Ok I just finished my b20vtec and ever since its been making a tapping noise. Its definately not from the bottom end because the b20 has been in my car and only has 27k. The tapping is pretty loud and can be heard from in the car and outside. It is only present when at idle but when driven or reved (passed 2500 rpms ) it goes away but comes back once its at idle. Car runs fine and everything but it makes this noise. Worried because my bros d16a6 had a noise similar to this after putting a stage 2 cam in it and the valve broke in half 6 months later.

 

Oh yeah checked timing and its fine and also check valve clearances...

 

you did do a valve lash adjustment right?

 

ok, our posts must have crossed paths. i'd say it may be your injectors then

 

no its way to loud to be the injectors...

 

are you lacking any power

 

no the power is there, its definately alot faster than before and vtec kicks... the tapping is at 3000 rpms and below to idle... but above that it dissappears

 

lma???

 

up



Modified by LShatchie at 9:57 AM 11/28/2005

 

the noise will go away over 3k even when free revving it or just under load?

 

Exhaust gasket if it is near the head... The reason you dont hear/notice it at high rpm is because the tapping sound kind of gets blurred into one long sound. That's my educated guess...

I will tell you what I have used in the past to get rid of an exhaust leak...

Take a tube of Permatex Ultra Copper and run a 1/4 inch bead around the exhaust manifold ports.

Allow it at least an hour so the permatex cures fairly well.

Bolt it back on and wa-la.. no exhaust leak.

Works great for those leaky headers...

 

i am having the same problem with the tapping but i dont think its my exhaust. when i start up in the moring its very loud but after like 2 minutes it quiets down a bit. i'm also curious as to what it could be

 

im guessing you have checked your oil levels and all that. But i suggest putting in a liter of Lucus oil treatment because this is thicker oil and if its in the vlave train and the noise quiets down you can narrow it down.

 

i had the same problem one time it ended up beiing the stupidest thing ever , one of my spark plug wires where it goes into the head was loose and the hard plastic on it was vibrating. check if thats it. i kno it sounds stupid but that was what mine was doing i was on the verge of rebuileding my head lol

 

well it ends up the noise was coming from the intake cam gear, the bolt was loose and it was flopping back and forth... runs really good now but theres still this FAINT tapping/ticking noise from something else... not sure of what it could be, have to check it out more tommorw but I dont think its a big deal

 

three words will likely be the cause of your problem

Lost Motion Assemblies

I suggest replacing them and your problems will go away. Replace them <U>ONLY</U> after you have adjusted your valves (.006" on intake and .008" on exhaust) and made sure that you do not have any exhaust leaks. Also be sure that your timing belt is tight to ensure that the sound is not timing belt slap.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DirtySol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">three words will likely be the cause of your problem

Lost Motion Assemblies

I suggest replacing them and your problems will go away. Replace them <U>ONLY</U> after you have adjusted your valves (.006" on intake and .008" on exhaust) and made sure that you do not have any exhaust leaks. Also be sure that your timing belt is tight to ensure that the sound is not timing belt slap.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well I took the cams completely out and changed them and while they were out I checked the LMAs, all of them spring back up but not instantly like if u were to push a spring... I push down and let go and they like pop up roughly like they are catching... and one of them on the intake side smoothly comes back up like a spring... is this how they are supposed to be? I checked my friends b16a engine swap sitting in my garage he just got from hmotorsonline.com and his does the same catching thing then pops up roughly..

 

do lma's just get worn out over time? i adjusted my valve about 6 months ago and my noise was still there. can you just change you lma's and not change everything else on the valve train?

 

they should be completely smooth in action, and they should be quite hard to push down.

Yes, you can change the LMA's without having to adjust everything if everything is within adjustment before you dissasemble it all.

 

Well they push down with some force and the only time they snap back up is when you push them all the way down completely.. if this is not how they are supposed to be then both mine and my friends motor from hmotors are bad?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DirtySol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">they should be completely smooth in action, and they should be quite hard to push down.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, that is very true. There should not be catching of any kind.

 

My b16 does it, it's the lma's not to concerned about it.

 

The only reason I am concerned about it is because I read if you let bad lmas go you could break a valve spring and possibly drop a valve and there goes your motor. Is this true? I know there is alot of false information on here. If not I am going to let it go and save up for some new lmas..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by H22 CD5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">layman's explaination-'lost motion assemblies provide the resistance to rocker arms to push them back up.'

here is a thread that brushes on the topic.
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=571523

some pics.





to the OP, sorry for going offtopic.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Taken from another thread.

 

Rockets thread goes into great detail about the lma's. Reason I said I'm not concerned is im in the process of builing a motor, you should be concerned if the tapping is as loud as you say it is.