dmise

I recentley had a repair done on my S2000 by a dealership and the dealership "mistakenly" forgot to torque down the valve cover bolts. Because of this, one valve failed and the coolant and oil mixed in the engine and the car overheated. Granted, I only drove the car about a mile or so before figuring this out, my question is what issues might this cause or is the engine fine if the fluids are flushed, replace and retoque?

Dave

cdelena

The failed repair had to be more than the valve cover bolts to cause this damage. It sounds more like the head was not fully torqued. I am not sure about Honda heads, but some heads are subject to damage when not evenly torqued with all bolts, so I would certainly ask for a more complete examination before I accepted a plan.

heffergm

Ditto the above. A loose valve cover won't cause anything worse than some unnecessary oil loss (assuming it wasn't completely OFF).

What work was the car in for?

dmise

I took the car in because I notice some oil build up around the headgasket. The dealership replaced the gasket, I pickd up the car a few days later to drive it a mile off the lot and have it got to shit.

CoralDoc

Please check your terminology. The head gasket is the metalized gasket between the cylinder head and the block. I can't imagine an easy way that you could have noticed oil gunk on it unless you removed the head. The valve cover gasket is basically a large rubber o-ring that seals the interface between the valve cover and the head. As others have already stated, improperly torqued valve cover bolts will only allow seepage of oil from this interface. This is messy, there may be oil running down the sides of the engine, but does not allow coolant into the oil.

Coolant in the oil is a much more serious problem. If there is coolant in the oil that could be the result of leakage in the head gasket (the gasket between the cylinder head and the block) or due to a crack in the block.

Please clarify exactly what was done to the engine so that we can advise you. If it indeed was repair to the valve cover gasket, as stated above, that does not lead to coolant contamination in the oil. That would be an unrelated issue.

hondaS2001

exactly what coral said....please specify.... also, if you noticed oil seepage at the front of the motor near the timing area, this isnt from the headgasket either as some believe, because the headgasket doesnt go out that far and into the timing area. No way this could have happened due to a loose valve cover, did they drop something into the valve cover maybe?

dmise

What i had noticed was oil build up around the area of were the headgasket would seal the head and the block. I only stated to dealer it was comming from that area and they somehow decided the car needed a new headgasket. As far as the oil and coolant mixing within the engine i had noticed that when i checked the oil after the car had gone to crap. The dealers explanation is that it was because they improperly torqued the valve cover.
Now they are trying to say all it needs is a flush and new fluid and it will be fine.
Also they are trying to tell me now, only after the faulty work had been completed and they are now in the neglect territory and this beingthe third trip to the dealer, that my AEM CARB legal intake and Invidia CARB legal exhaust may have caused the original problem.
Basically, I think I am getting jerked around and they are trying to scare me from pressing the issue. This really pisses me off.

dmise

One more thing, the service manager told me it ws normal to have coolant in the oil after a headgasket repalcement because of all the nocks and crannies in the cars engine. Sounds like B.S. to me

dmise

ttt

hondaS2001

If the headgasket had gone bad, I doubt an intake and exhaust could have caused this, you didnt suck in water and hydrolock the motor did you? Also, if the headgasket is the problem, I doubt a flush and re-fill would ever solve it. If you are standing in front of the car and looking at the motor, what area is/was the oil seepage coming from, the left,right, or front?