Dear Sir/Madam,

Please allow me to introduce myself briefly: my name is Zoltán, and I reside in Hungary for the time being. I have a Japanese made 1992 HONDA ACCORD EXi 2.0 (exclusive edition), and there has been a strange sound lately coming from the engine. This is the problem I seek useful advice for, and perhaps you may be the competent person, who I could kindly ask for such advice.

To sum up, the sound can be characterized as rattling, and it sounds when the engine is cold and it needs to be warmed up before driving off. The sound resembles the sound of a diesel engine, though not that loudly, and it is gone when the engine is warmed up after 4-5 minutes, and it does not sound at all when we are travelling in the car, or when the car is in continuous use. I made contact with my mechanic who informed me that the engine block is old and worn, so it should have been replaced with a younger one. Meanwhile, I found the following message on the British Honda fan site:

„The 2.2 is chain driven but in answer to your issue a rattling sound from auxiliary belt area could be down to front alternator bearing. There is a bulletin from Honda that states excessive load on the front bearing causes a rattling noise, when they carry out this work they remove a pulley and put on a shorter belt which helps the loading.”

I am not en expert to evaluate if the above is right or wrong. All I need is some more advice on my issue, because I am not convinced that the engine block of my car should be replaced, for the reasons that the environmental pollution threshold limits are well below the limits, the car engine does not release excess exhaust (not even in winter), the exhaust is nice white and contains no black or coal like particles, the engine does not consume cooling water at all, and it consumes only a little more oil than usual.

I would very much appreciate if you could please send your expert advice on this problem, and if you have any further view on this matter.

Looking forward to receiving your kind reply.

Best regards:

Zoltán

Thoughts:

. Check each cylinder's compression.

. Replace the spark plugs, with the same NGK plugs that came in the car, if they are over two years old. Stay away from cross-referenced plugs. One of the old plugs may be misfiring, which would be most noticeable at start-up and until the engine is warm. If one out of four cylinders is not working properly, it could resemble a diesel rattle.

. Clean spark plug wires with silicone spray, if they are in good shape. Ohm test each wire. Replace, if necessary. Ensure plug boot is squarely placed over the plug.

. Use full-synthetic 5W-30 engine oil; e.g. Mobil 1. Oil pressure builds seven times faster, when using synthetic engine oil. The "rattling" sound may be coming from the valves. Valves are the last on the oil train and the first to go, when there's a lubrication problem.

. Use a premium oil filter (e.g. Purolator Pure One) that has a silicone (red) anti-drain back valve. Honda filters mount horizontally to the engine and often drain overnight. Using one of these filters will prevent this from happening.

. Adjust the valves, if you suspect that may be part of the problem.

How many kilometers are on the engine?

Hi TxGreaseMonkey :)

As I have not found any option on the page to answer you in return to your kind answer to my technical problem of my 1992 Honda Accord, let me thank you for your kind advice this way and rate your answer 5 on a scale of 1 to 5... This seems to be very helpful, now I can go and grab my mechanic's collar to check all the stuff you described. God bless you for that! Have a good day! :D

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