Hi everybody!
Today is an exciting day for me and it has been 1 year and 1 month in the making. Unfortunately most of the fault lies with me. Almost 2 years ago i bought my 2001 s2k from a guy without doing my homework. "The flickering check engine light only happens when you idle but my mechanic checked the oil pressure and its perfect so you dont need to worry." I answer "oh good thats great!" 2 months later car wouldnt start, metal in the oil...I think you can guess the answer. I saved up for 8 or 9 months and got it towed to a honda dealer. At the time, during the tail end of the pandemic, they were unsuccessful sourcing an engine nationwide. Eventually a week or 2 later I was told the good news. They found a company named "AAA engines" that could provide a fresh rebuilt f20 engine. Unfortunately as it turns out, this company shoudnt be touched even with a 10 foot stick. If anything I hope this post can at least spread that information for everyone to stay far away from. A couple months later, the engine arrived, and the car ran with a rough idle. Now this is where the story starts to take a turn for the better. This is not an attempt to throw shade at this honda dealer, as they have treated me with respect and showed me the utmost professionalism in helping fix this nightmare. The next year was the adventure in attempting to solve the problem. At first AAA engines attempted to honor the 3 year warranty they offered, but wanted to fix every other possible thing that could cause the check engine light and rough idle. The ECU was replaced, all the sensors, the engine wiring harness, all injectors cleaned and then replaced. Still a check engine light and rough idle. Well, now the problem could only possibly be the engine. They pulled out the engine, and discovered one of the valves were not adjusted properly. Honda sent the engine to a local machine shop where all valves were replaced. I was informed the head looked good. Honda got the engine back and everything looks great and I pick the car up in 1-2 days after they make absolute certain everything perfect. Part of the long delay was the difficulty in obtaining parts for this car apparently. I really hope everything turns out ok as work life, family, and mechanical inexperience inhibits my time to work on it myself. I will post an update in a few days if you guys want me to when I pick it up. Thanks for reading and briefly being apart of this difficult journey of mine.

 

Remember reading your old posting regarding issues and hope it hold together this time

 

Man it seems like you've been through a journey, and I hate to say this...but that engine is not likely to last any appreciable amount of time.

How come you chose to go with that type of engine rather than a used, factory longblock? Those were still readily available all through COVID, and would be MUCH more reliable and likely to last.

 

Ya I feel like there is a lot I should have done differently. By saying you don’t think it will last long does that mean 20,000 miles or 1000 miles?

 

Somewhere between 1K and 5K is my guess.

But its a total guess. Hope its not true.

You've already had a valve that needed replacing and you've already found out that this place is better at fighting warranties than building motors.

Aftermarket engine parts and engine rebuilds both rarely work out. Virtually never, unless some savant does it.

Again, absolutely not trying to sour your milk. I'm hoping for the best for your sake. Let us know how everything goes.

I'm only saying all this because if you continue to have issues with this engine...it may be best to just pursue a refund rather than more warranty headaches. And if that fails...for your own sanity and enjoyment, just pick up a good used F20C. Toss it in with a mild refresh of hoses/belts/outer gaskets, etc (buy Genuine Honda parts whenever possible!! And source them from a Honda dealer).

JDM F20C's with low miles or good used USDM ones are all over eBay from reputable sellers like ASolutions, TAE, LEEC, etc, or even reputable private parties.

If you need to shop genuine Honda parts, BKhondaparts.com and Hondaautomotiveparts.com have treated me exceptionally well.

This forum also has a wealth of info. Ask before pulling the "buy now" trigger if you have doubts. Or...just seek advice for your next move before making it. There's a lot of "dodged a bullet because I asked" stories here.

 

Gotta reiterate. Check here first. Wealth of knowledge. Learn from mistakes of others.

Also sadly concur with others assessments about how long this motor will last. Its the revs that will kill it.

If you never actually enjoy the car, that is, never let it rev into vtec, keep revs below what normal engines are capable of, it'll probably last 10's of thousands of miles. But actually use vtec with any regularity, previous predictions are to be expected.

Keep in mind this engine put out more NA power per liter than anything on the planet, even many pure race engines, for over a decade, and still to this day its just Ferrari and Porsche that have managed to exceed that. Think anyone is getting rebuilds for those from a place called AAA rebuilds?