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Strange noise and Engine management light on

Theunisse

Theunisse

Members
Messages
25
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2
Location
Lancashire
Car
Honda Accord 2001
Starting up the car a few days ago I heard an odd buzzing or clicking sound that I hadn't heard before. I had been listening to the cricket on LW in the morning so ***umed it was poor reception on the radio. On the 10 minute journey home I realised it wasn't the radio but instead seemed to be coming from the passenger footwell or behind the dash. Anyhow, half way back home the dreaded engine management light came on and has been on since.

On the next journey I realised that the sound was coming from the heating system, as switching off the heating/climate control completely stopped the noise and switching it on again made the noise reappear.

In the last two days the noise gone away whether the heater fan is on or off. The management light is still on however. I haven't had a chance to scan for any fault codes yet but should have use of a scanner in a day or two's time. Given that the MIL light came on within five minutes of the noise appearing would suggest they are linked but equally it could just be a coincidence. Has anyone had similar problems in the past?
 
Just guessing but it could be to do with the cars cooling system? Has the temp gague moved at all?
 
I had clicking noises in the same place you described, It was a cheap fix, A leaf had dried inside and got stuck making a horrible noise when the fan turns on. I ran the fan on full for over a week and no joy of the sound clearing. Thats what my money would be on, air compressor job and blow it out. Mine had lots of rubbish inside when I did it. As for your Engine light it could be easy to fix or a depressing journey in to your wallet to fix.
 
Thanks for the replies.
Looks like the two things aren't connected. The noise has gone away all by itself and I plugged a code reader in this morning and got the fault code:
P1491 EGR valve insufficient lift.

Could it be that lots of short journeys from cold is causing it to gummed up? Am I right in thinking that someone on this forum had put up a tutorial on cleaning the throttle / EGR valves?
The code reader I have allows me to re-set the light but it says it will also delete any 'learning' that the sensors have got from general running. Am I likely to get into trouble by re-setting the MIL. I'm aware that the light is likely to come back on again soon until I get the EGR cleaned up.
 
As for the noise, get a new cabin filter and clean out the place where it fits whilst changing it. You will be surprised how many leaves are hiding in there and you will probably find the filter panel is black rather than white.
Depending upon the model there is a resistor or transistor pack that sits in and is cooled by the incoming air stream. When the cabin filter gets blocked these overheat and can burn out and you lose the two slow speeds on the blower (a classic on the civic, fixed a fair few now) so it is always worth the time changing the cabin filter.
The EGR is held on with two bolts and one electrical connector, fairly simple to remove and clean out with carb cleaner. A long blast up the motorway may help get it moving again without removal.
You will not get into any trouble by resetting the MIL and any "learning" will happen again in due course naturally.
 
I'll get round to changing the cabin filter in a month or so when I do the regular oil and filter changes. It isn't too long since I did it - less than 12 months. It was a bit mucky but not completely black. It's a bit of faff taking the glove box out etc to get to it though.

Thanks for reassuring me about the MIL - I'll reset it this afternoon and see how it behaves tomorrow. Might get a longer run in it tomorrow also.
 
If the filter is less than 12 months old then not to worry. I have recently changed 3 very black ones (probably never changed from new) that had a pile of leaves in there too.
 
TonyB said:
Depending upon the model there is a resistor or transistor pack that sits in and is cooled by the incoming air stream. When the cabin filter gets blocked these overheat and can burn out and you lose the two slow speeds on the blower (a classic on the civic, fixed a fair few now) so it is always worth the time changing the cabin filter.
Click to expand...
Does this affect the 96-00 Civic? My other half's Civic's fans don't work except for full blast. The cabin Fuller does get changed every year though, and the car only does 5k max.
 
Hey dude, i put up a how to for the EGR plate, and the valve is just next to it. The valve will be easier to take off if you use a wobble bar mate.

I can't find my how to at the moment. I don't know where I put it on here. Hopefully someone on here will know where it is. I'll keep looking and see if i can find it :lol:
 
Found it!!!!

I didn';t think to use the search function :lol: Whoops!!!

http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/1734-cleaning-egr-plate/page__p__20592__hl__egr+plate__fromsearch__1#entry20592

Only half of the pics are coming up :( Hopefully the rest will for other people. If not i'll repost it for you.
 
Theunisse said:
Cheers for the link. Are a couple of the bolts a bit inaccessible?
Click to expand...
Only the ones for the Valve, the plate is a fairly straight forward thing to remove. It may be different on the F series engines (can't remember off the top of my head), but on the H22 i needed a wobble bar to get at the valve, and didn't have one. Luckily for me though i was going to VtecDirect a few weeks later, so asked Andy to do the valve as i didn't have a wobble extenstion.
 
luvmyaccord said:
Only the ones for the Valve, the plate is a fairly straight forward thing to remove. It may be different on the F series engines (can't remember off the top of my head), but on the H22 i needed a wobble bar to get at the valve, and didn't have one. Luckily for me though i was going to VtecDirect a few weeks later, so asked Andy to do the valve as i didn't have a wobble extenstion.
Click to expand...
When I did it on my 1.8 as per your step by step guide the valve was easy to get off. once the bolts are undone it lifts right off. The pain in the a*s was the plate. I had to remove the whole fuel rail and injectors to get at it. took 3 hrs all in all to do. Will take half that should I have to do it again.
 
Andy said:
When I did it on my 1.8 as per your step by step guide the valve was easy to get off. once the bolts are undone it lifts right off. The pain in the a*s was the plate. I had to remove the whole fuel rail and injectors to get at it. took 3 hrs all in all to do. Will take half that should I have to do it again.
Click to expand...
Bl00dy hell!!!! Didn't think the injection rail had to come off to do the plate? See on my car the plate was the easy bit and the valve was the hard one :lol:
 
luvmyaccord said:
Bl00dy hell!!!! Didn't think the injection rail had to come off to do the plate? See on my car the plate was the easy bit and the valve was the hard one :lol:
Click to expand...
It must be different on the Type R. The fuel rail has to come off on mine too, that's why I let the pro's at HH do it!
 
Can't praise the Gendan company highly enough. Ordered a code reader at 3pm on Friday afternoon and it arrived first post Saturday morning. £70 well spent.
 
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