I’m gonna see if this comes out right. I have a 2004 Honda Accord LX with around 130,000 miles. So I noticed a very loud rattling sound that comes and goes seems to come either when I accelerate quickly, pushing on the gas when driving as well. But honestly it comes and goes at random when I’m driving. Now i just recently got an oil change, and after that I barely ever hear it, when I do it’s super low and goes away really quick. I’ve heard it loud(how it use to be before the oil change) once since that oil change. But once again at random it happens but a lot a lot less frequently and extremely low and quick. So is there some correlation between the gas area or whatever you would call it and that sound? Not sure what I said makes sense, sorry if it doesn’t. I’m not too well versed in vehicles.
You wanna have someone look for worn suspension components.
Like worn sway bar bushings,
and end links.
Tester
Does a red light come on the dash when you hear this rattle?
Did the oil change place tell you you were low on oil when you came it?
Do you check your oil level every week or so between oil changes?
No red light, no they did not tell me that, although I believe I was. And I try to check it from time to time but I won’t lie I tend to forget
Ok cool, I’ll definitely have these checked out. I last changed them about a year and a half away.
Then. those aren’t making the noise.
Have the suspension/steering inspected.
Tester
That could be your engine destroying itself from lack of oil. At 130K, using a quart every 1500 miles would not be at all out of the ordinary. If you change your oil at 3000 miles, you are 2 quarts low. At 5000, over 3. For an engine with 5 or 6 quarts, that is bad. If you change at 7500, that’s a siezed engine.
I’m going for my state inspection in about a week or two, they would check that correct? Or should I put emphasis on that specifically when I bring it in?
Sorry if I sound like an idiot, but are you saying just to check my oil levels and add oil every 1500 miles? Also I’m at 130,000 on the odometer but in reality it might be around 300,000 because when I bought the car the guy said something about him changing the cluster so the miles are lower, not sure what that meant at the time. I tried to sell online and the place did like a online check with my vin and they responded with saying it was closer to that 300000 number. I told the dude I bought it from and all he said is that can’t be right. I’m hopefully looking to buy another car by the end of the year so I just need this car to last me until then.
A loose exhaust heat shield or exhaust support has failed is another possibility. Ask the tech who changed the oil if they fixed anything else? While changing the oil they may have also noticed the heat shield was loose and corrected that for you as best they could as a courtesy. If either of these is the problem, the reason why it seems to come and go as you drive, likely some vibration from the engine or drivetrain has to be the correct frequency to set off the rattling motion. Google “sympathetic vibration”.
Add oil ONLY as needed to reach the “full” mark. You can’t know if it is low unless you check the level regularly.
Knowing the car has 300K reinforces my opinion that low oil is the problem.
The more you need it to last, the more often you should check the oil level. Carry a couple of quarts of oil at all times so you don’t run it low.
Yeah true. Thank you I’ll make sure to have these on hand
Ok I will make sure to ask them that, bit do you think they would have checked that area if they were just doing a oil change?
Can’t speak to what others do or don’t do, but I always do a general under-car inspection, including the exhaust system, whenever I change the oil and filter on my own cars. As part of the inspection, I clean the cv boots too, to the amusement of some here … lol …
I’m definitely gonna bring this up. Thank you again
The shop won’t be interested in what George does in his driveway. Only a brief inspection is performed during an oil change, the technician is only paid 15 minutes of labor. If you want your rattles diagnosed, bring $200.
So what about my state inspection, they don’t check things like that?
No, they don’t.