"Piston slap" / diesel sound in '94 Accord
 

I've been Googling for info about my '94 Accord EX 4-cyl VTEC sounding like
a diesel engine, especially when cold. I found lots of references to it, and
even discovered a term that was new to me: "piston slap."

Possible solutions include valve adjustment, piston adjustments, getting a
new short block, etc. All good, but a number of the posts suggest that this
noise is indicative of engines that haven't been well cared for. My car has
133,000 miles on it, is on its third timing belt, has had regular oil
changes (every 3K miles, and sometimes less) and basically every time it
farts in the wrong direction I take it to the mechanic.

So is this diesel sound, or piston slap, merely a characteristic of this
particular model car? (The vast majority of the posts relate to my
generation Accord.) It's really a rather rude sound to come from such a
wonderfully engineered engine, but I will live with it if need be. The car
performs as fine as it ever did and my gas mileage is excellent. I just want
to know what you guys think. Thanks for your input.

I thought the 'piston slap' was caused from those driver that would load a
cold engine without giving it a chance to warm up. (e.g. driving off smartly
immediately after starting the car in the morning without letting it idle
for a minuet).

Pars


"Dee" > wrote in message
...
> I've been Googling for info about my '94 Accord EX 4-cyl VTEC sounding
like
> a diesel engine, especially when cold. I found lots of references to it,
and
> even discovered a term that was new to me: "piston slap."
>
> Possible solutions include valve adjustment, piston adjustments, getting a
> new short block, etc. All good, but a number of the posts suggest that
this
> noise is indicative of engines that haven't been well cared for. My car
has
> 133,000 miles on it, is on its third timing belt, has had regular oil
> changes (every 3K miles, and sometimes less) and basically every time it
> farts in the wrong direction I take it to the mechanic.
>
> So is this diesel sound, or piston slap, merely a characteristic of this
> particular model car? (The vast majority of the posts relate to my
> generation Accord.) It's really a rather rude sound to come from such a
> wonderfully engineered engine, but I will live with it if need be. The car
> performs as fine as it ever did and my gas mileage is excellent. I just
want
> to know what you guys think. Thanks for your input.
>
>
>
>
>

How long does the noise last after starting engine?

Professor
Check out FlashAlert at www.telstar-electronics.com

Dee wrote:
> I've been Googling for info about my '94 Accord EX 4-cyl VTEC sounding like
> a diesel engine, especially when cold. I found lots of references to it, and
> even discovered a term that was new to me: "piston slap."<SNIP>I just want
> to know what you guys think. Thanks for your input.
>
--------------------

It's fairly common, same for Odyssey. Nothing you can do, but find a
sticker that says DIESEL and put it on the back of the trunk. People
will stare, and really wonder where you imported it from . . . Just
smile wisely . . :-)

'Curly'

A very loose spark plug will make a knocking sound, shortly before it
pops out. At least mine did.

If it is any consolation, my 97 makes the same noise. I believe it is
in the same engine series as yours. I also have a 90 and had a 82 and
the noise used to bother me because it is so un- Honda like compared
to them. But it has 143K miles on it and it hasn't come apart on me
yet.

On Fri, 01 Jul 2005 06:07:57 GMT, "Dee" > wrote:

>I've been Googling for info about my '94 Accord EX 4-cyl VTEC sounding like
>a diesel engine, especially when cold. I found lots of references to it, and
>even discovered a term that was new to me: "piston slap."
>
>Possible solutions include valve adjustment, piston adjustments, getting a
>new short block, etc. All good, but a number of the posts suggest that this
>noise is indicative of engines that haven't been well cared for. My car has
>133,000 miles on it, is on its third timing belt, has had regular oil
>changes (every 3K miles, and sometimes less) and basically every time it
>farts in the wrong direction I take it to the mechanic.
>
>So is this diesel sound, or piston slap, merely a characteristic of this
>particular model car? (The vast majority of the posts relate to my
>generation Accord.) It's really a rather rude sound to come from such a
>wonderfully engineered engine, but I will live with it if need be. The car
>performs as fine as it ever did and my gas mileage is excellent. I just want
>to know what you guys think. Thanks for your input.
>
>
>
>

Thanks for all the input.

It goes away SOME after the engine idles down after warm-up, but does it
pretty much all the time, just louder when the engine is cold. I take it
easy on the engine when it's cold, letting it warm up before driving.

Dee wrote:
> Thanks for all the input.
>
> It goes away SOME after the engine idles down after warm-up, but does it
> pretty much all the time, just louder when the engine is cold. I take it
> easy on the engine when it's cold, letting it warm up before driving.
>
-----------------------

You're supposed to warm it up WHILE you drive it. Read the Fine manual.
Save fuel, reduce pollution, make engine last longer.

'Curly'

"Dee" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for all the input.
>
> It goes away SOME after the engine idles down after warm-up, but does it
> pretty much all the time, just louder when the engine is cold. I take it
> easy on the engine when it's cold, letting it warm up before driving.
>

I've got 240,000km on my 1998 DX Engine which has been used hard (in city
delivery, redlines and hustling at 170km/hr across the city is norm). My car
doesn't exhibit any piston slap issue (even in the winter), In fact it has a
smoother startup then my wife's 2000 DX Engine (and that engine only has
70,000km on it). There's two things I can attribute to the favorable
results, one being the life time use of Mobil-1 oil (started at 30,000km)
and letting the engine warm up before going hard on it. I recently switched
my wife's car to Mobil-1 0w20 and she's seen drastic improvements in fuel
economy as a result. It might be worthwhile to switch to the synthetic oil,
which helps with lubrication during cold startup (and flows better which is
an extra insurance if the problem is an actual engine defect). If you do
decide to go synthetic, let us know if it reduces the noise level of the
'piston slap'.

Pars

Pars wrote:
> "Dee" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Thanks for all the input.
>>
>>It goes away SOME after the engine idles down after warm-up, but does it
>>pretty much all the time, just louder when the engine is cold. I take it
>>easy on the engine when it's cold, letting it warm up before driving.
>>
>
>
> I've got 240,000km on my 1998 DX Engine which has been used hard (in city
> delivery, redlines and hustling at 170km/hr across the city is norm). My car
> doesn't exhibit any piston slap issue (even in the winter), In fact it has a
> smoother startup then my wife's 2000 DX Engine (and that engine only has
> 70,000km on it). There's two things I can attribute to the favorable
> results, one being the life time use of Mobil-1 oil (started at 30,000km)
> and letting the engine warm up before going hard on it. I recently switched
> my wife's car to Mobil-1 0w20 and she's seen drastic improvements in fuel
> economy as a result. It might be worthwhile to switch to the synthetic oil,
> which helps with lubrication during cold startup (and flows better which is
> an extra insurance if the problem is an actual engine defect). If you do
> decide to go synthetic, let us know if it reduces the noise level of the
> 'piston slap'.
>
> Pars
>
>
you definitely have a point regarding oil quality affecting engine
noise. running ford oem 5w-30 in my civic, the motor sounded like it
was five fourth's ready to die. putting it back onto castrol gtx, she
quieted right up again.