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Ok....About a month ago, I had Blurnj13's car out here for routine valve adjustment and retainer check. He's about a 6hr round trip to get to me. After setting the valves, there was one retainer that LOOKED broken, it was hard to tell.
Now in the past, I've always been able to spot a broken retainer in an instant. No disassembly at all, just checking the relative position of the keepers, and how they sit in the retainer. They were sunk in good (broken) or nice and flush (ok).
This is THE FIRST S2000 in which I saw a retainer in which the keepers were sunk in a small amount. So I gave him another appt to come back tonight, and sure enough it was cracked. Once the rockers were removed, I made a guess at one other retainer that may be cracked, and sure enough it was cracked as well. So 2 out of 8 intakes were broken. The second one I guessed at has the smallest crack I'd ever seen. It's magnified in the pic, but holding it in hand it takes about 10 seconds to find it.
SpecOpps is the ONLY other car that resembled this car. That's out of about 310 S2000's. I THINK (pretty sad when you loose count) this is the fifth one with broken retainers, found by routine checkup. Spec Opps would be the 6th. All cars had zero symptoms.
First retainer, which was questionable a month ago:
second retainer which I guessed was broken, after cam and rocker removal:
After 55K and increasing valve noise I finally broke the seal and did a valve job, finding all the intake valves gap toward the larger side of the comfort window and one exhaust valve a bit too open also. (Runs like a new car now =) ) Since I couldn't see the retainers I looked at the distance between the gap tool and the top of the retainer when inserted and they all seamed the same. Do you recommend removing the cams to get a better look or is my little check good nuff? I'd expect if I had a valve stem receding I would have noticed my gap gauge sitting lower..
Ok, top post is edited, have a read. Pics in a bit.
You can get a good look just by pulling the valve cover. Keep in mind, the valve clearance will not change if they are broken. The valve is still in the same position, but the retainer is sitting higher up on the keepers. Hence, the spring will be slightly longer (which you will not see by eye).
driver77....most s2k's valves are where yours were before you did them. All intakes on the loose end (about .010), a small amount of exhausts about .001 out of spec (loose).
Even more broken retainers found
