Piston Slappage

[bushbean]

When I recently replaced the head gasket and adjusted the valves, I noticed one of the cylinder is much more worn than others. I don't have the time nor money to overbore the cylinder, at this time. There is a noticeable knocking noise when the engine is hot. It's louder when the engine is cold. I believe it's piston slapping. How long will the engine last before it absolutely needs to be bored?

[2oodoor]

that cyl may have a rod bearing worn pretty good... and you may want to go thru adjusting the valves again, check the cam retainer bolt torque too.
My understanding of piston slap is it is in the skirt area ie wrist pin.

My dx makes that noise pretty good lately, it needs an oil change for one thing.

what all happened to cause the head gasket to need renewing?

[bushbean]

Coolant was leaking thru the head gasket and into the cylinder. This made the engine very difficult to start. The new gasket fixed that problem. I wish I have the time and money to fix everything. The engine is a B18 (Integra), by the way.

[88Accord-DX]

Piston slap is louder when the engine is cold. It's mainly cause by to much clearance between the piston & cylinder walls, either from too much wear, wrong piston, wrong size bore, manufacture defect. When you do fix the problem, you'll need to bore out all the cylinders with oversized pistons. I think the largest size is about .50 millimeter.
Wrist pin knock is generally heard loudest between 1,500 to say 2,500 RPM with engine not under a load.

[Demon1024]

that cyl may have a rod bearing worn pretty good...

or main bearing? they have same symptoms just faster noise right? (i've got a noise of my own)
[not jacking]

[2oodoor]

Piston slap is louder when the engine is cold. It's mainly cause by to much clearance between the piston & cylinder walls, either from too much wear, wrong piston, wrong size bore, manufacture defect. When you do fix the problem, you'll need to bore out all the cylinders with oversized pistons. I think the largest size is about .50 millimeter.
Wrist pin knock is generally heard loudest between 1,500 to say 2,500 RPM with engine not under a load.

wow I was thinking about you when I read this post and hopeing you would contribute! excellent info

B18 huh, that one won't make noise long before whatever is causing it rears it's ugly head I'm sure.

[Oldblueaccord]

Usually Hondas dont exhibit this sound becasue they use pistons skirts from the factory were as say GM has not for a while so the pistons rock in the bores a little when cold. GM doesnt seem worried about it which means whatever you want it too.

Unless you have forged pistons that also might make noise when cold I would think it will only get worse I am afraid.

Also do b18 Have a balance shaft ?

wp

[88Accord-DX]

B18 pistons w/ skirts.



What piston slap looks like.

[Dr_Snooz]

I've had piston slap in my 4g for at least 80,000 miles now. The car still runs fine. It's gotten a little worse, but no smoke or leakage from anything. It's just irritating listening to that blasted clatter every morning until the car warms up.

[Hauntd ca3]

from my own experiance, honda alloy block motors are a bit slappy when cold, but if one cylinder i worse than the others i'd be a bit suss of the motor.
could be a soft piston or bore causing fast wear.
i'd personally rebuild asap

[2oodoor]

those pistons look well done, should have ordered medium rare..
great examples

[Dr_Snooz]

from my own experiance, honda alloy block motors are a bit slappy when cold, but if one cylinder i worse than the others i'd be a bit suss of the motor.
could be a soft piston or bore causing fast wear.
i'd personally rebuild asap

If I felt the car was worth it, I'd have rebuilt it long ago. Unfortunately, Honda made too many design errors (like crappy aluminum blocks that develop piston slap for no real reason) for me to invest the effort. I'll drive it till it stops and push it off a bridge. Anyway, the blasted thing is still going strong after 80k miles of slapping so it can't be that bad. It's sticking around just to irritate me I think. Whatever.

[bushbean]

If I felt the car was worth it, I'd have rebuilt it long ago. Unfortunately, Honda made too many design errors (like crappy aluminum blocks that develop piston slap for no real reason) for me to invest the effort. I'll drive it till it stops and push it off a bridge. Anyway, the blasted thing is still going strong after 80k miles of slapping so it can't be that bad. It's sticking around just to irritate me I think. Whatever.

I think I'll drive mine till it stops also. It's just not worth putting a lot of investment. I'm waiting for the diesel Accord.

[2oodoor]

keep the oil changed like 3000 miles or every season whatever, works wonders for old engines.

[Oldblueaccord]

In our 4 g I really think its the balance shaft thats doing some clacking around. The rythm it makes is not like on the firing order and they way it comes and goes. You could be rolling down the highway at speed and it will start clicking a little and then go away.

I did not see the B18 list as a balance shaft motor but I did not look to hard.



wp

[cygnus x-1]

Try some 20W50 oil and see if that quiets it down.

C|

[bushbean]

Try some 20W50 oil and see if that quiets it down.

C|

What if it does?

[2drSE-i]

Could the slappage have been caused by coolant leaking into your cylinder and warping the block or piston?

[Ichiban]

When my Tooooyota did #4 piston, it made all sorts of noise when cold. I just let it warm up in the morning so I didn't have to listen to it. Eventually when the compression ring was in enough pieces there was enough blowby to blast oil out the breather into the carb, but it never actually stopped running.

[cygnus x-1]

What if it does?

Keep driving it until you can afford to fix it? Or it dies? As long as you don't thrash it I bet it lasts a good while.

C|

[2oodoor]

What if it does?

Huh?

20w50w castrol gtx ftw!

[Ichiban]

Fill your crankcase with grease.

[1987AccordLx-i]

Fill your crankcase with grease.

oh wow haha! you cant be serious