I have become the official caretaker of my wife's aunt's 2006 S2000 so figured I should come to the experts.

She and her husband got the car brand new and it was their Sunday drive car until he passed away a few years ago after a long fulfilling life. As she can't drive stick it has sat in the garage until I found out about it and wanted to get it back into operating condition so my wife can take her for her Sunday drives again. It has super low miles and I suggested she sell it and pass it to someone who I am sure would want to have such a pristine example but she has too many memories of it and wants to keep it.

I plan to drain the gas tank and do a full fluid service etc. so any recommendations for preferred fluids, spark plugs or any other tips I should know about this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Here is a great video on the fluids:


Here is a good video on the coolant:


Serpentine belt:


Use the OEM parts from Honda as much as possible would be my advice. The spark plugs and the oil filter etc. They are not expensive parts so its worth getting the Honda OEM parts.

 

Hi should find some things in this link for UK but similar Technical FAQ v2.1 - S2KI Honda S2000 Forums

 

Thanks for the pointers! I had remembered that Engineering Explained on YouTube has an S2000 so I caught a couple of his already which helped me get an idea on how complex a job this might be.

As this isn't my car I had planned to play it safe and go with as much Honda factory as I could and I already placed an order with HondaPartsNow so hopefully the prices are comparable. I couldn't find the Honda coolant at a reasonable price so went with Peak OET Blue but all other parts and fluids are Honda direct.

Normally I make people bring their cars to me if they want free labor so I have access to my workshop space and tools but this is a special case and due to her small garage I was forced to buy new tools. I at least get to use it as an excuse to pick up a fluid extraction pump and a QuickJack...lol

 

You should have no maintenance issues if you follow the owner's manual. The 2006 and later cars have the Maintenance Minder on the instrument panel. You can download the 2005 manual if you want to follow the miles/months schedule. It seems the same regardless of model year.

I have no idea if Peak OET Blue antifreeze is suitable for the aluminum S2000 engine and cooling system. Genuine Honda Type 2 coolant -- which we know is safe and recommended -- can be on your front porch next week via Amazon. Bleeding the cooling system is a bit of an art and it's very easy to leave a lot of air in the system and damage the engine.

Please avoid the Engineering Explained error using the Balade timing chain tensioner. This tensioner is known for over tightening the chain and causing damage. Just leave the OEM tensioner alone until it starts making noises -- which I'm assured it will -- and then fit the Billman version. I replaced my TCT before 40K miles as preventive maintenance the same time I did the valve adjustment.

Valve adjustment? 2006 engines are infamous for overly tight valves so consider valve adjustment a mandatory service. Set to the loose end of the tolerances as they tighten in use and set the exhaust 0.001" looser than max.

Differential requires SAE 90 GL5 hypoid gear oil. All in the owner's manual.

Have fun! Watch out for the old tires in the corners.

-- Chuck

 

It appears I have ordered the wrong differential oil as I didn't notice that Honda had multiple hypoid gear oils with the GL-5 classification. Got the 75W-85 (08200-9014) so need to update the order but can't find a part number for the correct SAE 90 GL-5 so will keep looking. Found a marine oil that seems to fit the bill (08739-90W) and one that is from the automotive side but doesn't seem available in the US (08294-P99-01HE) so if someone has the part number handy I would appreciate it.

I agree that the old tires have to go, once I get it safe to run and drive first stop is for some new tires. She is literally the little old lady down the street and being 79 years old I don't think we need super performance and I have had good luck with Conti DWS on my Golfs so that is where I would lean.

 

A multigrade hypoid gear oil can be used in the differential. The SAE 90 viscosity standard was changed after our cars were built was split into a new 90 comprising the thinner half and 110 the thicker half. A 90W-110 covers the old range. 80W-110 seems to work well. Hypoid gear oil GL5 (I mistyped GL4 yesterday and don't think it exists.) The Torsion (sic?) differential is different from most limited slip axles.

The S2000 is tire pressure sensitive and wants stiff sidewalls in the tires so the Continental DWS may be too soft. I looked at them briefly and decided against them although they work well on my wife's Subaru Legacy. The Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 gets good reviews here and won't break the bank. Gets good marks wet and dry. (The "little old lady" in my neighborhood runs Bridgestone RE-71R tires on her S2000.)

-- Chuck

 

Great videos and thank you for posting. I am certainly worried about the confusion over the diff fluid type. Does Honda offer it as OEM similar to the coolant and Transmission fluid? Would a Honda dealer be able to perform the valve clearance service given the low volume this car sold in? What is the service interval between valve clearance inspections/adjustments?

 

1. Honda never specified their own branded SAE 90 GL5 hypoid gear oil for what they call the rear deferential and "normal" Honda "front" differential oil does not meet the specs. It's been reported the correct oil is now available from Honda but I'd not depend on the dealer to have or order it. Generic GL5 is available many places. Service interval is in the Owner's Manual. Spoiler: 30,000 miles normal service; 15,000 miles severe service. 2006 and later cars will have a code in the Maintenance Minder on the dash. Oil is cheap.

2. Mechanical valve adjustments are not common in cars anymore. A Honda motorcycle dealer is more likely to know how to do the valve adjustment than the typical Honda car dealer who hasn't seen many if any S2000s. (That's a guess but based on posts here.) Note the valves are adjusted with a cold engine so the car needs to be left for a while.

-- Chuck

 

From my limited experience, only experienced Philippino guys and mechanics who love anything and everything Honda would be able to do the job, I found a local shop around here that services several Honda S2000, and they employ mainly Philippino mechanics, I will ask them about their experience, and of course cost. I have a very good connection with the dealer and I have a large degree of confidence that they would tell me whether they can perform a valve clearance job on an S2000 engine or not, probably one of the more experienced mechanics should know.

I honestly would not want to leave my S anywhere without my supervision, so if I have to leave it there overnight for them to start working on it in the morning, I am locking her up and taking the keys with me only to return in the morning, unlock her, an keep the keys with me, unless they need the key for the valve clearance job which I do not see the need for.

Bear with me, so should I be looking for a GL5 90W diff oil? I will post what I find locally as an option before I commit, my car only has 23,XXX miles, but I believe it is worth changing both the gear and diff fluids regardless. The engine oil can wait because it was supposedly changed a few hundred miles earlier by the dealer, quality and grade unknown, I am personally going with either 5W30 or 5W40.

Cheers.