I just got done working on my car with a mastergrade mechanic friend of mine who has done a road test and and a car ears test on my S. He will be pulling the motor shortly to determin exactly what the problem is but his general ideas were that a piston is loose and wallered out and is clanking, a rod is messed up and clanking, or more likely (according to him but he is not a honda mechanic) the timing has somehow slipped a tooth and the valves and piston are impacting. Regardless the motor needs to be pulled and Probably a lot of it replaced. Does anyone have anythoughts on the possibility of these problems?

also anythoughts of what i could modify on the car to improve it since the motor will be out, if it is a piston maybe a stroker kit if thats possible? i don't really know just looking for advice.

Finally just the details, car runs at what butt dynos in at 60% POWER/ it feels like its missing when under a lot of acceleration. There is a very bad very loud knock at 3800 + RPMs. some at lower RPMs occasionally and when i start the car. The sound is definitely coming from the block or the head or inbetween(most likely.)

41000k miles on an 01

 

Why did this person drive the car


This motor will not run if the valve timing was off.


You might consider looking for another mechanic.

 

he didn't know what was wrong with the car, he drove it around the block, the car doesn't make hardly any noise at idle or under 3800 rpms. the mechanic was just trying to give me an idea of what was wrong. apparently i have multiple problems.. The motor thing just came up, but i orignially was taking it to him for a problem in the rear end, my CV joingts are also messed up and have a lot of pay in them. Also i should note he is a ford mechanic so he has never worked on an S, not that it matters that much b/c he was just trying to do an initial diagnosis.

 

My diagnosis is you need a different mechanic.

The engine in this car is too expensive to let an amatuer play doctor with. Tell him to go fix a mustang, and YOU get your car towed somewhere that actually knows what they are doing.

 

Yes I agree, and so did he. we just wanted to do a preliminary incase it was something similar i was overlooking... thanks for everyones help it is very much appreciated, and when i get teh final notice of the problem i will let everyone know... maybe you can give me ideas of better replacement parts then thanks guys

 

take it to a mechanic who is knowledgeable with s2k's. several things you said tell me he has no idea how different S2k's are from the previous cars he has worked on. not that your friend is stupid, he just doesn't know S2k's.

if you want to prevent a bad problem from getting worse, take it somewhere else. post in your regional forum here and ask for a reputable honda dealership to take it to in your area. this is the best advice we can give you.

also, do you have a Check Engine Light?

 

no lights or anything of that kind, dash seems fine and the lights light up when you start the car so they are not just out.

 

then read my previous advice. let us know what happens.

 

Would it be a bad idea to take the motor apart myself? I'm not a pro mechanic, but i succesfully put a tubro on my 04 civic si and installed clutch plus wired in the electronics. I have a lot of experience with 2 stoke dirtbike motors and rebuilding street bike motors. any experience with this and thoughts as to my trying to trouble shoot it. Its not under warranty and i dont' have a lot of extra money.

 

well i think it's gonna be a "you get what you pay for" situation.

how much do you know about the S2k? there are a lot of unique things about the S2k that you may or may not know and could or could not be detrimental to you solving and fixing the problem. you risk damaging more than you might fix and end up costing you more in the long run. many a knowledgeable mechanic on other cars has come here to try and "help" people by offering advice, only to be humbled after they realize the S2k is a different beast and the advice they were giving was totally off-base.

my best suggestion is to buy a helm's manual if you're insistent on doing this yourself. do you even know what you're looking for?