rock510

Hi,

Recently I had my 2007 S2000's oil changed, like always at a Honda dealer. When I drove away I thought the "exhaust" sounded a bit loud, which seemed odd because I didn't remember it sounding that way before and I don't drive it in snow or bad weather. So I took the car to a custom exhaust guy and he had it on the lift and found nothing wrong with it. I told him a little more about the noise, fumes and once what seemed like mist or smoke coming from the ventilation system. He immediately went to the car, popped the hood and found that the oil fill cap was missing. He found it between the block and the firewall. There was no oil visible on the dipstick!

There is hardly any oil splattered or pooled around the engine compartment and hood insulation. And just about none on my driveway, which leads me to believe that no oil was put in it (the receipt says 6 quarts). The car was driven 300 miles before this was found out. No oil pressure light ever came on.

Another Honda dealer obviously agreed this was not good, although he thought the fact the oil light never came on was good. He said that they would check it out by giving a compression check and looking with a small camera(?) around the the head. My concern is with such a high revving motor, so little oil and oil pressure, that the valves, valve stems and associated parts might have been subject to extreme heat where they usually are not. The coolant not being able to help. And ultimately possible fatigued parts that could be close to failure.

Any thoughts on what I should do? Is just looking around and a compression check really going to tell the whole story? Should I be pushing for a new engine or a rebuild? If a rebuild, is that really a good option and reliable?

Sorry for being long winded and so many questions. Any thoughts or advice would be very much appreciated. I'm an enthusiast but certainly not anything of a mechanic, but love my S2000!

Thanks!

Note to self, from here on I will always check after oil changes!

downloader

there was oil in the motor. A s2000 without oil might go 2-3 miles max.

MM3Kwolik

you won't go far, and that light would have definitely turned on. Did you pull the drain bolt and see if there was any in the pan at least? Even though it's not showing up on the dipstick, doesn't mean the pan is completely dry.

rock510

Unknowingly I drove it 300 miles with the cap off, from the dealers. Never saw a light come on but heard noise. No I didn't take the drain plug out, didn't think to do that. The mechanic who discovered this filled it with oil and I've drove it home about 7 miles and the car sounded and seemed normal. It would seem that there must have still been oil in it....I guess. The light never came on, it didn't blow up.....but how much damage could have been done. I read that if there's no oil on the dipstick, best case is that it could be down one quart? I don't know this though. However, there doesn't seem to be much of any oil on the engine, no significant smoke ever, the hood insulation does not seem to be all splattered and a circle of about 16" in diameter is all that is on the driveway.
I guess I'll go back and try and find out how much oil the mechanic just put in it!

But with the cap off there couldn't have been very much oil pressure which seems pretty bad.


Not sure what to do as far as the Honda dealer. Haven't talked to them yet.

afzan

if you had oil to the bottom of the markings on the dip stick then you would've been 1quart low..

How many quarts of oil did the exhaust add? that's an important piece of information IMO

MM3Kwolik

Having the cap off won't prevent oil pressure from building. Under the valve cover is a free flowing area for oil, it sees very little pressure if any at all. If you were to screw in a gauge into the oil cap with it installed, I'd be willing to bet that you wouldn't even be able to get a reading.

JohnsS2000

i would not worry too much if the oil light neve came on. The oil cap being left off will have no affect on the oil pressur as that is caused from the oil pump in the bottom of the motor mechanically providing oil to the engine. You would easily hear plenty of engine noise and would immediatly get an oil light if you everg got to where you where that low.

rock510

Hey thanks guys, I'm feeling relieved. I did have some reassurance because of the fact that the oil light didn't come on.
Hope I didn't waste too much of your time! Got nervous, I love this car!!
Thanks again!

Adionik

You're fine.

NO engine can go without oil. Much less 300 miles.

dwight

0 psig is a reading
If the valve cover was pressurized significantly, the dipstick would pop out.