S2K_Mikester

Hello everyone,

I'm a new owner of a 06 s2k since March of this year. The car has 33k miles on it, and was purchased from an older gentlemen in Nor Calfornia. The car was driven by only him and his wife, never raced. I've had the car for 7 months, and I love it. I started lurking/reading alot of forum topics about these cars like common problems, etc etc. I read about the TCT problem these cars had and did some research on getting an aftermarket one. My car was making that odd tick noise whenever I would start my car up in the morning or on cold starts in general. The noise seemed to go away after being driven getting it to operating temp. I wanted to get it taken care of, so I looked up who makes custom ones for the car that last longer than OEM.

Luckily I have a couple performance shops down here in So Cal to choose from, so I went to Ballade Sports to get their custom TCT installed in my vehicle. The problem seemed to have been fixed as the noise was gone from cold starts. For the past month, the noise has started to creep its way back, and I just wanted to get the opinion of more seasoned S2k owners on what the noise is, and if it is still the TCT (maybe a faulty one?). I'm a teacher, and I don't drive far to work, but since I get pretty busy during the school year, it's been hard to take my car in anywhere to get it looked at, since it's my DD. I have contacted Ballade Sports, but it's the weekend so I don't expect to get a response until Monday, which is understandable. So, like I said I figured I could get some other opinions from you fine people. I've read these are noisy cars in general, and that the injectors can be noisy as well as the valves, I just want to be sure, and safe.

If you need any other info on the car, please don't hesitate to ask. I don't abuse this car what so ever, and I've changed the oil on it 2 times already for the 7 months it's been in my care. Tranny and diff fluids have also been changed.

Here are the videos I uploaded to YouTube. I have 3, a cold start, after it's warmed up a little, and after taking it out for a quick drive. Let me know what you guys think.

Thank you very much in advance for any responses, it's greatly appreciated.

Hers's the cold start link: https://youtu.be/mPENqeln3lU

Here's the warmed up link: https://youtu.be/acdutaQNCqQ

Here's after a drive around the neighborhood: https://youtu.be/RKN8Kp7tFlE

Mexs2k

I have the exact same problem, I changed the tct to but it still does it. Haven't been able to figure out why.

hvAlfaWant_S2000

That sounds like a TCT to me. A card in the spokes-type-of-sound.

I had the same sound, especially warm. Replaced mine with Billman's lifetime GenX TCT.

All good now.

S2K_Mikester

Yeah, that's what I was thinking it was as well. I'm glad I got some other outside info thank you very much.

I just made an appointment at Ballade for this Saturday, they are going to check it out.

boyguan

I got a billman one and my car is so much quieter

Chuck S

There's a bit of controversy (and near-name calling) over the Ballade TCT. I ain't opening that box but I went with the Billman Gen-X model. Swapping it out is so simple I did it in dress pants and just rolled up the sleeves on my shirt

I swapped mine as preventive maintenance at about 42K miles. Why wait for it to fail.

-- Chuck

hvAlfaWant_S2000

OP, make sure you post your results.

S2K_Mikester

will do, I will keep everyone updated. As said I go to Ballade on Saturday, they PM'd me after watching the videos and told me to bring my car back in.

Thanks for your help everyone.

chefs2000

They will suggest getting a billman tct lol

S2K_Mikester

So here's the update,

I took my car into Ballade on Saturday morning when they opened and Alex greeted me. Upon entering Alex asked me questions about the noise, and pulled my car into the back. He started it up, and there was no noise. I explained to him that it only happens when the car is cold. So we put a fan on it, he pulled out the TCT (Ballade) and examined it. He informed me that it is not the TCT causing this noise as he inspected the components of his TCT. He was also nice enough to pull of the valve cover and inspect the valves. Many of my valves clearance were off, so I had him do a valve job.

Alex was very thorough in checking the TCT and showing me car videos of his customers that brought in cars with bad TCT's and their noise was a more apparent than mine and happening during the engine being warm. The noise was VERY noticeable in the videos. I was treated with the utmost respect and he had me in the back with him for most of the time when looking at the car, and explained everything to me. He treated me not only like a valuable customer, but a friend, and I respect him greatly for that.

So basically we waited for the car to cool down a bit before starting again to replicate the noise. We started her up, and the noise wasn't as present as it usually is on a cold morning. Alex doesn't believe its the TCT, and told me my motor sounds healthy when it was running.

I started my car up again this morning, and the noise is still pretty apparent during the mornings like the video I posted, so I'm still trying to figure out what this might be since it's not the TCT.

Overall experience at Ballade is very positive and Alex is very knowledgeable in S2000's and has wonderful customer service.

I just wish I could figure out what this damn noise is, because once the car warms up, the noise is COMPLETELY gone, and the car runs great to me. IS this noise normal and I'm just crazy?