I have a 94 Accord EX which I bought used with 150k miles last week, and it runs great and everything but when I get over 20-25 MPH there is a rattling sound when I accelerate. As soon as I let off the gas the noise goes away. It's not a loud noise at all but it's definitely noticeable and I'm wondering if there is something that can be done to fix it.

I don't know much of anything when it comes to cars FWIW. Is this something I can take to Midas or someplace and have them fix? Thanks in advance.

 

it can be a number of things if its the engine it could be valve lash or timing belt springs it can be the transmission ??? is the check engine light on

 

I know those heat shields on the cat likes to come loose and rattle on the accords, and when you hit a certain rpm it will make it rattle. Can you tell if its coming from the engine bay or from beneath the car? Try to narrow your possibility down as to where its coming from.


Modified by Tyte-S at 2:04 PM 9/23/2007

 

i had a similar problem with my h22, i upgraded my clutch and it turned out that the clutch springs were shot on the oem clutch disc. i couldn't figure out what the noise was, but i accidently fixed.

 

It sounds like detonation especially if it occurs going up hills. Research a little about detonation. Howstuffworks.com is a good place to start. It could be the valve lash if its off enough. If the car has an intake manifold leak running lean would definately cause this. Do your research and try to solve this problem yourself. I hate paying people to guess. When it was happening to me it turned out to be that it needed a tune up as a semi fouled spark plug was creating hot spots in the cylinder.

 

Slide under the car and tap on the heat shield with your hand, see if it's loose. The heat shield is a metal plate that surrounds the catalytic converter.

If that's loose, you should be able to just bolt it back on somehow. If it's not loose, then the rattle is from somewhere else on the car.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2kji8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... Is this something I can take to Midas or someplace and have them fix? Thanks in advance.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I highly recommend that if you do take the car to a normal mechanic, preferably one that specializes in imports. Places like muffler shops and brake shops are notorious for overcharging, charging for work that doesn't need to be done, charging for phantom work, etc etc.

If you know that you want a muffler and don't want to do the work yourself, then sure, go to a muffler shop like Midas.

 

It could be worn-out exhaust hardware. Take a look at the spring-loaded bolts in between the midpipe and the exhaust pipe, and the midpipe and the converter. The springs on the rear of my midpipe are rusted really bad, and the way it rattles changed when I got a muffler hanger stuck back on correctly, so I ordered a bolt and spring set and a new gasket from RockAuto for around 20 bucks. Should fix the problem (might have to hacksaw off the old bolts if they're really bad though)

 

like tyte-s and heat said it might be the heat shield for the cat. if it is then the heat shield has broken off of the bolts...and the only way to fix that is to weld it back on...that has happen to me in my 96 accord..

 

Pretty positive it is your heat sheild....if your running flawlessly and no shakes in the steering wheel, no hesistation on acceleration....its gonna prolly be the heat sheild....also check the exhaust manifold heat sheild...but when I was at idle at a red light my heat shield continued to rattle tho....hmmm stumped.