After getting home from a car meet yesterday I took my brother's wife out for a ride in the s2000. I had thrown in my new OEM coils earlier and upped the boost to full boost. The new RRA coils that superceded the old PNA 04-05 s2000 coils seemed to be holding up great. The only difference I could see between them was the RRA coils said USA while the PNA coils said Japan and also the different part number. After going through a couple of gears I heard a faint pop and saw smoke behind the car. It shut off.

So far I'm guessing the head lifted at 22psi with the stock 63k mile head bolts and the gasket blew. I have the turbo, manifold, downpipe, fuel rail, and other exhaust side stuff already off. The turbine on the turbo looks fine and theres no shaft play. For the intake manifold, I just have the water outlet to remove and the engine coolant temp sensor to remove. I haven't pulled the plugs yet. We'll have to see what damage ensued when I am able to finish pulling the head.

Whats really on my mind is that I have a good majority of my coolant, but my oil level is empty and theres oil all over the intake side of the engine bay. I'm having some people tell me that it could be a cracked block, but have never heard of that on an s2000? Another thing that concerns me is that there are metal shavings caught in the screen of the vtec solenoid screen.

If when I remove the head it looks like it was the gasket, I think I'm gonna try to just deck the head and replace the gaskets and put the car NA for a couple of years. See if that holds up and if I spun a bearing when it blew. Right now I have other things in life I'd like to put my money towards rather than a car which I'm at the limit engine wise, tranny wise, axle wise, and differential wise. I'd like to keep it and drive it rather than sell it or keep it and have it turn into a money pit. Forced induction is very fun, but be ready for the unexpected if you want to push the stock longblock like I did. I think 450-500whp is the limit for a reliable stock longblock car.

 

Damn sorry to hear man! I would think headgasket if it spin oil on the intake side. If it cracked the block the first thing to leak would have been the water jackets unless the bottom end let go like you said?

 

Yeah, I'm thinking headgasket and hoping that. The majority of the oil seems to be around where the head meets the block. I will make sure to thoroughly inspect everything before I put it back together. That would really suck to waste time putting it back together just to pull it apart again especially with how ridiculously a pain they made it to remove the intake manifold lol.

 

Just pull the head with the intake manifold attached. Its much easier than trying to get at the bolts. Also gives you a nice handle to lift the head from.

 

I'm sorry to hear man, I hate to say this but if ur seeing metal shavings like that, its prob worse than a blown head gasket

 

Agreed, sounds like piston damage. Let's hope for the "best" though. Quick fix ftw !! Keep us posted.


Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk.

 

x2, that's how my buddy and i did it weekend before last

 

I'm sorry to hear what happened, and God tell me about it. im going throught the same stuff. Sometimes we can get over our heads. I know I did

 

Did you notice any warning signs before she blew?? Other than the smoke I mean.

 

don't waste your time trying to resurface that head.

metal shavings means your block/bearings are trashed. If your head lifted enough to spray out oil then there is no way that head can be resurfaced enough to be reusable.

I hate to say it but your better off replacing the longblock with a use one