I just recently put my car back on the road (2 days ago) and have driven it the last 2 nights. the only thing i did to the motor over the winter was put a headgasket in it. everything was fine until today i was pulling it into the garage after sitting in my driveway for a few hours and i started hearing a very loud noise from the valvetrain. it sounds like extemely out of adjustment valves, almost like a tiny knock. the valves are within spec and the oil level is fine, i havent gotten my hands on an oil pressure guage or compression gauge just yet but i figured id post up to see what anyone may have to say as to why this would suddenly happen.

 

Modified by De_tour at 9:57 AM 5/13/2007

 

its fairly loud, definatly not a normal sound... you can hear it from inside the car... not as loud as a bottom end knock though, not as solid sounding...

 

Some common mistakes when removing the head:

Are you sure your cams are in time with the crankshaft?
Did you line up the marks on the head and the marks on the crankshaft sprocket?
Did you tension the timing belt properly?
Tighten the tensioner properly?

The sound you are hearing could be the valves hitting the pistons. one sprocket off could be at least 15º off.

Seeing that you said the sound started 2 days after driving the car, it could be that one of the cam gears skipped a tooth on the timing belt. Make sure that everything is in time first.

Hopfully you did not bend any valves...

 

well i put the engine on #1 cylinder tdc to check valve clearances so im pretty sure its in time, but ill check again 1st thing tomorrow

do you think it could be due to insufficient oil pressure?

 

No i ran my b-series to the point where vtec wasn't crackin (not good) cuz it was so low on oil but no weird sound.

 

low oil pressure is a possibility, but I would first check the cam sprocket timing then go for the oil pressure check.

 

ok im going to check timing tomorrow morning and hopefully get a hold of an oil pressure guage... thanks for the help so far, if anyones got any other info that may help im up for suggestions

 

bump

 

timing is fine..... 100% dead on. the car starts up fine, doesnt make the noise until a second or two after the motor is running.... then doesnt stop, revved it a little to see if itd maybe boost oil pressure if that was the problem and the noise is still there...

 

anyone else have any idea??

 

bumpppp

 

bump! anyone????

 

Modified by De_tour at 4:41 PM 5/21/2007

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by De_tour &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Use a screwdrive to see if u can pinpoint the noise</TD></TR></TABLE>

can you explain more? i have no idea what youre talking about....

 

You put a flat head screwdriver up to part of the engine where you hear the noise and put your ear up to it and see where it gets louder as you move it around. not terribly accurate but can sometimes help. Not to sound dump but you re-checked to see everything was tight and bolted down right? sometimes its the easy stuff you miss.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMwhiteDC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You put a flat head screwdriver up to part of the engine where you hear the noise and put your ear up to it and see where it gets louder as you move it around. not terribly accurate but can sometimes help. Not to sound dump but you re-checked to see everything was tight and bolted down right? sometimes its the easy stuff you miss. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah i had the vc off checking all of the rockers/valvesprings and cam caps/cam gears... everything seems to be good. do you think it could be due to sudden drop in oil pressure? right now thats the only thing i can think of that would make the noise occur so suddenly.... and if thats the case i have to figure out why i lost op. hopefully ill have a gauge within the next couple of days to start testing everyhting

 

bump