RED MX5

Exactly. It's a SWAG, not a WAG, and odds are close to 100% that you're right (given all the currently available information). SumAznGuy's mechanic probably hasn't got access to as much information about these failures as the people we count on here on S2kI (hich is prefectly OK, because I don't either. )

If the car was used and the intake side retainers fail without an over rev, then there was an over rev by the previous owner. Until a huge body of evidance is shown to be flawed that can be taken as a given.

REVZ TO9

Sounds like my problem! All my cylinders are mis-firing and I have no compression in cylinder #4. Car sounds horrible!, loud ticking under hood and exhaust airflow doesnt come out smoothly. I was told Im looking at a $2000.00 bill. Is this true? What could cause this? I hardly drive my car hard and its not my everyday car. I only drive it maybe 3 times a week. Had the car for around 2-3 years now. Whats causing this so I can try to avoid it in the future? It cant have anything to do with my mods right? Im not tuned yet with VAFC, just have I/H/E. My valves were adjusted by Honda around 8 months ago and I replaced my spark plugs around 4-5 months ago with OEM NGK ones. Could my custom welded exhaust or aftermarket header have anything to do with this? I just installed my new header 3 weeks ago. But didnt notice symptoms until only 3-4 days ago. I also have bad low rpm idling and the car is vibrating like it wants to die too when Im in neutral. The stick vibrates more than usual too.

RED MX5

The lack of compression in number four means that it's serious, and it sounds like bent valves to me.
Valves get bent when they come into contact with the pistons, and there are a couple different ways this can happen. Have you ever missed a down shift? Did you buy the car new or used? Was the car throwing a CEL *before* it started running noticably bad? There are things other than a bent valve that could be causing the loss of compression, but the other symptoms you describe sound far more like bent valves than anything else. I'm not the resident expert on this (Billman is the guy to ask about this kind of thing) but with the loss of compressoin and the ticking I think it's almost got to be the valves.

REVZ TO9

ok thanks. Im taking my car to the dealership this friday, so I will update u all when its fixed, and how thinner my wallet will be in case my extended warranty is expired. My check engine light sometimes flashes AND stays on. It goes both ways. Why is it doing this? I havent mis-shifted, got the car used with 27K miles from honda dealership 3 years ago, now I have 59K miles. Car kinda sounded bad before the cel, but hardly. My dealership is around 15 miles away. Am I safe to drive there, but smoothly?

RED MX5

Please understand that without seeing the car the best I can do is guess, based on my understanding of your descriptions. One thing there can be no doubt about, is that when the CEL flashes it means that you should stop driving the car and have it towed. If you look you'll find that somewhere in your owners manual. When it flashes it means that continuing to operate the vehicle is likely to do further damage.

If the car was running badly when you got it (and remember that I don't actually have enough information to be sure about any of this) then I suspect that number four might have already been down on compression. Did you have the compression checked before you bought the car or at any time before it started throwing a CEL? What I'm thinking is that *maybe* the car had a bent valve from an over rev by the previous owner. An over rev that bends valves is also apt to damage the retainers, and if that isn't fixed the retainers eventually let go (the keepers come out) and a valve drops all the way down into the cylinder. I doubt that's happened to your car yet, but please don't drive the car anymore. That flashing CEL is serious business. Don't even drive the car in to have it fixed. Get it towed.

If it weren't for the compression loss I'd try to be more encouraging, but that's almost always an indication of a serious problem (as is the flashing CEL). Get the car towed to a dealership or an S2000 mechanic you know you can trust, and just keep your fingers crossed. I hope I'm totally wrong and it turns out to be something simple and cheap to fix.

Good luck with it, and do be sure to let us know what the mechanic finds.

REVZ TO9

ok thanks, will update late next week sometime

Kenpo_S2000

Did anyone have an answer for the question asked earlier about getting a warranty for the S even though the vehicle was not purchased through that dealer? I might have missed it, just wanted to know about this too.

Random1

You'll probably have better luck asking this question in the general S2000 or Under The Hood. I would ask it as a stand alone question.

Random1

I'm the original poster of this thread. My status is that I still have a rough idle, lean misfires caused by the injectors. My CEL will come on ocasionally and then go away after a number of on/off cycles. Lately the missing is getting worse/more annoying and I'm planning to buy a brand new set of injectors.

The root cause of my problem is possibly up stream from the injectors, but I'm not inclined to tear into the gas tank. If I can get another 50k with new injectors before misfires start occuring that would be acceptable for me. Others have already taken this route. My car just turned over 86k miles this week.

Does anyone know if MY04-MY05 injectors work in the MY03 and prior engine? I notice the part number on Majestic Hondas parts web page are different for the two.

The engine runs great other than the rough idle.

REVZ TO9

well, I hope my problem is just bad injectors. Can the dealerships possibly rip me off and fix stuff that really didnt need to be fixed just to rob me? Will they be able to tell me what caused all this too? Is this common with AP1's, even if u are stock?