally bent like crazy. DH had never seen anything like it and he has worked on a lot of cars. I read through the book as I always do when we get a new vehicle, and he asked his boss if he had ever added water to it. He said it had been using a little so he had been adding straight water off and on for a while. Nothing else he could think of had happened with the car that would have caused the damage that was done.