jstar

Hello,
I've been looking around the site to find posts about the symptoms I've been having. Haven't found anything exactly matching so I thought I would post and ask.

2003 s2k w/ 55,000 on it. regular oil changes & maintenance. I'm the only owner.
Starting a week or two ago I noticed a noise/rattle coming from the engine. The noise is inconsistent and doesn't seem to matter weather or not the car is in gear (clutch engaged or disengaged). It is intermittent meaning the rattle will go away, but not in a reproducible way. If the car is rev'd above 5-6k it seems the rattle disappears. Also I have no VTEC (I thought this was a symptom of a faulty map sensor which I have had problems with in the past, but yet to replace). I had just replaced my Master Clutch Cylinder when I noticed the noise. I didn't think a whole lot about it because my neighbor who is a Master Tech told me in passing that it was probably a "heat shield" rattle which is common on Honda's. Well he offered to come by with his stethoscope yesterday to try and pinpoint the issue. He isolated the noise to Cylinder 1. He works on Ferrari's so he's not too experienced with the F20C but suggested I get it to a Honda dealer. He said it did not seem to be coming from the pulley's and sounded almost more pronounced on the intake side of the engine.

Couple of questions. First of all has anyone experienced this before? This doesn't sound like the "baseball card in bike spoke" noise I have read about (left sticker on front of engine block or the noise described in the Timing Chain Tensioner), but it's also not as severe as the "metallic tapping sound" heard in complete cylinder failure. Sounds almost like something is lose and rattling around in the engine block.
Second question is what should I expect? I have a friend of a friend who is a Honda Tech but of course he was off today and won't be in the shop till Monday. Should I have the car towed to the nearest Dealer? I'm not driving the car currently.
I appreciate any help or insight. Sorry if this is something that is highly documented and I missed it in my searching.
Thanks in advance.
-jeremy

negcamber

Can you post a vid so we can hear the rattle? Otherwise it is a little vague.

Are you the original owner? Has the head been off recently?

When have you last had the valves adjusted?

jstar

I'll work on getting a video up in the morning to give a better idea.

The head has never been off & I have never had the valves adjusted.

Thanks for the response.
-j

negcamber

I'd have the valves adjusted first. That may give a clue as the issue. It may be just too loose clearance on the valve/rocker arm...it may be a lock nut has backed out...it may be a retainer cracked and the clearance is off.

S2K_2003

Maybe a auto tensioner issue as well, I have heard from some people that they will get weak and will cause the chain to slack in it when reving it up. But if it is the auto tensoiner it would be a inconsistent noise, in other words you would only hear it every once in awhile

jstar

Thanks for the replies. This is definitely a very inconsistant noise. One thing I did notice today is that when I fired it up from a cold start the rattle/noise did not start until the engine was warm (according to the temp gauge).

I shot a quick vid of the noise. Sorry for the large file size.
Engine rattle/noise video

I'm fairly comfortable working around cars, but I have never done a valve job. Is this a pretty difficult task on the s2k?
Thanks

S2Kage

imma go ahead and say tct

Valve adjustment is easy to do, the only tool you need that you might not have is a feeler gauge but they are cheap, buy the prebent one.

negcamber

Thanks for the vid...that cleared it up dramatically.

Yeah...that sounds like TCT to me too. Pretty classic card in a bicycle spoke sound.

jstar

Apparently I haven't heard a card in a bicycle in a while. I found the DIY for replacing the TCT. Looks pretty straightforward. Not a whole lot involved.
Thanks for the replies. I'll let you know what I find.

jstar

Got the new Timing Chain Tensioner from Jeff @HardTopGuy (he's great) and installed it yesterday using the great DIY write-up by david1 & a DIY from superhonda.com. A very easy install for a huge fix. Car sounds great and VTEC is back. There is still a slight rattle/noise that I hear occasionally, but it is very faint. I think I will do the valve adjustment next for piece of mind.
Thanks for all the replies! It's so nice to have such a great community you can rely on.
-j