I've been scouring the posts and I can't seem to find any that have the same problem that I do so I'm hoping for some help.

I recently bought a '98 Civic EX with 171k miles as my commuter/fixer upper. Car is bone stock and seemed to have been well taken care of. I've only had it for about a month but a few weeks ago I started noticing a pretty loud ticking coming from the engine/tranny when I'm accelerating through 2nd, 3rd and a little bit of 4th gear. It's starts in high RPM's in 2nd (about 3000/3500+), all RPM's in 3rd and low RPM's in 4th gear. It also makes the same noise when I downshift and let off the clutch in those same gears.

My idle is fine and when I'm coasting it's fine. Only when I'm accelerating in those 3 gears, with 3rd gear being the worst. I've been told by different people that it may be a throw out bearing, I may need a valve adjustment or I may just need a new tranny.

Any and all help is appreciated as I haven't found any info that mirrors my problem.

 

Rod knock is hella loud and sound like a hammer knocking. It could be the lifters also...

 

Uh, Civics don't have lifters. Cam - rockers - valves/springs/retainers. We have short heads, not tall heads.

Start off with a valve lash adjustment. Also do an oil change, keeping a close eye out for any metallic fragments in the old oil. The odd range at which it makes the noise points away from a spun bearing or transmission issue, but it never hurts to do an oil change.

Since it only does it within certain RPM ranges, test again at low throttle. If you shift at 3K, does it do it through all of the gears? Is it speed-dependent?

 

I had an oil change done on it a few days after I bought the car, they said all the stuff they checked looked fine (albeit all they look at is the air filter and fluid levels). I checked the tranny fluid level just for ***** and giggles and that seems to be fine.

I'll drive it again this morning and try to pinpoint the RPM ranges, speed ranges and engine cold vs warmed up to see if anything changes. The sound is pretty distinct in 3rd, almost like the sound of a playing card in a bike spoke.

I'll update after I drive the car today.

 

Well after driving it this morning there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to when it makes the sound except that it only does it when I'm accelerating, no matter the RPM's, and when I downshift and let my foot off if the clutch it makes the "playing card in a bicycle spoke rim" sound. I can hear it vaguely in 1st and 5th gears. But it's the worst in 3rd and 4th gears. My buddy seems to think it's the transmission but since my budget is right I'm kinda hoping that it's something else that can be fixed rather cheaply.

Thanks for the input!

 

It was a typo.... My computer has being acting up.....

Other than that... Check your valve adjustment OP...

 

does it make any noise at idle? foot off the clutch pedal.

 

No noise at idle, sounds just like it should when idling and coasting. Noise only comes when I push on the gas or downshift and let off the clutch.

I'll probably get a valve adjustment either way because I'm trying to make this car last so it won't hurt to do some maintenance on it.