I've noticed a noise much like what you describe on my 09 MT Sport since my second or third tank of gas. It could have been happening since delivery. It occurs at part throttle, say 1/3 to 2/3rds throttle, between 2500-3500rpm, and seems more noticeable once the car warms up, and in warmer weather. It is an intermittent tapping or pinging noise, not rhythmic with each turn of the engine like a valve tick but comes more in little fluorishes of ticks. It is very light, sounds metallic, and I'm probably the only one who notices it. I do have a friend with another 09 MT sport and it definitely does not do this.

Since the conditions described above and non-rhythmic nature are consistent with pinging, I was initially worried about this. I had a dealer look at it, they were positive it was in no way similar in tone or volume to knocking or pinging. They also scanned the OBD and found no codes or evidence that the computer was compensating for knock.

Their best guess was some sort of intake or exhaust resonance, but they couldn't find it. They also did not have another MT to compare it to. I have since stopped worrying about it and will take it in if it ever gets worse. Performance and economy of my car are otherwise excellent.

I'm also curious if others have this, maybe if enough of us get our heads together we might find the source!

 

Question guys, do you hear this metallic tapping @ different engine RPMs when the car is stationary? In motion?

Try filling your next tankful with either 89 or 92 octane gas and see what happens. If it goes away, it is likely "pinging" or detonation, otherwise it is caused by your valve clearances or injectors (?).

Good luck.

 

I usually only hear while in motion, going under 10mph, very light throttle, in 1st or 2nd gear. It really does sound like "pinging" or detonation, which kind of irks me with a brand new car...my previous cars didn't start that crap until they had 130k miles and 7 years + on them. I can try higher octane to see if that fixes it, but I don't believe it does it 100% of the time. Is this the same issue everyone else is having?

 

I vote for valve adjustment needed.

 

I only hear it during idle.

 

For me I ruled out valve noise because that should be a regular cyclic pattern. I also tried 87 from 5 different stations as well as 91 and the noise was always there, so I don't think it is detonation.

 

Next thing to do then is to have the dealer make sure the ignition timing is set properly to specs. If would be appropriate to mention your observations about the "pinging" or noise to help them diagnose the problem.

 

Valve clearance tapping is not always regular when the clearance is not far out of spec. Chances are its only one valve, too. The noise shows up more often at light acceleration; harder acceleration tends to cover up the wide clearance. Since it is a dealer service under warranty at least have him check.

 

i heard something today... only 600 miles on it... i just turned up the music

 

Good move; instant solution!

 

the L15 was designed to use regular (87)(unless in higher altitudes. Using 89,91,or 93 could actually cause knocking.

 

Yeah, if it's really something to worry about I will take it in. Just didn't want them to blame me for it (since I have aftermarket intake installed). If it continues to really bother me I guess I could swap it back out for stock and take it in...hard to say how "mod friendly" my dealership is...

 

i would change it before you bring it in

 

I have an intake installed too, and occasionally hear something reverberating at lower rpms. I think it could be the support bar for the old intake box.

Otherwise, I'm about to crack 10k miles on the car. No real concerns or issues at all.

 

Maybe the oil is too light. I think they recommend w20 to cut on fuel consumption... but it doesn't protect as well as w30... just a thought.

 

no.... leave the oil has Honda designed the engine for... Honda doesn't put something in a car to "save gas"...

+ the noise sounds like it is coming from under the valve cover area. Hell it could be a washer that fell somewhere

 

It's possible, but it really doesn't sound like a valve noise to me or to the dealer who checked it out. I know two Honda techs from different dealers and they both say that this noise doesn't sound like a ping, and that these cars will throw a code for pretty much anything that would really hurt them. It is very light- with the radio on at all or even some road noise it's almost undetectable. They did think it was good for me to take it in- now it is documented in case anything worse happens in the future.

I would say that I also hear some light noise from the intake tract even though my intake is completely stock- some sort of a light noise of turbulence combined with like a vacuum noise when the throttle closes. It's possible that all of these are related and something is loose in the intake path/throttle body etc. I've taken the airbox cover off and everything looks fine, the rest of the intake is too hidden for me to want to mess with it.

Peter

 

Just an update: did my first oil change at 7750 miles and the noise is gone. I had noticed it even last week and it had never really gotten better or worse. I wonder if there was some debris stuck in the filter or if the anti-drainback valve in the old filter was loose. The old filter was the OEM one fitted from the factory.

Peter

 

i have the same noise, im going to take it in and see what the dealer says. i think its lifter noise

 

The noise you are hearing is the hamsters' claws clicking on the wheels as they run