Hi all,

So my car MY00 is getting really old and needs a ton of things, and It is about time to adjust the valves. While I am in there I was planning to just take the head off and change the head gasket, head bolts, valve retainers, valve stem seals, head side cover gasket (the squiggly looking thing around where the ex mani is), im manifold gasket, ex manifold gasket, valve cover gasket, spark plugs, all with oem parts of course. I was also thinking of doing a compression test before and after the job. Is there anything else that anyone would recommend that I do/not do or want to share any tips while I am in there? The injectors are original, Should I change or clean these?

I have read somewhere that the ex valve guides were something I should be concerned about.

Thanks.

 

I would recommend not changing the head gasket if you don't need to.

 

Why don't you recommend replacing it? I wanted to replace it because I have seen smoke come out of my exhaust pipes once or twice now. I am thinking because the head gasket is about to fail. Another reason being that I don't want to do valve work all over again once the head gasket blows. I wanted to just go in once and do it all given that the car has over 200k miles.

 

200K miles or smoke doesn't mean the head gasket is bad.

If its not broken...don't fix it. You're going to have to open up the engine, you're always going to get a ton of contamination in the oil from cleaning off the surfaces.

its a ton of work. You'll want to replace all the heater hoses that you disconnect.

You're going to risk breaking stuff, no matter how good you are at working on cars.

etc.

Check first. Do you have compression escaping the head gasket? Is your coolant level rising? Is there missing coolant? Is oil mixing with coolant?

I mean...if you're super confident, then go for it.

Buy the head gasket and any critical parts from Honda, though. Don't go aftermarket.

 

Agree. Do yourself a favour. How much oil burn per 1000 miles?

 

Nothing you've listed is what you should do first. First do a leakdown test. That is the only way you will know if you even have a head issue at all. It will also tell you exactly if and what the issue is. And true just because it has 200k miles it does not mean that something might be bad.

 

Head gasket is least likely source of burning oil.

You need to troubleshoot, not just throw random parts at it hoping it somehow fixes it.

The only time its acceptable to replace a part without troubleshooting first is when its easier and cheaper to do than doing the troubleshooting, and at least has a reasonable likelihood of fixing the problem.

Randomly changing the head gasket can only make things worse. Potentially much worse if you don't get it right. There is a lot you need to get right. Even if you don't get anything wrong, its not going to make anything better.

 

Thank you for all the replies. I probably wont do the head gasket then. I've just been reading that the average life span of a head gasket is around 200k miles so I was thinking of doing it as a preemptive measure. I probably will end up just doing the retainers, keepers, stem seals.

 

Head gasket, head bolts, and head side gasket are not maintenance items. None of them are the source of your smoke.

 

Just to start, the exhaust valves tightening is probably what you heard if they aren't checked often. They tighten over time on 06-09 cars that are Drive by Wire. Since yours is a 00-05 you don't have that issue.

200,000 is a big milestone but not uncommon for S2000s at all. The stuff I put in bold are things I would check. The best thing to do is start with a compression test and and leak down test.

Those should give you an idea as to if there's anything wrong with the engine and where it could be.
The items I put in bold are good things to check and change. The retainers, keepers, valve stem seals, and the valve cover gasket+spark tube gaskets are all easy to do in the same job.
I assume the side gasket you mentioned was the VTEC solenoid gasket? You can order the OEM and the Kraken replacements for pretty cheap.

My only tips are to soak your valve stem seals in some good motor oil before you install them & be sure to use some shop towels to plug up the oil drain holes when doing the keepers so you don't lose any!

If you aren't getting significant leak down through a cylinder before and/or after the Valve Adjustment then there's no reason to take the cylinder head off or mess with the head gasket & even then there are much easier things to check first.

I have had a few S2000s in the 200k club and one in the 300k club. Not a single one needed a new head gasket.

For your oil consumption what weight and brand oil are you using?

This exactly from the man himself
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