Okay, so I'm moving on from my 06 subie wrx and getting into something different. Unfortunately, I will only have about 8500 to spend on a car once I use the other 4700 to pay off my balance.

With this said, i have only found salvaged s2k's in my area for that price, however I found a nice s2k in las vegas with about 108k miles. I've searched and had no clear answer to how long these motors last. Generally, honda motors last for over 200k, but I suppose the high revving, high comp f20c might be a different story.

I need this car to be reliable as a daily driver and would like to be prepared to look over anything before purchasing it. What should I be looking for exactly, and how long should I expect the motor to last given it was taken care of?

Any help would be appreciated and I'm excited to enter a whole new realm of auto enthusiasm. It will be nice getting back into a rwd car, but I think I'll be missing the godly torque and boost that my subie provides. =(

 

There are a number of people with over 250k miles on their early model AP1s. So long as the motor is maintained properly and not grossly abused, it should last as long as most any other Honda engine. Theories of premature death for these high rpm motors appear to be unfounded.

 

I'm at 198k right now. I'll let you know soon.

 

This is great to hear, make sure to snap a pic at 200,000 closetgeek!

 

definitely. probably gonna post it in the 200k club if that thread still exists.

 

Sweet this is good news.

As for checking out mechanical items during purchase- how does one check retainer valves to make sure they're ok? I've read it was a common problem with ap1's

 

Bilman 250 had posted a thread about the valve retainers.

He included photos of good retainers and cracked retainers.

The valve cover has to be removed to see the retainers, then I think it's just a visual inspection.

Try doing a search for the thread.

EDIT: Here's a thread on how to inspect the retainers. It's a sticky in the under the hood section.

https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/805...#entry19232395

It's not the thread I was thinking of but it should help.

 

Awesome, thank you for that link.

Are there any other major maintenance stuff I should be looking for that should have been done aside from timing/water pump? I'm guessing the radiator since honda radiators are designed to fail around the 110k mark?

 

Forgot to ask, but how is it holding up with that much mileage? Have you had to do any minor repairs to the motor aside from standard maintenance? Kinda curious to see how those retainers are holding up and to see how your compression is looking.

 

I would say that any high-mileage AP1 should just have the retainers replaced, intact or not.

It's the weak point of the F20C engine. Otherwise, it's very stout.