They will likely arrange for you to meet the DSM next. While you're waiting I suggest you search this board and print out everything you know about #4 cyclinder failures it'll help in your arguement. Nothing like slapping them in the face with consumer knowledge of the problems

 

Now that I given them the authorization to go ahead and open the engine up. They told me they would do so on Tuesday in the afternoon. Is there anything I should do and beaware of? I am going to Carter to take some photos when they open it up.

 

Alan any progress? hope everything is going well... let us know how they're treating you

 

I just got done battling it out for over a month with AHM after my stock engine blew with a #4 cylinder issue. I had a bit more of a problem since I had started mounting some parts in preparation for the turbo motor I was putting in. They said I modified the car car and must have messed with the fueling cause my piston was bad. I mean melted was a better term but the other 3 were perfect.

If Honda starts giving you a hard time push the issue and threaten a law suit for an engine design flaw. We finally came to a compromise and Honda is giving me a new short block but are not going to install it. (that is not such a bad deal since I am very weary of the competencey of the mechs at this dealer after they told my friend who also drives a S2K that he needed to rotate his tires and then did not put steering wheel on straight after a clutch replacment). I agreed only because it would have taken them two weeks to get the new block and seemed worthless for them to install a new engine only for me to pull it out and replace it with my modified one two weeks later.

After my stock motor blew I tore open one of my spare motor and took a hard look what would cause it. Really the only thing I could come up with since all cylinders were identical was there must be a heat issue or more like a cooling issue. It is my belief that the back of the block is not getting cooled enough. The water pump is located basically between the #1 and #2 pistons on the intake side and the drain is in front of # 1 piston on the exhaust side. Water takes the path of least resistance so I believe that the coolant doesn't circulate around the back of the block as well as it should. I decided to relocate the drain towards the back of the block (equal distance from the water pump) to help remedy this possible issue. Again this is just my opinion but I had a couple of tech people conclude that it could be the problem though. The only real way to tell is to take a stock engine and add another pyro sensor in the rear of the block and see if the readings are truly higher than what the stock one says. Oh yeah the stock sensor is also located towards the front of the engine which would be why a high temp flag is never sent to the ODB2 module. I also think that the ring gap is a little bit to much which causes a bit of ring flutter at high RPM's which could also explain why we go though oil sometimes. To quote Dennis Miller "Of course these are just my opinions...I could be wrong"

I would like to hear what others think of this conclusion.

 

I have some photos that I took today and will be posting it tomorrow when I get a chance. Basically they jack up the car and open up the oil pan area then work their way upwards. They took out parts of the connecting rod and found nothing wrong majorly. They slightly check out the engine wall and found nothing. Tomorrow they are going to take the whole engine out and tear it apart. They told me it seems like #3 cylinder have the most sound coming out of. However #2 cylinder seem to be the most badly scratch of all 4. When they open it up there was this burning smell coming out from the engine. The service Manager Stacey is currently on a vacation and won't be back until next week. So far Honda Canada has promise to cover the expense of opening up the engine but not the damage itself. I am aiming for a final response by the end of the week since my insurance is still going on while they sit and try to figure out what they want to do. I have to wait at least another month for engine parts anyways so that's 1 and 1/2 month the car is out of service for me.

 

Still no words yet on what went wrong inside the engine. Carter said they have sent some data to Honda Canada and are waiting for an response from them.

 

Just got back from Carter Honda. The mechanic says the 1st and 3rd cylinder is experiencing a condition call scoring. The head when they took it out appears to still be lubricated by engine oil. Everything check out fine says the mechanic. The mechanic says my engine could need a new short block and pistons. Carter Honda said they call the hotline and Honda Canada will be sending someone or will be calling the mechanic on either next Monday or Tuesday.

 

Here are the photos

 

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