hoof

The light never blinked. It would come on and stay on. The pattern was that every time it was reset, within a day, it would come back on.

So far I've had two days of no CEL light after the valve adjustment. If this continues for a few more days, then it would seem that the valves were the culprit after all. I still hear the intermittent "puff" noise when sitting next to the exhaust, but if the CEL light doesn't come back on, I'm going to assume that it's normal.

Chiung

Search for a recent thread by Rick Hesel. i think he had the same CEL codes and traced it to a cracked vacuum line or somesuch thing.

[edit] http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=172439 [edit]

hoof

Thanks for the link Chiung. Rick's CEL issue might be related to mine, since adjusting the valves would require removing the valve cover, and disconnecting the vacuum line that seems to have caused his problem. Reassembing the valve cover afterwards would reseat the vacuum line, thus if my CEL issue goes away, a problem with the vacuum line connection could be the cause.

hoof

It's been 4 days and numerous driving cycles and the CEL light is still off. Thus, unless it comes back on in the near future, I'm going to assume the valve adjustment operation fixed the problem (either the valves were the cause, or the act of getting to the valves, then reassembling the engine fixed the problem). I'll post later if the CEL light comes back on, but for now I'm considering the problem resolved.

Rick Hesel

FYI, this is likely to accomplish absolutely nothing. In mostly all cases the plugs are not the source of this problem.

Rick Hesel

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chiung
Search for a recent thread by Rick Hesel.

Doc

I am having a similar problem. My noises are a little louder since I have an aftermarket exhaust, but it is the same thing. My car idles rough, I have had numerous 'Too Lean' codes, and today I got a #3 Cylindar misfire code just sitting at idle (according to my data logger). I swapped plugs and coils, went for a drive and didn't have the CEL yet, but the idle is still rough. My vac hoses are good, I just checked them.

Confused.

JJ

hoof

Well, it's been a month, and the CEL light is back on. Ugh. Since the car seems to run ok, and the next debug step is rather expensive (replacing injectors), I'm going to buy a new gas cap and wait until I'm out of grad school before pursuing this further. The gas cap idea is to ensure that I don't have a bad seal on the gas cap that's causing the CEL lights (although I doubt a gas cap issue would cause a misfire code).

Anyone know a cheap way to get the codes from the ECU? I'm curious if this time it's the same issue or another. Sometimes I wonder if the "CEL" light should be relabeled the "Cash Extraction Light", due to the fact that it simply has to turn on, and you're out $$ going to Honda to find out what's wrong.

xviper

I understand that Autozone will do this free of charge for you. Also, take a look at this:
http://www.baustnet.com/honda/misc/dtc.htm

phimdel

I have had the same exact problem as you, right down to the intermitent CEL light and the odd exhaust note. My s2k has 48K miles on it and the problem started at about 36K miles. I have tried everything to resolve this but I have given up all hopes of an inexpensive fix. Some good news is that the car runs perfectly, aslong as it is off idle. I even ran it on an emissions dyno and it was as clean as a whistle! I eventually plan on replacing the injectors but at this point I am simply just throwing parts at it.
I have already replaced plugs, coils, Mass sensor, fuel filter, crank sensor, all vacuum hoses under the hood, and adjusted the valves. I work for a Benz dealership and we own a Honda dealership whose techs are clueless and refuse to talk to me about this any furthur b/c they're just as stumped as I am. Good luck with your quest and please keep us informed as I will do the same.