thick oil causes knock

ok, I know that this is the integra forum, but my next question is about a teg, and youll see why i put it in here if you read the next thread i post.

just bought a 97 accord LX recently, and when changin the oil the other day I lifted it up and drained the oil, went into the garage to grab my 10w30 and turns out my dad had used it and we had a casse of 20w50 so i just threw that in. now i have had the car for about 2 weeks and it never knocked, and after i changed the oil it does, but rarely ever, and only at low rpms which confuses me very greatly. when driving, you go to stop, turn whatever and you push in the clutch and when the rpms fall to around 2k it starts clicking pretty loudly, then slows with the engine and at idle it usually will only do it for 5-10 seconds and quit, but sometimes idle falls and it is quiet, alos if you leave the clutch engaged and slow down it does the same thing when the idle drops to 2k. when idling if it does it tap the gas and it goes away. I took off the valve cover to look and the 8 valves in a row on the exhaust side all come up straight and rocker connects directly but one, the drivers side on # 3 comes out towards the bumper and the rocker only hits half the valve stem, and i didnt bend it but it just started when i changed the oil. so im thinking that thinner oil wil quiet it again becase i was out in the cart yesterday and pushed in the clutch and let it go to neutral, and then it did it, if i hit the brakes hard and threw any oil in the head towards the front it would wuit, coat normal and a second later its back, slam on the brakes and it goes away, did it 5 times in a row. so you think the thin oil will quiet it? and what could cause a valve stem to bend?

anyways as soon as i can im selling it to buy another teg, thats what i was going for but got a deal on the accord cuz the guy bounced too many checks for his stereo crap and needed money.( i know it sounds like an excuse but he lives next door and ive never heard it knock, he drives it alot and i did see fedex come in every day for weeks with amps/boards/18's/horns, etc. and hes a good friend so I hope he wouldnt screw me liek this.

also I like the feel of the direct shift linkage over the cable, just feels better in my civic and in the integra.

If you don't want to buy a new oil pump or rebuild the motor then drain that stuff out ASAP. The oil is too thick and is a strain on your oil pump. Also the oil pump cannot push the thick oil up to the top of the motor at the lower rpm range. Change it and see if that solves the problem. :bigthumb:

alright thanks. wouldnt it always do it at low rpms, or is it that the oil is 20w when cool and thickens to 50w when warm so once it gets nice and warmed up it does it?

My car does the opposite. When I first changed my oil I put in 5W-30 and I had a real bad valve tap sound. The next time I changed it, I put in 10W30 and now the tap is almost gone except for when the oil is getting old. Can anyone explain this? I thought 5-30 was the recommended oil?

My car does the opposite. When I first changed my oil I put in 5W-30 and I had a real bad valve tap sound. The next time I changed it, I put in 10W30 and now the tap is almost gone except for when the oil is getting old. Can anyone explain this? I thought 5-30 was the recommended oil?


5W-30 is the recomended oil you need to adjust your valve lash. The valve lash should be adjusted every 30k miles. Alot of people don't realize that it needs to be done every 30k. 5W-30 is recomended in most over head cam motors because the oil needs to be as this as possible when cold so that it can reach the cam or cams for DOHC cars as quickly as possible.

I do have my valves adjusted when I should so I'm lost. Yeah, that's the first thing I did when I got my car and noticed the tap.

hmm is it really loud or just slightly noticable?

Mobil 1 5w30 is now in so Ill see if it does it tonight when i go to work.

whtteg: No, it's hardly noticable. A guy at the Honda dealership thought it might be the injectors, but I don't see how that could be. I have the feeling that the previous owner knew nothing about cars and just beat the hell out of it. The oil was like sludge when I bought it. The guys at Valvoline even bitched at me for the it. When I switched to Synthetic it really helped the tap though.

about it being the injectors, you do hear those, my accord/civic, friends integra, my integra, all 4 cars you could hear them, they arent too loud though, now mine doesnt do the loud ticking at idle when warm anymore, it has a fairly loud valve tap(too loud for injectors IMO) so thats my next thing to do tomorrow, adjust valve lash.