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Knocking Tappet

Good luck matey hope this cures it.
 
I have come to the conclusion that the knock must be the crank and that my entire diagnosis has been wrong. :(

I replaced the suspect lifter with one that would fully pressurise when out of the engine and de-pressurised it before it was fitted.

Still knocks and I am now quite fed up.

When I bought the car the oil level was low on the stick but just showing at the bottom of the two marks.

As I planned an oil change and didn't have the correct oil and as the oil light went out instantly I wasn't too concerned.

I ordered the Exol oil and had the filters delivered.

This took 3 days.

I drove the car to work and back during this time - 30 miles a day but not aggressively and the oil light always went out straight away.

It was whilst I was travelling to work on Saturday morning to do the oil/filter change that the b*gger started knocking.

There was still oil showing on the stick when I arraived at our unit - and this is the reason I didn't think it could be bottom end.

I visited my local Honda Dealer yesterday and spoke with the Workshop Manager.

It is not unheard of for the CTDI to run a big end even when the oil pressure warning light is NOT illuminated and it seems that the engine does use oil.

I believe later models have low oil warning level switches.

I guess there are two possible reasons for the oil pressure light going out early.

The first is that the oil pressure switch is just too low and the second is that the pump runs very tight clearances and will develop pressure even on a small quantity of oil.

I think that the marking on the stick is also dodgy.

I have suggested to Honda Technical that an AUDIBLE low oil level warning system is unacceptable and that they really need to review their strategy in this arra.

If the oil warning light had come on or if there hadn't been oil above the minimum on the stick I could understand.

Time to break the Accord and try to recover some money.
 
Sorry to hear that..

I have to say though, I have never had a car where the oil light means anything other than "too late".
 
I don't really agree that an oil pressure warning light should mean too late as otherwise there would be no point.

I believe oil lights should be set to a pressure limit that means there is some time to investigate the problem.

There are many cars on the market that have dual sensors - one which indicates low oil level and the other low pressure.

I always buy oldish estates to lug engines and gearboxes and body panels and the like around as I try to avoid messing up new cars and paying huge depreciaition.

I had an ancient Volvo 5 Cylinder Diesel for a time that used to use as much oil as fuel - I paid £500 for it with a years MOT and Tax and it lasted the year and sold to a breaker for £450 - great depreciation.

It regularly put on its oil light round corners or under braking and never ran a bearing as long as you filled it up just after this. We always but in the 'old' oil from race cars that had done few miles as it had 250k miles when we bought it.

We have a business building race cars and I have never had a car which ran a crank bearing, either mains or big ends without solidly putting on a light.

We have some experience of surge causing oil pressure lights to flicker in long high g corners and have never run bearings.

My real point, however, that for an engine to run a bearing when there is oil on the stick - albeit just above minimum - and not to put on its oil pressure light even momentarily is poor.

I bought a 'R' plate 2.1 litre 12V 406 Turbo Diesel last night as I needed some transport and in 1998 it had an 'electronic' dip stick and level indicator on the dash.

It was £600 has 12 months MOT 3 months tax - Hide interior , electric seats , multplay CD, air con blows cold 107k miles and is just the job

It seems with a Honda you need to check every day and make sure the level never drops.

I have to say I don't feel this is great engineering and I am disappointed although I do accept some responsibility.

I bought the Honda because I had been driving cheap old cars for the last 10 years and wanted something a bit more comfortable and a bit more upmarket and thought Hondas were well engineered and would last a couple of years.

I had planned to look after it a bit better than the old Volvos and Saabs that I have been driving, hence the 25 litre drum of EXOL, filters etc.

It just beat me to it so I guess I am back to the old nails.
 
I'm not saying it's a good thing....only speaking from my experience.
 
when you buy a car you are allways in the lap of the gods as to whether the past owners have looked after them propperly. take my mondeo st24. its a 2.5l v6 timing chain driven engine. i have changed the oil religiously, working out at a change every 3 thousand miles and its only done 80,000 miles and oil level checked regular. however the chain is rattling its **** off. whether it is just bad luck or neglect of previous owners is debatable. you say the engine in your accord has been run while low on oil. audiable/visual warning or not you ran it anyway and you wouldnt have known how often this car has been driven with an oil level that low previously. just my view but i would rather avoid an oil level/preasure warning and be a bit more proactive, bad enginering or not. good luck with the car anyway. hope you get the money you need for it
 
Yeah good luck with the Pug, I've nothing good to say about the modern ones. Fingers crossed for you mate.
 
Fenn,

Sorry to hear of your trouble. I have an 04 cdti (in the same colour) that also consumes oil. Trouble is, it could be a number of things and they're all big money.

It bothered me at first but i've got used to it now. I keep it topped up and it still drives fsntastic and pulls strongly. Your post serves as a reminder to me of what could happen if i become complacent. I'll be sure to continue keeping on top of it.

Btw, the pug seems like a good deal. Hope it works out better for you
 
Hi I've got a 04 cdti accord that's done 135k and has just started making a painful knocking noise meaning a 140 mile RAC tow home (it sounds nasty, maybe a little terminal but I'm not sure). Where do I start? how do I find out what it is without wasting time and money. The power is down but I would expect it to run more lumpy for a big end bearing.
 
Didn't the RAC guy have any clue?

Any warning lights on (including oil pressure light)?

What's the service history like? And what engine oil has been used while in your ownership?

A worn big end wouldn't be particularly lumpy.. that's more a symptom of a worn main bearing.
 
I've not been very strict with oil changes but I kept an eye on topping up although I had let it run a little low recently (it was showing just below the lower mark) but there was no oil warning light. Just been using the recommended oil (cant remember exactly what type). By the time the RAC guy came the battery had gone flat (kids watching movies in the back) and because I explained that the noise was knocking it seemed pointless to jump start it and potentially do more pointless damage. When I got the car back home I drove round to the garage round the corner very carefully just to get an experienced ear to listen and he said that he didn't think it sounded like the big end and speculated it could be a stuck lifter (he wasn't a honda specialist, he was giving free advise and was not optimistic about the chances of it being worth fixing). Just trying to figure out my options, do I take it to a garage and spend money on them figuring out that it is not worth fixing? Is there bits of the engine I can start taking apart to check (Tapets?) (I've had a look for common knocking noises in the forum and the only problem that comes up seems to be the big end bearing), I'm pretty handy with the car and have most tools (I managed to change the exhaust manifold the other week) so I could probably handle medium level garage work although I'm not up to taking the engine out.
 
Are you sure that your new exhaust manifold gasket isn't blowing? When this happened to a Vauxhall of mine it was a very odd metallic tapping noise.
 
Check for leaking injector..

Otherwise sounds like failed chain tensioner
 
Crikey I just read this thread for the first time, and it seems incredibly useful.
The OP seemed to know his stuff and was unfortunate IMO.

Anyway, good luck "stone" with the diagnosis, something like this can be difficult to predict on any diesel, and if the OP is correct then the 7th gen oil level warning on the diesel is a potential Honda engineering chocolate teapot
 
Likewise just read this thread and impressed with the detail. Its difficult to diagnoise these types of faults.

So whats the latest on this?
 
Could it be a diesel knock? try cracking the injector feeds in turn to see if the noise goes away, or if any difference is heard to the tick over speed. I know this is an "old" method but some them still stand.
 
It's not a leaking injector, The way I see it I have 3 options spend £200+ at a garage to try and find out whats wrong with it and likely find out it's not worth fixing, either spend £1800 on a recon engine being fitted (not sure how good recon engines are as you seem to generally only get 6 months warranty) or get rid of the car (not sure how much I could get for the car with the engine obviously knackered, I could break the car up to some extent but it wouldn't go down well at all if I turn my front driveway obviously into a breakers yard). What's the best way to recover money from a car when you are getting rid of it? I guess people would buy a complete car to break up themselves but it would be for less than you could do yourself although they need to pay for their time and space.
 
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