Already having problems. Any help would be great.

Hey guys. Well I have had my car for one day. I guess I will keep this short. Besides the battery being dead (possible bad alternator, not sure yet.), and the oil is just crap poopie dark brown, I am having what sounds like a really bad problem coming from the back end.

I was driving it to work today and it started making this slight fluttering noise, then bang, pop, bang, flup, bang, and finally like a rubbing noise that sounded like something was rubbing against the tire. When it banged I could feel it through the whole car, but it did not seem to effect speed, it also was not effedcted by bumpy conditions. It just happened. BTW this was on surface streets only doing between 35 and 45 MPH. Oh and the rubbing sound went away when I came to a complete stop. I wonder if it is something stupid like part of the thick wheel well plastic has seperated.

Also the back end does have a slight rumble to it if you could even call it that. I think it is unrelated to the problem I described above. The tires are old and are going to need to be replaced, so it may just be that, nothing I am worrying about right now.

On yet another unrelated issue. Is it possible to have a transmission "checked out", I just worry that with 109,300 miles, "Is my tranny a ticking time bomb?" Can they open it up and make sure everything is OK? Preventive maintenance? I do not know alot about auto trannys, just that when you pull the pan off the bottom it is just PACKED with gears.

Thanks in advance, hope I am not asking too many questions here. I tried to use the search function and did not really come up with anything.

- Kiteless (Jason)