2013 Accord Sedan 4 cyl with engine rattle on cold start
 

Hey everyone,

I have a 2013 Honda Accord sedan EX-L 4 cylinder. Car has 75,000 miles on it and about 5 months ago I noticed upon cold start there would be a loud almost metallic sounding rattle coming from the engine bay. The rattle would last about one second and go away. This only happens on a cold start. The car drives flawlessly with no issues.

I have been trying to find the cause and I believe I found it today. I was watching youtube videos and found one labeled "Faulty VTC actuator sound" and it sounds identical to the sound coming from my car on cold start. So I believe my Accord has a faulty VTC actuator. My question is: what exactly does the actuator do? What is its purpose?

Is this a must fix item and if I don't address it it'll cause major issues? Or is this something I can leave alone and not fix unless I feel like doing it? I have no idea what the cost of repair will be but reading youtube comments it seems like it's rather expensive - upwards of $600 - $700

Many have had this issue and replacement is not always effective. Probably for same reason that you've had an early failure.

I had this issue begin on 2010 TSX w/ 4-cyl engine and experienced numerous occurences before switching to synthetic oil. Problem has not re-occurred.

I've never seen a definitive reason for this problem, but have my theory. VTC lock pin fails to engage on shutdown allowing camshaft to flop back/forth on startup until oil pressure stabilizes camshaft setting. It happens on cold starts due to delay in oil pressure rise.

There are long threads on this issue on many forums. Search "VTC actuator noise"

good luck

A too simple approach could be to find out which synthetic oil Texas is using and move to that oil ...

Walmart synthetic oil; 5w-20.

good luck