my engine knocks louder when its cold or just in general even when its warmed up. it usually disappears after about 2000 rpm while driving, but it is noticeable at idle. i adjusted teh valves yesterday, it got a bit quieter, but its still there, plus it seems kind of difficult to locate exactly where its coming from on the engine. any help would be appreciated.

also, i adjusted the valves yesterday and they were quite tight through the feeler gauge, should i have losened them a bit? i ended up just tightening the loose ones a bit. what happens if u leave them too tight?

 

PS- i searched it. it seems no one else has knocking issue at idle, so im preety confused.

 

Yes TL has valves knocking issue at idle and Acura did suggest a valves adjustment if need after 90k miles . My 02 TL-p has 70k miles and a light knocking at idle .
To adjust the valves you need to get to TDC then adjust them .Did you turn the to TDC ?

 

My 2 motors are silent.

And yes there is a procedure to adjusting the valves. you cant just pop the covers off and adjust them all at once

 

You will need to adjust them in a group of 2 or 3 I don't remember exactly. Then turn the crank pulley to TDC and adjust the next group.

 

[QUOTE=fsttyms1]My 2 motors are silent.

And yes there is a procedure to adjusting the valves. you cant just pop the covers off and adjust them all at once[/QUOTE

is their a DYI on valve adjusting?

 

yes i did follow the TDC procedure by turning the crank pulley. fsttyms1 posted the helms manual pages on a previous thread. my question is that i dont think its the valves. loose valves make noise, not tight ones, although i am gonna redo them because they are fairly tight. what else could it be? are the TL's known to have piston slap or anything like that?

 

Not that I know of. You may have a flex plate cracking. The auto Hondas have a flex plate instead of a flywheel, and the starter actually engages the torque converter.

When a flex plate is cracked you can hear sounds like piston slap. If you let it go too long it will break all of the way and leave you stranded.

Get it inspected by a competant mechanic.

 

what is a flex plate and where is it located?

 

like stated before, are you sure its the motor and not the purge selonoid or the fuel injectors? Are motors arent typically noisy and you are one of the first complaining about it. maybe the sound is coiming from the bottom end?

 

A flex plate is how the engine hooks up to the transmission. (located on the PTO side of the engine - in the bell housing)

It's not uncommon for them to crack.

 

A flex plate is how the torque converter gets conected to the motor. Its located between the tranny and motor. (ive got 2 of them laying around )

 

where is the purge solenoid located? it does sound like it comes from fuel injector area though. is there any way to fix them or do they have to be replaced? i'll check n see if its coming from the tranny area, but i doubt it.

it mostly sounds like its coming from the fuel injector/ valve lash area. do ticking fuel injectors constantly tick at idle, and louder when cold? the noise disappears after 2000RPM when warm and around 4000RPM when cold.

 

okay so i narrowed the noise down to the fuel injector area/ valve cover area of the back 3 cylinders. I'm preety sure its not the valves because i tried to unplug each spark plug coil one at a time and it made no difference (if it would have).

anyways, has anyone had any issues with abnormally loud fuel injectors? its hard to hear them because the intake manifold is right above them. Is it okay to try and unplug one at a time to see if the noise stops?

and i have took it to various dealerships, the answers range anywhere between valve adjustments to piston slap. (apparently piston slap is common on our cars and "normal")


if its not valves or fuel injectors, what else could it be up there? i bought this car used and dont know what gas the previous owner used. can regular gas wreck these injectors? I only use premium.

 

anyone?

 

Have you tried using a Mechanic's Stethoscope? This is probably your fastest way on pin pointing where exactly the problem is.

 

the purge selonoid is on the firewall and does do it more while ideling.

good suggestion

But be warned that you may hear things you never heard before and will question more (if you arent trained to the different sounds parts make)

 

How does one replace a flex plate? Is it possible for a flex plate to make noise when reving the engine in park? My Accord's making a sound that sounds like a slapping piston. It happens more when the car has been driven for a while. Car has 206k miles on it and I don't want to lose her. . :-)

 

ill see if i can find a mechanics stethoscope. but what are the chances fuel injectors will be loud like that? and louder when they're cold?

 

i highly doubt its the flex plate. You have to remove the tranny to do it

 

Its not out of the ordinary to hear ful injector pulses (which make a ticking noise) me expedition does it and ive heard many other cars do it also

 

There's nothing worse than trying to help diagnose a sound over the Internet via typying!

 

Yes. That sound can be caused by a cracked flex plate. They happen more often than you think. If there is an inspection hole on the bell housing, open it up and tap on the flex plate with a screwdriver. If it's cracked - it'll sound like it's cracked and make an odd vibrating metallic noise.

Flex plates always crack around the center - where they're bolted to the engine.

 

 

i know--too bad acura techs dont know as much as the people on these forums

 

Hi guys
Pretty new to acura and this site,I read varunverma tick noise thread from june 06 and this describes my problem.does anyone know how or what was wrong

 

Hi guys
Pretty new to acura and this site,I read varunverma23 tick noise thread from june 06 and this describes my problem.does anyone know how or what was wrong

 

Adjusting the valves is kind of an art. If you can get the feeler gage in there, then it's not too tight.
The valves will still make noise with the plug wire disconnected.
The injectors always make noise, you just can't hear it except around idle because everything else makes more noise.

 

Welcome to the forum.

Well if it is indeed the valves, you should bring it in, and have them adjusted. Its highly possible the noise your hearing is the purge control solenoid. Its located towards the firewall and can be heard inside the car. They do tend to be noisy on the TL. It doesnt mean any thing is wrong nor will it cause any damage if it is the purge solenoid.

 

Thankyou for the advice,is it possible to disconnect the purge valve as to temporarily soften the noise for diagnostic purposes

 

?? never tired it. Its small and located to the left of the brake master cylinder. I dont remember if it has a wire harness going to it or not that you could unplug to see if that would stop it?