So my Torneo's got the F20B blue top DOHC VTEC engine, it always has had a kinda piston slap kinda noise since I bought it, Honda said its normal and dont worry, because I thought it was knocking and asked them.

Well now its getting worse, when its really cold out, and I've been driving maybe 10 mins and its just at operating temprature, if I use mid throttle, around mid range RPM it just has this "TATATATATA TING TING TING TING TING" noise from the engine.
You can certainly hear it with the window down or up, so its reasonably loud, not OMG loud, but certainly noticable.

The car burns virtually no oil, runs mint, only got 130,000 on her, pleanty of power. Run on 95 octane and Honda FEO oil

So whats going on? is it knocking? how could I tell? if its piston slap, why and what can I do about it?

Also after driving maybe 20mins it almost goes away, and on warm days its not there at all

also been looking on youtube at some videos about knocking and piston slap, it does not sound anything like either of those.

its more of a tinking noise, its pretty quiet, more like when you rattle your keys than a RPM-related knocking noise

 

when your engine is cold let it warm up before you drive it. it gives your engine time to dispurse the oil throughout the engine.

 

if it sounds anything like this, it's a rod

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDupfZ49xnk

this was my F23 w/ 69k.

 

Yeah nothing like that mate, nowhere near that loud and mines less of a deep metal noise but more a tinking kinda noise.

Also this happens at operating temp, but quietns after driving for awhile

 

last time u adjusted valves?

 

^^ never adjusted valves in my ownership and ive had her for 2 years, how often should the valves be adjusted?

 

max every 30K one honda dealer told me every 15K for my 94 F22B motor. I adjusted my valves at 90K and then again at 145K my friend who now has the car has not adjusted them since and the car has 180K on it now...

made the same noises your car does now before adjustment ran smooth for about 50K and got noisey again hence the second adjustment..most people liken the sound to a sewing machine (tick tick tick tick tick tick...ect)

the manual will have the valve adjustment intervals

 

thanks for that bud, I better get them done then because i've done almost 35k!

 

Yeah, could be your valve lash that needs to be adjusted.

 

Piston slap typically goes away after the engine warms up. My truck has piston slap and the easy "cure" was to switch to synthetic oil. I only hear it now on very very cold mornings.

 

Sorry about invading your thread, but I also have a knocking problem. It's my Accord with 200k miles on it. When I start it in the morning, it idles at about 1500 rpms without any knocking. Then as the rpms go down, it starts to make this cyclical knocking sound at exactly 1250 rpms. At about 1000 rpms the knocking sound goes away and I don't hear it again until the next morning. I use 10w-40 oil. What could the problem be?

 

This is it exactly. You need to adjust the valve lash and you should be fine. I suggest doing it every 30k miles, as stated above, and everything should be fine!

If the problem persists after the valve lash, then it's time to start worrying.

 

Yea I need to adjust my valves too, just haven't gotten around to it yet. Good to hear that is probably what it is on my car then. It just started doing it after my trip to Cali. the car has like 140k on it I bet the valves have never been ajusted. The previous owners were only good with oil changes and the timing belt at 90k apparently. I've had to replace and adjust just about everything else that needs maitenance after 90k.