Hello everyone,

First of all, thank you for all the helpful posts and discussions here — I’ve been reading a lot and really appreciate how much knowledge and support this community provides.

I recently bought an S2000 and am almost done servicing it. Last weekend, I did a valve adjustment, and since mine is a 2001 AP1, I had been reading a lot about the notorious cracked retainers to be able to assess their condition.

From what I could see, the keepers don’t seem to be sunk much, and the valve stems sit higher than the retainers when viewed with a mirror. However, I’m not sure if the retainers are cracked, and the inside of the engine is covered with deposits, which makes it even difficult for me to make a confident judgment.
I’ve attached some photos (starting with the first cylinder and ending with the fourth) and would appreciate your thoughts on the condition of the retainers.

A few details about the car: it’s a 2001 AP1 with 200,000 km (124k miles). The history isn’t entirely clear, but it was owned by an elderly couple for approximately the last 15,000 km (9.3k miles) (though, of course, that doesn’t fully rule out the possibility of a mechanical over-rev).

Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated — please talk me into or out of replacing the retainers with the AP2 ones.
And if you recommend replacing them, would it also make sense to replace the valve stem seals (intake and exhaust) at the same time, considering the mileage?

Thank you very much!
Vitali

 

7th pic looks broken pretty bad. Pivs can be deceiving, what is all the yellow paint?

 

wow, oil deposits are quite rampant on that one. too bad they dont make a Valvoline restore and protect in 10/30. anywho i agree with billman that 7th pic looks low. i would replace the retainers and keepers.

 

plenty of paint on them

 

I was always under the assumption that you just replace them, regardless of anything, but that could just be me. Same with the oil jet bolts; there was a reason these parts were revised and then standardized in s2ks going forward. The rest of the world kept the F20C after 03, and those cars all had the new retainers and keepers in the parts diagrams. And yeah, I'd do the seals while you're in there as it's a very simple thing to do and they're cheap.

But I'll defer to Billman on this one; he's one of the few I'd trust unconditionally when it comes to what you should consider doing.

 

Some have found a high percentage of their upgraded banjo bolts failed with broken springs. I am still on the fence if (unless actually running the autobahn at very high speeds for long periods) the upgraded ones are better than the old ones. Not that I would say there is enough evidence to NOT replace them on an AP1 ... but am curious why they fail like that.

For the retainers, yeah for an AP1 you bought used, I would almost just swap them. It is only a concern if a mechanical over rev occurred but you have no way to know if that has happened. Previous owner was an autocrosser and swapped the ones in my AP1 when he still had it or I would likely have just done it right away. Even if never tracked, it is pretty easy to do the 2-3-2 money shift in this car if someone is beating on it on the street and is not paying attention, so good insurance IMO, especially now that there is question on pic 7 there.

Also curious with all the yellow in those pics... something looks very off in that head

 

Thank you all very much for your prompt feedback - I really appreciate it! It’s high time I ordered the parts now. I have to move the car to the parking garage for winter and just hope the engine will survive it, haha

By the way, the retainer in picture 7 is the second one from the firewall, which confirms Billman’s findings that these are usually the worst. Once I get the parts and replace the retainers along with the valve stem seals, I’ll report back on how many were broken.

As for the banjo bolts, I haven’t done much research yet, but I’ll probably keep them as they are. Anyway, the S2000 isn’t the best car for high-speed driving on the autobahn, to be frank. And for the Alpine passes, I reckon they’ll be sufficient. If they’ve lasted this long despite all the deposits inside, I suppose they’ll keep going just as well.

Speaking of deposits, yes, the engine is very dirty compared to the usual photos posted here. Unfortunately, I have no idea why, since I don’t know much about the car’s history. The previous owner (who had owned a Honda dealership for 30 years, lol) didn’t seem to maintain the car as an S2000 deserves. Using a Honda Jazz (?) oil filter instead of the proper one said it all. However, after replacing the pulley bearings, the TCT and adjusting the valves, the engine works just fantastically, although it has slightly lost that VTEC kick (which has become quite gentle), probably due to the 0.009 gap on the intake side.

Regarding your comments on the yellow paint - I’m not entirely sure what you mean. It might just be the light from the torch. The engine actually looks like that in the attached photo.

Thanks again to everyone - such a great forum!

 

Photo #9 is the only photo that doesn't show the yellow "paint" on my screen.

Intake gap should be between 0.008 and 0.010inches so 0.009 is spot on. Looser end of the scale in preferred as the valves tighten as they wear. Gap should be measured on a cold engine. If you can't hear the valves they're too tight.

VTEC moves both intake and exhaust to the high lift cams unlike iVTEC (eye-VTEC) which only moves the intake.

Any maintenance requiring removal of the head requires severe attention to detail regarding removing/replacing the head bolts, torques, sequences, etc.. Download and review the Service Manual and compare the requirements to your skill set. Valves are easy. Banjo bolts may not be.

-- Chuck

 

There's a lot of sludge buildup and staining from infrequent oil changes; I'm assuming this can be remedied over time by changing the oil more frequently and maintaining the levels.

As for the paint, I can see what people are saying, but I saw the same in my car; the valve springs have yellow paint on top. Here's pics from another thread from 7 years ago: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-un...1153343/page3/

Yellow paint.

Everything else looks like deposits and staining, not paint. Safe to say as long as the car still runs fine, then nothing is wrong. Replace the retainers/keepers/seals and enjoy the car and no longer worry about the potential of a dropped valve while you're grabbing a Red Bull from a Späti.

 

Thank you for your advice, gentlemen