'95 Civic making rattling sound

I've got a 1995 Civic that makes a metallic rattling sound when the engine
is running. The car can be in park or be driven, the noise is present (not
always present, but seems to be more so lately). The noise seems to be
coming from the engine area, but I can't locate it any more specifically
than that. The pitch of the noise does not seem to change with engine speed.

Recently I heard a similar noise on my dad's '97 Accord... so I'm wondering
if this is common to Hondas.

Any ideas?

 

That may be the cause, thanks for the link.

 

Most likely the heat shield from under the car.. very common on Honda's. You
can just go to your local garage and get it fixed by installing a wrap
(metallic) cost 1 buck or so... If not, you can just take it out! That's
what I did!

Jason

 

Jason -- Thanks, where under the car should I look for the heat shield?

 

All over the place. An OEM system has about a half-dozen shields on it.
Most common to come loose is the upper cat shield, about in line with the
shift lever.