Not sure on prices, but if they're not familiar with doing that, I'd highly suggest finding a specialist or doing it yourself. There have been many horror stories here in the states telling how Honda dealerships are absolutely terrible, including experiences that have happened to me.

 

I haven't had the issues you are speaking of in my 03....but I bought it new and I know how it's been driven & maintained for 100k miles.

Lot's of S owners beat on the cars and pass along some probs to the next owner.

On the oil,trans & diff fluid changes,it's easy to do.You can do all 3 in about 1.5 hrs the first time you do it.After than,less than an hr.

\rlr
Carolina

 

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT go to the dealer for service. Dealers are usually provide the mediocre service, at the most cost. Its worse with our cars because they are so rare, most dealers don't have much experience with them. Most Hondas are similar to each other, know one, you know a lot about the rest. Except our cars are very different. Many of the dealer horror stories (and there is no end to such stories) involve dealers doing to one of our cars what works and is right for every other Honda, but is devastating to ours.

If you have a place to work on your car, I suggest DIY. None of these things we're describing are very difficult. Otherwise try to find someone that has experience working on these cars. Post in the UK forum to ask for suggestions.

 

I regreased the shifter myself and replaced the pivot ball by following this DIY, and found it made very little (if any) difference in shifter feel. It took about an hour and $5 worth of urea grease. I don't really think its worth doing, and is certainly non-essential compared to the transmission, clutch, and diff fluid changes.

 

don't we know a kid who went from 5th-2nd and had to rebuild...

 

I dunno where you leave, I'm in Herts and on the 6th of December I'm going for my 63k service. I'll second the opinions of the other guys here DO NOT GO TO HONDA (unless you want the stamp on your service book so you can sell the car afterwards). Personally I found a guy 20miles away from me in Hays, London who is crazy about Hondas (he owns a del Sol with Nitro and a Civic Type R) and he seems to me
a very decent mechanic, a rare beast to find these days.

Recently I've changed my catalytic converter at his Workshop and he told me that he will recycle the old one and give me the money back! I mean, I never heard of such a thing from a mech's mouth! Send me a private message if you want details or if you want to come along whilst
I do my service. Guy seems very thorough and has already printed a list of what to check etc.

When I have some time, I'll post some pics from his Workshop!

 

Hi, I'm also in hertfordshire. The guy I bought my car from had work done at TGM in fleet who are apparently quite good with S2000's, I'm also getting them to quote on the jobs I mentioned above as although they are a long drive from me I don't mind if they know what they are doing.

 

If you don't think that the gear shift in the s2000 is smooth than your probably not shifting correctly. They praised the car for having one of the best gear box ever. One thing that you might want to do is change out the transmission fluid along with the engine, gear box, and diff oil as you mentioned in one of your postings. I have had bad experiences with dealerships in the past so i can't advocate for taking the car in. There are many resources on S2ki for you to do the job yourself, if you are physically capable. Doing it yourself might turn out to be a very fun experience and you will get an understanding of how to work on the s2000.

On the other hand, the gear box should be one of the smoothest around. I cannot speak on the behalf of your Volks, but you may want to shift the Ap2 at the sweet spot, around 4500RPMs. This is a high reving engine, shifting below 4500 will give you a notchy feeling.

 

+1. You don't want to short-shift an S2000. You'll get your smoothest shifts at 4-5k, give or take. The difference between a shift at 2500 and one at 5000 is actually really noticeable.

Contrast this with my Focus, which has an annoying "recommended shift" display that pops up around 1900 RPM.

 

I second this. Not worth doing, UNLESS you are replacing worn or cracked plastic bushings. Trouble is you can't really tell unless you take it all apart, at which point you might as well regrease even if the bushings are all perfect.

So I would say if just moving the lever feels 'scratchy' or stiff, or makes noise, then I'd buy the plastic bushings and grease and just replace and regrease. Parts are cheap enough.

Note I'm not talking about notchy shifts, that is caused by whats going on inside the box, the syncros meshing pooy, etc (likely due to clutch not disengaging fully, likely due to air in lines, nasty contaminated fluid or clutch rod adjustment, or all 3), not due the shifter mechanism. So if say, its not smooth just moving the lever left and right in nuetral, or there is a lot of play in the center when you try this, then I think you might benefit from replacing the plastic bushings and regrease. Otherwise skip the regrease.