Concerned about engine bay condition
 

Hi, new member, first post. In the market for an s2000, looking to buy one, price is good, year 2007, 107k miles, the concern I have is that the engine bay looks rusty, is this a concern, any potential things I should look out for when I go see it?
Any help would be great, going to see it on monday.

Not unusual for a car of that mileage probably driven year-around and indifferently maintained.

-- Chuck

Thanks for the fast reply, had a hell of a time with my last car (r56 jcw) so don't want to miss anything that'll bite me later.

When shopping for used cars it's often hard to gauge how it's been maintained by previous owners.
One place I look to get a bit of an idea is the engine bay. If clean it's a good sign of how the car's been taken care of...
I personally would pass on a used car if the engine bay is in array. That's just my personal opinion...
I also check the gas cap. If it's a filthy mess in that area I pass...

The condition of this bay suggests little care in a hot and humid and salty environment. This would be a flag for me about the condition of the undercarriage/brakes and exhaust systems. Clearly a daily driver without much TLC. Check for rust starting on the rear wheel arches where the quarter panel meets the rear bumper. I also suspect that the interior will be showing lots of wear and tear!

The interior looks spotless actually, 1 previous owner, hasnt been driven much in the last 2 years, only 8k miles, last service was in december 2015, fully serviced apparently (though what ive read seems to indicate an oil change of every year/5k miles ideally.
got him to send some pics of the underside.
And bingo on the enviroment, place its located is near the sea (at a dealers now though so not sure about where it waa before that)

My 1st thought was a flood damaged car, probably wrong but surly a neglected one.
Levi

Looks like the kind of car where removing any fastener is going to result in enormous amounts of cursing. The big head phillips screws that hold the top of the bumper are giving me a panic attack. Perfect ones strip if you just look at them funny. I bet the ones in that car would need to be cut off.

Be careful about service and miles driven particularly on low mileage s2000's - they are kind of like exotics where certain things like belts and tires can become time expired before they ever become use-expired. Need to have a very close look at the service schedule and if things haven't been time serviced when they should have been regardless of the miles then I would be very careful and would have a very thorough pre-purchase inspection done by an experienced/knowledgeable S2000 mechanic. Depending on the MY you will want to ensure that valve retainers have been replaced (early years), exhaust valve clearances have been checked and adjusted as necessary, and rear wheel bearings have been re-torqued. These are not "scheduled" kinds of maintenance items but items that owners have discovered the hard way need to be addressed. There are surely others and the S2KI is a good place to search (Billman is a poster that you want to search in particular) - they have a very complete checklist for new purchasers of things to watch out for. Good luck.

those go into plastic, though....


OP...it looks like that car was driven in salt. Either in actual sea water puddles, or through road salt. It then appears to quite literally have been put away wet. Stored somewhere damp.


I wouldn't want a rusty S2000 (personally), when good ones still exist. If you plan to drive thru road salt yourself anyway...then maybe this isn't a big deal for you.

Just know that you'll have lots of issues with rusted bolts in the future. S2000's don't seem very well corrosion proofed, speaking for the chassis.