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Hi, anyone know if a rattling sound, similar to a soft sound of a diesel engine, is normal or not and what causes it. People tell me it's normal, but I know for a fact that the engine sounded quieter a few years back (it's an '05 civic). Also I have this annoying belt squeal/screech which happens under 3 conditions: when it gets wet, when i drive the car off on a cold start, and mainly when i start up the a/c or sometimes just the fan blower on a cold engine and a hint of squeak on a warmed up engine during the initial acceleration from a stop or a red light. If the engine is still not hot enough, the squeak proceeds into a long ear soaring high pitched screach and continues until either i rev out the throttle into the higher rpms (about 4 or 5K and up) or shut the a/c and/or blower off. I had the belt changed 10,000 miles ago and it's still in excellent condition. I had the problem at first and I had my friend readjust the tension for a possibility that tension was the cause, but not at all. I even tried spraying a lubricant to the pulley, and still no improvement. Any suggestions on this? I had this car since 2005 when it was purchased new. I maintained the car in an ok condition, I haven't really taken care of it so much in the filter department (ie intake filter/a/c filter), but it had an oil change on a regular basis, coolant flush every year, a few new hoses that leaked, new radiator which also leaked, a few new thermostats 2 due to overheading (1 from rad leak, 1 from faulty rad cap that exploded). New clutch cylinder, new slave cyl, new spark plugs (genuine honda). But never changed the a/c filter since it's purchase, and the intake filter hasn't been changed since some 3 years i think. I'll change these tomorrow and repost to be sure, but i don't hitnk that that's the problem for the sqeal/screach belt noise, it's definitely something to do with the a/c or a compressor...I'm lost in that department, some feedback is greatly appreciated. By the way the a/c works fairly well, but takes a bit to kick in in super hot weather, and i don't think it's as cold as it used to be. Any thoughts on this issue as well? Is there any connection between the problems aside form the engine noise?
Sorry for so much detail, I'm just getting my car back together and first want to restore it to it's original condition and then play around with it. Thanx in advance!

 
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Have you tried running it with the hood open and you over the engine? It could be the valves needing adjustment to bent valves...

 
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That's what I was thinking. Funny how mechanics just let it go and say "oh it's just honda, they all sound like that" but never give the reason to why. Speaking of valve timing, I think my buddy did mention something about adjusting the valves. It's noisey with the hood open, it even has a slight shake to it.

 
Rep Power: 194

does any one know if adjusting the valves worked to make the squeeking stop?

 
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My car squeeked shifting out of first gear at >4000 rpm.. I don't have any more squeekage after I did my valve clearance adjustment

 
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im very new at the whole civic thing lol
how would i go about doing a valve clearance adjustment? any tips?
my brother has a 6th gen civic and hes good. i can probably get him to help me
but he doesnt know this motor very well.

 
Rep Power: 511

I used this guide.
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...djustment.html
As for tips, take your time, make sure you're able to figure out how you're supposed to do it. And pick up a haynes manual to help out a little bit.

An easy way to figure out TDC for all cylinders is to take out your spark plugs, set #1 cylinder @ TDC using the cam gear/crank pulley, grab a 1/4" dowel, put it in the spark plug tube until it touches the piston, mark where the top of the spark plug tube is on the dowel. After finishing that, you've just made yourself a cylinder TDC indicator. (I have to give credit to speedfoos for that tidbit of knowledge)

 
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thank you for that haha i was looking for just that.
ill still wait for my brother lol.
was it hard for you?

 
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Took me about 5 hours in my driveway.. About 3 hours of actual work, 1 hour of figuring out how the hell to actually do it, 1 hour lunch break.. I found out that TDC indicator stick method a couple days after I did it. I am fairly mechanically inclined, though. My dad came up to me when I was in the middle of it and had a look on his face that seemed to say "oh my god, do you know what you're doing..?" lol

It's not terribly hard, just time consuming. Also, you're supposed to perform it when the cylinder head is <100ºF, and it took a long time to cool down seeing as how I was working in 105º heat. If you leave it overnight in a garage, it should work out well. I had to move my car to have the clearance to get to the crank pulley bolt access hole, so I moved my car as fast as I could (from a starting cylinder head temp of 90º), and that still made the cylinder head temperature raise to 110º.. I was using an infrared thermometer to check the temperature (bought at sears for.. 30 bucks..).

 
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god damn lol do i really need to buy that? im in about 95 degree weather and my car is in the shade. i'll most likely do this tmrw morning.

 
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Nah, you don't have to buy one. I bought it a long time ago because my car was misfiring bad, so I got it to get my header runner temps, to see if there was a significant difference in temps from cylinder to cylinder. I just put the 30 bucks down to let you know it was fairly cheap. You do need a set of feeler gauges if you don't have any.

 
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haha that i do need. will they let me borrow one at autozone? my brother always borrows tools with a deposit.

 
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The valve clearance is an easy job actually. Not to sure if the d or b series adjustment is the same as a k but you do the cylinders in the order of 1,4,3,2. All you do is take valce cover off which is easy then you turn the crank to cylinder 1 TDC. Thats when you do the cylinder 1 intake and exhaust valves. Get the feeler guages that is required and loosen the lock nut then use a flat head screwdriver to turn it till the feeler guage can barely move. Do that to the intake and exhuast valves to there specs. Then rotate the crank 180 degree and do the 4th cylinder. After that rotate the crank again 180 degree and do the 3rd cylinder. And finally do the 2nd cylinder by rotating the crank again 180 degrees and then when done check all the valve clearances to be sure and then put everything back on and your done.

 
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i read the whole valve clearance adjustment diy and it said nothing about 1432 plus it was adressed in the comments below the diy post. there is no need.

 
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It's actually 1-3-4-2

If you download the actual PDF in that DIY guide, it tells you the order of how to do the valve clearance adjustment (page 9). Like 02civicsi02 mentioned, you set #1 cylinder @tdc, do the valve adjustment, rotate the crank pulley 180º CCW, then that sets #3 cylinder @tdc. Valve adjustment, rotate crak pulley 180º, #4 @ tdc, rinse and repeat, #2 cylinder @tdc..

 
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alright i'll do just that. thanks

 
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When I did mine, I had Grey's DIY guide (just the first post) printed out, and the PDF file printed out.

there are some more tips in this thread: https://www.civicforums.com/forums/7...-few-tips.html

 
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Yupp your right its 1,3,4,2. I had the 4th and 3rd cylinders backwards up there lol my bad. But ya you have to do it in that order. With your motor the 1st cylinder is the one on the drivers side. With my motor its on the passenger cause mine is backwards.