Engine noise on 2002 Accord V-tec
 

Hi there Group Folks! I'm a newbie here with a question I hope someone can help me with... I bought a 2002 Accord 5 spd from a young lad who drove it kind of hard. It had 40,000 miles on the clock and was really clean. It has a 4 cyl vtec motor and runs like a raped ape but I have noticed a noise of late and my wrench says he thinks it's coming from the mid section of the motor. The noise sounds like "pinging" when under acceleration when cold. It goes away considerable when it warms up and sometimes I don't here it at all. The wrench ruled out a loose heat shield and the timing is ok. The previous owner stated that he changed the oil every 7500 miles weather it needed it or not!!! It was his first car and he didn't know better. Had I known that before I bought the car I might not have bought it. I've changed the oil every 2000 miles since I got it and it has 54000 miles on it now. Any ideas??? Thanks in advance for any help! :-) John

RE: Engine noise on 2002 Accord V-tec
 

welcome to the forum, something it may be based on the location that it is (this is a guess since noises are VERY hard to troubleshoot online) make sure you don't have a small exhaust leak, once the exhaust warms up it expands slightly and may be reduced to an un-noticable noise, there is a "donut" where the exhaust meets the flex pipe that may be the culprit, I'm sure your oil is fine if you're changing that frequently, as far as the oil is concerned I wouldn't be to terribly worried about that, there are a small handfull of people here who believe it only needs to be changed every 8,000 miles (I'm a 3,000 mile guy but to each their own) and their cars seem fine for now... If your valves have never been adjusted that could cause a noise like that as well, there is a write up in the DIY section on valve adjustment too, hope this helps! sorry it's so difficult to troubleshoot a noise issue on the net

RE: Engine noise on 2002 Accord V-tec
 

Thanks sir_nasty!

Yes it is so hard to give advise this way and I appreciate your help. The mechanic went into the valve cover and said the valve train is fine. They went over the motor with their listening devices and couldn't find the noise location. They are thinking the noise is coming from the mid section of the motor though but definitely "inside" they are sure. It really sounds like a motor that is running on 87 octane fuel when it needs 93 octane! That's the best way I can describe it. But thanks anyway :-) John

RE: Engine noise on 2002 Accord V-tec
 

odd, if that's the case then they are assuming that it's in the block or lower end of the motor?? the problem with sound is that it can resonate through to different areas and that makes it a PITA.... have you tried a higher octane fuel just to make sure that it's not that simple?