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This thread is absolutely invaluable. I think the advice given here can help a bunch of people, since quick oil change places, and apparently even sometimes the dealer pay little attention to how much oil they put into the car...(which can be a huge problem).

I've determined that the 14% extra oil I put in my car (approximately .5qt.) is probably not enough to damage anything, although when I get the compression test done, I'll try to post the results and let you all know.

Unfortunately, the original reason for my taking the care into the dealer is *still* there -- the ticking. I'm going to get the valves adjusted. Don't know if I'll take it to the dealer now that I've gone through this trouble, but I'm scared of taking it to a mechanic, and I'm terrified of doing it myself

I hear that weird engine noises tend to dissapear after the valve adjustment...that's exactly what I'm looking for.

I REALLY appreciate everybody's help. Thanks again so much!

 
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I always thought those ticking sounds were normal. My car made them since it was new from the factory. But a valve adjustment is always a good idea anyway. Let us know what happens. I would like to see the compression test results as well.

 
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I'll definately update the thread with the results...I don't know how soon I'll be able to take the car in, as I might not have a ride to/from work.

The reason I don't think the sounds are normal is that the sound never existed before...it just suddenly came on one day. I was not very happy that day.

But hopefully it will be done this week.

 
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Lifter?

Sorry, no idea what that is...

 
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Hah.. having alot of oil on your spark plugs(depending on how much is one of the sign of a blow gasket) I thought he also said his car kinda runs sh!tty... and another sign is watery mixture of oil/coolant/water. I've had a co-worker who's had a blown headgasket and plenty of customers at our shop w/ blown head gasket. Sometimes even the spark plugs have a hint of green(depending if you have green anti-freeze or dexcool) and white smoke coming out of your car. So you pwned nothing.

 
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ticking is completely normal. most smaller sized 4 cylinder engines tick, the sound is a combination of lifters, springs and valves doing their jobs. As far as oil being on the spark plugs, the car rolls off the assemly line with a very very thin oil to lubricate the threads of the actual head. It couldnt be a blown head gasket, because that would create enough loss of pressure to trip the CEL.

 
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Just realized that. I thought he meant alot of oil was on his spark plugs.

 
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I've never heard of or seen oil on sparkplugs being an indicator for a blow headgasket. Oil/coolant mix and the corresponding white smoke out the tailpipe, not to mention the compression loss, would be far more reliable indicators. For what it's worth when I changed my plugs I also had oil on one of my plugs - and they were torqued to spec. My intent wasn't to 'pwn' you... That was just me loosely quoting you earlier in the thread ;-)

 
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Last time I had the dealer change my oil, and then they put in too much oil, like 1 inch over the full mark on the dipstick. Then i had to go back not once but twice because those dumbasses "professionals" can't even get the oil level right. I wrote an angry letter to american honda afterwards.

 
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I think he meant rocker arms instead of lifters since our engines have an overhead camshaft.

Having a valve adjustment done can go both ways, it can either decrease the noise of increase it. If done right by a knowledgable mechanic/person it can help, but if not done right it can make things worse.

Maybe its one of your fuel injectors making the noise which is normal. As a suggestion, I'd try to locate where the noise is coming from first then decide what needs to be done.

 
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The verdict is in.

I took the car to the dealer today since they didn't fix my problem the first time. The ticking noise has reached an all time high (maybe it's just driving me completely mad). I asked them to do a compression test on the vehicle (you wouldn't believe what they charged me, either; I'm too embarassed to say I got jipped that bad).

The compression test came back perfectly normal: 170psi+ on each of the cylinders.

However, they had two "master technicians" look at the car, and they said everything looks 100% perfect with the car. The ticking noise, they state, is normal.

I'm not buying it.

The reality is this: the car was absolutely perfect about 6 months ago. No strange sounds. I have very sensitive hearing (which seems to be my undoing this time around, 'eh?), and sounds like this stick out at me like a soar thumb. I drove my car very sparingly for a period of about 5 months...maybe once or twice a week, for a few miles here and there. It seems that one day out of the blue the sounds started occuring.

Now the ticking is significantly worse than it was before.

The Honda technicians say that adjusting the valves would do not good to fix the ticking sound... They state the car is supposed to tick.

Not to start a flame war, but I have a hard time believing if I drove a 2004 Honda Civic, brand new and fresh off the lot, it'd make ticking sounds like this.

Frankly, I believe the dealer did not actually take a good look at the car. This is why I believe that: I called them a 4:30pm asking for the status on the car. They said they had just started to look at the car... I got there at 5:30pm to pick it up. I looked at the receipt and the receipt states the car was done at 5:05pm.

Can a mechanic actually get to the valves to see if they need to be adjusted in 30 minutes?!

Either which way...I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'd really like for this sound to go away. It is driving okay...nothing abnormal anymore. (I guess the oil was causing the sluggishness, and fortunately the compression test came back a-ok). Maybe I should take it to another good mechanic around here and see if they can take a closer look at it.

It's hard to hear the sound unless you're either coming to a stop, or accelerating from a stop. Then you disctinctly hear the sound. I'm pretty sure that the technicians at the dealer did *not* drive the car around to hear the noise. Even my good friend who rarely can hear such sounds from cars heard it when I was driving him around the other day.

What is your take on this? Should I take it to a good mechanic and ask them to adjust the valves anyways? Should I just forget completely about it (not preferred)?

*sigh* Very frustrated!

 
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Have you been able to listen to another 7th gen Civic, perferrably one with a few miles on it? If you're in Ohio, you can listen to mine... it ticks very audibly.

 
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Mine makes a ticking, but it's not very loud and sounds normal. If the compression test came back okay, chances are you don't need a valve adjustment. In most cases, engine noise caused by valves won't be fixed after the adjustment because it's too late.

I bought a $40 compression tester and will be checking mine when I pull the TB in a few weeks. That value seems to be on the high end of the scale. I think the average is 135psi, but your value probably falls into the accepted range.

I wouldn't worry for now as long as the car drives. I've been trying to solve my idle problem for weeks and nobody knows. The dealer says there's a way to adjust the idle speed manually, but they won't tell me. Supposed to be computer controled.

 
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I had the dealer look at my ticking noise and they said its normal. So I had a salesman start up a new 2004 in the lot and i think it did seem to have the same ticking sound, and along with other 7thgen on the street. So if you still don't feel good you can ask the dealer to test drive a new car and see if it has the same sound as you.

 
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i dont know how to say this without sounding like an ***, but those mechanics see these cars every day, id trust their judgement on the subject.

anyways, back to the original topic at hand, its being discussed in this thread as well

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/...c;f=1;t=007359

 
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That's not always true. I was trying to talk to the service guy asking him about tps this and iac that, to adjust my idle. He doesn't seem to understand what I'm saying. Just tells me that the computer controls idle, but that some service guys have changed it somehow. He wouldn't tell me or didn't know.

Then I asked a different guy about tightening the timing belt. He didn't know what it was, so I popped the hood and showed him. The belt has like 2 inches of play almost and the guy feels and says it's nice and tight.

 
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depends on who you speak to. i was referring to the master techs and regular technicians. i dont listen to anyone behind a desk, for example the service manager or the advisor guy/girl. just the ones that touch the cars

 
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Well...the noise still doesn't sound absolutely normal. I have a friend who's been messing with cars all his life and he's gonna take a look and tell me if the valves need adjustment. If that doesn't fix things, then I'll leave it alone.

 
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mine makes the same ****ing ticking noise at the same times if you figure out what it is let me know it sounds like its more on the drivers side i dunno wtf it is i have a 97 btw