Sorry to hear about your misfortune man. Hope your insurance company takes good care of you.

Not that it couldn't happen to me, but that's one reason I like to do my own maintenance. But I DO understand that some don't have the time or the means in which to do it themselves.

BTW, I can hand tighten the filter 7/8 of a turn once the gasket make contact without using a wrench and I'm by no means a muscular fella.

 

you might want to read some more of the thread.

 

ditto.

you guys got me worried when you began talking about how the filters need to be wrench tightened as i have always hand tightened all my filters in every oil change i have done. i haven't had any problems at all... i basically just torque it as much as i can with my hand which ends up being close to 1 whole turn after the gasket makes contact... i figure hey 8/8 is close enough to 7/8

 

maybe the captain wanted to go down with the ship BOOM!

 

Agreed that however you get the filter tight enought is fine. The issue is that "hand tight" means something different every time you do it. 7/8 of a revolution means the exact same thing every time you do it.. (It's also more accurate than the alternative torque spec.)

 

sorry about your loss. If you need anything from us Charlotte guys let us know, i think i can speak for all of us when i say "we are here for ya".

-Doug

 

It's possible there was a pinhole leak from the filter or other fluid location?

 

Almost the same thing happened to me yesterday afternoon, but I was lucky that there was no fire.
I was "pushing" the car, perhaps close to 8k (engine F20C), when smoke started coming out from under the hood and within a second it was billowing like a blown F1 engine in a hot race. Two or 3 seconds later the engine oil idiot light on the dash went ON.
I had the presence of mind of cutting the engine off immediately and I coasted to a stop. I opened the hood and saw oil just about everywhere in the engine bay. I thought: "the engine's toast" and called a mechanic. The engine has less than 39 000 km on it and I seldom pushed it.
The mechanic looked under the hood and immediately zeroed in on the filter. IT WAS LOOSE ! He couldn't believe it (he's the one who services the car). He just did not know what to say. I, for one, was ecstatic because it meant that there was still hope for the engine.
He poured in 3 litres and the level was back to normal. Since the engine takes 4,8 litres (with filter), and since I cut off the engine quickly, I am hoping that I have saved the engine. He wiped off the excess oil as best he could and I drove the car back home. It felt fine, but it stank burnt oil.
I googled "S2000 loose oil filter" and came up with this thread. I'm pretty sure what's happened to you is the same as what has happened to me. Too bad you had a fire! I still can't believe how lucky I was.
I washed the car thoroughly this morning (outside and cockpit). Tomorrow I'll take it to the mechanic. He'll clean the engine bay and will change oil and filter. I've printed the two pages of the service manual where they describe oil and filter change procedures with torque figures and all. He's a good mechanic, but he's got to use a torque wrench. At least when working on high revving engines where oil pressure can build up with revs.
For reference:
Oil drain bolt: 39 N-m or 4,0 kgf-m or 29 lbf-ft
Oil filter: 7/8 turn CW after the rubber seal seats or 22 N-m or 2,2 kgf-m or 16 lbf-ft

 

LOL that was extremely funny

OP-sux hopefully insurance understands 10k miles=lots of $

~tina~

 

hmm, i probably would never go back to that guy again, and possibly sue him, but thats just me