Help! Clatter in valve cover

[Head Chef]

Repiv, can you help me? My baby developed a pretty noisy clatter that seems to come from the valve cover. I'm boosted and rev to redline often. I can't reach my tuner-closed on weekends and am worried about my baby! I know that you can't totally diagnose online but I'm just looking for some ideas of what it might be based on your knowledge of the Ap1 engine. Here is my situation- loud clatter at idle and thru-out the rev band. No overheating at all, no engine lights, no loss of power, engine still revs smoothly, no fouling of plugs, no water in oil. Do valve springs or lifters sometimes go on this engine? Again I'm just looking for some direction on this, thanks for yours and anyone elses help on this.

[Coop]

I would take it easy and don't drive unless you have too

I have heard of broken valve springs

Might want to post;
How many miles on the car ?
How offend do you change oil and what type?
Did the noise start over night or is it just getting louder?
How long have you had the noise, miles?
and anything else you can think of that might matter

[Head Chef]

Coop, have 9200 miles on car, change oil with mobil 1 10w30 every 1000-1500 miles. Noise developed suddenly yesterday (Sat).

[Coop]

sounds like something let go, I would say don't drive if at all possible

[ninja]

Coop, have 9200 miles on car, change oil with mobil 1 10w30 every 1000-1500 miles. Noise developed suddenly yesterday (Sat).

off topic- but can you drain your used oil into some clean containers and send them to me? j/k :rofl:

[repiv]

Sudden onset of upper engine clatter like this is not likely valves themselves. Valves will progress into a louder and louder ticking with time.

Can you tell if this is a single ticking sound or if it's a "symphony" of a bunch of things ticking?
The typical single ticking or "playing card in a bicycle spoke" is caused by a malfunctioning timing chain tensioner. This is just below the head, near the VTEC solenoid and can sound like it's coming from under the valve cover.

Another possibility could be oil starvation in the valvetrain area. How's your oil level?

Do you have a mechanic's stethoscope. With one of these, you can probe various parts of the engine to hear if the sound is more prominent in one place than any other. If you've got multiple valve chatter, you should be able to hear it at many of the 16 positions on the top of the valve cover. Timing chain tensioner can be heard if you proble the tensioner itself and also on the front part of the upper engine block.

[Head Chef]

Thanks for responding Repiv. The noise is not a single tick like a card in spokes. I'm heading to my tuniner Monday afternoon and hopefully will have it diagnosed tomorrow. I'll let you know what it turns out to be. Thanks again.