Hi folks,

First post here, thanks in advance for any insight

I have a 97 accord se, 2.2l 4cyl SOHC F22B2 - 173,000 miles (bought at 117,000) long term excellent maintenance since ownership always full synthetic mobil 1 oil every 3200 or so and I've seen under the valve cover, no deposits, in excellent shape.

Just recently have noticed a knocking/rattling/vibration sound from the engine at 2200ish to 2900ish when warm, sound does not seem present after cold start.

Here is a sample of the noise!

Memo.m4a

Any ideas?!

 

Clean the EGR ports. See the common diy thread on top of the gen tech help forum. There is a link covering the 94-97 accords on EGR port cleaning.

 

Thanks, I have done that as suggested, but still the noise remains. It sounds mechanical. Seems to increase in 'frequency' in line with rev increase in the 2300 - 3000 range.

Any further ideas would be appreciated.

 

have you adjusted the valves?

 

I hadn't no, since the idle and valve noise seems fine, but it is due a new valve cover gasket. Could mal-adjusted valves cause such a bizarre knocking/rattle?

 

Knocking not really
rattling and ticking - yes

Knocks normally come from the bottom end and not real common on Honda motors

 

I played the audio file and listened closely as you gave gas a little, from what I can tell, the ticking sound is the valves, and high pitch winding sound sounds like an alternator bearing, power steering pump bearing kinda sound maybe coming from the belt perhaps.

What I would do is go and get Prestone Belt dressing, its a small yellow can.
Walmart.com: Prestone Belt Dressing: Automotive

Shake it good and spray it on the inside and outside of the belt while the engine is idling, if the noise gets louder, just put more on until it goes away, it is cleaning out dirt and lube-ing at the same time. It works really well and I love it!!!

For the ticking noise, I would try Marvel Mystery Oil
Walmart.com: Marvel Mystery Oil, 16oz: Automotive

That stuff is amazing, you can add it to gas and oil.

Sometimes you can find it in a 1 gallon size for like $13 or less.
Most places have the Normal Size bottle for like $5 or so.

If I was you and my engine sounded like that, I would put in that Mystery oil and maybe a different type of engine oil. If you use 10W30 go with 10W40 as an example along with that Marvel Mystery Oil. Marvel Mystery Oil is great at making noises go away.