What I notice that concerns me is this: when I first turn the car on and the engine is cold, I hear a ticking from the engine that sounds almost like metal on metal. However, once the car warms up a bit the ticking disappears at idle. If I give it gas, I can hear a slight ticking (although not as pronounced as the previous sound) as the RPMs die down. I got my valves adjusted about 3000 miles ago and the noise went away for like a day, but now everytime the engine is cold there is a loud metal on metal noise coming from the right side of the engine right underneath the valve cover near the belts. I thought the valve adjustment would cure this, but unfortunatley it didnt help. So i was wondering if any of you guys would know what is causing this insanely loud ticking noise. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. I drive a 2001 Honda Prelude

 

Well, my car does this in da morning, worst case scenario, possibily
it could be your lifters(tappets), but i have heard that is just the way
it sounds before the oil gets flowing through the upper internals

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SKDRCR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well, my car does this in da morning, worst case scenario, possibily
it could be your lifters(tappets), but i have heard that is just the way
it sounds before the oil gets flowing through the upper internals </TD></TR></TABLE>

Does your car do it after you have driven for awhile? If i drive my car and say i let it cool down for an hour i will turn the car on and i hear the very loud metal to metal noise coming from the engine!

 

was it anything like i am describing here? that kinda sounds like what i have.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=578902

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shakes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">was it anything like i am describing here? that kinda sounds like what i have.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=578902</TD></TR></TABLE>
I dunno..i usually hear mine at idle! Like from 1000-1500 rpms! Afer the car drops from 1000rpm the sound goes away. Like i said, it only happens when the engine is somewhat cold.

 

Well depending on how many miles you have, it sounds to me like one thing it could be is the timing belt tensioner. A quick background if you aren't familiar. I had mine go around 60k. I think mine did it all the time, hot/cold, but I would only hear it from 1000-1500 rpms, usually when the rpms were dropping. I've heard of some people have this around problem as early as 50k. Kinda sucks but the timing belt would eventually need to be done anyway. Unfortunately it isn't too cheap!

 

Normal, H-series soundes... Get used to it, one of the noisiest Honda motors. A valve adjustment will help, but it will still tick from the injectors...

You will never get rid of the ticking noise, sorry..

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Once the noises totally go away, THEN I'd be worried. Honda engines tick. Nothing you can do about it.

 

Yes you even get used to the ticking. Like swiss watches, it must be even and regular. I once had an uneven, almost disappearing ticking noise - brought it immediately at Honda so they found out my timing was off... because of an unscrewed distributor ! Now i get to appreciate that ticking...

 

well i was told from another forum to put a screw driver to my ear then place it on the valve cover so I can hear where the ticking is comming from... if it is comming from all the valves on every cylinder then its my timing, but if its comming from one or two then something is stuck!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pimpinainteasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well i was told from another forum to put a screw driver to my ear then place it on the valve cover so I can hear where the ticking is comming from... if it is comming from all the valves on every cylinder then its my timing, but if its comming from one or two then something is stuck!</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeap, works good too. It's the old "scope" trick, except you're not paying $$$ for an eletronic one. I did this to find out my "ticking" is comming from about 3"s in off the distributor on the exhaust cam. I'm guessing it's going to be something with my valve seat, and this is the reason i'm burning oil also.

 

i would really check your timing belt. see how tight it is. we had loud ticking sound coming from my gf's car. i adjusted the valves and it got quieter, but still made it. turned out to be the t-belt slapping against the valve cover.

while the valve cover was off i noticed that thet-belt had some slack in it, so i planned on changing it soon. 3 days later it broke while i was driving it!

 

i had mine replaced when they did the TSB for the auto-tensioner. That was at around 65,000 or so. The car has 106,000 now... and i'm hoping it's just the valve train, which I plan on redoing this winter. That'd suck if it was the belt. It use to be intermident but lately it's been more consistant. I'm goign to take it to the dealership and have them take a look, hopefully figure out what it is, and then I'm going to repair it myself to save some $$

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fastludeh22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i would really check your timing belt. see how tight it is. we had loud ticking sound coming from my gf's car. i adjusted the valves and it got quieter, but still made it. turned out to be the t-belt slapping against the valve cover.

while the valve cover was off i noticed that thet-belt had some slack in it, so i planned on changing it soon. 3 days later it broke while i was driving it!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea..i think i am going to listen to the ticking and then take off the valve cover to see if the timing belt is loose! Is there anyway to tell how loose or tight it needs to be?

 

it shouldn't move but maybe a 1/4" each way(up and down)


your auto tensioner could be the prob.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fastludeh22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it shouldn't move but maybe a 1/4" each way(up and down)


your auto tensioner could be the prob.</TD></TR></TABLE>

oh ok.....where would the auto tensioner be located and how could i tell if thats the problem instead of the timing belt?!

 

dont drive the car anymore until u figure out what it is, i was able to tell that my auto tensioner failed because there was hydraulic oil all over the bottom of my oilpan and the tbelt was loose.