achon95

I am new owner of a 04 with 54K miles, which I purchased from the original owner. As a bit of background, I have all the service records which indicate the major mileage checkups were done at a Honda dealership. The car was sitting for several months prior to me buying it but to my knowledge had no major issues.

Now, I've owned the car for a couple of weeks and have only driven it less than 500 miles (mostly highway) without misshifting or over revving.

TImeline

This past Monday, all of sudden while driving to the store normally, the CEL comes on and I get it checked at an Autozone. Says P1399 for random misfire and P0304 for #4 cylinder misfire. I take it a local Honda dealer and they confirm the same codes. They had the car for 4-5 hrs in which they cleared the codes, drove it a bit and let it idle for over an hour on their computer. They called and told me it did not misfire while in their possesion and told me to put some fuel injector cleaner and was probably due to sitting for awhile in the garage.

2 days later on Wed, while driving normally, the CEL returns and I take it to the same dealer again.
This time, they run a compression test and the #'s are 210, 215, 215 and 140 (#4)

Without actually taking the head apart, the service manager proceeds to tell me that the valves in #4 are most likely bent from misshiftting or over revving. I tell him I did no such thing and that the car was fine up until a couple days ago. He then recommends replacing the entire Head and Head Gasket saying that there may be also a cracked valve guide. He says that having a cracked valve guide would indicate the need to replace the entire head assembly to prevent more things going wrong, even if they fix just the valves in cylinder 4.

He quoted me $4300 for parts and $1000 for labor = $5300. He said best case scenario would be $3600 to fix just cylinder 4.

I just bought this car and needless to say am very discouraged and upset at the potential of spending this large amount of money. At this point, it seems to make sense fix the car and keep it rather than try to sell it for thousands less without even getting to drive the car much.

Questions to the experts on this forum:

1. Does their strategy on fixing my issue sound reasonable? I am a novice at engine work, but that seems like assuming the worse case scenario without actually taking the engine apart seems illogical.

I want to get a 2nd opinion at another Honda dealership and not tell them the initial diagnosis to see if they reach the same conclusion.

2. I was searching on Majestic Honda for the cylinder head and Head gasket parts and even after totalling up all the parts listed under each cateogry, my total comes out $1900 for all the parts. What is the best way to approach the dealer so they can price match or let me bring in these parts after having them shipped to me? Anybody have personal experience in dealing with such expensive parts and brining down the prices?

Sorry for the extensive post, but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Disgustipated

Advice: don't get the work done at the dealer. They will RAPE you. A local, trustable mechanic will do it for much, much less. In fact, another reputable S2K owner in your area might be willing to do the work for a lot less! Check your regional forum.

Billman250

Where are you from?

s2k16803

Dont go back to that dealer they are ripping u off big time!!! There is no way to tell where the loss of compression is coming from just by doing a compression test. Also just because u have a cracked valve guide(which I have never heard of happening) doesn't mean u need a new head, the valve guides can be replaced. Take ur car to a reputable local mechanic and have him do a leak down test, then u will actually know what the problem is.

Reckon

I say get the car to Billman if you can . Otherwise, find a reputable S mechanic in your area. Perhaps post in the locals section and see if you can find one. Seems way over priced and over diagnosed.

SgtB

A valve guide won't cause low compression unless the valve is sticking, which is unlikely. Why they would replace the entire head for that is beyond me as well.

I'm wondering if the usual #4 cylinder scoring hasn't paid you a visit.

achon95

I am from Lynnwood/Edmonds, WA. The Lynnwood Honda dealer were the ones to break the news to me. Would you be able to recommend a place in my area that you trust?

achon95

Thanks for the advice. I was on Majestic Honda and saw that a new valve guide costs $6. I understand that there would be work involved to get to that part within the head, but to jump the gun and replace the entire unit seemed too drastic.

tizbad2k

dont spend a large amount of money just yet. You should get a leak down test and determine the cause of the low compression. You could try doing a compression test yourself and putting a little bit of oil into the cylinder (from the spark plug hole), and determine if the problem is in the block or the head. A leak down test would be ideal. If it is the head and not the block you can get your head rebuilt at a reputable engine machine shop for well under $1000 (including parts) and the labor for removing and replacing the head would top out at $1200 depending on local hourly rates. I believe that the autodata r&r for the head lists 12 hours, and even the most expensive mechanics dont charge more than $90-$100/hr.

I would say the provided the problem is in the head, the worst case scenario would be around $2200.

Distracted S2000

I HATE stealerships... When I first purchased my S, it had a problem to where it was misfiring (due to previous owner left it sitting for 6 months). Brought the S up there for them to determine the cause of it, end up paying for a valve adjustment and new plugs. A week later, it misfired again so I brought it back and complained to them that they made me pay 300 for a valve adjustment that I don't even need. They later claimed that my valves maybe burnt and that they need to tear down the head and fix it. Son of a beotch quoted me 4300 to bring it to a machine shop to fix it. I simply told them to suck it and left... Drove the S for couple of months until it got to the point where you could actually hear the constant POOT POOT while driving (at one point, I had a blinking CEL for misfire). Anyways, I end up fixing the problem myself thanks to S2Ki and local S owners. Turns out to be the injectors. My baby runs like a champ! Take it to local shops or S owners. NEVER GO TO DEALERSHIPS!!