Brilliant thread. There is a great deal of knowledge here: just the type of information that all S2000 owners should be provided with. Wouldn't it be great if Honda provided an FAQ sheet with every new S2000

Anyway, my problem...................VTEC has totally failed nothing at all You hit that 6K mark and ..........nothing

First response of my dealer was "No S2000 has ever had a VTEC failure" but he was more than willing to have the problem investigated if I dropped the car in. However the car has now been with the dealer over a day now and they haven't been able to trace the fault.

They thought it might be the oil pressure sensor that triggers VTEC (by the way I am a total novice when it comes to matters technical so excuse the layman terms) but replacing that didn't work. They tried triggering VTEC by using air pressure, but even at 100psi (apprently VTEC triggers at about 70psi) still no response.

So they are now on the big hunt for the cause.

I'll mention the MAP sensor tomorrow to see if that is the cause.

I'll keep you posted in case any important information is unveiled.

God, I miss my S2000 sob sob

Tony

P.S. Oil has been no problem. Bought the car with 9K on the clock. It know has 20000 and hasn't needed any oil for the past 6 months. When I check the oil I always wipe the dipstick nefore taking a reading and check both sides of the stick.

P.P.S. I can't complain about the dealer's response to the problem. They even dragged someone away from lunch to check out my reported problem. As soon as they realised it was going to take a long time to fix they provided me with a courtesy car while they investigated the problem. By the way my dealer is Ashford Honda.

 

I think i'm having a vtec problem too!! my vtec used to hit very hard (right after i broke it in and was great till around 1,600), but now , with 2,100 miles on it, that vtec hit is very subtle. i thought it could be temperature (was 50's then and 80's now), but over the last couple of days here, it's been 50's again, especially at night. therefore and AFTER checking the oil and adding some in to the top, i tried to run my car hard, and the vtec was still very subtle. i THINK the vtec is still working ,but very calmly. once i hit 6,500, i feel it pull a bit harder but NOT EVEN CLOSE to what it was before. someone pls help me with suggestions?

 

Hi nHobbes,

Interesting you should say that the VTEC hit is "subtle" because that is how I would have described it since we bought the car (Secondhand with 9K on the clock). A gentle but firm push in the back as you go through the 6K barrier.

I have never driven VTEC before so have no real experience of what it should feel like. But a couple of days someone on this board described VTECing as responding like a scalded cat and since reading that I have this sneaking feeling that the VTEC response I have been getting is not what it should have been.

I can only wait to see what Honda do with the car when they fix this problem.

Tony

 

I am confirming the problem mentioned in a previous post: the inner CV joints wear prematurely, the left one more so than the right.

The sympthoms are obvious and specific:1)"clicking" sounds can be heard when taking up the slack from the driveline and 2) a vibration can be felt when acclerating which increases when acclerating while taking a long right hand turn(ex.: on-ramp, clockwise track,...)).

These problems go away completely when the left inner CV joint is replaced.

The number of cases should increase expotentially as S2K's are racking more and more milage.



Pierre

N.B. see thread about "clicks & shakes" in "under the hood".

 

I guess everyone's sensation to VETC'ing is a personal thing. To me it always just wound out from zilch to 9000. The sound of VETC'ing is great when it kick's in but I never felt anything in the seat of my pant's at the 5800 rpm mark or whatever. To me it was always one smooth motion from bottom to top. Personally, when I read all the reporter's talking about how it 'kicked in', I always figured it was more in the ears than pants.

 

Mine is definitely in the ears and the pants at 6200rpm

 

I'm not sure this will be helpful to those of you trying to calibrate your FEELING of V-TECH with your expectations for what it SHOULD feel like -- and thus calibrate if you've a problem with your car -- but if you look at the dynometer data for a stock S2K, you'll see that the torque curve is pretty flat below the V-TECH engagement. At V-TECH, it rises, but not by a huge amount, and remains pretty flat until you hit the redline. As a result, when you graph horsepower against engine speed, you'll see that the power "curve" for the stock S2K isn't really a curve. It's upwardly sloping but roughly linear, albeit with a slightly higher slope above V-TECH engagement. Visualize two connecting line segments, both rising to the right, with the second line somewhat steeper than the first. The result of which is that the power curve is pretty smooth across the point of V-TECH engagement. Put another way, you shouldn't FEEL as if you've been kicked in the pants at the point of V-TECH engagement, as much as you should feel a modest increase in the rate at which the power increases. I'm not sure if that makes much sense, but perhaps it'll help. Add a turbo, however, and things look a bit lumpier, with a lot more power early and an unbelieavable high end....

 

i understand what everyone is saying about vtec and how it shouldn't really be as descriptive as "kicking in hard" or whatever other way you can say it, but i can only compare it to what i once felt at the beginning, after break-in. in the earlier days, RIGHT after i completed my break-in period, i ran the car to see how the upper rpm range felt. when my vtec hit, it hit HARD. i literally felt a considerable pull once it hit and noticed a dramatic difference (sort of like when a turbo finishes spooling and the power comes at one point). but, once i hit the 1,600 (around this) mark, my vtec calmed noticeably. i no longer get an abrupt pull, it's more subtle. dont' get me wrong, i still hear the vtec come on and i still get pull, it's just not as abrupt as before. i hope this info helps those of us who seem to have this problem. if this is the case, we should look into it further. thanks all!

 

Maybe you've just acclimated to the performance? But you might take your car to a speedshop and have them dyno it. That should tell you if you've lost power. I'd offer up a comparative test drive -- seems you're local -- but I'm leaving this weekend for Florida to have the Speedcraft kit installed....

 

5400 miles and every time I hit 6200 RPM I still feel and hear a noticeable kick in the pants.