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I’m back on with my 98 d16y7 Honda civic, I finally sorted the engine skip out. It was an intermediate failure of one of the injectors. I’ve moved on to better problems,lol. At tip in to mid throttle (normal driving) the valves clatter like mad, like it’s running hot (it’s not), but when I floor it the valves quite down and it won’t clatter for awhile. I run 93 octane, the timing is in spec, and it has no egr. I did install a new head ,so I’m wondering, could the valves need adjusting? It’s not a tick, it’s valve clatter it sounds just like it’s running hot.
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Try putting 87 Octane in unless you have an aftermarket ignition system designed to run on the higher octane fuel. And, are you running speck motor oil?
I will try the lower octane gas. I run 10w40 high mileage synthetic in the car, it has 284000 miles on it. It does not use oil , has no blow-by, and still gets about 40 miles per gallon. I did notice last night, when I was on the interstate about 70, probably 1/4 throttle when the valves started clattering it was smoking. When I floored it like I always do, the valve clatter stopped and the smoke stopped. Like I said this is a new head, I’ve put maybe 600 or 700 hundred miles on it.
Strange… I drive a Saturn with 250,000 miles and still use 5W30. If i increase the oil viscosity mine chatters more but I have hydraulic lifters. The smoke is interesting. When you said new head what did you mean? New to you I’m thinking. Were the valve stem seals replaced?
And did you check the EGR valve? If it is stuck open it can suck oil into the intake. Just clean it or make sure it rattles when you shake it.
I think 5W-30 is the recommended oil for your engine, it sound like the upper head assembly and valves are starved for oil.
I would try changing the oil to 5W-30; maybe a full synthetic Pennzoil or Castrol.
It’s a non EGR car. By new I mean, it’s a reman head, new valves,guides, and seals. I requested when it was built to have new not cleaned up valves installed along with seals and guides. I’ll try the thinner oil but it goes against everything I’ve been told, high miles= thicker oil. I’m willing to try anything though.
What you were told was probably just fine for the 1970’s. Engines these days are much more durable and built with more precise & tighter tolerances. 5W30 is about all that car ever needs. I’d advise against a synthetic oil for high mile engines unless you’ve resealed the entire engine in recent history. Synthetics oils have a more consistent, yet smaller molecular structure to them that makes them easier to leak out.
Good point, I did neglect to ask if the engine had been resealed.
Conventional 5W30 is the proper oil to use and I would suggest using some Marvel Mystery Oil in the mix.
In that case, synthetic or conventional is probably fine. Just stay away from the 10w40. It’s like trying to butter your toast with roofing tar.
(OK, I probably didn’t need to say it, but that roofing tar joke needed to be shared.) 😀
He could run 20W50 oil in that engine and it would be just fine. Valvetrain noise could be any number of things but then again there are things that sound like valve clatter under transient throttle conditions that don’t even have anything to do with engine itself. First thing to do would be to check clearances in the valvetrain, just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s right.
The pcv valve ratling when shook isnwhat a previous poster meant. Egr valves don’t do that at all.
Fuel manufacturers state that high octane.is meant for forced induction such as turbo or super charged engines which are factory made with lower compression to withstand the extra force. It’s well known in those circles that higher octane can make a naturally aspirated engine knock. Also avoid using any form of ethanol fuel.
The new head may have a cracked valve guide seal, this sometimes happens in the reassembly process, albeit rare.
My overall suggestions –
Use non alcohol 87 octane, change oil to 5w30, if all that fails then do a leak down check for that valve guide seal that may have been cracked in reassembly. Make sure the pcv also rattles when shook.
You may need to run two tanks of the right fuel through to burn off the wrong stuff too.
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