I've noticed a 'popping' sound during idle from the tail pipes for a couple of months now.

1 month ago - I took my car in for my 30K service (02, yes I drive ALOT) about a month ago. they commented that my coil #2 was, apparently misfiring, but a code never came up. The misfire had damaged the plug, but it was being replaced anyway during the service.

1 week later - After the 30K, a misfire code came up and I took it to the dealer and they replaced my coil #2.
The car ran much better....for about 50 miles. After that, the power seemed to dwindle a little.

About 400 miles later - the misfire code came back. This time on each cylinder and a random misfire code also. I took it to the dealer (the same one that serviced the coil the first time) and they cleared the code, but did nothing about it.

Last week - I got my diff. replaced (warranty) and mentioned the popping, the repeated misfire codes, the dealer clearing the code last time, but since the code was not apparent and the sound was not either, they did nothing.

Yesterday - The code came back again. I haven't run the diagnostic yet to see if it is a misfire again, but I am assuming the same.

One of the dealers mentioned possible bent valves. I know this has been discussed in previous threads, so I know it's a fight to get the warranty to cover it, but, and finally here is my question:
COULD THIS 'POPPING' AND REPEATED MISFIRES BE THE SAME PROBLEM?
COULD THESE BE ATTRIBUTED TO BENT VALVES?

Please don't start on the missed shift theory. Trust me, I would have remembered that!!
Worth mentioning: Honda had my car as a dealer's demo for the first 6K miles.

Any suggestions?

 

better get your car warrantied before the 36k is up.

 

Took care of that earlier this week.
Advice - shop around. Apparently FL regulates the sale of warranties, so there is not price difference between Miami and Appalachicola, but if you go outside of the state (hondawarranty.com) you can save drastically.

Same warranty, less money.

 

Have you done a search for "misfire code"? I know I've seen this issue reported before.

 

Yeah, I really didn't find much, and I don't really know enough about misfires vs. bent valves to defend myself right now if the need should arise.

 

Turns out the shop that did the 30K service put the wrong (Platinum) plugs in.
I'll see if this fixes the problem.

 

Gotta respect the incredible knowledge that many dealers have of the S2000.

 

I'm actually re-thinking my theory on servicing the car.
The Honda dealer down here has ONE person that services S2000's, and they have the backing of AHM.

The tire shop that I regularly use (and that regularly gives me great deals) rarely sees an S2000.

I think this latest incident has pulled me over to the dealer's side (Luuke, I am your Father!!).

Then again, I am assuming that the problem is fixed. If this is not the case, I will definitely re-think my re-thinking.

Thanks for the help.

 

Oops, I thought it was a Honda dealer that did the service, and was making a wise-ass remark. I won't let anyone else work on my car unless I have to.

 

Why were they replacing your plugs at 30k anyways? They don`t need to be replaced until 90k. If you had bent valves it would hardly idle and run like crap. I`ve heard of a couple of cars that have had a rough idle and have misfire codes and they just needed a set of injectors to fix it. See about trying that.