Hey folks, I've been a lurker here for some time now, but finally ran into an issue where I just could not find a good answer without posting. Gonna try to keep this as brief as possible:

2009 Fit Sport AT, about 90k miles. Beginning of June, the car developed an intermittent clicking noise. It's fairly quiet, and sounds like a quiet metallic tick. It happens a few times, stops for a few seconds, then starts again. When revving the engine, the ticking speeds up. The engine feels normal - responsive, and gas mileage is normal. No warning lights. With the hood open it's hard to tell exactly where it's coming from, but it sounds generally like it's from the passenger side. The weekend it happened I consulted this forum and a more mechanically-inclined family member, and we thought it could be the serpentine belt or a pulley. Here's a video of the sound:
https://streamable.com/mgohu

Next business day after hearing the sound I took it to my regular (non-dealer) mechanic. After listening & driving around he said the serpentine was fine, and believed that the clicking was due to valves slightly out of adjustment, something typical of Hondas. He didn't think it would cause any damage other than the annoying sound, and recommended I don't do anything about it. A bit of an unsatisfying answer but at least he didn't charge me for it.

I tried to do some more research and find some examples on here of a similar sound with no luck. But, along the way I realized that my car was (way) overdue for the Lost Motion Spring recall, which includes a valve adjustment! Well, if it is the valves, that should fix it, I thought. I set up a recall repair with a nearby dealer at the end of June. I didn't mention the noise (probably my first mistake) because I figured the valve adj would definitely take care of it, and because I was a little paranoid of being charged for a valve adjustment when the recall was free.

Well, I got the car back, and it was still making the exact same clicking sound. Here's a video of the car now, after the supposed valve adjustment:
https://streamable.com/7m2ti

So I figure, OK, maybe it's not the valves. Which kind of makes sense since the engine is acting normally. Maybe I was right about the serpentine. Or it's something different altogether. In July I was due for a state inspection, so I brought it back into the non-dealer mechanic, and press him on the belt. He takes another look, and he still thinks it's the valves, and what's more, says he thinks the dealer didn't even open up the engine... so they didn't do the recall at all... yikes. He pointed to the bolts on the manifold and said they surely hadn't been touched. Here are the photos (note, taken about a month after the dealer recall service):




(Album link: https://imgur.com/a/YYKIp9K)

SO after all that, a couple questions for the community:
1) What the heck is this noise? Valves? Belt? Something else?
2) Does it look like the dealer lied to me and didn't even do the motion spring recall & valve adjustment?

Thanks for the help! I appreciate anyone who waded through this long post.

 

Sounds like valve adjustment may need to be done.
Check that none of the spark plugs have come loose first.

If you really think it is related to the drive belt, remove the belt and run the engine BRIEFLY.
BRIEFLY because the water pump won't be turning and you can do serious damage in a very short time. I'd say don't run it any longer than 15-30 seconds.



On the recall, there were date and production codes that were to be inspected once the valve cover was removed. (you can probably google to find a copy of the recall procedures)
If your car was not within a certain specified range, no further work was needed. Maaaybe someone could figure that out from the build date on the door jamb sticker, but IDK.

 

Hey, thanks for the help!

I am still unsure about what the Honda dealer actually did... from the pictures, does it look like they even removed the valve cover? Those bolts kind of look like they've never been touched. It looks like they were supposed to remove that cover to even see the date codes:
https://www.scribd.com/document/4983...-Spring-Recall

Also, the service manager did specifically say they did a valve adjustment. He even said "sounds like a brand new engine!" though everything sounded pretty much the same to me. Before going down the rabbit hole of other issues, I'd like to figure out if the valve adj was actually done. And before I storm into a dealer claiming they lied to me, I'd like to be more certain about whether they actually opened the engine up...

If that were the case, wouldn't I be experiencing rough running, misfiring, etc? Or would that only be if the plug totally popped out?

 

I saw bolts for the upper intake chamber, not valve cover. I can't tell you if they have or have not been touched.

FWIW just putting a wrench on a bolt doesn't necessarily mean it will leave clean spots in the corrosion.

The manager and the service advisors are not the ones who do the work.

Valve adjustment was listed as a step in the recall instructions but that doesn't necessarily mean it was actually done by whomever did the work.
The ONLY way to verify if the adjustments are in fact correct is to perform the clearance measurement procedure and see if they are within the specs. If not, there's your answer....and whomever is checking/doing this procedure for you better go ahead and adjust them to correct spec. at this time.
Forget looking for symptoms! Just put a spark plug socket in and check them ASAP!