Muggus

I feel you man, when i got my s2 i had to change my head gasket right away. Sucks when you buy something that seems ok but soon find stuff wrong with it.

Chris_Lum

sounds like a lot of hassle, i would just return it if they are going to do a full refund. Find another with zero problems out of the gate.

tds85

Thanks for all the replies. It is pretty clear the first Mechanic had zero clue on what he was doing..

It is off to a Honda main dealer today, where they are going to tell me everything (hopefully) that is wrong with the car. The Garage I have bought it from have said they seem to have no choice but to fix what is wrong until I am happy with the car. Lots of white smoke and sounding like a Subaru is not so good!

If the cost amounts too high (This figure has to be around £6k+) they will cash settle with me (part ex of my old car, cost of the s2000 + various costs to me personally so far) which will not be too bad.

It is quite had to find well looked after s2000's anywhere close in my area. Even 40 miles out and still its either very high mileage with little service history, or overpriced AP2's with dodgy records.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am thinking if I am not paying, getting every part of the car signed off by the dealership with their 12 month guarantee, and so it runs perfectly would be better than running the risk of a private sale? or another from a used car place?

End of the day from the very little I have actually been able to drive of it, and from what I have been reading on these forums, it is a fantastic car and when properly maintained very little goes wrong with them. It is just getting this car to a point where I can spend some cash on it to keep it perfect, rather than this messy uphill battle at the moment!

tds85

Quick update guys, and hopefully some clever people here can confirm what I have been told..

The head gasket was indeed replaced on my car, but also the head was skimmed. This apparently is not good for a s2000?

The Honda mechanic told me there is water in cylinders 1 and 4, and thus lots of misfires.

Bottom line is it needs a new head, various other parts that go with that.. (bolts etc so he said).

First question, with this kind of problem, is there any other part of the engine that can be hurt by this? valves etc? If the place I bought it from sign off on this, I do not want any further issues...

Second question is, does the above sound right? Or am I being lied to again! Oh and it is not looking cheap, figures of around £6k+ are being thrown around at the moment.

Thanks all

Ant

Muggus

6k? You would have to be crazy to spend that on a headgasket replacement. I had my head milled for like $80 when i changed my headgasket, I dont see why there would be any problem if its just a light shave. Any good machine shop will be able to tell if the head is within spec. If you do the work yourself it only cost like $80 I think for the gasket and a few extra bucks for like coolant and misc. things. If it is indeed the headgasket, make sure you have your head checked before going and buying a new one

tds85

Sorry the £6k was not just for the head gasket, was for a new cylinder head and anything else that needs to be done with that...


My main concern is even though at any sign of trouble I turned the car off and had it towed, that some damage may of been done to the engine? Most damage from this kind of issue is usually heat related as far as I can see, but the car never went above 4 bar on the dash, soon as I saw or smelt trouble, engine off!

The garage where I bought it from have said they will put the car right, but after that they want nothing to do with me! I want to make sure that every part of what possibly has gone wrong will be put right.

Hope I am making sense!

Muggus

Well i figured that the 6k was with a new head, but for that much you can almost have the whole motor built. Which is why i suggest to have the head itself checked by a machine shop to see if it can just be milled and save you a ton of money. Hell be able to tell just by looking at it usually where you had gasket leaks.

rmk232

Yeah honestly for 6k euros. You can have a monster of a stroker in that car. Too bad your warranty won't let that happen.

skittle

Have the machine shop do a eddy current check on it as well. That will tell you if there are microscopic cracks in the head between the valves. If you just have the head shaved and not checked for cracks then that can cause a new headgasket to go bad as well.