sumdewd

Yes, this damn cursed car again. 2002 auto EX d17a2. Shot in the dark here since I haven't taken anything apart yet after moving, but what can I expect when this car makes a loud flapping noise mostly at an idle? At first I thought it was a rod knock since it was so loud, but now it sounds like a flapping noise that only happens at an idle. It doesn't change when warmed up, in/out of gear (auto), A/C on or off, and it goes away when revved. It only randomly comes back at an idle or letting off the gas. I just recently replaced this set of parts copied from my previous thread:

Gates timing belt, water pump, tensioner
Full A/C rebuild: Evap, Condenser, R/D, expansion block, 5oz fresh oil and charged with a scale to 19oz
Cam, crank, rear main seals
Valve cover gasket
Spark plugs (Some stock NGK forgot part #)
Camshaft sensor (ADV auto brand. fixed recurring p0341)
ECT Sensor (Broke it while removing engine somehow. Also ADV auto)
Rebuilt Auto trans at a professional shop (USDM trans, not that stupid JDM garbage that spits out 3 codes)
Oil and filter
ATF DW-1 6-7 ish quarts
Front rotors/pads
Front right wheel bearing (was growling and sticking)
VTEC gaskets (also cleaned the solenoid)
Camshaft end plug
Alternator
Battery
Drive belts
Condenser fan motor

I've read a few instances where the Gates timing kit actually uses a cheapass tensioner, and the noise is the timing belt flopping around from the failed tensioner. I do not have access to my 60 gallon compressor for another week, so I might not touch this until then. I also might remove the upper timing cover to inspect at some point, but I literally only have an 8 hour window on Fridays to work on this car and I'm still unpacking from a move. Any help or input is appreciated. I might be able to upload a video at some point of the noise.

Note: Car still runs and drives perfectly in my opinion minus the noise. It's my roommate's car, hence the time restriction.

Possibly unrelated???: The car also just had the auto shifter get extremely loose about the same time. My buddy didn't tell me when exactly. I'm expecting a failed shift cable or some broken plastic bushings under the console or something, but today the shifter felt extremely loose, and the car (gauges, ecu) thought it was in drive when it was mechanically in park and would not release the key or restart when shut off. I had to use the shift lock release and slam the shifter around a little bit before it caught back up and let me take the key out. Rest of the drive home was fine.

sumdewd

Update:

Alright, so it stranded my buddy obviously and would not shift out of reverse or let go of the key when he got to work. Got it up in the air and almost every single bolt was loose and some were missing off of the 3 plates that cover the shifter cable. As soon as I removed the final cover, the bolt (that WAS) holding the shifter cable to the transmission fell down. Solved that problem. It now shifts. Honestly have no clue why since I tightened the crap out of those bolts when we did the swap. Put threadlocker on the damn shift cable now for obvious reasons.

Flapping noise: I used a mechanic's stethoscope and found the noise is coming from the flywheel inspection cover very clearly. I can only assume one of the bolts or some kind of road debris made its way in there. Called it quits for today but we need the damn car back on the road so we're gonna look at it tomorrow afternoon. Fiancee isn't too keen on my bud taking her Civic

thisguyaves

Take the cover off and let whatever it is fall out. Not a huge deal as long as it doesn't make its way INTO the clutch assembly.

sumdewd

Got it all fixed today. For some reason every single flywheel to torque converter bolt backed out and one even snapped off. Some of the bolts were rounded out from rubbing on the plate. This is in addition to the bolts all coming apart from the plates on the shifter assembly. The weird noise was the flywheel bolts rubbing against the inspection plate as the car was running.

More than 10 bolts were loose that I personally tightened with a torque wrench, so this car may have been tampered with or I likely have to send my torque wrench in.



You can see where the bolt heads rubbed into the plate. Mystery solved but I'm still baffled as to why so many were loose. Kinda glad I don't have to take apart the timing **** again though.

thisguyaves

RIP. Glad you caught that one in time.

holmesnmanny

you're supposed to use blue loctite on those bolts but i never have and as long as i torque to spec i haven't had an issue with them backing out

sumdewd

Yeah man I'm gonna do that from now on. This is my 5th time replacing a transmission and I've never used threadlocker before on any of them, but goddamn it I'll do it now since I REALLY hate doing work over again.