I think I may have a few remaining problems caused by my little mishap back in March. I essentially hydroplaned the day I took it out of storage, and smacked my rear/right end into a wall. The damages ended up being not so bad - I got pretty lucky considering I hit a wall at ~50 mph. If interested you can read the topic below (which contains a few pictures I will soon reference).

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=773086&st=0

I have two problems that still exist from the accident and was wondering if anyone here could diagnose them:

1. Now, I'm not sure if this started happening after the FIPK install (3 weeks ago) or not, but I definitely don't remember hearing it before the accident. With the top/windows down - after starting the car and right before the engine settles into its idle, I hear a metallic rattle from the engine compartment. This only happens when I start it up after it has been sitting for awhile. Again, this only happens right before the engine settles after the startup (hopefully I've explained that right). My guess is between a cold engine and the impact of the wall, it's causing said rattle.

2. The damn wheel gap in the front left. To reiterate I hit the wall in my back right, and most of the impact was on the wheel. It basically busted right off of the control arm so the rear right side was floating for a bit. This is what probably caused the front left (opposite diagonally from the rear right) to lift into the air. I would have thought that after the repair it would have settled back down. This is not the case; it still probably sits a half inch higher than the front right and it's something I can notice (though not many others can). Ultimately I doubt it's a big deal, nor does it affect the handling severely, but I'm definitely OCD when it comes to my s2k as many of you are.

Any explanations/possible fixes would be greatly appreciated.

 

the first problem could be your Timing Chain Tensioner (TCT) . It can make a noise somewhat like a metallic "playing card in bicycle spokes" on startup and all the time when it gets real bad---there's lots of threads on here about them--do a search and you can find the info (including at least one video with sound so you can compare your noise with it) It's a farly easy DYI to change it (about 20-30 miutes) and an new ones runs in the $120-150 range if that's what the noise is.


on the second one, could be several things--have you taken it back to the shop who repaired it and asked them their thoughts? (the car should be "level"--meaning similar gap between the wheels and fenders on both sides--ie----both fronts should be the same and both rears should be the same)

 

1. When you say "sitting for a while", do you mean cold starts or warm starts? The metallic rattle on a warm start up is probably the timing chain tensioner - a common problem with the S2000 - https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=320897&st=0

2. Could be a collapsed front right damper, or an unseated front left damper? Not sure about this one, but if the frame is straight, the only thing that would effect wheel gap would be the suspension... If you feel the dampers do you feel any slickness or greasiness?

 

I don't think it's the TCT. I started it up when I got home today and took a video:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8jJrjmYx-U [/media]

The rattle didn't happen this time (of course). I'm going to say it happens mostly, if at all, during cold starts. Today has been pretty warm ~80's, so maybe this is why it didn't happen.

Now that the video is up, can anyone diagnose to see if anything is wrong? Everything sounds fine to me. Another question I had though, was at :11, the intake makes a deeper noise. This only happens during some start ups but I have no idea what's wrong. This only started happening (at least that I noticed) after I put the FIPK on.



Anyone have anymore ideas on the ride height?

 

Sorry for size... but as you can see the front left definitely sits higher.

 

As far as your video goes, the sound would definitely change @ :11 due to the air injection pump coming up to full speed. You would only notice this on cold starts as the pump not used for warm starts.

 

Ok thanks, that answers that. Can anyone hear any abnormalities from the video? I drove it to work this morning and I did not hear any rattling on startup. It must only happen on very cold starts, I'll try to capture what I'm talking about eventually.

Suspension? I might add that when I got my car aligned last (after the accident), the castor on the front right was maxed out, and the guys at the shop couldn't budge it anymore.

 

Your front sub frame could have been bent/miss-aligned/shifted out of alignment from the shock of the accident which would transfer to why you can't get the wheel alignment properly setup.

 

The repair garage did a frame pull and they said everything was aligned.

 

My car does a little rattle on a cold startup. I always just assumed it's because the the valves have no oil on them until it's been running for a few seconds.