Joined: Aug 2018

Posts: 5

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Just picked up a gsr but it makes a loud ticking noise on cold starts when it's at 1100-1300 rpm. It seems to be coming from either cylinder 3 or 4 when I put my ear near the valve cover. As soon as I rev it a little higher or when it calms down to sit around 800 rpm, the loud ticking goes away and the engine sounds smooth. I have adjusted the valves as well as a fresh oil change but the ticking is still there. I did a compression test on both a cold motor and hot motor and got 125-130 psi on all cylinders both times so I'm scratching my head on that one too but the motor pulls nice and hard. Any thoughts?

Joined: Jun 2018

Posts: 262

Likes: 2

You didn’t list your mileage but I’d suspect you may have piston slap

Joined: Nov 2005

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From: Still hunting that foo up there

Joined: Aug 2018

Posts: 5

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180k miles
Valves have been adjusted. The noise did not change at all. It still sounds the same prior to the valve adjustment. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the car has aftermarket valve springs and retainers. Would the valve clearance be different from the standard intake 0.006", exhaust 0.007"

Joined: Jun 2018

Posts: 262

Likes: 2

Okay that does not sound like piston slap.... I can’t visualize how a spring and retainer would require different lash clearance. Are you certain that the valves and cams are stock? Only weird thing is I’ve owned plenty of 200,000+ mile Honda’s, and valve noise tended to increase after much hard driving and not on startup. The only noise I’ve had that goes away after engine warm up is piston slapping.