I recently had my cam cover powder coated.

pic(sorry for size)



After some other recent mods (AEM UEGO, Berk decat, Oil cooler and filter relocation, battery relocation, removing air con and other non-essential items such as secondary air pump) we finally got round to starting her up this afternoon.

Car started straight away, no issues. A few little things to check such as no oil leaks - everything seems fine. then all of a sudden there is a light ticking noise, that gets gradually worse over say 30 to 60 seconds to a very loud, read: horrible noise almost like severe knocking.

I switched the car off straight away, and started to strip the cam cover off to check everything out. It appears that the top dead centre sensor on my passenger side (american drivers side) has been touching the cam gear on the inside and has ground it away.

This was very alarming, as had it been any further in could have really caused some damage. there is a light 'grinding' of the cam gear end (not sure the specific name, its the end of the cam?) and a hole in the sensor itself.

Low and behold, plugging the laptop in and checking error codes it came up with TDC errors.

Now onto my questions. First off, has anyone else heard of or experienced this problem with painted covers? the reason we believe its the cover is that upon loosening the sensor while the engine is ticking over, the noise goes away and you can feel that its not touching - so its only every so slightly touching.

Secondly, would a TDC error code (will get exact ones shortly) stop the car from revving over roughly 3k rpm? Upon testing we attempted to rev the car and it would hold and sort of cutout while blipping the throttle on its own?

Any help is appreciated. its a 2005 AP1 model with 29k miles.

 

I am delighted to see someone else knows the difference between a cam cover (that which covers OHC engines) and valve covers (which cover OHV engines). It is amazing how many in this club don't know the difference. I guess if all you have been around is American V8s, everything else must also have OHV's. But refer to a "valve cover" in the company of the owner of an Alfa, Ferrari, BMW, and knowledgable S2K owners and you will be quickly rebuked...

 

The official term by Honda is cylinder head cover.

But nonetheless, the only way the TDC sensor could hit is if the gasket is missing or overly squished , which would lower the cover beyond intended use. I have used a couple of painted covers and I can't see the cover causing the issue as they would add extra height to the sensor if anything, not decreased height.

Torque spec on the cover bolts is 8.7 ft lbs which is almost nothing, how tight did you put it on ?, did you install the rubber gasket that goes at the base of the cover (just checking). The TDC sensors are the same parts so you can't mix them up, I can't think of anything else that could cause this. The cover must be lowered too much causing the sensor to hit, unless the sensor was broken in some manner and dropped down, but that would be hard to do.

 

Thanks for the quick replies

Ive only ever known it as the cam cover? lol.

The gasket is on, and doesnt appear to be squished. I didnt use any specific torque settings, but they werent overly tight.

The reason I think its decreased height, is because we specifically asked for certain parts to be masked up before paint. Our reasoning would be that its been blasted to get the old paint off and masked up before the new paint, hence it being slightly 'lower' sitting? I had thought maybe I had mixed them up however as you say they are identical.

Its the sensor on the top right side, if you are stood at the front looking into the engine bay, that has caught. As soon as we loosened the bolt and moved it every so slightly it stopped and was fine, no noise, but the damage had already been done.

 

The cover cannot be torqued too tight and make it lower. The 5 chrome washers bottom out on the 5 tower bolts.

The sensor in question bolts from the side. If the cover were lower, you would think the RIGHT side would hit, as it is mounted straight down.

 

well that is very odd, I have no other suggestions but to check with the fellas who sold it to you.

 

who cares...everyone calls it a "honda motor" when its technically an engine.

OP: pics? How much of it is ground down? was there a gasket on the TDC sensor you might be missing? also, any chances of the cam caps being slightly loose allowing play on the cam + rubbing? Not sure if it'll throw any other code if it were..

 

I will take some pics in the morning and post up. Seems an interesting one anyway, im trying to source a standard/new cover to do some comparisons and tests with and ill also take pics of the sensors so you can see whats happened.

We had to leave the workshop early otherwise would have done a bit more.

Thanks for all the input. My research is leading me to believe that a faulty TDC sensor will cause the car not to rev over 3k which answers my other question

 

Technically the valves are in the head as well, so IMO there is nothing wrong with calling it a valve cover... Sorry for getting off topic.

 

as promised, here are 3 pictures. the first is of the cam gear where it has touched the sensor, the second of the sensor itself and the 3rd of the cam cover.

any more ideas or questions on this would be appreciated