I take back every brave word I expressed about it being only slightly risky to cross 5,500 rpms before 600 miles even for an instant. If I had it to do over, I'd do it the way the more wise members of the board recommended and really baby it for 1500 miles or more.

Jane and I went "crusin'" today with 50 deg F weather and clear blue skies. At about 650 miles on the odometer, after about 35 miles of driving, while going up a hill on the interstate at about 80 mph (not-overrevving, but in the 7000 rpm area) the engine suddenly started a clickety-clack.

The noise sounds like a valve-train tap tap tap, comes from the top side of the engine, and changes with rpms. It disappears into the background noise at higher revs. There's no noticable change in performance (but I haven't pushed it at all since noticing the noise).

The noise started just a few miles from Valley Motor Honda so I took it right in. Ken (service writer) and Wade (S2K mechanic) listened and Wade said, "It doesn't sound good." Ken contacted AHM and they recommended taking off the valve cover and "pulling the top" to see what's going on. Ken will call me when he gets in a new head gasket and I'll take it down then.

 

Sorry to hear the news. No reason to jump to the conclusion that it was your break-in. Wait for the diagnosis. Good luck.

 

You should see this thread. If you've got the head off might be just the trick:
http://www.s2000online.com/forums/showthre...p?threadid=3168

 

Where would I get the 100 octane gasoline, AusS2000?

Thanks for the encouragement, Chris. I know you're right, too.

Actually if this were an old, air-cooled VW engine, like the ones I used to work on in college, the noise would be normal.

 

That sucks to hear...Hopefully, it is not seriously damaged but if it is, it should be taken care of by Honda. Don't feel too bad because you did follow what Honda recommended for proper break in.

 

You guys seem to be able to get anything

We have a Shell product here called Optimax which is a very pure 98 octane and makes a very noticable difference. What are US premium petrols like?

 

Barry, sorry to hear it...I'm definitely going to take it easy on my engine for a little while too, just to be safe.

 

I beg to differ! The fact that you pushed it a little bit at first brought out a flaw in the engine early. You were able to get it fixed sooner rather then later and avoided driving thousands of miles with the problem andpossibly hurting other areas of your engine.

 

Well it's also possible that if he hadn't pushed it hard, the problem would have never surfaced...guess he'll have to wait and see what the dealer says.

 

I appreciate the comments!

I'm going to see if Valley Motor Honda will let me watch Wade work on it and maybe give me/us more insight into what happened.

I don't feel I really pushed the car hard, ever! I've been to VTEC range (since 600 miles on the odometer) and I've accelerated past 80 mph a couple times on the wide opened interstate, but I've not pushed in long or hard. I've not been on the track. I've never missed a shift.

Anyway, they'll fix it and we'll learn something.


[This message has been edited by Barry WY Silver/Black '01 (edited January 04, 2001).]