Hey fellow S2Ki members, I know this topic must be almost done to death but its one of those almost inconclusive topics where you read / hear other's concerns and see the responses and you kind of assume your in the same boat but can never be 100% sure until you get second opinions.

(I basically go into the whole history of how the S2000 came to be in my ownership below for those interested and also to be clear on what I've done to date to hopefully get an idea in which direction I should (if need be) to look into with these noises I'm hearing from my S2000 (so scroll on down to the video if you're in a hurry and can give me either the okay on what you hear or could give me pointers on what I need to be looking into)


Without having any other S2000 owner's even remotely nearby (I live in a rural town here in Australia so the S2000 is fairly uncommon sight let alone my local (and only) Honda dealership hasn't had anyone perform service work on the S2000 for at least 8 or so years.

Without going into too much detail I have full access to workshop facilities and prefer to have most common work carried out by my own hands or otherwise I'll usually have more competent qualified people around me to do the major stuff either way there isn't much we can't do in the right working environment.

Anyway onto the issue and the reason for creating this thread, I've recently bought my S2000 as more as a collectors sort of thing (I've dreamt about owning one since I first heard about them many years ago) and after owning my 08' Civic Type-R (which I use more as a weekend car) I've become used to the typical noises and quirks you would expect from somewhat of a raw performance orientated car but considering it has less than 8000km since i bought it new, every drive still feels like its rolled out from the factory.

So with the S2000, I've become more aware of noises that I suppose I wouldn't typically classify as normal (until I'm hopefully proven wrong otherwise after those reading and watching my video below).

A quick background on my S2000 and what I've done to date;

2000's model AP1 with just over 150,000 (152,xxx actually) - I bought the car virtually as it just ticked over 150,000 so I've traveled around 2500km

The previous owner(s) have kept the service history fairly spot on the dot according to what the service schedule requires, right up to 100,000km the work was carried out by Honda dealerships in the cities, thereafter (which I assume is when the second owner took over) had the service work carried out by the same chain of independent workshops roughly all within his local area.

Since I've bought the car however, I've religiously always preferred to have as much of everything inspected, changed or otherwise replaced for my own peace of mind so then I know without doubt things have been done entirely, so to give a list of those things;

Performed a full oil / filter service now using Honda Genuine Synthetic FEO 5w-30 oil and the correct OEM filter (15400-PCX-004)

Adjusted valve clearances (actually besides from 2 exhaust valves being slightly tighter and 2 intake being slightly too loose, the rest were well within spec) - I'm still uncertain on the condition of my retainers and pending to hear others opinions on this on another one of my threads.

Replaced my timing chain tensioner, initially I thought I had a fairly bad unit and was hoping it would remove another unsightly grinding noise which later turned out to be a sticky starter motor. But replacing the TCT was hardly a large cost and worth the extra insurance anyway. It did reduce some of the typical chain noise but some is still there.

Replaced the entire clutch assembly with an Exedy OEM replacement unit and replaced the flywheel as well with the AP1 spec, used new flywheel bolts whilst I was at it. Also replaced the starter motor here as well with an AP2 (or otherwise later revised model part number) starter which has cured the first issue I had buying the car with the grinding sound on startup. Also replaced my release fork for the sake of it as my original one had a bit of movement in the bearing.

Replaced gear oil initially with Honda MTF, initially I was happier with getting the old fluid out and first impressions were obviously the newer fluid made a difference but I had still had a notchy / girding shift occasionally and have only recently again replaced the gear oil using Redline Synthetic and it has made an absolute world of difference in the shifting feel, it honestly feels so slick when shifting I was surprised it could feel that good after the Honda MFT.

Replaced diff oil using Redline Synthetic as well, the old stuff wasn't bad but still stank like something unnatural.

Should point out I found no evidence of metal filings in either engine, gearbox or diff oil. I've been using a set of Spoon Sports magnetic drain plugs and nothing major was found on the ends thankfully.

Replaced all fluids including brake and clutch, coolant (Type-2 Honda) all using OEM fluids here.

Replaced spark plugs with new NGK iridium parts, the older plugs were not considerably bad, I'd say fairly typical, more blackish / brownish if anything but the tips were all fairly fine. If anything maybe 4th cylinder was the worse of the 4 but not by much.

Replaced fuel filter, and since in my ownership has been filled up using 98 octane fuels (previous owner claims to have been doing the same)

Whew! alright this first thread is getting too long even for me so long story short - I've basically treated the S2000 to a full overhaul for as much typical service stuff as I thought about so now ……


Onto the video itself;

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8bou0XcmqM&feature=youtu.be[/media]

(Direct link in case it dosen't automatically load here: http://youtu.be/v8bou0XcmqM)

My primary concern with sound in this video is actually hard to describe, but specifically my S2000 produces a kind of clack-clack-clack repetitive sound. There are tick-tick-tick sounds which I hear commonly on a lot of Honda motors, typically I always found the injectors to be quite noisy on my Type-R but they make a distinctive tick whereas like in my video when I move the camera around to my injectors (specifically I sort of hear the sound begin at 34 seconds - on) it then goes away and as I move around to the front of the engine (46 seconds there a bouts) and finally its possibly at its loudest (in this video anyway, standing there it sounds quieter actually the mic on my phone picked it up and amplified it more so here) at the exhaust manifold side of things there is more of the clack-clack-clack sound there.

Moving the camera around to the front again there is a noticeable tick-tick-tick sound near the serp belt area (I hear it start at around 1:02) I've actually only just noticed this noise today filming this so keen to hear what people think about this as well.

Moving to underneath the drivers side (passengers for most likely 99% of you ) If you're sensitive to sound as much as I seem to be, that same clack-clack-clack sound can be heard under the car as well which seems to die away under any sort of rev (maybe just being drowned out by the sound of the engine perhaps) but the sound does rise and fall with the engine revs up until around 3000rpm or so where I can no longer hear it. But if you park the car up against a wall you can hear it more so as it bounces off.

Moving onto the interior, a lot of the noise actually isn't present inside the car especially with the roof up, all things are pretty normal otherwise in here but bare with me if you will; when the top is down and especially at lower speeds, that clack-clack-clack sound can be heard from the drivers side and because I usually like to take the S2000 for a spin at night to get my mind of things … you can guess whats on my mind when I can continuously hear this noise and in the back of my mind I'm just genuinely concerned that it could either be typically how most S2000's sound now after they've been through as much driving as mine has or alternatively could be something I can look into further if any of what is heard sounds unnatural.

Of course I can't (and obviously don't) expect it to sound like it did as it rolled off the production line, but purely for the sake that I absolutely love the fact I was able to afford to buy this S2000 finally after years of dreaming about it, I would just like to know if there is anything I could do to help improve things.

I'm sorry for the extra stupid long post but I'm genuinely passionate about my Honda's and maybe I'm taking this to an insane degree but I thought hey, it costs nothing to hear the valued opinions of others and I've got plenty to profit from with the collective experience and knowledge of all the S2K members here

Thanks for your time reading my concerns!

 

Nobody has any ideas or advice? I've recently swapped out the oil to using genuine OEM Honda synthetic 5w-30 and its made only a very slight improvement (I'd say 30% better if that) the last lot of oil was Castrol Edge Titanium 5w-30 and I had used that for about 500km before draining it out, obviously still looked like brand new oil but noise wise the genuine Honda stuff seems to be better in that department.

I'm just curious to know if anything sounds off to others and if I'm being paranoid for no real reason.

 

Like you I'm always worried about the little noises my car makes, but it seems from what I've read that it's just the way they are. And if as you say the camera makes it sound worse, I'd say you don't have much to worry about. It's got 152000km on the clock, so if it sounds a little "slack" it's not really that much of a surprise is it. What condition was the clutch/flywheel in when you changed it? Was there evidence of the car being driven hard?