Cold Start and Valve Tap Problems

jnastii

Well-Known Member
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not even sure if this is in the right place. If not I apologize in advance.
but this is more of a rant/vent more than anything.
I'm not sure if you guys might have encountered the same issues I'm having or maybe its been talked about.

but I haven't driven my car for weeks. Car sat for like 3 weeks in the garage drove it for 30miles
park her right back in the garage.
but long story short recently I've been noticing that the engine is alil louder than usual. I know k-series engine is
pretty loud but I can hear alil valve tap or maybe something else. A good friend of mine actually works at Acura but he always say that I'm just always paranoid with my car and its normal. I try not to listen to anything he says. :(
but yea besides the lil valve tap I'm hearing. today i got in the car to move it, first crank It sounded like the starter was spinning and just missed the gear, tried it again and it started right up. I'm not sure whats that about. and I also realize on cold starts it takes just a tiny bit longer to crank over. :confused: ugh maybe I'm am just paranoid and just not used to driving this car anymore. No clue.
and also I recently took the sk2 lowering springs off and a week later i drive the car and i hear clinging noise from the back. I go check and the rear strut is blown :mad:

hopefully i get to take the intake off tomorrow or tuesday and i can make a appointment to get the car checked out.
i also need to buy the rear springs hat since i lost 1 of my 9thgen rear hats, and also the dust shields on the rear strut since the guy that did my lowering springs cut the dust shield off like a dummy.

I just dont want to bring the car to the dealer and they tell me some bs about warranty voided cause of this and that. grrrrr :confused: :meh:
 
get an appointment, and have them listen to the engine. Valves can be adjusted fairly easily if they think they're out of spec. The starter thing seems to be common among 8th/9th gens. One random miss, and the 2nd attempt - start. I don't think anyone has ever been able to pinpoint the real issue behind it, as it's usually not repeatable. As for the blown strut, that sucks. Depending on your situation, you could purchase the rear hats/strut/etc at the cyber monday sale.

http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/cyber-monday-sale-at-college-hills-honda.6001/
 
I'm having the same issue with the engine being a little noisier than normal now that its getting cold here. Early in the mourning I notice it even if I let the car sit until the coolant light goes off. But once it's driven for a while and gets good and warm it seems to calm down a lot as far as the noise goes. I'm going to bring it up at work to my service manager and see what we can do to try to resolve it or help honda figure out how they wanna resolve it if it is even determined to be an issue. And I'm using all Honda fluids and filters and she's always stays full on oil.
 
I have the same issue now that the colder weather is here. When it's cold, from about 800 rpm and up it sounds similar to a bad lifter in a pushrod engine, or also a lot like when the valve lash is set too loose. It makes me cringe. I have 7800 miles on my Si coupe. I changed the factory fill at 4700 miles, when the dipstick wasn't touching oil anymore (GRRRRR!) I measured only about 2.5 quarts drained out. It wasn't making this noise then though, but then again it was still warm weather. I used Royal Purple full synthetic 0w-20. I just had my knee operated on today but in a couple of weeks when I'm driving again, the car is going to the dealer.
 
I'm having the same issue with the engine being a little noisier than normal now that its getting cold here. Early in the mourning I notice it even if I let the car sit until the coolant light goes off. But once it's driven for a while and gets good and warm it seems to calm down a lot as far as the noise goes. I'm going to bring it up at work to my service manager and see what we can do to try to resolve it or help honda figure out how they wanna resolve it if it is even determined to be an issue. And I'm using all Honda fluids and filters and she's always stays full on oil.

@jnasti too

Guys: I have the same basic k24 engine in my "04 Element, and the valves always get louder on cold weather cold starts, and stay loud for a mile or more. It's completely normal. It calms down when warmed up, right?

I had a '73 BMW 2002 tii years ago that sounded much louder on startups than these cars, even after adjusting the valves myself. Some engines are that way. Hondas and BMWs are known for loud and HAPPY valves.
 
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