MOBB

Hey guys just bought my 2nd 2nd gen lol this time an 03 NBP TLS. I sold my 00 TL-P because it had a bad piston slap to it, so bad it sounded exactly as a GM product.

So i recently acquired an 03 TLS with a brand new tranny and whole bunch of maintenance done to it at my local acura dealer. There is only one issue that's bothering me with this car is there is a slight Tick that comes from the engine bay on the passenger side in the back. Its mostly heard if you stick your head in the passenger side wheel well. it does it all the time its BARELY noticeable but it still bothers me I want a silent motor.
It's mostly heard when I start the car the TICK is pretty loud for 5 seconds and then it goes down to almost unnoticeable. It doesnt do it on a cold start but only when the engine is warm and settles at 750 rpm if i hit the gas slowly I can tell that the tick goes along with the revving.

My local mechanic told me i'm crazy and that all Honda/Acura engines have noises to them he said it was a totally normal sound. I regret to belive him cuz my dad has an 03 tlp and a freind has an 03 tls and both are Butter smooth silent no valve trane noises whatsoever with my dads motor having 230 000km on it.

Should I be worried?? I checked the symptoms of the purge solenoids but I don't think that's the problem what could it be?

xtremex626

iTrader: (1)

Could be that you just need a valve adjustment. Our cars are known to tick like that.

01tl4tl

hard to believe you had piston slap in an acura engine without running it out of oil~
Use a mechanics stethascope to check out the noises- could be the ac belt tensioner
that makes a horrible noise as it fails

VietNinjaJ30A1

I have this noise on my 00 V6 Accord as well. Someone told me that it could be one of my pulleys...since the sound started after I got my timing belt changed. Sounds like what 01tl4tl could be true for my situation. My ticking sound goes away when I turn off the A/C.

Is the pulley you're talking about the tensioner pulley for the serpentine belt? What exactly is causing it to make this ticking sound? I assume if the sound goes away with the A/C being turned off...it might be something with the A/C system?

fsttyms1

Seeing the noise is on the side you describe as the passenger side i might look into tensioner. Other than that have your valves adjusted.

01tl4tl

the pulley you can see at the top of the engine is the ac tensioner
Its bearing goes out and makes a number of bad noises until complete failure
Very easy to tell with a $4 mechanics stethascope- available at parts stores or harbor freight
Place the tip on the non moving base surface, if its growling its bad
Turning the ac on adds more load to the belt and tensioner so it would make the noise louder
check it out and replace complete unit as needed

01tl4tl

worst case scenario: they replaced the timing belt,, but not its tensioner pulley,
Now that tensioner has failed--critical situation!!
That part doesnt like to go 100k miles at a certain range of motion and pressure, then be released for belt replacement, then called back into max service with new belt.
Many fail at some point after that-20-50k miles
Expecting those parts to last another 100 on top of what they already did is begging for trouble in the form of bent valves---
when a tensioner or idler fails- timing belt breaks! ooops

IMO always replace the timing belt tensioner and all the pullies when doing tbelt/wp job

we now return to topic-
noise- listen with proper tool and diagnose

01tl4tl

my 01 ac belt tensioner noise was diagnosed by dealer at 45k miles, not replaced- another shop did the external belts job at 65 and didnt replace tensioner!!..
then I got the car
finally at 80 is was really bad, went from slightly annoying to oh-no! in a few weeks.

I enjoy the remaining layers of skin on my hands so a local honda shop did the job for me

MOBB

Well the previous owner never believed in oil changes , the car ran fine but the engine just sounded like pots and pans hitting each other, ill look into the tensioner, what you guys said makes sense, and now that i realized my motor is super silent the noise is defiantly comming from somewhere else and it isnt the motor.