cold startup noise fix

[bugmike]

hello civic forum people,
so i found this forum looking to fix my 97s mystery tick. my tick fit the description of other posts, only at cold morning startup and went away when engine warmed up. after poking around the engine compartment awhile i notices the spark plug wires came off the distributor cap with little resistance. i took a penknife and made the o.d. of the metal piece, on the plug wire that plugs into distributor, a bit larger so it fits snug.
this made my mystery tick vanish. i hypothesized that when the engine was cold that plug wire end was small and when it warmed up it expanded and fit more snug for a better connection. hope it helps/works for you.
mike

[bluevp00]

Thanks Bugmike - the info you presented will be a great help to many people. And welcome to AF.

[bugmike]

all right, so I posted this some time ago and my noise returned... this time it turned out to be valve noise. gone with a valve adjustment. I also had a rattle around the heat shield which turned out to be a stone that got trapped in there. just wanted to let you all know.
-mike

[alfonso2501]

Thanks, good looking out.