Hydraulic Lifter Tapping?

[Clegko]

Hi all. I've got a 94 Honda Accord with a 2.2 I4 engine with VTEC (just kicked in, yo?) and there is a slight tapping coming from under the hood when I first start it up, and when it idles. I've been told that it's one of my hydraulic lifters tapping, and I was wanting to know of some cheap, quick fixes for it. The car has 180k miles on it, and I assume that this may have something to do with it.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Oh bugger, I clicked the wrong sub-forum. If a mod could be so kind as to move this for me, please?

 

[British_Rover]

Have you changed the oil recently? A lot of times a tap like that is just a bit of dirt stuck in the lifter and a fresh oil change or two will clean it out. You could also try one of those commercial engine flushes that you can buy at most autoparts stores. Be careful about those though as sometimes they can cause more damage then they fix. I would change the oil and filter first and see if that works.

If it doesn't then put the flush in after putting on another fresh oil filter. Run the engine at idle for 10-15 minutes then change the oil all over again with another filter.

If that doesn't work then you probably need to have someone actually open up the valve train and repair the damaged lifter.

 

[GM_IV]

Hi all. I've got a 94 Honda Accord with a 2.2 I4 engine with VTEC (just kicked in, yo?) and there is a slight tapping coming from under the hood when I first start it up, and when it idles. I've been told that it's one of my hydraulic lifters tapping, and I was wanting to know of some cheap, quick fixes for it. The car has 180k miles on it, and I assume that this may have something to do with it.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Oh bugger, I clicked the wrong sub-forum. If a mod could be so kind as to move this for me, please?

You technically don't have to replace your hydraulic lifters if you don't mind the tapping noise. I've been running my car with one or more lifters non functioning, waiting for a good deal so I can buy 12 to cover all my valves and not worry about it for a long time.

 

[thedguy]

I honestly wouldn't worry about it. Mazda's are notorious for lifter tick, many bmw's have it too. If it's extremely loud and harsh then you have a problem.

You could try playing with oil thickness. with that many miles it's probably a good idea to throw a little thicker oil in the motor anyway. My miata had some nasty tick with 5w20, 10w30 (and 40), and 15w50. When I started mixing 10w30 with some 15w50 the tick has gone away except on start up and for a few moments on idle.

 

[AltimaXX]

I'm fairly sure you don't have hydraulic lifters...You can adjust the valves on most Hondas fairly easily yourself, as well. I'm not too familiar with F22's, but I'll try to find a writeup on adjusting the valves if you're interested.
FWIW, most Hondas' valves tap a little bit all the time.

 

[Spectre]

Another fix if you're close to oil change time and do not want to chance an engine oil flush is to change the oil and substitute one quart of Mobil 1 Synthetic oil, which may help clear out the lifter and get it to pump up at idle.

 

[AltimaXX]

It's a popular quick-fix in the Mazda community to use a quart of automatic transmission fluid with an oil change, as well. I know that it worked wonders with my Mazda KL. However, again I'm 99% certain that F22's do not have hydraulic lifters...the valve lash just needs to be manually adjusted.

 

[GRtak]

Another fix if you're close to oil change time and do not want to chance an engine oil flush is to change the oil and substitute one quart of Mobil 1 Synthetic oil, which may help clear out the lifter and get it to pump up at idle.

It is not a good idea to put in full synthetic oil into an engine that old. The synthetic oil is so much thinner than regular oil and it can start leaking past gaskets and seals. However you can switch to semi-synthetic oil which will do the same thing. There are also oils that are made for older engines that may also be worth a look.

Also, buy a manual or go to the library and have a look at one there.

 

[Spectre]

Wow.... that's just so much bravo sierra it's not even funny.

Synthetic oil is not "much thinner" than regular oil. If it was, why would it have the same API weight rating, as determined in a laboratory? Yes, it can leak past gaskets and seals, but the reason it does so is not because it's "thinner". If anything, under heat, the synthetic base stocks don't thin down as badly as the conventional base stocks.

The semi-synth oil is not as detergent and will not usually clear out a sticky lifter by itself, as proven by *many* people with elderly Honda V6s and Nissan VG30s (including me).

There are oils for older engines that are quite efficacious in keeping them from wearing and reconditioning seals - but likewise, they will not clean out a lifter. My ~250,000 mile old Nissan Pathfinder has a "lazy" lifter on the middle cylinder on the passenger side; doing an all Valvoline MaxLife oil change means that the thing will complain for 5 minutes after starting the car. Swapping out one quart of MaxLife for one quart of SynPower or Mobil 1 makes it shut up at the same time as all the other lifters pump up - about 3-5 seconds after start.

 

[Nocturnal]

The Mazda rattle is actually hydraulic lash adjusters ('HLA clatter'), the engines way of signalling it is due for an oil change.

 

[GRtak]

Wow.... that's just so much bravo sierra it's not even funny.

Synthetic oil is not "much thinner" than regular oil. If it was, why would it have the same API weight rating, as determined in a laboratory? Yes, it can leak past gaskets and seals, but the reason it does so is not because it's "thinner". If anything, under heat, the synthetic base stocks don't thin down as badly as the conventional base stocks.

The semi-synth oil is not as detergent and will not usually clear out a sticky lifter by itself, as proven by *many* people with elderly Honda V6s and Nissan VG30s (including me).

There are oils for older engines that are quite efficacious in keeping them from wearing and reconditioning seals - but likewise, they will not clean out a lifter. My ~250,000 mile old Nissan Pathfinder has a "lazy" lifter on the middle cylinder on the passenger side; doing an all Valvoline MaxLife oil change means that the thing will complain for 5 minutes after starting the car. Swapping out one quart of MaxLife for one quart of SynPower or Mobil 1 makes it shut up at the same time as all the other lifters pump up - about 3-5 seconds after start.

My point was that switching to synthetic oils has the possiblity to cause some problems, ie leaking gaskets/seals. And you are right, conventional oils do become thinner at high temps. That is because synthetic oils are more stable across their operating temps and remain much closer to their original viscosity(thickness) througout. So my statement stands. And you meant SAE rating not API.

Have you not been laid lately, or do you get to much caffine? Either way, chill out.

 

[Spectre]

Nah. You just became my new hobby in my slack times at work, that's all.

You must admit that you provide plenty of opportunity in the form of your "statements", though...

 

[tigger]

I'll attest to running a quart or two of synthetic to quiet lifters in high-mileage engines. My old C10 had a couple lifters that would tap nearly until the engine warmed up (when running straight dino oil). I ran full synthetic through it for a while, the gaskets didn't like that too much so I switched to synthetic-conventional blends. That really cut down on lifter noise, and the engine was still going strong at 300k miles when the rest of the truck died.

Oh and a good way to deal with leaky gaskets;
1. Replace them.
2. Run synthetic.
3. ???
4. Profit!

Wow.... that's just so much bravo sierra it's not even funny.

"Bravo Sierra"

 

[British_Rover]

Wow.... that's just so much bravo sierra it's not even funny.

Synthetic oil is not "much thinner" than regular oil. If it was, why would it have the same API weight rating, as determined in a laboratory? Yes, it can leak past gaskets and seals, but the reason it does so is not because it's "thinner". If anything, under heat, the synthetic base stocks don't thin down as badly as the conventional base stocks.

The semi-synth oil is not as detergent and will not usually clear out a sticky lifter by itself, as proven by *many* people with elderly Honda V6s and Nissan VG30s (including me).

There are oils for older engines that are quite efficacious in keeping them from wearing and reconditioning seals - but likewise, they will not clean out a lifter. My ~250,000 mile old Nissan Pathfinder has a "lazy" lifter on the middle cylinder on the passenger side; doing an all Valvoline MaxLife oil change means that the thing will complain for 5 minutes after starting the car. Swapping out one quart of MaxLife for one quart of SynPower or Mobil 1 makes it shut up at the same time as all the other lifters pump up - about 3-5 seconds after start.

Ahh specter beat me too it. I ran and/or worked at a shop for nearly 10 years where about 50% of our revenue came from fluid changes. There is no problem using synthetic in an older motor as long as the engine is tight and clean. The synthetic oil will clean out most of the sludge in the engine including the lifters and sometimes that sludge is what is keeping the old dried out gaskets from leaking.

The sludge builds up in the engine around the gaskets and the gaskets start to dry out because of that. The dry gaskets start to shrink and get brittle then the synthetic comes along and cleans out the gunk/sludge. After that you get oil leaks from the dried/cracked gaskets. If the engine is using the most modern gaskets and not ancient cork gaskets then the chances of this happening are much less.