"Clicking" noise from '94 Civic motor. Not quite a knock though.
 

Hey guys, I've owned my Civic for maybe 50 miles and I love it already. A little on the slow side ha, but definitely one of the best cars I've owned as far as MPG goes.

I instantly changed the spark plugs, oil, oil filter, and air filter shortly after my friend drove it home for me. We also Seafoamed it since it's just under 200k.

Today it was finally nice out, so I took the car for a ride with the windows down and noticed a clicking sound coming from the engine bay. My friend says his Civic makes the same noise, but just not as loud. I'm not sure if the car had the clicking before I bought it, but I definitely noticed it today with the windows down. Should I be concerned?

Here's a Youtube video I made from my phone. Somehow the video got out of sync from the audio, but you can still hear the audio fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd18wPxbfT4

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

Re: "Clicking" noise from '94 Civic motor. Not quite a knock though.
 

Sounds like valve chatter. Pretty normal. I'm not 100% sure on your particular motor but for most they require a valve clearance adjustment to fix the problem. But it really does not sound too bad, or I'm going deaf.

Re: "Clicking" noise from '94 Civic motor. Not quite a knock though.
 

Its hard to tell on the video but it just sounds like normal motor play but you may need a small valve adjustment.

Re: "Clicking" noise from '94 Civic motor. Not quite a knock though.
 

Thank you guys. I guess I have my upcoming weekend planned lol.

Re: "Clicking" noise from '94 Civic motor. Not quite a knock though.
 

Civics are famous for the chatter/ticking. If the engine runs good, and isn't burning major amounts of oil, just keep your oil topped up and clean and let er keep on tickin. Like the comments of others a possible valve adjust might be needed but at that kind of milage it would not be worth the$$

Re: "Clicking" noise from '94 Civic motor. Not quite a knock though.
 

a small bit of valve adjustment should be good. i myself did that on my 94 civic besides a few other tune ups which were required. sometimes these cars do require some bit of changes to be done. my local mechanic generally checks these things while i go for regular maintenance checkup.

Re: "Clicking" noise from '94 Civic motor. Not quite a knock though.
 

The computer I am using won't play that video. But I can tell you that alot of engines chatter a little. I was just commenting on how my buddy's 3000 GT has a prominent ticking. And you should here my CBR chatter away. Basically what I am saying it is normal for engines to make a little noise.
But just so you know I had a 97 civic with 180k miles and when I took off the head to repair a spark plug hole I ended up getting a valve job done too cause all of the seats were worn.
It never hurts to upen it up and take a look see.