DallasEngineer

OK Here's the deal. Let me give you guys a brief background of my S2000 history. I bought this car in November of 1999. This was one of the first ones off the line. I was the first person to experience the "buzzing" of the clutch and the 1-2 gear grind. I took it in to my local dealer, Lute Riley. I have to give them credit, they are pretty good as dealers go. Well to make a long story short, they really had never worked on a S200 before and didn't know how to verify these problems and they told me everthing was normal, and nothing was wrong.

A few months later it had gotten much worse so I called Honda customer service. They set up a date(a month later!!!) for me to bring it in and a manager from the Honda Customer Service facility was there. They had located another S2000(these were very rare and they could not find one). They rode around in this new one and then rode in mine and compared the sound difference. At this point the service manager and the Honda rep were convinced that there was a problem, and felt like it was a transmission problem. They called Honda Engineering and the guy there that deals with engineering issues on the S2000 didn't know what the problem was. So they schedualed me to bring it back in a week later. They took it apart and, in contact with Honda Engineering, determined that it was caused by the clutch. This is what led to the infamous TSB regarding the clutch replacement.

Since they didn't have a new clutch designed, they put on a new "original" clutch. Well, as you can suspect, over time, the same issue poped up again. By this time Honda had developed the new clutch and TSB, but they didn't bother to tell me about it. I had to learn about it on the Internet. Well after rasing hell, they, once again replaced the clutch, this time with the new one. Well I made the do the transmission fix(that should have been addressed the FIRST time I brought it in), seatbelt recall, and boot recall.

Well since then, some 10K-12K miles later(26K total now), the AC has gone out(twice, and I'm in Texas!!), the top now leaks and believe it ot not, THE CLUTCH WHINES AGAIN AN THE TRANSMISSION DOESN'T SHIFT PROPERLY ALL OF THE TIME!

Now, the clutch whine is different, loud, but different, but the transmission, sometimes grinds between 1-2 again!

I'm pretty fed up. I'm an engineer and I FIRMLY believe that this car was not properly "debugged" before it is released. I did not pay a premium for this car to be Honda's beta test customer! I love this car and was hoping that it was relatively bug free.

The last time I had it at the dealer, they told me that there is nothing more that they can do. I have raised hell all the way up to the president's office at Honda in CA. All I get is the run around and piss poor customer service from the Honda corporation that is worse that most of thier dealers! What should I do?

Has anyone else had this level of trouble? I would entertain a class action suit at this point. Here is Texas, we have a law that is called the Texas Deceptive Trade Practicies act. Basically, it says that if you sell me something claiming that it is something that it is not, then you are in trouble. This car was sold to me with the statement that" not only does it have the reliability of Honda, but it's the best car that they have ever made." Well, I think that this is not true in this case. All I really want is a S2000 free of thsese constant bugs.

I would love to hear if anyone has had similar issues.

Thanks...

shingles

it would appear to me that the "major" problems that you are having is the transmission making sound? The top leaking, have all the seals been treated with the silicon grease? AC going out, has the dealer looked at it yet?

I would have to say that you should probably try another dealer... instead of trying the same one since they are of no help.

cdelena

You just need to do some searches. You are/were not the first and the problems you have had/having with the clutch and transmission are not unique. You will find many threads along the same lines.

Too bad you are having the other problems. Several have had the AC problems, even in the DFW area.

The issues with the dealers and AHM vary somewhat but overall you must work with them in a constructive manner to get much done. I dealt with the zone office for 11 months before I got my 1-2 grind addressed, and yes, it is doing it again as the temperatures go up.

Sorry that your level of frustration is so high, If you search you will find at least one person that got the entire car replaced, but only after an engine failure and an intensive campaign.

Spend some time on the board, you may find something that will help.

Elistan

I got my car back in November 99 also, from Honda Cars of McKinney. I've had zero problems. (Well, I had the clutch rattle at first, but it's gone away now.)

Considering the number of trouble free stooks, I don't think the S2000 in general is the problem.

You could have a valid complaint under the Lemon Law, however. Doesn't it work that if after X number of attempted repairs the problem still exists, they're required by law to buy it back?

The other possibility is that the monkies at the other end of the wrench didn't know what they were doing when they opened your car up for surgery.

I'm sure there have been other people with troubles, of course. Perhaps they have some contact information for you.

Chris S

Sorry to hear about your problems, but your idea of a class action lawsuit doesn't seem to have much merit. It sounds like the alleged misrepresentation was made by the dealer (not that anyone should believe a word they say), not Honda. I doubt this dealer has sold enough S2000's, and made misreprentations to disgruntled customers, to qualify for class action status. The legal fees would be a little hefty for such a small class anyway, so I doubt you'd get a decent attorney to take your case on contingency.

Also, overall owner satisfaction seems to be extremely high, and such legal action would only serve to discourage development and production of similar cars in the future.

Your best bet is to seek recourse under the Lemon Law.

If you think the car wasn't properly debugged, try a first year GM product - that should give you an appreciation for Honda quality!

Dave

Texas lemon law web page:
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/insdtdot/orgcha...on/lemonlaw.htm

RT

I've had all except for the AC problems including the 1-2 grind reoccurrence and the 2nd clutch getting weird............................but this is nothing compared to the Porsches I've owned so

NorCalS2K

I am going through the same thing right now (search my posts) except it will be my third time with the TSB's. (The first time a different dealer screwed up) I totally agree with you, Honda screwed the pooch on this one. I do love my S2K, Honda did not "debug" it. I have not looked at the lemon law yet... I am going to give the dealer another chance, if they refuse to service it then HOA said call them and they will get right on it. (Yeah right, this coming from the guy that answered the phone at HOA that said he did not know what to do). Hey operator boy

HondaGuy

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris S
[B]I doubt this dealer has sold enough S2000's, and made misreprentations to disgruntled customers, to qualify for class action status.
[QUOTE]

Unfortunately, this dealer probably sells the most S2000's in the DFW area. I highly doubt it's the mechanic's fault b/c I'm about to go in for the 2nd time for the 1st to 2nd grinding problem & another s2k owner locally, has the same problem even though he's been in twice for the grinding problem (different mechanics each time). I'm pretty frustrated too...I hate it when I take a friend or a date for a ride, then bang, it grinds. I hope Honda of America is reading this post b/c they need to do something about this.

jazzboss

Sorry to hear about your problems but listen to this:
I graduated with a bunch of automotive engineers that have now gone to work for Mclaren F1 team, Bentley and Roll Royce, Ricardo consulting (the people that are designing the new Hummer and others), Lotus engineering etc. I am not an engineer myself so I just listen to what they say. One of the rules of the automotive industry is:
DO NOT BUY A NEW MODEL VEHICLE WHEN IT'S FIRST OUT.
This is not because they are not 'debugging' the cars. They are. But a car is so complex, and they only have 1-2 years to work with. Some of the 'bread and butter' cars are designed in less than 6 months. Projects have budgets that have to be adhered to.
So the cars are going to the market in the best possible working mode, for the time that went into them. And if there are a few minor problems they can be ironed out later. Which is why you should buy a new model minimum 1 year after it has been launched.
If you think Honda are bad, you probably do not have experience of Italian cars. The electric system fails within a few days, gearboxes need changing and you are left with the wonderful engines...
Another example is this: Mercedes is considered the best manufacturer, but still the A-class (I am not sure if you get it in the US) had fundamental design faults when it first came out. The car was tipping over easily!
Same for Audi TTs. A few months after launch, they recalled them to install traction control and a rear spoiler for heaven sakes!
So much for the German manufacturing.

Anyway, I hope this helped.

Regards

J