My lemon of an S2000
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My lemon of an S2000
Hey guys,
I really do not too much about cars, and i was hoping you guys could comment on this. I've wanted an S2000 ever since they came out, and 6 months ago I bought a used Silver 01. It has 95K on the odometer but i've had hondas before and knew what kind of reliability they had. I was driving on the highway the other day and my oil pressure light flickered a few times and when I pulled off i noticed my car running sluggish and it sounded like a diesel. Took it immediately home and parked it until i could get it to the dealer the next day. They first diagnosed it as a timing chain tensioner and quoted me $500 bucks. Then they called back a few hours later saying it was failing a compression test and believed it needed a head to be replaced. They ripped it apart the next day and said something about spark plugs, something broken, bad cylinder wall, etc. and told me the entire engine needed to be replaced and had one used for about $7800. I just don't understand. The car fax has it hitting it's 3k mile oil change on time, every time, had its 30K & 60K honda service plans. I've had the thing 6 months...i don't abuse it. I've never dumped the clutch, redlined, etc. I mean, i drove it there on the highway, it was running when i gave it to them. I just cannot believe there is nothing salvagable about this engine. I don't know much about cars and wanted to take it to a honda dealer solely for the reason that the job will be done correctly and wouldn't get ripped off. Does my story sound legit? I mean, I had an 02 civic before the S, and treated that thing like absolute garbage and it ran just fine.
I really do not too much about cars, and i was hoping you guys could comment on this. I've wanted an S2000 ever since they came out, and 6 months ago I bought a used Silver 01. It has 95K on the odometer but i've had hondas before and knew what kind of reliability they had. I was driving on the highway the other day and my oil pressure light flickered a few times and when I pulled off i noticed my car running sluggish and it sounded like a diesel. Took it immediately home and parked it until i could get it to the dealer the next day. They first diagnosed it as a timing chain tensioner and quoted me $500 bucks. Then they called back a few hours later saying it was failing a compression test and believed it needed a head to be replaced. They ripped it apart the next day and said something about spark plugs, something broken, bad cylinder wall, etc. and told me the entire engine needed to be replaced and had one used for about $7800. I just don't understand. The car fax has it hitting it's 3k mile oil change on time, every time, had its 30K & 60K honda service plans. I've had the thing 6 months...i don't abuse it. I've never dumped the clutch, redlined, etc. I mean, i drove it there on the highway, it was running when i gave it to them. I just cannot believe there is nothing salvagable about this engine. I don't know much about cars and wanted to take it to a honda dealer solely for the reason that the job will be done correctly and wouldn't get ripped off. Does my story sound legit? I mean, I had an 02 civic before the S, and treated that thing like absolute garbage and it ran just fine.
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: houston
Sounds to me like low oil and a used motor for 7800 wtf. I got a fully built laskey sleeved block and portflow built head for less than that.
I got all that because my motor threw a rod just driving normal , but I use to race it alot so probably you bought someones old auto x car
I got all that because my motor threw a rod just driving normal , but I use to race it alot so probably you bought someones old auto x car
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,149
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From: Raleigh, NC
a bad engine does not make a car a lemon. A lemon is a car that has the same problem repeatedly or just overall has tons of problems.
it sounds like your engine was ran low on oil or perhaps whoever did the last oil change messed something up or forgot to put oil in.
your mistake was not shutting the car off IMMEDIATLY when the oil light came on. If you drove the car without oil (even for as little as 30 seconds or so) then thats why the engine was so badly damaged inside.
My recommendation is to find a used engine here on the forums and have someone install it who knows s2000s. it will cost you easily half of what Honda quoted you.
it sounds like your engine was ran low on oil or perhaps whoever did the last oil change messed something up or forgot to put oil in.
your mistake was not shutting the car off IMMEDIATLY when the oil light came on. If you drove the car without oil (even for as little as 30 seconds or so) then thats why the engine was so badly damaged inside.
My recommendation is to find a used engine here on the forums and have someone install it who knows s2000s. it will cost you easily half of what Honda quoted you.
Joined: May 2007
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From: OC
yeah sorry sounds like you got hit with a bit of innocent inexperience. If the that light flashes, you gotta shutdown immediately. Your oil must have been ridiculously low.
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...=0&#entry823215
Having said that, this guy's selling engine's from 3-4k:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=784817&st=0
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...=0&#entry823215
Having said that, this guy's selling engine's from 3-4k:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=784817&st=0
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hopefully this will be a learning experience for you to go out and actually LEARN about cars.
who buys a sport car and doesn't know a dang thing about the car? thats a recipe for something bad to happen... especially a USED car with 95k miles. If you don't have car common sense, something bad will happen (hence your case) and you won't know what to do, so you will just keep driving the car and then expect someone else to fix the basics the NEXT day when the damage could have been prevented... well
if you are going to get another used motor.. you should know that AP1's tend to burn oil pretty quickly and with those high miles it will only burn it faster. vtec is at 6k.. etc... study cars!! its interesting
who buys a sport car and doesn't know a dang thing about the car? thats a recipe for something bad to happen... especially a USED car with 95k miles. If you don't have car common sense, something bad will happen (hence your case) and you won't know what to do, so you will just keep driving the car and then expect someone else to fix the basics the NEXT day when the damage could have been prevented... well
if you are going to get another used motor.. you should know that AP1's tend to burn oil pretty quickly and with those high miles it will only burn it faster. vtec is at 6k.. etc... study cars!! its interesting
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From: Alhambra
This is why I try to tell every new owner about checking the oil every week. The manual even states to check the oil every time you fill up. I don't know how many times I've seen my oil getting down below H on its own. It's just a normal trait for our high performance engines.
I hope you fix your car soon and enjoy it! Our engines are really reliable, even when used as track cars, as long as they are maintained properly. Don't let this incident let you think otherwise.
I hope you fix your car soon and enjoy it! Our engines are really reliable, even when used as track cars, as long as they are maintained properly. Don't let this incident let you think otherwise.