Intermittent ticking sound from engine

[devilot]

I just noticed yesterday that when I am at idle (and possibly otherwise, but I have not been able to hear it) there is a semi-loud ticking sound coming from my engine. It doesn't do it constantly and it is not the typical ticking the motor has made from day one. This sound will start low and get louder with each tick for about two seconds then stop for about ten seconds before starting up again. The ticking seems to be coming from the passenger side and it is definitely coming from the engine. I changed the oil less than 2k ago and have been running Mobil 1 5W-20 for almost as long as I have owned the car. Is this possibly just a valve in need of adjustment or should I be concerned?

[Bificus]

Possibly an adjustment is necessary or maybe switching to 5w-30 and see if it goes away. I'd do both. 5-20 is too low viscosity for this engine and can actually cause camshaft damage.

[devilot]

Possibly an adjustment is necessary or maybe switching to 5w-30 and see if it goes away. I'd do both. 5-20 is too low viscosity for this engine and can actually cause camshaft damage.


Hmm, I may try switching to 5W-30 this evening. Thanks for the advice.

[dichotomous]

I found my vavles quieted down a lot when I switched to shell rotella 5-45. same stuff I use in the SV650s too, if it handles 11500rpm and a full constant mesh gearbox at the same time in that, it should handle 6700rpm and no gearbox in the car.

[devilot]

Would a spun bearing make an intermittent sound or would it be consistent?

[dann_04]

i would check and see if there is anything rubbing against your belt, or if maybe a bearing on one of your pulleys went out, does it sound like it's coming from the top of the passenger side, or from the side down lower?

[devilot]

I cannot say for sure where the noise is coming from, but to my ears it sounds as if it is up top. It seems to be closer to the center of the head than to the pulleys. My father suggested trying to isolate the noise by using a long 1/2" socket extension with one end on the head or block and the other end close to my ear. He also suggested that I check for any exhaust leaks. I did notice last night that my exhaust was raspy sounding at around 3500 RPM, which is not the norm. If the sound were constant I would tend to think it was the valves, but the intermittent part is what is making me get a bit worried. I don't have the means to pull the motor apart, past doing a valve job, so I contacted the mechanic that used to work on my wife's old Nissan. He said he doubted it was valve or lifter related since it was intermittent and wanted to hear it Monday before making any real suggestions.

PS

I will check the pulleys anyway tonight, as well as ensuring that nothing is rubbing anything anywhere. Thanks for any advice/help.

PSS

Another thing to note is that the car is running fine otherwise. No loss of power when accelerating, no stuttering or rough idle, no change in gas mileage, nothing at all other than the knocking/ticking sound. The sound is also only loud enough for me to hear at idle. When I am driving normally I cannot hear it. I'm sure it is still present, but it is not loud enough for me to hear with the other road noises.

[dann_04]

hmmmm...tough one, my valves were off, and were loud but that was constant, my cam went bad, but that was constant, the only intemitten tick that i have is one of my injectors is quite a bit louder that the other three, take off the ivtec engine cover and you will see the inctor rail, see if maybe you have a noisy injector. They are central and near the front of the vc so maybe who knows. Good luck and keep us posted.

[epcivicboy08]

i remember having that same noise when i had my Evo. i always felt it had to do with the valves and i would also notice that it would grow louder when i had gone a long time without changing the oil.
the noise would quiet down considerably after i did change the oil, so perhaps this might be the same situation.

keep us posted.

[dichotomous]

my car sounds like a tractor most of the time, I figure its the valves clicking, theres a lot going on right under that VC and its all metal slapping metal. thicker oil helps, better hood sound insulation helps, ignoring it helps. its how it runs, let it. I may be more used to engine noises cause I have a naked Vtwin motorcycle, you can hear every tick or tock or click or snick or snap or putt, and its all loud

[dann_04]

it is a noisy vavle train, but excessive noise(more so than the normal roar of noise from the idling engine lol) can be signs of a problem. New noises are seldom good.

[devilot]

I am going to get a video of the sound later tonight once my camera charges. This is not the usual injector/loud valve train ticking. This starts out as a low ticking, gets about three times as loud within a couple seconds (only a little louder than the already present ticking from everything else), ticks maybe ten times or so then stops for anywhere from 20 seconds to five minutes. It is quite disconcerting at any rate.

Edit: Video will be tomorrow. I forgot I don't have any mini-DVDs on hand.

[20CiviC02Si]

I have noticed this as well. I just had a valve adjustment done not to long ago. It went away but was back the same day.

[dann_04]

Anybody know if it could be the timing chain tensioner? That could cause the chain to slap around every now and then, right? how many miles?

[devilot]

Just under 85K miles.

[dann_04]

If you only have 85k then i would doubt its the tensioner or a stretched chain unless you really beat on it alot. I've Heard of people stretching the chain with less miles though...who knows

[devilot]

Pitted cams FTL. Looks like I will be replacing my cams soon. Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.

[blu3 SiR]

Possibly an adjustment is necessary or maybe switching to 5w-30 and see if it goes away. I'd do both. 5-20 is too low viscosity for this engine and can actually cause camshaft damage.

doesnt honda recommend 5w-20??? hmmm interesting.