Strange sound at startup

ltmikepowell

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Strange start up sound noticed today for me too. I was saying bye to my friend tonight and started up my car to go home when she came back and notified me to roll down the window to tell me my engine made a really abnormal sound. I tried turning it on and off 2 or 3 times but it didn't happen again. I have a Civic Coupe EX-L, don't know if that makes any difference rofl.
Its a problem with the engine, not the style of the car. So far only the 1.5T engine is affected, not the 2.0NA. I think in the future the 5-door version with have the same problem with this noise unless Honda fix it soon.
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Strange start up sound noticed today for me too. I was saying bye to my friend tonight and started up my car to go home when she came back and notified me to roll down the window to tell me my engine made a really abnormal sound. I tried turning it on and off 2 or 3 times but it didn't happen again. I have a Civic Coupe EX-L, don't know if that makes any difference rofl.
I have this too and mine is an EX-L as well. It's kind of jarring to hear it in a garage, it's very noticeable.
 

ltmikepowell

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So far: reports are from cars with 1.5T engine - which is EX-T, EX-L, and Touring. I haven't seen any 2.0NA engine reports that their cars have noise yet (LX and EX). So if you guys have friends that drive either LX or EX, ask them that if you can try to replicate the noise that we heard.
 

leodan

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We have a '12 Si and it started to occasionally make a sound very similar to yours this past winter for the first time @ about 47,000 miles. To my knowledge all HONDA/Acura VTC issues are cold first starts (mine was after sitting overnight below 20 degrees F) and thought to be oil bleeddown/starvation to the VTC (not the engine rods & bearings). It has never happened when warmer or when the car has been started within the last few hours even at 14 below. Until Honda Engineering responds it's likely just what they say - normal for the 1.5T. To date I'm only aware of one failure involving a 9th generation Si VTC cam - and it was catastrophic.
This is a good point and one which I am starting to lean to. I can deal with the noise if it is benign. No big deal.
 


u-238

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Hello everyone, I am a potential Civic buyer and I have been observing the cars issues and problems in general through this forum.

To begin with, I would just like to express my opinion regarding this issue. We all know that this particular 1.5 turbo engine is totally new aside from being derived from the 3rd generation Fit engine, the L15B while the civic is the L15B7. I would assume they both use the same materials and design but may vary in layout since the L15B7(turbo) has a turbocharger. I was reading some thread in BITOG and coincidentally came across this issue on that website.

Here are the links:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3970005/Re:_VTC_Actuator_problems_show

http://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...cold-start-rattle-every-other-cold-start.html

http://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...cold-weather-starter-motor-release-issue.html

Again, one has to consider that the 3rd generation Fit engine is almost a carbon copy of the L15B7(turbo) engine.
I would suggest a process of elimination should be implemented about the suspected culprits that is causing the noise because one, maybe two here have already removed and replaced their starters with the though that it was causing the rattle/noise.

Well, long story short, I really hope it is not the VTC actuator this time because they all sounded so similar and the symptoms are just somehow spot on.
 

bhirsch71

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Now I kind of have something to compare the strange sound to. It sounds the same way the emergency break sounds when you activate it. But I've payed attention and even when the emergency break isn't engaged it makes this weird sound.
Mine does the same thing, but only when the engine is cold. In other words, if I shut the engine off and turn it right back on....the sound does not occur.
 

NorthernEX-T

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Your engine stays warm for up too 6 hours @bhirsch71
A true cold start is after 6 hours or so depending how warm it is outside. See if you car makes the noise after 30mins-3hrs, as this is not considered a cold start still. Just informing. Sorry you have the plague too.
 


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My car makes the strange startup noise as well (EX-T Coupe). I took it to the dealership yesterday and sat there for 90 minutes, then called the technician out to listen to me start it up. I popped the hood and he listened as it made the best (worst) possible example of the grinding noise it has ever made. I explained to him that it does not do it on cold start, only after an hour or two of rest. His best guess is that, since the noise only occurs after a heat soak, it is probably coming from the high pressure fuel pump or part of the injection system as fuel pressure continues to rise after you shut the car off. He went inside and started a service call with his national AHM tech support line and will call me back after he finds out more information.. Not expecting to hear anything til at least Monday
 

ltmikepowell

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My car makes the strange startup noise as well (EX-T Coupe). I took it to the dealership yesterday and sat there for 90 minutes, then called the technician out to listen to me start it up. I popped the hood and he listened as it made the best (worst) possible example of the grinding noise it has ever made. I explained to him that it does not do it on cold start, only after an hour or two of rest. His best guess is that, since the noise only occurs after a heat soak, it is probably coming from the high pressure fuel pump or part of the injection system as fuel pressure continues to rise after you shut the car off. He went inside and started a service call with his national AHM tech support line and will call me back after he finds out more information.. Not expecting to hear anything til at least Monday
And AHM will tell him that the noise is normal and has no fix at the moment. Check previous few page for my post with dealer paperwork.

http://www.civicx.com/threads/strange-sound-at-startup.1304/page-30#post-84138
 
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extowner

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I am having the same grinding noise issue with my EX-T... How hard can it be to figure out where it's coming from?! The conditions that the noise makes is really specific, and so is the noise pattern (there can't be too many places that could make a noise like this). I mean, it's making a physical grinding noise and Honda engineers can't figure out where it's coming from for months? I don't buy that...:mad:
 

ltmikepowell

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I am having the same grinding noise issue with my EX-T... How hard can it be to figure out where it's coming from?! The conditions that the noise makes is really specific, and so is the noise pattern (there can't be too many places that could make a noise like this). I mean, it's making a physical grinding noise and Honda engineers can't figure out where it's coming from for months? I don't buy that...:mad:
That is the thing, some dealers were able to replicate the noise like the one that I went to, but other just simply dismissed the case as normal like @Dretlaw dealer. Until there is mass reports by many dealers then Honda consider this as normal. Also, many other people will simply dismissed this noise as normal, unlike us in the forum.
 

camhabib

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Forgive me if this was covered somewhere but, does anyone have even a single shred or hint of evidence to support the claim that this sound is not normal? Car functions properly, has yet to have any component break, Honda indicates everything is up to spec, and yet there are 32 pages of complaints and back-yard detective work all around the single assumption that this "doesn't sound normal." Lets say worse case scenario that the engine is going to grenade itself due to some flawed design that is causing this noise - you have a warranty for a reason, and if it is indeed a design defect in the car and not normal behavior, even if the car is outside the warranty, eventually enough cars will be effected that Honda will identify the problem and cover the repair. I honestly don't understand what the issue is here.
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