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I agree with everyone above who says do not mess with the head from the shop that wants your money.
I am not confident they did the valve adjustment the way it should. As mentioned above the exhaust valves should be ever slightly above what Honda says it should be as the DBW (Drive by wire) cars +6, run lean. You should have 0.011-0.012 clearance. Do it yourself with a bone cold car or another reputable shop. A motorcycle shop may be able to do it if you have trouble locating shops. I did it myself on my 2009 at around 40K miles when this issue came up. Sure enough, as warned, my untouched exhaust valves were tight and if left alone, it would have torched my valves by 65-70K miles according to a knowledgeable resource mechanic on this site (Billman). I checked again at 65K and the valves had not changed since I did the initial adjustment.
Your car is fine. Don’t try to fix what is not broken. Do double check the valves at some point.
Compression and leak-down numbers look great. I have doubts the valves were adjusted properly as this must be done with a cold engine (below 100°F). Engine will get too hot merely moving it indoors.
The DBW AP2 engines normally run lean.
The valves tighten in use so go big. I recall the Billman recommendation is set the intakes to max spec (0.010") and the exhaust "a thousandth over" max spec (0.012") since the engine runs lean. Check these yourself since some of us are guessing this shop just wants to do needless, expensive, and dangerous work on your engine. Plan on a Saturday morning (remember the engine must be cold). May be nothing more than confirming they're correct. Bent feeler gauges and a $20 tool will make this an easy task. Photo essays and videos are in the library and YouTube. Just take your time.
Any work on the S2000 cylinder head is begging for trouble. These ain't Chevy's. And the engine is practically irreplaceable these days.
-- Chuck
Thanks for the advice. This shop is one of the only shops that specialize in JDM cars. I was very hesitant about touching the engine head. The car is completely original so I became suspicious about their recommendation. Ill get with a fellow S2000 owner whos a professional aviation mechanic and services his own car for help.
Would you mind naming and shaming once this is all over? Obviously not while they still have you car, but I think it helps everyone out to know who to trust and who not to trust.
Today, 08:39 AM
