Well it’s more of a check up than anything but the Element could probably use a valve adjustment. I have not checked the gaps to know for sure (if I had gotten that far I would have adjusted them, I’ve even got the gaskets sitting in my garage).
Basically when you start it cold and it’s sitting in park it sounds fine but ticks like many Hondas (sounds like injectors to me - similar to my Si). When you put it in gear the ticking is much louder and starts to sound like a diesel. Not like the engine is going to blow or anything (not knocking). When the engine warms up it doesn’t happen. I think it’s the injectors (wish I had a spare set to swap over to check), valves needing adjustment, or maybe an exhaust gasket somehwere (unlikely, but it could expand when it warms up and stop the noise).
I may try to get the valves done this week myself or pull the injectors off of my Si and see if that changes anything (though the engine may run like poop if the injectors aren’t the same). I may just be paranoid cause I’ve heard from many E owners that the 2.2 can get noisy but I am super paranoid about engine noises and just want to have an expert look at it and tell me to stop worrying. We are taking it to Cinci over the Holidays and just want a once over.
56K on the clock. We bought it from a Honda dealer in the spring/early summer. It was a certified pre-owned, but of course I figured if they certified it already I could take the retail down and drop the warranty. :haha
It’s done this for months and still runs smooth - no MPG issues, no smoke, doesn’t consume any fluid. Just noisy when cold. I just don’t think I’ll have time to do any of this myself.