So i recently sold my car to someone in MOCO, MD, and he's telling me that he's hearing a weird noise from the transmission. Took it to a mechanic and he told me when i was on the phone with him that there was a weird noise coming from the transmission, even when it was in neutral. Also told me that these cars (s2000s) have issues with their trans at around 60k miles and he was surprised mine with 90k didn't have any issues prior.... I've had 3 s2000s and never had any issues with my trans in any of em. I spoke with Billman and he thinks he should take it to another place that actually knows s2000s.

A little history on the car. The motor has around 46k on it. I installed the odometer to check since the seller of the motor didn't know and said around 52k. The Trans is the original with a new stage 4 clutch in it from when it was boosted and was installed around 86k-ish. Trans had Honda fluids used during oil changes and i always used mobil 1 since buying the car. When the new motor was installed they put synthetic blend honda oil in it.

So I thought it was a wheel bearing issue and supplied him with a wheel bearing when he purchased the car along with a lot of extra parts like diff oil, oil for the engine, trans oil, berks HFC, stock parts, and other misc. parts. The noise only happens when moving. Even when the clutch is in it will make that noise. sounds like metal on metal grinding noise (bad wheel bearing noise). So the issue being the trans is not likely IMO since the noise is coming from the front right of the car. Unless he did something that I didn't know about or isn't telling me. He did also not know how to drive manual or hasn't driven manual in a long time. He said around 4-5 years since the last time he drove manual, and he jerked the car really badly and stalled the car a couple of times during the test drive. If anyone has any ideas or can go look at the car to give me a peace of mind that would be greatly appreciated. The last thing I want to do is give someone a car, let alone my s2000 that I drove for the past 4 years and him not being happy with it.

Honestly I would have traded him back his old car for mine, but I ended up spending close to 900 bucks fixing little stuff here and there within the first week to get in PA inspected that was wrong with it. Blown shock, ballast/igniter went bad, sway bar, and end link not to mention he didn't enclose that there was a slight hit in the front left and the door rubs on the fender when opening it which led to a crack in the front driver side headlight which allowed water to get in and shorting out the HID system. (took it to an acura dealership to get the bulb installed and then they diagnosed the whole system and said there was no power at all to the bulb). Didn't mention that it was hit and I couldn't tell since it was covered in salt. He said it was just the bulb and when i took the front bumper off to get the water out of the head light i saw that the ballast was disconnected and had acid (whatever that is) build up like an old battery on the top of it. He mentioned that he only tried to install the bulb and couldn't install it since it's such a tight fit. Also other things i noticed was that the bottom bumper clips were all missing showing that the front bumper was in fact taken off, so I had to buy 6 of them @ 4 bucks to replace.

 

Hopefully that mechanic doesnt touch the car as he is a moron.

 

I don't know of any normal problems with these transmissions at more than 60k... sounds made up. Probably want to check the fluid though, that might show something. Also it might be making more bearing noise with it being so cold out right now.

That said, he bought the car from you right? Seems to be that this is his problem now and he shouldn't be bothering you with it unless you sold him a warranty or something.

 

He didn't buy a brand new car at the dealer. If you disclosed any issues you knew of upfront then anything else he finds after the purchase is on him. That's the whole purpose of looking and driving a car before the purchase.

I had some issues with the guy who bought my rx7. Turns out he was wrong about what he thought was wrong. I've since cut communication with him. He was a dick and I have no patience for the way he acted. I can understand being in a difficult situation where you want the buyer to be happy. But sometimes there is nothing you can do for them.

Btw, are you complaining about all the issues you found to him?

 

Yeah, I told him the same thing. I told him to take it to someone that knows how to work on a s2000.

Yeah, I know that it's technically his problem, but i don't want to be a dick and just say tough luck. I'd rather try to help him out as much as possible. I still have an attachment to that car haha.. I don't know. I guess it sounds stupid, but I sort of wanted to buy the car back from him if he didn't want it down the road.

Yeah he test drove it around my neighborhood and on the main roads. He stalled it 3-4 times and jerked the hell out of the car. He knew I was a little mad, annoyed, agitated (i dunno how to describe it, but I was just like wtf is this kid doing to my car in my head), when we got back to my house he said he still wanted to do the trade.

I told him about it and he said sorry "I didn't know" ( <- that's the quote with my fingers) and there is no way that MD would have inspected it without the head light working, so he had to have taken the bumper off and then the head light in order to reach the bottom to unplug the ballast from the harness... I doubt the owner before him 3 years ago did that...

Told him how much the stuff cost me and he said I should have went on ebay and bought aftermarket ballasts and stuff for the car.... When I buy stuff for my vehicles I buy either the best I can afford or OEM replacements. I don't go cheap especially on things like head lights that help me see during the night. I don't need a cheaply made ballast crapping out on me while driving at night or the suspension to blow after i replaced it...

The Acura dealership was the one that actually told me about the accident. I didn't even bother washing it til after they told me so i could see the damage. It was covered in salt like 30 minutes after the wash, but you could tell that he side swipped something and crushed the fender in a bit causing it to rub on the door when you open it. I adjusted the fender after i took the bumper off to install the ballast tho....

Also... THIS KID FORGOT TO GIVE ME THE 2ND PART OF THE TITLE!!!!! I'm from PA and the banks hold the title if there's a lien on it... I had no idea that MD had 2 parts of a title if there's a lien holder.... Well I went to the notary office here where I live and they told me I had to get the 2nd copy... As soon as i called him his phone was off and i had to drive the car back home... Couldn't register or drive anywhere til noon the next day...

I feel like the s2000 gods are punishing me for trading my s2000.... this is the first time since 08 that I don't have a s2000 sitting in my garage.... and it sucks...

 

I can understand you wanting to make sure the buying party is happy with the deal. But bottom line is he had every opportunity to check it out before purchasing it. When I sold mine I actually put the car on jackstands twice for the guy to look underneath and check everything out. Then he acted like I was trying to hide something later on.

Not everyone is going to be happy and I certainly wouldn't offer any money, parts, or labor on anything transmission related given how he test drove it. Even though generally the transmission isn't a problem with these cars.

 

So i think i found out what was wrong with it. the gear in the rear of the tranny is damaged is what it sounds like. it's an easy and pretty cheap fix. Parts are around 150 bucks for everything and you don't need to take the transmission apart in order to replace the one rear bearing.

I told him if he drove the car to my house and I would take the time to go under the car and take the rear of the transmission off so I can see what the issue was. I told him I would do that for him at least and if he wanted to pay for the parts, he could come back some other time and i'd install it for him.

 

i would of told him to pull his tampon out and deal with it. Used is used.

 

lol that's unnecessary

 

Yeah he said the car is getting worse and worse.... I have no f#(*$(#*$# idea wtf he's doing to that car.... I drove the car for 2,000 + miles on the new engine swap and that same tranny for the past 8k miles. Had 0 issues with it and now all of a sudden it's having issues? I don't know if it's the way he's driving it or if it's just coincidence, but I find it really odd that the problem is starting to happen all of a sudden....