I have recently been noticing that when I first start my car that for about 30 seconds it will rattle under the hood. It seems to be coming from the valve cover. The dealership has given me the run around and made a few mistakes already when trying to diagnose it. I have realized having an extended warranty with a crap dealership is basically like not having one at all. So I was just wondering if anyone has any idea what this is. I keep the oil topped off and the only thing that I can logically think of is maybe an oil feed problem to the top of the engine and the valves making noise from lack of oil at start.

Just incase anyone was curious what the mistakes were the dealership decided the engine was a quart low and decided to throw a court of 20w 50w into my engine with the rest being 10w 30w full synthetic. I'm not sure this is that big of a deal but I figure it is not as good of protection as having all full synthetic. So they made me pay for 6 new quarts of mobile one to change it and comped the labor. So I basically hate them for making me pay for their mistake. Also they previously installed a tow harness for the previous owner and botched the wiring for the tail light which is now shorting and wont warranty their work. So they aren't on my good side right now and all the arguing in the world wont get me anywhere with them.

 

Mine rattled as well. I found the source to to be the exhaust header heat shield.

 

Turns out it was coming from the timing chain tensioner failing. I guess it was the sound of the timing chain rattling against the case. I'm thinking that was probably affecting the car's performance. So yeah after a lot of arguing and a service manager getting involved warranty coverage is finally coming into play and my car is being repaired and the oil is being changed with all brand new oil.

 

If they could figure out the oil situation (20W50? ), are you sure you want them doing something (like the tensioner) that requires the use some intellegence? I can just imagine them doing it wrong, the tensioner not working, the cams not timed right and a valve getting schmucked by a piston. Do you think you'll have any better luck arguing with them to get a new engine?

 

Damn that stealership sucks.

 

You beat me to it

I've done 10+ chain tensioners so far, all for rattling/ratcheting type of noise.

While I was at the New Hope run, I heard a few more bad ones in the distance at startup in the parking lot.

BTW, this is a very simple fix....Even someone who is just into brake pad changing can DIY.

 

1200 dollars for the 15 hour tear down of my engine is going to be, because of my timing chain tensior sigh! Mine is at Honda for that problem now!

 

You know the timing chain tensioner is 150 bucks, and can be changed in 5 minutes.

 

billman250- Is there an updated unit that one should be ordering? Part number? Or do they just fail frequently and should be replaced?

 

xviper and billman250,
I could use your advice here. I have the same kind of rattle on my 01. It only seems to happen on start up and lasts until the engine has warmed up to 3 bars.

This has happened since the car was new. .I was concerned about and I had my dealer (Northwest Honda in Owings Mills, MD) listen to it. The service guy said it was normal because it's an all aluminum engine, that's just what they do.

I'm at 78,500 and have the 100,000 warranty. Is this something I can get the dealer to change under warranty? How bad of a problem is this (or could become)? Did my dealer lie to me (or was ignorant)? Is this timing chain tensioner a common problem w/ S2ks?

Thanks,
Warren