I bought a used 1997 Honda Civic for my daughter. Runs great, except for the first minute or two when cold. It has a clicking/knocking noise, I'm guessing in the valve train, until it is good and warm. After a couple minutes of driving, the noise goes away. Only does this when totally cold. A little knocking when you first start a car is ok for a few seconds until oil pumps around. But not a couple minutes!

Other symptoms: Oil is dark right away after changing oil and filter, and yes I know how to change oil. Sludge build up? Not taken care of by previous owner? It also loses or burns oil and there are no apparent leaks. I have to add a quart about every 3-4 weeks. It's driven about 100 miles per week. It has about 135K miles, not excessive for a 10-11 year old car. I was told by 2 auto parts stores to use 10w-30 oil since it is over 100k miles, not the recommended mix. Could this have anything to do with it?
I had the timing belt changed, valves adj. and new water pump soon after purchase.

Should I try an oil additive? I've heard those can actually be bad.

Of course when I bought the car it was warmed up so didn't hear this problem until the next day. What could be wrong? Is this something serious? Is it a ring sticking, weak oil pump, internal damage? I've never experienced these symptoms with any kind of car. It runs great otherwise, just concerned something needs to be fixed before it totally tanks. Please advise!

 

Just wondering, is the cold idle speed below normal (e.g., <1200 rpm)?

Does the Check Engine Light turn ON for a few seconds after start and then turn OFF or does it remain ON?

 

No, idle speed seems normal, above 1000 or so, then drops like it should. So far the engine check light has never come on. I just has that worrisome clicking/knocking.

 

Well, if the light does come on, it goes out right away. Now that I think about it, it is normal to come on right at start up I believe. But it goes out and I've never noticed it on.

 

the ticking sound could be the valves tapping. i'd suggest when u start the car up cold, listen very closely to where exactly the sound is coming from and pin point the noise. if the noise is right at the valve cover, its most probably some valves tapping.

have u checked ur coolant levels or does the temp. gauge read a little high when warmed up? one possibility for the dark oil could be from mixing with coolant. maybe a cracked head gasket or something. 10w-30 is fine to use. i wouldnt use any oil additives untill u rule out everything else first.

 

I Googled "knock cold engine" and found this:

http://www.dodgedakotas.com/boards/dea/199.html

Information on this thread provides a possible explanation (consistent with that mentioned by civicexracer) for the type of noise your car is experiencing.

Here lil rube says:

"Now don't get all worried about it as it ain't major unless it don't go away after awhile. See what is going on is your hydraulic valve lifters is leakin down just a little bit, and it takes a few minutes for them to fill back up with oil and stop clicken the way that older engines with miss-adjusted valve lash sound like. Once the lifters have filled up with oil it goes away, right? If you want a good example of this, just go out and find a engine with about 100,000 mi. on it that has sat for about oh say maybe 6 months and go start it up. The doggone thing is gonna sound like 20 little people are inside it with 2 hammers each till them lifters pump up. If it really bothers you, go ahead and change the lifters as it is not really all that expensive to do if you can do the labor yourself."

 

Thanks RonJ and civcexracer, your posts make sense. I figured the car is ok since it hasn't gotten any worse. Since this is my teenage daughter's car I just wanted some reassurance.

As for coolant, yes I check it and the oil pretty much weekly since I discovered it runs out of oil, and the coolant remains at a normal level. The temp gauge stays in the normal range. This is the first Honda I've owned so don't know what is typical for them. In fact it hurt my pride to buy it, being a loyal Ford guy. So when I first learned of the problem, naturally I was pissed and doubting the decision to get it. But everyone swears Hondas, Toyotas are the ticket ... I'm still not convinced. I've had great Ford vehicles in my 27 years of driving. It is a good first car, just never had a vehicle with these symptoms, none of my Ford's have ever acted this way (of course some have leaked oil...).

I guess we just drive it and do normal servicing, then if it breaks down, I'll worry about it then.

Oh, one last question about the oil consumption. Where is it going? No leaks, no smoke from the exhaust, at least not noticible. I guess it could get burned and not be real visible? But usually you would see blue or white smoke right? I'm talking a quart a month, and only driven about 500 miles in that time. Seems strange to me. And I confirm it is full when I change it.

Thanks for the input!

 

I can only speculate, but the modest amount of oil consumption due to burning in the cylinder might not be sufficient to see in the exhaust. Good luck. I hope you get many more good miles.

 

have you checked for leaking around the sump, sump plugand the oil filter these are the normal places. apart from that there are a few things like headgasket, head might be cracked, piston rings. also if you parked the car in the same place is it dropping any on the floor.it would be hard to see the blue smoke as cars nowerdays have more and more silencers and cats which block the smoke

 

Yes, I've looked and there are no dripings, no obvious leaks. Wouldn't there be symptoms of head gasket, cracked head? What do you mean about rings? The car runs strong and seems to have normal power, though admittedly I've never had a Honda before so wouldn't be sure I would notice if it was down on power or anything. But definitely no drops under the car and no visual signs of oil leaking.