Barry in Wyoming

A year ago, after my F20C suffered the #4 cylinder failure at 650 miles, I started the short block replacement thread to track engine failures.

So far there are 19 catastrophic failures and 4 porous block failures and 1 porous head failure.

I have NOT tracked engines replaced due to overrevving on missed downshifts.

Does anyone know of some I missed. I didn't hear of any between August, 2001 and March, 2002.

Here's the ancient short block replacement thread:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...ock+replacement

Here are the catastrophic failures:

(1) Zoinks, VIN#7115 MY2000. Failed 10/00, odometer 7450. tapping sound led to short block replacement. "bearing failed" as diagnosis.
(2) s2klisa. VIN#8953 MY2000 Built 06/00 Delivered 09/00 Failed 11/00 two days before Thanksgiving. 3,200 miles at failure. Confirmed #4 cylinder failure. had tapping sound from very beginning. #4 cylinder wrist pin failed, Honda told Lisa. Honda replaced Lisa's S2000 with a new MY2001.http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...p?threadid=8361
(3) Jason Saini, VIN#? MY2001 Delivered 11/00 Failed 12/00 at 2,200 miles. confirmed #4 cylinder failure. had tapping sound.
(4) Dipstick.(Mike) VIN#8777, MY2000. Purchased 09/00. Failed during track event in 12/00. 6,000 miles. Engine check did come on. Made clackety-clackety and froze completely. Only 2 qts oil. ?diagnosis other than burned engine. https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...p?threadid=4823
(5) Barry Wohl, VIN#JHMAP11491T000052.MY2001. Delivered 11/4/00. Failed 1/4/01 650 miles at failure. never low on oil. confirmed #4 piston/cylinder failure. had tapping sound.
(6) AutoxEx, 2,800 miles at failure MY2001 VIN#1234. Had tapping sound and then made a loud noise and then failed. Failed 2/01. Diagnosis vague but likely piston/cylinder failure.
(7) kizneda, MY2001.JHMAP114X1T000044 Delivered 11/00
Failed 2/01. 2,900 miles at failure. #4 cylinder not confirmed. made tapping sound like #4 cylinder failures did. Honda blamed low oil.
(8) Rowland in New Hampshire MY2000 #8275 6,651 miles at failure. Manufactured 6/00. Delivered 08/00 Failed 2/01. confirmed #4 cylinder. was not low on oil. had tapping sound. Has low oil problem after short block repair.
As of 27 March 01, oil usage has improved. Currently participating in Oil Usage Test with AHM. Should conclude test 3/30/01.
(9) Elund, VIN#? MY2001. Delivered? Failed 2/01. 2,000 miles at failure. getting new short block. NOT confirmed #4 cylinder failure. had tapping sound. Oil was down 4 quarts at diagnosis. Oil light never came on. Honda blamed low oil.
(10) cde. Delivered 5/00. Failed 3/01. First had oil cap problem which led to dropping tranny to retreive oil cap. Never had low oil problems until tap tap tap developed at about 3,500 miles. Engine seized on way to dealer. Dealer is blaming "damaged oil filter" for causing low oil leading to engine seize. See http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...?threadid=10086 AHM making sure car repaired, NOT AT OWNER'S EXPENSE. WTG AHM!
(11) chitowns2k. Manufactured 8/00 VIN#JHMAP1149T009084. (sic) Failed ?/01. 4,000 miles on the odometer. Had "knocking sound leading to "engine replacement." Originally thought to be valve noise but turned out to be scuffed #4 cylinder. Honda tried to blame low oil, but he was never low on oil.
(12) Stealthy a friend of s2klisa had a short block replacement due to #4 cylinder failure. s2klisa has the details. bmw 5/13/01
(13)legendr34. MY2001 2,300 km at engine failure. Failed May 11, 2001. Dealer diagnosed short block failure and will replace. Oil not low. Lives in L.A., California. Thread is here: http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...5182#post145182
(14) kooma in Toronto. 5,000 km on his MY2001. Problem developed about 4 August while pushing car hard. Was low on oil at time of diagnosis. VIN? Not confirmed #4 cylinder. see: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...ighlight=engine
(15) ozzyiceman in Adelaine, S.A. Australia. Posted 13 August 2001 The first outside of North America reported on this board. 11,500 km (about 6,900 miles). #3 cylinder cracked piston head. VIN? not sure he had the tap tap tap and perhaps not same problem as rest of this thread. https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...ighlight=engine
(16) dhoward posted 8/15/01 MY2001. 5,000 miles. VIN?. tap-tap-tap leading to short block replacement. Oil was low at diagnosis but NOT LOW earlier in day. Full story here: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...ighlight=engine
(17) ICEMAN666. Bergen County, NJ. Failed 15 March 2002. MY2001. USAVIN#972. Failed at 14 months of age, 6,500 miles on odometer. Loud noise developed. Had car flat-bedded. Diagnosed as #4 cylinder failure. See thread: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...=engine+failure Only 1/2 quart low on oil at failure.
(18) broken_S2000 Wilmington, DE. Failed 20 March 2002. 11,300 miles on MY2001. ?VIN. Purchased used at 7,000 miles. 4 quarts plus LOW on oil at diagnosis. AHM denying warranty claim as of 27 March 2002 because of owner negligence in not checking oil. https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...6910#post616910
(19) Garry in Bowral, NSW, AU. failed 25 March 2002. ?model year. ?VIN. ?mileage. tap tap tap diagnosed as #4 cylinder. Only 1 quart of oil when diagnosed in spite of full oil at service several days before. No oil light. Honda Australia denying warranty claim. https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...ighlight=engine

DaveZ

Barry - Awesome thread! Information is power.

Barry in Wyoming

Another member just pointed me to Fed's engine replacement. He had to have both a short block and a new head. It sounds like the same problem though.

So now there are 20 catastrophic failures, 4 porous block failures and 1 porous head failure.

Barry

itsjustme

Just out of curiosity, assuming that you have half of all of the failures documented, what is the statistical chance that the engine will suffer the type of failure that you are talking about? (e.g. you document 25 failures, so double that number and divide by the total production of the car). Is this number dramatically higher than other cars? brands?

I realize that alot of the above information is probably difficult (if not impossible to acquire). Just trying to get a feel for how the f20 comparest to other engines.

Fed

New block, new head, engine just quit on the highway, however was not diagnosed as 4th cylinder failure. Won't really go into details about it.

dlq04

Barry,

WHAT are you trying to do - jinx us! j/k

It's been a nice calm period and hopefully it will stay that way. At this point I'm a firm believer that there was a momentary production line issue; however, it's irritating to me that you have not been furnished with either the VIN# or Engine# or both for those who experienced the problems. That could either confirm or not, if there is a definite correlation.

Dookie

19,000 S2000s on the road in the US (https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...ht=total+number)

25 engine failures

Failure rate is 0.132% or 1.32 failures per 1,000 cars.

I don't know the industry average.

Barry in Wyoming

Honda knows the situation. We don't. Of the 25 failures I've tracked, several are NOT in the U.S.A.

I think we have more than one process going on in the 20 catastrophic failures. Some probably are due to owner negligence in letting the oil level fall. One was due to dealer negligence in damaging the oil filter at an oil change. Some are out of the blue, like mine, and perhaps due to a faulty manufacturing process leading to oil starvation in the #4 cylinder.

It would be nice if the oil light served a function.

I doubt AHM or Honda will come forward with an answer to our questions. It would be great if AHM or Honda developed a "hidden warranty" policy.

My dealer was great and I'm very satisfied with the seven year AHM warranty purchase I made.

Barry

Turtle

There's a UK engine been replaced as well.

Details a few posts down in this thread.

-Brian.

Bieg

You don't have to be a statistical expert to see that the above is incorrect. Barry only compiled statistics from the S2000s on this forum, not from all 19.000 S2000s. While this board has lots of S2000 owners I have doubt that they total 19,000.