S2k2490

I just rebuilt my head with Brian crowed intake/exhaust valves, BC valve guides, BC keepers, ARP head studs, and a cometic headgasket. This was my first build with an s2000. I had the head professionally machined to seat all the valves and installed it myself. Here's the problems I'm facing currently.. My car has a weird sounding miss (no power loss what so ever, runs like a dream) but has that miss at low rpm's. The heat takes a while to heat up (once it does it stays hot). The car will randomly spike in temperature, but always returns to normal after about 5 minutes. Also the check engine light will randomly come on, but go off if I turn the car off and turn it back on. What is going on?? Is the head gasket possibly leaking? I did torque it down once then have to take it off to put the timing cover back on (stupid first timer mistake on my part) then I torqued it down once more. Could this have caused the headgasket to be weak? Or have I possibly connected a vacuum hose to the wrong place?? Any help/guidance is greatly appreciated!

S2k2490

I meant to add I noticed a slight coolant loss. The oil looks clean, however, with no milky/tan shade to it. Weird.. Lol

Kyushin

Did you also use the BC dual springs? I dont trust the ARP studs and any other gasket besides OEM, have heard way too many negative opinions about those two from good shops. I read that the ARP has a very tedious torque and retorque procedure to get it just right and even then I wouldnt trust them.

S2k2490

Thats exactly what I didnt want to read haha. I made sure to use the correct torque sequence, I actually went through it about three times to triple make sure they were torqued correctly. I did not, however, get the dual springs primarily due to being low on funds at the time. I was hoping to get cams and the springs this winter (planned Christmas present for myself lol). I dont mind changing the headgasket if indeed that is it, I feel like I can do it fairly quickly now after doing it myself before. I just want to make sure that it is the issue before purchasing another one and putting myself through the trouble with the labor.

BBV S2K

Try replacing the Head gasket with OEM.. ARP head-studs arent that bad.. I use them in all my cars and never had a problem...

S2k2490

I was highly recommended the cometic headgasket by several owners. I dont see how it can be a product failure. The reason I am investing the money in the head is because of the milage and my goals to turbo it. It has 165000k on it (purchased with 120000 with a 45% leakdown on cylinder 2), cylinder 2 finally broke the valve after 2 years of driving, hence as to why im going through this head build currently. I want it to be safe for about 450bhp. Thats really the only reason I decided to go with a more stout headgasket rather than the OEM one.

4forall

Need a little more information to try to diagnose your issue.

1. Everything else stock besides the annotated head work?
2. Did you purge the coolant system?


to me is sounds like you had air in the system and its causing you to overheat periodically. As for the check engine light, you need to go have it scanned to see what the code is. the code may tell you why you are having a misfire as well as the overheating problem. The cometic headgasket is fine, and so is the OEM. I have however heard a few peopl having issues with the arp studs due to stretching and needing to retorque them.

I wouldnt run and pull your head off your car just yet. Also wouldn't drive it with it overheating. Report back once you scan that code.

S2k2490

Its got a catback exhaust, and a cheap wanna be "cold air intake" on it lol. Other than that it is stock, besides the head work. The only reason I haven't ran and checked the code is because i figured since every time I turn the car off the light goes off the computer would forget the code. Am I wrong about that? I'll go after class today and see if I can pull any codes from it. Unfortunately this is my daily and I'm having to drive it to work with the issues it is having. The overheating is very periodic (never gets out of control) as is the check engine light. However, the miss at idle is constant. I'll update once I try and read the codes today. Thanks for the help!

PS. I have not purged the coolant system yet, that was my first thought. The miss is what really lead me to think of the headgasket.

Billman250

I have had horrible experience with ARP headstuds in the s2k and will never recommend them to anyone, EVEN if you are turbo.

Stock headbolts all the way.

Step 1, get the code.

step 2, report back

blasphemy101

I know this is off topic, but is this just in reference to the set they distribute for the s2k? They're a pretty standard recommendation elsewhere.