I'm going to try to be brief:
I had a ticking sound that I could not pinpoint that started about 5 days ago. This sound was almost like a playing card on a bicycle. It increased/decreased with revs and was audible when the engine was cold or warm. I took it to my trusted mechanic yesterday. I started the car up and, of course, we couldn't hear it. I took him for a little drive and then we could both hear it fine. He got under the car, brought out the stethoscope-like-thing, listening for a while and told me that his best guess was that it was a bearing on a pulley? I don't know if I am describing it correctly: the "pulley" that has the belt driving the alternator, etc... on the front of the engine.
I admit the sound was very hard to hear when the car was stopped, and he said he couldn't be 100% positive. He told me see if it gets louder at all in the next few days to come see him, otherwise he could replace that "pulley" whenever I was ready.
I'm driving my car to a Wendy's last night, 11:30pm so I kind of pull in sharply to the drive-thru intercom and the tick sound gets REALLY LOUD for a few seconds and my oil light kind of flickers on at the same time. I think "Oh $%&*", but it goes right back to normal right after. I felt very hesitant to even drive the car home, but I just kept it under 3k during the 5 min. commute home and prayed that I wasn't hurting the car further. I bring it home, talk to my roommate/handy man, and he wants to listen to it. I go outside (car had been sitting for about 30 min), key in, press button, then a crunch sound and then fired up normal. I shut the car off IMMEDIATELY and deem it not safe to even start.
I check my oil level every time I fill up and it was normal as of 6 days ago. I realize the oil level should have been checked by my mechanic, and considering the symptoms I am just going to do an oil change today and see how it goes.
thoughts???

 

card in bicycle wheel screams timing chain auto-tensioner, located on the left of the head near the front top. You will want to replace this soon, but it probably won't blow up for awhile I believe this is generally louder after cold start. I can't comment on the crunch noise.

 

^ Does the Chain Auto Tensioner ever throw a oil light thought?

 

oh I didn't catch that part. forget the tensioner. check the oil and report back. or if you change it, try to see if there are metallic particles in it. metal parts don't like moving without oil.. they get cranky and break

 

If it idles down too far, you might see the oil light flicker. Might be worth cutting open the old oil filter and seeing what kind of crap it caught. If you see a bunch of metal in there, that's not good.

 

You may have a second problem, that being the oil pressure. Why is it getting so low? What kind and grade of oil are your using? The cam chain tensioner is oil pressure dependent. If you have low oil pressure, it can be more audible, but this doesn't mean the tensioner is not a problem. It could merely mean you have two problems. First, find out why your oil light flickers (low oil pressure). I've had my engine do the dipping idle thing (normal) and have never had the oil light come on. Either you are using too light a grade of oil or your oil pump is not working right or there is some blockage in the oil system or your are LOW ON OIL LEVEL.

 

I did my oil change yesterday and to say the least... I am a bit embarrassed. After the oil change my roommate and I filled up the old quart bottles with the old engine oil. This came to a grand total of a little less than a quart and a half!! Now, I'm sure that there couldn't be THAT much residual oil left in the engine, being that I jacked the right side of the car down a bit to make sure I got the most out of the engine that I possibly could. I started the car up and sure enough there was no crunch, the ticking sound completely gone, and everything feels as normal as it should. I did check the old oil for any metal pieces and found nothing. I believe that I am extremely lucky to not have any terminal damage to the engine, and realize that my inability to check my engine oil correctly must be corrected. Thanks for replies!

 

If that's all that came out, that's all that was in there just before you did the oil change. You were down at least 4 quarts!!!!!! This would explain all the things you observed. Oil starvation is one of the main causes of engine termination. If there was any damage as a result of this, it will be permanent. Honda does recommend that you check oil level at EVERY gas tank fill.
Although your engine may now run fine, it is uncertain just how much wear and tear this event has had on the long term lifespan of it. Only time will tell.

 

Hmm so, you might need a motor now? There seems to be a rash of this in the last couple days.

 

I feel like I am up for a Darwin award. I checked for metal shavings in the oil and the engine DOES run like perfect, but like xviper said, I guess only time will tell. Is there any way to check for even minimal engine wear without tearing apart the engine? Are there any oil additives that I should look into? Thanks again...