Jason Saini

Did some more checking on our valve noise, and by 'listening' with a screwdriver it's definitely the #4 cylinder (closest to the firewall) that's making the noise. It's a very distinct metal-to-metal 'tap' on each engine revolution. It's much louder when idling or revving than when the revs are coming down. In fact, when the engine is decelerating, the noise goes away. Could it be a lifter? WTF happened to my engine?

I'm so afraid of what will become of the car... I don't want a new car that has had head work or an engine swap. They never get that type of work 100% right.

What do you guys think happened? We drove the car hard, but broke it in and didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Anyone hear of this happening to any other S2000's?

BlackPearl

Sorry to hear about the engine probs...

I could imagine what must be going through your heads...
maybe one of y'all who drives the car or maybe the dealer mis-shifted sometime and didn't fess'up????
how many of y'all drive it since new?
hope all things work out...

RandyP

Only problems like this that I have heard about were due to downshift over-revs. Sorry to hear about your engine problems. My car survived the transmission fix, so there is some hope that they can fix your engine like new.

Gregg Lee

I've hit the rev limiter hard a few times (always in first) and no problems. I do not hear valve click noise except for a second at cold start. After that valve noise is whirr, not clackity, and not at any one speed. If this was valve to piston, you would almost certainly have more than you describe. Could be I suppose, but I think some thing in lifter mechanism is more likely. There are are a lot of parts in there with 24 total lobes.

Can you feel or hear anything hand turning or cranking with starter? That might tell you if it's every rev or every alternate rev. Cams turn half of crank spedd of course.

QUOTE]Originally posted by Jason Saini:
Did some more checking on our valve noise, and by 'listening' with a screwdriver it's definitely the #4 cylinder (closest to the firewall) that's making the noise. It's a very distinct metal-to-metal 'tap' on each engine revolution.

[/QUOTE]

Jason Saini

I'll have to turn the engine by hand to see... I do know that the noise gets worse under load. And it's really bad at idle. When you rev it slightly, and the revs are coming back down to idle the noise almost disappears.

I'll try to turn it by hand... thanks, Greg.

Zoinks

I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that my stook made the exact same tapping on #4. Mine only made the noise when I rev-ed over 3k, but I barely drove the it after the noise started.

The dealer said that a bearing disintegrated. They replaced my engine under warrantee.

The good news is that they did a great job, if not a little slow. The car is running just as it should, although I had to endure a break-in period after the repairs. It's been several months since the replacement and I haven't had any problems.

Best of luck to you

Sev

What kind of break in procedure did you follow?

Have you rulled out the posibility of mis-adjusted valves?

Jason Saini

We followed the normal break-in procedure, but leaned on the car pretty hard after that. I think something was off from the factory because we had a definite valve clatter sound around 2500-3000 before this loud tapping began. I thought it was normal valvetrain noise, but now it's becoming clear that it was something more. Especially because no one else seems to have that valve clatter at certain rpms like we did.

We've only had the car three weeks, and just assumed that the valvetrain noise was normal. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have had it checked out, but it seems like our engine was doomed from the beginning. Oh well, we'll have to select a good service department and start the warranty process. Any advice on that guys?

warpspeed

I think I might have a similiar noise. It's definitely at idle, a tapping/ticking noise that doesn't go away. I'm taking it in next week.

Roceye

Other than the noise, does the engine run ok? Does it get better, worse or no change after the car warms up?

No missing or roughness would rule out a bent valve. If you're lucky it might be just a loose valve adjuster. If any of the locknuts were not tightened correctly by the factory then they would allow the adjuster to back out and increase the valve lash. Noisy yes, but easy to fix.

On the other hand it could be a bad rod bearing (spun) or piston pin.

Good luck with it...

[This message has been edited by Roceye (edited December 02, 2000).]