Hi.

I'm a member from Sydney Australia and have an interesting problem.

I bought my car in August 1999 (red/black) as one of the first RHD models outside of Japan.

In August 2000, my car was diagnosed with a porous block, and a new short motor was duly installed by my Honda dealer with assistance from Honda Australia.

All went well until today when my car went in for it's 25,000km service. The new block is porous as well!!!!!!!

I am going to have to have my engine rebuilt again!!!!!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

It will take around 2-3 months to source a new short-motor from Tochigi. Hopefully this one will be a case of third-time lucky....

Should I jump for joy or buy another car? This is getting beyond a joke.

What would you guys do?

Thanks for your opinions.

JD
Captain
Honda Sports Car Club of NSW
Sydney Australia

MY1999 S2000 Red/Black

 

If possible I think Honda should compensate you or at least give you a brand new motor for your stress and time. Try calling them and see what happens.

Sorry to heart about that.

 

Wow sorry to hear of your problems. I've never heard of this before - what are the symptoms?

 

Tfota's dealership held his car for a month, and consequently Honda offered to make one of his monthly payments...since you'll be out of commission for a few months, maybe they'll pick up the tab if you show enough important people that you're angry...

 

It is very discouraging to spend so much time repairing a new car. I would be looking for some compensation now that you are down again unless they could provide a loaner S2000.

Yours is one of a number of porous block or head problems. It is very surprising to me that this has gone on for so long.. you would thing that after more that a year it would be addressed. I guess your second block could simply be an early casting.

Get us some pictures if you can.. it will be interesting if the problem is in the same place as the last one posted.

Good luck.. I afraid there is not much but sympathy we can offer.

 

I would at a minimum ask Honda to extend the warranty for all of the cars systems, not just engine, to three years or 36,000 miles from the date/mileage of the newest engine install.

 

Not a mechanic here, and also have little knowlege of said Porous Block condition, but from descriptions i have read and photos i have seen, it does not appear to be a condition that would incapacitate the car. I would think you can continue to drive the car for the next three months while they source the necessary parts and then you would just drop the car off for the actual work to be done, which should take no more than a few days.
Am i completly off here? Are they telling you to park the car for 3 months while you await the arrival of the parts?

 

In Canada, the dealer is legally obligated to either refund the FULL PURCHASE PRICE of the vehicle or replace the vehicle with a NEW one (if you bought it new) if a failure happens 3 times to the same major component within the warranty period (in your case, the short block). I am pretty sure that is accurate, because I ran into the same problem with my 1999 Mazda Miata. WHAT A LEMON that car was!

clutch failure
short block replaced TWICE
2 electrical fires
shift linkage came apart while driving on the highway
mass-airflow sensor failure
differential failure
wheel hubs faded
improperly fitting gas cap
seams coming apart from the leather seats

finally, a Mazda regional rep blamed ME, saying I RACED the car - because I had an aftermarket spoiler, k&n, and it was lowered ONE INCH! (the car was *NEVER* raced, not even on the street - it wasn't fast enough to even attempt to race anyone)

I knew it was time to say to Mazda, "Thanks, but please remove your p*nis from my a** - I'm buying a REAL car."

Off topic, but that is when I got my S2K.

BTW - the dealer was North Toronto Mazda. I will *NEVER* buy a Mazda again.

 

JD,

You're a lot more patient then me! The car's great but....

My concern now is would either my service dealer or I would recognise the symptoms if we fell over it...

If not done already I would recommend a separate section under the forums specifically with threads that explain the recognition of all "warranty" problems. I know searching for threads is an alternative but titles and topics vary and are often "hidden" for a lot of people.

Col.

 

Fortunately, in Connecticut, we have a very strong "lemon" law. And it would provide for a new car for you in this situation.

Is there such a thing in OZ?