Hey fellow S2Ki members, I'm planning to inspect/adjust my AP1's valve clearance this coming weekend (it will be the first time in my ownership that they've been inspected) as I've just reached over 150,000km on the engine and have basically performed every major service item for the past 3-4 services to bring it up to date (not that I didn't trust the previous owner's advice and service book records, its more for my own peace of mind so I know everything has been done entirely) but valve clearance inspection/adjustment has been one of the last things that is needed to be done.

Reason for doing so is the engine has a slight tick to it which rises and falls with RPM, its not what I'd call dramatically bad but it is noticeable to some degree so first stop will be getting these clearances checked out.

I have been reading up on cracked AP1 retainers recently though and thought whilst I'm at it I thought i might look into this issue with my S2000 at the same time and so I've found the DIY replacement write-up guide by energetic here; https://www.s2ki.com/home/2010/11/30...head-in-place/

But I was hoping somebody could point me in the direction or provide any advice on how I could inspect my retainers without removing the cams etc. In that above link there was a link to a tread here; https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/521...ner-check-101/ however the guide has since been removed and that member banned so I'm without any guide / advice on how I can inspect the condition of my retainers without pulling everything apart.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

Get a bright light, and one of those flexible dental type inspection mirrors.

 

This topic has been covered many times, I have plenty of pics up and thorough explanations of what to look for and how to inspect them. I just searched they come up right away.

 

Perfect advice thanks Billman answered my question entirely.

 

Decided to post up a photo of what I believe to be my worst condition intake side retainers (the rest actually look either similar to these or in some cases better)

Should I be concerned with having any cracked retainers at this time based on this photo of what I believe to be the worst of the intake side?

My S2000 is a 2000 model with just over 150,000km, the service history has been pretty much spot on the dot when required.



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Whoa I only just realised that photo comes up massive on my screen, apologises to anyone viewing who wern't expecting a face full of valve train

 

Hi there,

I've just done my check and valve clearance on my 99 AP1, done 105,000km.



These are my retainers.
I can see the inner walls on yours more than mine?

Mine looks new.

 

This thread should become very interesting.

The retainer you are showing appears to be what I can the NEW style AP2 retainer here in the USA, but you say your car is a 2000.

 

It has me slightly stumped myself, Ducky's photo of his retainers somewhat suggest to me that I should be possibly looking into replacing my retainers in the near future based on how better visible his cotters are, mine are obviously still visible but the inner walls on these two in particular are visible also.

I can't say for sure if they have been replaced or not in the past, I'm going to say that it's unlikely that they have been as nothing in the service records suggest any additional works were carried out outside of the normal service schedule.

All in all, in the last 40,000km since valve clearances were last adjusted I had two exhaust clearances slightly loose outside of spec and two intake cleances tighter than the others but still within spec, just on the tighter side of what's required.

I still have a bit of an engine tick that's still noticeable with the rise and fall of RPM up to around 3000rpm, after which the ticking sound becomes drowned by the rest of the operational noise of the engine/trans etc. I replaced my TCT a few weeks back with a new OEM unit so with less than 300km use I'm ruling that out for now, in my past experience I'm going to see how changing engine oil from the castrol 5w-30 I'm running now to OEM Honda Synthetic FEO 5w-30 and see if that makes any difference.

On my Civic Type-R it made a world of difference noise wise switching from Motul back to OEM Synthetic so fingers crossed the same magic happens twice.

 

Just posting up another view of another set of retainers found on the 3rd cylinder, I unfortunately didn't take many pics as my camera has a hard time focusing and its fairly awkward in there.



And for the sake of it, these are my exhaust side, all of them practically looked the same as in this in shot;



What do you think Billman? worth me investing in a set of AP2 retainers and cotter/keepers? and should I be considering doing them very shortly or could I possibly leave them go for a little while longer?