1996 Civic engine tick/knock/tap noise when cold

[CharBaby]

I have noticed that QSGB keeps the engines quiet. And DEFY is even quieter. QSUD less so but, not bad!

 

[GenaFishbeck]

Originally Posted By: QS_User
UPDATE:

I have since switched to Pennzoil Yellow Bottle Conventional 5W-30, and the noise has been cut way down from any other oil I have tried so far. It's not only way quieter, the duration of it making noise has been cut by more than half. Actually, I tried Pennzoil 10w-30 last summer, and it still was noisy, although better. My explanation? This engine seems to like a big dose of moly, and likes a thin startup viscosity.

So, run Pennzoil 5W-30 in your noisy Honda!


Thanks for your update QS_User, we're glad to hear Pennzoil Yellow Bottle is doing the trick for your Honda! - The Pennzoil Team

 

[MeMadMax]

I know this is an old thread but I have a 96 Civic that was doing same thing: Cold piston slap for a couple of minutes till she got warm enough.

Ran two cans of sea foam thru the gas tank quieted it down a bit.

But the REAL kicker, that silenced it Completely no matter how cold: Zmax

She purrs like a kitten now and even has a little more muscle to boot.

 

[kschachn]

Thanks for joining BITOG just so we all could know what the REAL kicker was.

Originally Posted By: MeMadMax
I know this is an old thread but I have a 96 Civic that was doing same thing: Cold piston slap for a couple of minutes till she got warm enough.

Ran two cans of sea foam thru the gas tank quieted it down a bit.

But the REAL kicker, that silenced it Completely no matter how cold: Zmax

She purrs like a kitten now and even has a little more muscle to boot.

 

[mk378]

If you have a 96 Civic you should know that its valvetrain is manually adjustable and needs to be adjusted once in a while to compensate for wear. They have no valve lifters. Using a product claimed to "free sticky lifters" cannot do anything for these engines.

Some valve noise is normal especially when cold. What you don't want to do is set the valves too tight as this can cause burning damage to the valve inside the cylinder. "Tappy is happy" as they say.