Hi all,

For the last week or so, when I go to start the car first thing in the morning or when I get ready to head home from work (both cases when the car has been sitting all day or over night) it seems to start OK for a few seconds and thens bogs/hesitates/stalls right to the edge of feeling like it is about to die. Car shudders and struggles for a few seconds, and then the rpms come back up and it is OK. If I shut off the car and start again, I cannot duplicate this.

If I watch the rpms, it looks like 2-2.5k on first start for a couple seconds, and then drops to maybe 500 for a few seconds while struggling and then back up.

Any thoughts? I did put in a new battery a month ago maybe, but it was a couple weeks before this started happening.

Oh, live in Austin, TX area so cold is relative. With our cold front it was ~62 or so this morning... when this first happened I think it was low 90s or so.

Thanks,

- Ryan

 

Well, first of all I'm from NJ and I drove this car all winter long in single digit weather...so this car can handle much worse than a cold front from Texas in September. I'd say you have a problem that needs to be fixed...sometimes my car wouldn't start right away but once it did, it stayed on. I would advise you when it starts to make sure all of the bars come on and the car is warmed up before you get going. That always helped me out on cold starts.

 

Maybe check your spark plugs for fouling or improper gap? Has been known to cause startup problems.

 

Hi,

This could be the same problem that i have had, mine bogs only on cold start only when the car has sat overnight. The car runs fine other than that. It also revs and dies repeatedly, accompanied by a clicking sound from the timing chain area of the engine... again this is only on cold start. Roughly when the Air pump turns off... i.e after a min of running it begins to run smoothly.

I have so far replaced spark plugs, oil, oil filter, inlet manifold, throttle body, air pump delete kit, rocker cover, coil packs, v-tec solenoid, alternator belt, Fuel pressure regulator, IAC Valve, thermostat, Coolant and Fan switch and have not solved it . I have also checked the vacuum pressure readings and have a data streaming code reader, and all looks ok, however i am no expert.

With me, sometimes it is worse than others, i think depending on how cold the weather is.

The next items to be changed are the Evap canister and Evap purge solenoid. Failing that, the engine is going to have to come out and be stripped down, because everything on the outside will have been replaced or checked for errors. Let me know if you get anywhere with this.

 

Not sure whether this is the same issue I had or not.

Occasionally my car would bog off the start, and I had no idea why. I even took the car to the dealer and they told me the car was fine. A couple of months later, there was a rattling noise coming from underneath the car.

I took the car to an independent shop and they told me my catalytic converter was bad, and needed to be replaced. To make sure, I researched the symptoms of a bad cat, and sure enough, I found that "Decreased engine power indicated by low revolutions per minute on the tachometer is a symptom of a bad catalytic converter," as well as "Another sign of decreased engine power is hesitating or bucking when the driver tries to accelerate."

Thankfully the shop I spoke with (Mike's Muffler in El Monte, CA) was very honest and told me that S2000's are covered by an emissions warranty, for 8 years/80k miles.

I just took my car to my local Honda dealership and after inspection, they said it was a bad cat and are replacing it for free.

Make sure if u take it to the dealer that you have all mods removed back to factory (header, intake, exhaust). If they do the diagnostic and it turns out not to be the cat, you will be billed 100 bucks or so.

Good luck.

 

Wow, thats really interesting. Do you think a cat may improve when warm and cause more bogging when cold?

 

Honestly, I'm not a gearhead, so I don't know all the technical stuff about the s2k.

I have an '05 with 57k miles...i've owned the car since '08 w/38k miles. In the time I've owned it...I've noticed occasional hard starts, and a couple of incidences where the car was really bogging/sputtering. At the time, I took it to two different honda dealerships, and the service advisor at both dealers told me "s2000's are bulletproof, I wouldn't worry about it." So I didn't worry about it.

It wasn't until the rattling noise started happening about 3 weeks ago, when a different independent shop told me it was the cat.

How long have you experienced this? If you notice a rattling noise soon, I'd bet it's the cat.

 

I noticed a metallic noise yesterday but thought it was a stone rattling around.

I just took it for a drive and noticed a sliding metallic clunk from the middle of the car twice.
When i got home i revved it hard (ive been going very easy on it recently) and there is a metallic rattling coming from the cat area, although i can't be certain its not resonating from somewhere else. I need to get it in the air and hit it with my fist i guess.

Thankyou so much for this. Its another great lead to follow up!

 

Let us know how you make out. I might be getting the beginnings of this. My car occasionally sputters, but never actually stalls and I do have a slight rattle on start up - though my mounts are good.

 

I just got my car back today, Honda just replaced my oxygen sensor too. The sensor is originally covered by the 3 year/50k warranty which I already exceeded. However since it was obvious that the bad cat caused the damage to the oxygen sensor, I got on the dealership's ass and they replaced that for free as well after they spoke w/American Honda Corp.

In all, I lucked out and got about $1500 worth of repairs done for free.

If anyone has an issue of sputtering or bucking, my best advice is to take it to a muffler shop and have them check it out first. Once they confirm it's the catalytic converter, then take it to the dealership.

When the issue of bucking/sputtering/hard starts first started, I never heard the rattling noise in the cat. It only became obvious that these issues were related after I googled what the symptoms of a bad cat were.

These repairs are free because they are covered by CA emissions warranty of 8 years/80k miles, so this may or may not apply to everyone (if you're in another state, or country). You don't have to be the original owner of the car, however the car must have a clean title.