tds85

Hi all,

I recently bought a 2003 (AP1) S2000, 50k miles and 2 owners. All service history is there since new, always serviced at Honda etc. Figured it was a good buy, I traded my silly little MX5 and bought this!

Oh how I was not expecting over 4 weeks of drama!

I drove it 2 days after buying it, very much enjoying the car. No noticeable power drop off, no CEL. After about 80~ miles I get the CEL but did not notice anything with the running of the car? Having nice friends I dropped the car to my mechanic friend with his reader, and it was misfire in cylinder 4. Since the car had be sat around for 2-3 months, maybe it just needed some fuel additive and a valve adjustment! So that was done, and I drove the car again.

The entire day it ran like a dream. Even after a fill-up it still worked great. No CEL nothing! My optimism would not last though...

That evening I really wanted cookies.. nice cold night figured I would let the car warm up, go for a little drive. First 500 metres of the drive I get a CEL again, this time I notice the car is running quite rough. Especially on idle.

At this point, no cookies! and further more I did not want to damage the car at all, I called my friend up again, and got the car towed to the place where I bought it, where I spent a little more money but got 1 years engine/gearbox/trans warranty. Before towing we had a look at the codes, and it was misfiring all cylinders this time.

They had the car for over 4 weeks. They replaced the coil packs, plugs, checked/cleaned the sensors, and after them starting up and stopping over and over, the main mechanic there apparently could smell coolant? Ah-ha! Head Gasket he says.

So, not at my cost, they bought a new head gasket, and also took the head to be re-skimmed because it was very slightly off? (do realise I am no car mechanic, I mostly get my knowledge from helpful posts from here!)

Car then starts, but sounds like rough, and boom! CEL but this time, it was to do with the crank position sensor? So, they ordered a new one. Still the car is sounding off, so they do something with tappets? Anyway car sounded a lot better and I picked it up (this was yesterday).

Still no CEL and it is going ok, apart from 2 things..

First, the idle is rough, it drops real low, and sometimes stalls out. Best way to describe is a pulsating rev sound.

Second is it apparently is just putting coolant somewhere at a crazy pace, 90 miles yesterday and reserve tank was empty and couldn't see anything in the rad.

I got my friend to check for airlocks again, bled the system through (at 6 am this morning) and topped the water off, drove to work (only about 4 miles) and yet the really low idle rev's persist (with the pulsating effect too!)


I turn to you guys for advice, any ideas at all what is going on with this car. It can go to a garage of my choice now, to be evaluated and repaired, at their cost not mine. Problem is, I live in the Medway towns in south east England, and the only places that are comfy looking at and dealing with my car at the Honda dealers (£75 per hour + VAT)

Sorry for the long post, Maybe this 1 month drama might help someone else going through a similar thing, I know I have found countless posts on there from problems that has taught me a great deal about this car!

Thanks!

Ant

rmk232

I'm unsure of how the S2000 is setup fully. Which is a shame with me owning one. But If you're getting a rough idle it could mean air in the cooling system. If your loosing coolant and cant find out where from. My eyes point at a waterpump. Aside from that it sounds if maybe the headgasket was gone and you or someone else did some damage driving or attempting to drive it like that. Is there smoke coming from the exhaust? Can you see where the coolant is leaking? If you don't know what you're doing and whoever you bought it off has a contract with you where they cover the cost and have given you free lance to a shop of your choice I would take it to Honda. Get in writing first from the warranty 'issuer' that this is okay and they will pick up 100% of the bill no questions. If you bought it from Honda and they can't fix it or are cutting corners contact the Better Business Bureau equivalent in the Kingdom.

tds85

Thank you for the fast reply!

As far as the head-gasket goes, as soon as any CEL comes on, I stop, and get the thing towed. Before me, I have read through every service notes and never saw anything to do with misfires/cooling etc. So that I guess remains a mystery..

There is no visible smoke/smell from the exhaust. As for visible leaking, surprise! it was raining in the UK last night, so very hard to check, but armed with a inspection light and 30 mins I saw nothing that would show a leak. Although truly I am not quite sure where to be looking!

The car was bought from a second hand car dealer, that mostly sells performance cars. They have an on-site service area, but with my car they admitted they needed to go elsewhere to find a solution. The issue for me, they took it to a small car repair place, where I do not have too much faith that they are capable of repairing the problem. 4 weeks later and I am no better off.

I have two real options, either take it to Honda, point them at the issues and let the garage pay, or if the general feeling is the car is just a bad buy... return the car, full refund+other bits and pick up another? I just really like the AP1 and with such low mileage it seems perfect, but if these problems will continue maybe cutting my loses and finding a new one is the best way?

Thanks

Ant

rmk232

If the garage will pay. Take it to Honda. Simple enough.

Billman250

Sad to say taking it to Honda will do nothing, unless you are fully covered. Even then don't expect their diagnosis or repair to be correct.

I liked your story with the cookies so I did read carefully.

It SEEMS the shop that did the work was not too familiar with the car. On over 1000 s2ks, and countless s2ks on the web, I have never seen a bad crank sensor. They don't just go bad immediately after a major engine job.

It is also extremely rare for an s2k to have head gasket issues. That would have been my last direction to take.

While the head was off, was it vacuum tested? This would have been a surefire way to find bent or burnt valves.

The proper thing to do was read the fuel trim, do a compression and leak down test. Find the cause of the misfire, beyond doubt.

Narrow down 100% the cause of the issue, then break out the big tools.

I just don't get why mechanics these day have no diagnostic capabilities at all.

On to the car...is your interior heat good and hot? To me it sounds like you drove it with an air pocket. Did you check for hot heat before it was driven at all?

tds85

Hi there! Thank you for the reply!

I would 100% agree with you that the shop did not know the car too well. Unfortunately it was not my choice but the place where I bought the car from.

Now I am in a weird position of being able to choose where I take my car to get it repaired, at the cost of the place where I bought it from. The problem is the only place I have found that are comfy repairing the car is an official Honda dealership about 8 miles from where I live.

As far as tests done, honestly I would say no.. only because I do not trust these mechanics as far as I could throw them!

As for heat in the car, yup no problems there nice and toasty, and the air pocket was discovered on only a 1 mile drive to top it up for fuel while it was at the garage being repaired. 24 hours later and all the water had gone?


A new development in this story! Water level seems to of not dropped, I drove 3 miles back to my house for some food on my lunch break... and engine warning light, white smoke out the back, and it sounds like a boxer engine! It is now sitting on my driveway, awaiting to be towed to a place of my choice..

I am real unsure of what to make of it all.

4forall

Well if its white smoke out the back thats coolant getting into the cylinders for sure.

Seems they did a bad job of replacing the headgasket, which most of us agree was a snap decision by the mechanic and should have been a last resort.

Hopefully you find a place that can actually fix it. Best of luck.

Fr3sh_2K

i wonder if the mechanic had set the timing incorrectly when he had the head and timing chain off. then it threw the CEL for a CKP... hmmm im sorry to hear you having all of these issues but I assure you the car is worth it.

LeonV

Sounds like a cracked block or head to me. Compression and leak-down should have been checked long before replacing anything. If those come out ok and you're burning coolant, that points right to a cracked water jacket. There may have been a reason for the car sitting so long before you bought it.

skittle

Agreed they should have done a compression/leakdown test first before replacing the head gasket.


Nice Datsun LeonV...