hello everyone
I have a 95 honda civic with 102xxx. It makes a knocking/tapping noise on cold starts for about 5min. Once the engine reaches running temp it goes away. I am using 5w-30 oil and have adjusted my valves. This is the second winter that its doing this. Does anybody have ideas? thanks john

Video of noise...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=e4YodjJWUOc

 

Knocking and tapping are two different things. Knocking is more of a 'lets take a hammer and hit a metal plate' tapping is 'lets take a screw driver and tap on the same plate' . Seeing how its doing it in the colder months, could be you have a lifter going bad/collapsing. Just taking a while for the oil to come up to temp. Try a thinner oil (5w-20) and see if that helps at all.

 

+1 or if your using a lesser octane gas try 89 or 93

 

^^^ Yes it's the lifters. Check the oil pump as well. STP oil treatment may help reduce the tapping. Always wait for the temp to get to operating temps. Do not push the car over 3000 rpms until the temp is normal.

 

The noise is fairly loud...I guess more of a hammer knock... Tomorrow morning I will try to post a sound clip or short movie clip so you guys can hear the sound.
Oh and it makes the noise once you apply the throttle...not at idle=no sound

Yeah I do use 87 octane but I thought that did matter since it’s not a high performance engine and im certainly not pushing it. As for the oil pump whats the best way to check that?

Thanks so far!

 

put it a quart of lucas engine treatment. that should help alot. sounds to me like you have a main bearing going bad or piston slap.

 

+1

-or-

Your oil pump is probably weak, when the air gets colder, the oil gets thicker and it takes longer to get where it needs to be.


Honda's have lifter's..?

 

There is only one problem with a couple of the theories here. IT DOESN'T HAVE LIFTERS! Double check your valve adjustments and make sure you do it when the engine is cold.

 

Sounds like a rod knock to me.

 

I checked the oil fill cap this morning as soon as I started it and there was oil in the head splashing around. Tried to use a metal pole to distinguish were the sound was coming from, but couldn’t determine it...it almost sounds like a damn rattle spray can when u shake it just not as rapid and much louder. I am definitely going to get a short sound clip this evening when I get off work.