Barry,

I've discovered the oil stick on this car will give you a false reading if you check it too soon after driving it. In any car it takes a few moments for the oil to settle in the pan but it seems more pronounced in our cars. My advice is to carry a quart of oil in the trunk; that way you do not need to concern yourself with buying any. Since you already have it, checking the oil can be the very last step before leaving the gas station (i.e., fill-up, pay up, hit the restroom, etc.). This gives you an accurate warm reading, as long as you're on level ground.

Sorry to hear your list continues to grow. Thanks for keeping tabs on Honda.

 

dlq04, I know what you mean. I think the most important part of it is to do your checking consistently so you can identify when you need to add oil.

A few ounces of oil more or less shouldn't make a difference. A few quarts more or less is another matter.

 

Barry,

Didn't want to clutter your thread but can't help asking this question. If less than 20 engines, that we are aware of, have failed out of the production of 30+ thousand cars (a wild guess - probably low), what factors might be common in these failures? Think that you should ask these owners to answer a series of carefully prepared questions. You, Greg Stevens, woodwork and others should be able to do this from your experience. Maybe American Honda could help with this. Somehow the answers should be collected anonymously. Maybe I am implying that these owners have abused their cars, but that is not my intent. If there is a manufacturing defect, what set of circumstances happen to cause this defect to express itself in engine failure? I can't imagine what would come of this. But then again, some things that researchers never anticipate, appear in the results. Would like for all of us to be able to learn from these owners' experiences.

 

Basically I agree, but I think AHM is doing that to some extent. Woodwork interviewed me on the telephone for about an hour and we covered just about anything he or I could think of. I think he would be in the best position to judge if AHM would find a questionnaire helpful and also what we should ask.

I would like to know if there is a common manufacturing run or a subtle change in a part or two. I think there are two different part numbers for pistons, for example. My particular case is a good one for study since the engine only had 650 miles on it and was babied from the get-go and did not die of oil deficiency. I know my block went back to Japan for study. I'd love to know the results of the autopsy.

AHM has a much more complete list than we do since they know which cars have gotten a new short block. They know if there are 20 or 200. I can understand why they might was to keep "proprietary" (i.e. secret) the extent of the problem, but I hope they are really investigating the cause.

My frustration is that AHM has found low oil in many of these cars and so they have presumed that low oil is the cause. I know a couple have not had low oil. Others may have developed low oil as a result of the rings failing to seal properly during the short block failure.

My other frustration has been with the mixed messages on the magical break-in oil: i.e., it is so wonderful that you shouldn't change your oil before 7,500 miles (3,750 miles for severe service conditions) but it is so unimportant that you don't need it when we replace your short block. Perhaps the only difference is the molybdenum which is in the replacement short blocks. I'd love to see that in print.

Anyway, I'm sure Woodwork monitors this board. Why don't you private mail him with a list of proposed questions. Post them here too and lots of us will answer.

 

US sales (unofficial but believed to be accurate) of S2000's between Sept 1999 and June 2001 total 16,186. Assuming the US accounts for 3/4 of total sales, I'd estimate total sales to be about 22,000.

 

Barry, Rowland,

I don't consider myself qualified to come up with a list of questions. For example, I read some of the other related threads and one mentioned fuel additives, used in certain regions for polution control, as being blamed for excessive buildup on the cylinder walls. I would have never thought that fuel would be implicated in this problem. I agree that AHM is probably thoroughly researching this. Just hope AHM is forthright on this matter with advice to all even to the point of a recall. Let's face it, probably few of us have, what would be considered, really high mileage on these cars. For instance, a friend of mine has 250K on his Supra (no engine work has been done whatsoever) and thinks nothing of driving it to Florida from Dayton, Ohio. That is the kind of reliability I expected from my S2K. At my age, it was to be my lifelong sportscar. Guess that AHM is the best hope for resolution of this difficult problem. Hope that, one by one, as mileage builds in our cars that we all eventually do not have this problem. But I, for one, am going to be listening intently for any abnormal engine sounds. Who would have thought that Honda, with all its years of racing experience, would design an engine that can't properly supply oil to its moving parts. Thought I had a car of remarkable build quality being designed by the same engineer that designed the NSX. Oh well, think again!

 

I'm 54 and my S2000 is definitely a car I plan to own and enjoy for ten or twenty years. My appreciation for my 9 year old Prelude VTEC has grown and I expect the same for my MY2001 S2000.

Remeber that all of these crumbled short blocks have occurred early, with an average odometer reading of 3,800 miles. I think these will be reliable in the long run.

This car is very reliable according to Consumers Reports. It will take a bit of time to tell if these statistics hold up. My guess is that for the genre this car will be at the top of the heap in reliability. Will a low production, high performance car ever reach the same reliability as a Honda Civic? I doubt it. That's like saying, "I want the best, fanciest, highest quality computer on my desk, but I expect it to 'crash' as rarely as my old slide rule used to crash."

 

Barry,

I have a car for you to add to your list...mine! My car has 13,500 miles on it, but I noticed oil leaking through the head at about 7,000 miles (a very slow leak that I didn't concern myself with at the time). But last week when I took it in for an oil change, I showed the leak to the mechanic and Honda has since replaced the head.

Since you are documenting the S2K's block problems, including 4 porous blocks, I figured that people might also want to know about my porous head (yes, I know how that sounds, no jokes please ).

But even with a new head I still love this car...I guess that these things happen in a limited production car that revs to 9000.

-Sam

 

Well, I've been a bit asleep at the wheel, but there are three new catastrophic engine failures/ short block failures this month (March, 2002). This brings the total to 19. If anyone knows of any I missed, please post them here.

Barry in Sheridan, Wyoming

 

I'm in canada, Montreal S2K 2001, i've the same problem 31450 km, the dealer as inspect the engine and this is the problem of #4 cylinder, but i've not lost any oil, what im afraid is if there change the engine , is the problem fix or it will come back in the future???