Let me apologize ahead of time for my lack of mechanical knowledge, most of my ability lies in auto electronics and not mechanics..

Ok a little story line first, 92 Civic DX, bone stock aside from the cd player.. its been the winter car for the past 4 years since I've had the S2k.. I've decided to sell the S and the Civic for a 06' STi, sick of having a beater in these buffalo winters.. Time for a decent AWD car year round.. not to mention I bought a bike and now I never take the S out during the summer..

That said, the civic has been sitting for a couple months (i do drive it a few times throughout the summers to keep its heart beating), getting ready to sell it so I'm starting to drive it to make sure all is working well.. I drove it on a good 30 min drive to my sister's place, and then another 30 min back.. When I was slowing down to pull in the neighborhood back home the cd player was between tracks and I heard the noise..

It's basically metal on metal grinding/chirping like its not lubricated.. I opened the hood and its pretty loud, sounds like its coming straight from the engine. Sound is the same if the car is in N or D doesn't matter, it does change slightly with revs. The engine temp guage was fine, oil levels are normal.. I pulled the spark plugs out, and the valve cover off.. everything looks pretty normal..

What else can I be checking?


Modified by funkylemons at 10:45 PM 9/27/2006

 

it's more then likely you're breaks although im not sure why you'd hear it from you're engine bay?

 

yea i was sure it was brake rust until i read where it was coming from. it does this at a standstill?

 

Yes, this sound is still there at a stand still, with the valve cover off, while I turn the crank with a wrench.. its not at regular intervals, like every 2-3 rotations, but it varies.. Taking off the head tomorrow.. maybe a valve fell off?

 

try listening near the engine to locate the area the noise is coming from... from the info youve given, id say a drive belt is loose..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by unbelievableEG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it's more then likely you're breaks although im not sure why you'd hear it from you're engine bay?</TD></TR></TABLE>

lol not at a stand still. i say dizzy bearing is going. listen to it with a screw driver. grab a big screw driver and press it at differnt points on the engine with your ear at the other end. listen closly for any resemblence to the noise you hear. keep us posted. before you pull the head try doing an oil change and look for metal piece's. possible a spun bearing.... try listening to the bottom end before the oil change. msg me if you need more help. good luck

 

you'll want to listen exactly where it's coming from. very well could be a distributor bearing.

 

Sounds as if its coming from within the head, I have all the belts off except the timing and the sound is still there..

As for the timing belt, it was/is rather loose, you can remove it wiht your fingers.. and my timing was literally 180 degrees off.

Next I guess I'm pulling the exaust manifold and part of the intake manifold (keep it on so I dont need a new seal or whatever).. to try and access the head to see if it needs to be replaced.. A great friend has a good used head that I could use..

Man I'm getting a crash course in mechanics..

Keep the suggestions coming.. Thanks guys!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by poison &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you'll want to listen exactly where it's coming from. very well could be a distributor bearing. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, the 92 civics are known for this. If it is this it will continue to get louder and your gas mileage will slowly decrease. eventually your CEL might come on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by teal_dx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Yep, the 92 civics are known for this. If it is this it will continue to get louder and your gas mileage will slowly decrease. eventually your CEL might come on. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yup this is exactly what i was explaining in my first post. it starts out sort of quiet but will eventually screech so loud it'll make your ears bleed...lol you could always pop of the dizzy and rotate the bearing end with your hand...if it's hard to turn this could be your problem. try using a friend with the same gen civic's dizzy and see if it goes away. saves you from ripping the engine apart...lol

 

I took a look at the car yesterday, I'm friends w/ funkylemons, I found the water pump leaking dirty rusty coolant and the water pump pulley had a ton of play in it. It allowed enough slack in the timing belt to skip a tooth.

 

****! thats not good. well i hope you can just do a waterpump and tb change and the valves are still ok. yeah the coolent prolly is leaking out of the weeping holes in the waterpump's cover. there in place to leak when the waterpump is needing replacement as it's worn down. best of luck. keep me/us posted on how it turns out.