So I have a 1993 Honda Civic DX that been on Valvoline Maxlife 5w30 in the winter and 10w30 for the summer. I Seafoam the engine every 3 oil changes and been using the Prue one filters with an oci of about 6k+. The car just went over 222,xxx miles and the engine has some issues. PVC, spark plugs, air filter, cap & rotor and IVAC have been recently replaced or cleaned. I get around 28-31mpg most of the miles are city driving. The engine idles rough during the daytime, however, it is fine at night. I have no idea why that is but I have a theory it might be electrical issue with the idle control. Around 3k+ rpms I hear a ticking/tapping coming from the engine. I already tried a valve lash adjustment. At this point I think it is a rod bearing or main bearing on its way out. Maybe thicker oil will help? Should I try AutoRX product?

You may condider staying with the 10w30 all year in your local or even to to 10w40/ Auto RX is not a bad idea.

Possibly a lifter sticking?

Another candidate for Marvel's mystery oil, I would try that first and see if it helps.

Yeah I was thinking along the same lines. Before you( OP )get too ahead of yourself try something in the crankcase to see if you have a sticking valve, lifter, or possibly rings. Actually, as you already use it, Seafoam works great to free sticking engine parts. MMO works well too but in my experience the Seafoam does it faster.

Seafoam
MMO
AutoRx

Any of the above is worth a try.

to narrow down where the engine, have a friend raise the rpm to 3000, then using a long screw driver or solid object, put it against the valve cover and then the oil pan.

if you hear the noise better in the oil pan start shopping for a new car.

as far as the idle goes, have you cleaned the maf? heck does it have a maf?

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1661784

this might be helpful

It idles rough during the day, but runs fine at night? If that's true, changing your oil isn't going to help.

Have you tried turning on your lights during the day? Any other daytime/nightime variables that you know of?

Good luck :)

I'll probably put Valvoline 5w30 HM synthetic blend and seafoam cleaning after Thanksgiving. It seems the ticking might not be engine related. I found a post on yahoo answers about that the noise I describe could be the CV joints going bad. This is a good possibility since my CV boot joints are ripped and dire need of replacement.

oh yeah, torn boots mean the joints will die relatively soon. go buy yourself new shafts or have a shop do it. that needs to get replaced.

You have to be moving to hear the C/V joints.
A standard quick test for them is to make tight turns at slow speeds in both directions and listen for clicking/ popping.
If one is ripped, count on it being gone. 2 weeks is about all they last, after they have a torn boot.

I just realized I missed a very important detail in my op. The ticking only happens during a load/torque on the car. With that said, I don't have money to buy the axles so I guess I'll have to put that off after Thanksgiving as well.

eblade, something you might consider if money is tight, go find a junkyard and grab those shafts. I know it is a bit of a gamble, but I've done it once before years ago.

I would try Auto-Rx based on milage alone even if you had no issues. I would pull the bottom end and stick new bearing in it.ure it would be proper to measure everthing and resize the large end of the rods but that all takes time. You can stuff new bearing in rather quickly and replace all the timing front and rear main seals at the same time, If you where really ambitious you could install new rigns at the same time and see if you can make it 500,000.