Greg W

For those folks in Melbourne, S2KI's nofearofdanger is trying to diagnose and fix a VTEC engagement problem (see the thread Mysterious Engine Problem UPDATED 3RD SEPT). Long thread, but a couple points:

1. VTEC seems to him to work only when engine is cold, stops working as engine warms up
   he found a "dowel" inside the valve cover
   Honda mechanics feel its fixed and working OK
   He lacks mechanic experience and confidence to follow advice from expert S2KI mechanics to check for a missing VTEC engagement pin in the rocker assembly

joefish1298

He should take it interstate to Chris Barry.

tak_one_77

There appears to be only one point, with sub points.... Sorry.

Given that info, surely he could pay a visit to a dealer and have them check? How much effort is in it?

nofearofdanger

It's already been to the dealership TAK... they told me the car was 'fixed' and they 'weren't prepared to do any more work on it' when it left exactly the same way it came in.. f@#ked!

tak_one_77

Which dealer? Eastern?

Hmm. Let me check, years and years ago, when I was just out of highschool, worked at a servo. Eric the mechanic was a pretty good and genuine guy.

I'll see if he is still at the same place. He might be able to give you a no BS answer or at least check for the pin.

joefish1298

Did you try RevZone yet? I know you're not having much luck with dealerships and mechanics, but what are you searching for? I don't think someone is suddenly going to chime in with "oh dude, it's a broken freps, here's a link to a new part, $5 and you can install it yourself" because if that was the case, it probably would have happened already.

I suggest RevZone based purely on my experience with them. RevZone have Honda knowledge, S2000 knowledge and their approach to work seems fair and intelligent.

nofearofdanger

Took it to New World Honda... those guys were useless. They had the right intentions but took me for an idiot. They suggested that I didn't know what my car was like when VTEC did engage and told me to go get a dyno, otherwise they would charge me 110$ an hour. I went there because Carl from CRS recommended it. I called Eastern Honda, but the first thing they said to me was: 'you own an S... you know that will be 110$ an hour for labour yep?' From that moment on I never even bothered with those guys.

nofearofdanger

Will RevZone at least be able to inspect the rockers and check for the pin?

joefish1298

You could call them and ask. They do have an in house engine shop where they tear down and rebuild motors, but I don't know if they have rebuilt an F20C before.

AusS2000

This is what, thread no. 3 on this issue?

Billman has given you his advice for free and told you what to do to eliminate possible causes and work out a solution to your issue but you don't seem to like his answer.

You mention a dowel and say there is a picture of it in one of the threads. Where? If I see the dowel I'll straight away tell you if it is a VTEC pin or a head/cam tower positioning dowel.

Seriously, spend less time nattering on this board and a little more under the bonnet. And if you're not confident pay someone else to.

Buy a mechanical oil pressure gauge and fit in place of the pressure switch. Will tell you if you have oil pressure.
Put a multimeter on the VTEC engagement wire and see if VTEC signal is reliable.
Disassemble the cam towers and check your VTEC pins.

When you've done all this get back to us.