pushinlsteg

friend of mine's s2000, 2002, 90k miles.

head started knocking after a 135-140 mph highway pull.
I dont need a lecture or anything, I didn't do it, I'm just trying to help a friend here... I know whats good and whats bad for a motor. I'm just trying to help.

I listen to it, sounds kinda bad...I've changed a few timing chain tensioners...and it sounded worse than that. I have rebuilt one motor before etc.. I'm not foreign to the motor really.

I went ahead and changed the tensioner anyway to get it out of the way, still knocking. there is a CEL I haven't checked yet he said he's always had it for random misfire codes since he had the car at 60,000 miles.

so things I've done:
changed timing chain tensioner.
adjusted valves.
the #4 spark plug had only half the electrode as if it melted off.

The car pulls fine under load, yet the knocking sound gets worse. oil pressure is fine where it needs to be which is why I dont think its a rod knock... even though I assume it still could be.

Things I need to check:
The CEL...
compression test.
leakdown test.

other than that I'm lost. I used a stethescope to try and find the noise, its the loudest by the front of head, and more towards the head than towards the block. I know its not the tensioner, this sounds worse than a valve tick or tensioner issue, the knock is loud, and very audible. it sounds like a rod knock but its from up top, the car idles fine...

could the electrode of got stock in a valve seat and its hitting?

list of what to do next, I dont feel like pulling this guys head at an apartment buildings parking lot. before pulling the head I will probably pull the oil pan and try to inspect the rods and crank.

any help is greatly appreciated thanks.

oakfloor

A leak down and compression test would be the first thing to do. Dont drive it anymore until you find out what it is. A burned #4 plug is not good, did he have the oil bolt upgrade?

pushinlsteg

yeah the guy called me and told me his car was like #4000 before some oil bolt or jet upgrade that they only recalled in europe???

they tend to fail after high speed passes?

is there a thread more in depth about this?

JDMilanoEG

This is actually my car he is talkiing about. (Thanks for all of your help so far cory) I recently researched the oil bolt issue. The engines which had the upgraded bolt from the factory start at engine number 1025386 and my engine number is 1021107.....meaning my engine still has the old version of the bolt. I know europe had an official recall but I heard honda or north america deemed it uneccesary because of our driving habits typically being well below 100mph most of the time. So my next question is...Has anyone had any help from Honda north america with this issue? Especialy if it could be the cause of my engine issue? Pushinlsteg has been helping me through all of this seeing as he has alot more experience than me at engine diagnosis. So any help wold be greatly apreciated. Also a fellow member posted a video of how his motor sounded after he had a #4 cylinder failure because of this bolt. And it sounds IDENTICAL to how my motor sounds. Here is the video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyBllnMZaLE

Thanks for the vid Soul Coughing!

Billman250

Well, I've done oil jet bolts on an engine in 2002 earlier than 1025386 and the new botls were there already. I THINK it was 1023XXX.

Who knows what you have in yours, likely the old ones.

This has been a vague area from the beginning, and there is no proof that the oil jet bolts are related to the failure. But in my experience, they are.

If your noise is the same as in that vid, then you have a scuffed bore. You'll need a new short block, the head will likely be fine.

brockfizl

It's either a rod knock or a scorned cylinder. I know. I'm replacing my short block rightnow because of it. My car sounded exactly the same and pylled the motor apart and sure enough #4 cylinder was scorned on both sides real bad and I had spun that bearing to. My head was fine and I just threw it on top of the new motor. Sometimes it's actually not the rod that you hear knocking it's the piston getting caught on the grooves in the cylinder wall and when it gets free it slaps the other side and that could be the knock you're hearing. In F20's piston slap is loud just like rod knock. Hope this helps but you deinately got one of these 2 problems.

JDMilanoEG

Well if it is piston slap, Im going to just get the block machined and get a set of slightly oversized pistons, If its gonna be pulled apart might as well make a few changes while were in there.

onfire01

good luck with the FRM

pushinlsteg

yeah.. the sleeves are rather weird, besides there is small space to be bored out in between the cylinders, you might have to get new sleeves pressed in to the block, there might not be enough sleeve to bore out, depending on how bad the scoring is, if its very slight you could possibly get away with a hone, and new set of rings, or you might have to get the entire thing resleeved. guess we will find out.

mknightx

I have the same exact noise from my car. I have an 02 with ~18,000 miles on it and ctsc. Bought mine if feb of 02 so dont know about the oil bolts. Please keep us informed on the outcome of your engine because I will likely follow the same road as you.

Thanks