I have a 97' dx, bone freakin stock. The motor has almost 90,000 miles on it. I've take pretty good care of it ever since I bought it with 50k. Recently, when I start the car and drive after waiting like 30sec to warm up, and put a little bit of load on the engine it starts making this tapping or ticking noise inside the engine, it goes away in a few seconds. I slow down immediattely and it goes away and doesnt come back until like the next morning when its cold. What could this be? a valve tappping against a piston or something, I have no clue? should I be worried?

 

Valve tapping piston....I only wish it were that nice to the internals..haha..

No your vavles arent hitting the pistons...you just need a valve lash adjustment...do a search and you find that plenty of people have had this problem...and yes its common...so dont be worried