My MY04 is only my second Honda, my first being an 03 RSX-S that I only had for 6 months. I know Honda's reputation for durability, but when I got my RSX, the dealer told me to "not be afraid to take it up to redline". That's how they're meant to be driven, he said. I pretty much got the same story when I bought my S2K. My question is, are there S2K owners out there who have substantial mileage on their cars, who drive them agressively (not talking about racing) and have had no major problems? My non-Honda friends tell me that I'm just asking for trouble if I push it up near redline. BTW, I'm fanatic about keeping the oil changed every 3K miles. Thanks.

 

ya its fine... just take care of the car
the motor was made to be high revving.. there are plenty of owners here who have been driving hard and have seen no major problems
just watch your oil level.. change your oil when needed, and take care of the car, you should be fine

 

Make sure you follow through with braek in period procedure, initial motor oil has special agents in the compound that helps with proper break in. Once you reach about 10k or so, you should be safe to swtich to Synthetic. I'd recommend Mobile 1 10w-30 synthetic oil.

Also, you would want to do valve adjustable around 15-30k miles depending on how hard you drive your car.

Point is this, you cannot expect the car to perform at its best without proper maintenance, Honda or not. But as far as engine goes, they are meant to be driven hard. You would also want to take care of the car properly.

 

most non-honda people have their doubts about revving a motor up to redline. Take for example a Ford or GM (most of them at least); redlining those things is just asking for problems.

The S2000 has super-light-weight internals that are forged making them very strong. Also the stroke is short. Even without balance shafts, the S2000 motor is very smooth, so you don't have the vibration issues with revving it up like you would a conventional motor.

The valvesprings are very strong, too. Earlier VTEC engines had double springs (2 per valve) to make sure that they would rev; the S2000 has strong single valve springs which provide less resistance. Another issue that pops up is cylinder wall wear. Most engines have iron cylinder liners; the S2000 has a Carbon Fiber-Aluminum (called FRM for Fiber Reinforced Metal) which should minimize that wear.

Honda engineers really do design these engines to rev. The reliability of DOHC VTEC honda motors is very good, but you do of course have some exceptions. You need to make sure the motor is in good health by checking valve clearances and making sure the retainers are in good shape from time to time.

 

The biggest problem with living at redline seems to be the retainers, there are a few current posts about this on the site. The good thing is, you have an 04 with the 8,000 redline. If the valve setup is the same as the 9,000 rpm 03s you have 1,000 rpm insurance built in as the 04 retainers should never see the stress that the older, higher revving engines do. This is, of course, only true if the head has not changed and does not take into account mechanical overrevs where all bets are off.