At idle or low RPMs my engine makes a very strange rattling type sound. I checked every possible piece of sheet metal and nothing is loose. Once under the hood it seems to come from under the valve cover. Any ideas?

99 Prelude 5speed base w/ 75,000 miles

 

take your valve cover off and check out for any loose valves...

Check the camshaft to make sure its not wobbling around..

Make sure everything is tight and within specs

 

jackazz, is the rattle louder at start up?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by staticrex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">jackazz, is the rattle louder at start up? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Talking about that, check your oil buddy...

 

bump cuz i was just about to post about this

 

lifter tick?

mine made a weird ticking/clicking noise at about 3k-3.5k rpm and about month later: BAM, herpes.

just kidding, but a month later it turned out to be a failed rod bearing.

 

Mine did the same thing as urs blitz, except it only took 16 hrs for the bearing to spin, and the rod to fly out =p

 

mine does a similar thing before. make sure if it's from the engine compartment or the rear. if it's from the rear than you need a new exthuast/muffler.

 

After a week and a half I have my answer. It was not a timing belt or tensioner, as I was concerned about. Turned out to be a bad water pump. Replaced water pump, timing belt, and balance shaft belt. Good luck to the rest of you if you have this same issue.

Strange part was that it sounded like that noise was always coming from the valve cover. Maybe because the top of the timing belt rides under the valve cover. Who knows. GLAD TO HAVE THE CAR BACK!!

 

Hey at start up was the ticking noticeable?

 

The noise was louder/more noticeable at startup, but only briefly. Then I had to get the engine into a certain RPM range. Of course this could vary depending on the severity of your water pump damage (if it is the water pump). How many miles?

 

Well looks like i need to replace mine then. My car makes a metallic noise at start up but then somewhat goes away, only to come back at different rpm speeds. Well that sucks.

I don't know how mny miles, I would say less than 60k.

It has been diong it for over 5 months now, never overheated or anything. I replaced the radiator the other day as it was cracked.

Looks like $ will be falling out of my pocket