NTL1991

Hello,

I've got a 1997 Accord Special Edition with 234,000 miles on it. I bought the car about 5 years ago with 90,000 miles. The car gets oil changes every 3,000 to 5,000, or depending on the service interval indicator. Timing belt and water pump was changed by Honda at 160,000 miles. The engine (I'm assuming valve train) has always been noisy when compared to my Oldsmobile's 3800, but I've recently started hearing another odd noise, this time from the inside of the car.

The noise is coming from deep inside the dashboard, and I can only hear it when the radio is off. It is intermittent. It only happens at Idle to about 1200 or 1500 RPMs. It usually happens about a few seconds after accelerating lightly, and then getting off the throttle, like when slowly accelerating up to a stop light. It is a light knocking (metal on metal type of sound) that comes and goes. It only happens for about 3 seconds tops, then goes away if I accelerate. If I let it sit there and don't accelerate, the sound will happen again after another 15 seconds or so.

I almost wanted to suspect a bad engine mount, because it sounded almost like metal tapping metal, as in the metal from the engine contacting the sub-frame, and because the proximity of the sound from the center of the dashboard.

Outside, I can't seem to hear the noise over the normal engine noise, and the valve train noise under the hood. I have not checked to see if the sound occurs when the engine is cold. Yesterday, when I first heard the sound, the car was hot. I will check today.

Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm currently thinking about buying another car and selling this one. How long might I be expected to get out of the engine in this shape? I wouldn't have a problem replacing just the engine as the body is absolutely mint (no rust, interior is excellent, very minor paint fading on driver's door), but I'd hate to pick up another bad engine at the junkyard, or have to replace the timing belt.

NTL1991

So the car went in for an inspection today, and I had an inner tie rod replaced. Noise is still there, and, as a correction, its mainly heard from 500-1200RPM. It doesn't sound like an exhaust rattle at all.

Lost Again

uhh, without a little more info...keep the radio on and drive? A 5th gen getting over 370K is not that hard.