Gee, 'Sorry to hear the bad news. You're right, there could have been a defective condition that caused the rod to break. When you get the chance, look closer and do some "forensic investigating".

Check the connecting rod to see if the two halves line up straight. If it looks like it was bent, then something else caused the problem. Look at the fracture surface - it's probably pretty beat up now, but see if there might have been a casting defect (like a large subsurface inclusion) that acted as a stress riser.

Check the crank bearings to see if any of them are discolored. And check to see if any of the cylinders are scored (except for the obvious damage done by a broken rod). Cut open your oil filter and see if it is full of metal.

Check for any evidence that the valves may have touched the pistons in the past. I'm not suggesting that you did anything wrong, just merely eliminating any possibilities.

Since your engine is stock, I'm assuming that it never had a CAI intake installed. Hydrolock could cause this to happen.

 

Just got back from the dealer. They haven't done any effort yet to identify the root cause of the problem. I guess Honda would have to send someone in to figure it out.

Birdie - The incident happened when I was just starting to accelerate on a busy road, it makes me believe that the problem started somewhere else, causing the con rod to break later.

I have a case manager at Honda right now, who will be investigating the problem.

This is the one of the original versions of the car, I hope they made some improvements in the later versions, if not we are gonna see quite a few break downs like this.

 

let us know what happens

 

Hi everybody. My honda case manager called me up finally (today) to gather some background info. I told exactly what happened, he was more interested in the noise that I heard at first and how it progressed, how long I drove after the noise. The one thing he pointed to me is that I was overdue for my service. I was indeed late for my scheduled service by a month or so, but I had topped up oil a couple of weeks ago the incident myself, I had gotten into the habit of checking and topping the oil on a monthly basis as the oil level does drop between periodic services. Also the CEL light was not on and the engine heat level was low when the incident happened. He then asked me if I drained my oil completely and replaced it since it's overdue, I told him the truth that I didn't. It will be ridiculous if they point to that being the reason for this engine failure. I've had a few other cars (all manual transmissions) before this one with lot more miles than this and never had engine problems, and not to mention that the fact that I took real good care of this car. I'll keep you'll posted with the verdict.

 

Wow are you serious?

Mine sees redline at least once everytime I drive it and it's my daily commute car... I drive all my cars like that. With proper maintenence it should last forever... the car was designed to be driven hard. You definately got a defect or just a stroke of bad luck. I hope you and the dealer come to a reasonable agreement. Keep us posted on what happens!

 

well then that must be the whole reason right there good luck....and I really hope they find something better to point out than that

 

This is not meant to rain on an already bad set of events for you. I hate you're having this problem, but with that being said ... it's better to hear the negative things before you get your hopes up.
The problem you'll probably run into with Honda is they will maintain a defective forged rod would most likely have failed much earlier ... as in under the warranty period. I would tend to agree with this unless someone can show me evidence to the contrary (And I'm not talking about anecdotal "there are a lot of guys on the forum with this problem" kind of 'evidence' either).

You mentioned that you failed to do or have the scheduled maintenance done. They'll grab a hold of this information and maintain this instance is likely indicative of your service history and/or care practice.
It's kind of like a credit history ... it's irrelevant how trustworthy you SAY you are, to them your track record speaks for itself and they will maintain you probably neglected your car throughout its life based on your recent (and/or documented) history - or abused it (they consider an accidental missed-shift abuse).

In HOA's defense, they get untold numbers of bogus claims each day by car owners that try to get them to cover failures caused by owner abuse or neglect - they don't have the luxury of trusting customers, only hard facts and customer history. This is why it's so hard to get warranty work done.
On this forum alone you hear of S2000 owners complaining their car mysteriously suffered dropped or bent valves and don't know how it happened. That (like a thrown rod) is typically indicative of abuse or a missed-shift induced over-rev. The only way you can prove the rod is defective is by metallurgical analysis. Even if such analysis showed the rod was defective ... it's out of warranty and Honda is in no way obligated to cover the problem.

Nevertheless, that money would be better spent on an '04 motor (as Sideways suggested).

You may have looked for nothing but positive support from the folks on the forum ... and there's not an owner who read your post who doesn't hate the fact your motor failed.
Nevertheless, you may want to start working on a solution now to get your car back on the road because you're more than likely going to eat this one.

A word of advice though: when you get your motor replaced (and it's broken in) ... don't keep it below 7,000 RPM ... that's abuse of another sort.

Good luck.

 

slipstream: At this point, I'm not sure if the conn rod is the source of the problem, haven't heard back from Honda yet. I have a good service history, Honda would have to agree as my past services have been periodic and they have the record of it as the services were all done at the dealership.

It's good to get honest opinions for the folks here.

I've had some fast cars before and have driven them pretty hard. I've maintained and handled this car very good, that's why I want to tell you guys that this car DOES NOT hold up as good as you think it would. Since I got one of the orginal versions of the car (they've done some improvement the past couple of years), I probably got unlucky. Believe me, I'm a big fan of Honda, I also got a Honda 919 last year.

 

I really hate you're having this problem. I also appreciate the fact you can take honest information and opinions without taking it personally. I wish more folks on the forum would take your approach.

I recently purchased an engine and transmission from one of the '04 S2000s that were totaled in transit. There were several available, but they are getting gobbled up quickly. I purchased the pair for the better ratios in the transmission to compliment my '04 diff with 4.57 gears. The engine will be for later.

Nevertheless, I'd really look into that option before they go away.
I hope Honda will help. Hopefully they will see their way to cover some of your future expenses.

Take care and good luck.

 

Hello everyone. Honda got back to me and claims that the oil level was kinda low as there is not enough oil splashed out of the broken oil sump, hence they will not help me. Hard to believe as I had topped it within the month and besides that the oil light/CEL was not on and the engine temperature was low. I was trying to find out the source of the problem, they simply don't know and don't seem to care. Since the service record was good, that didn't come up.

I'm trying to find out if I can buy a new engine at a discounted price (as opposed to spending $7500 on it), any help would be greatly appreciated.

I was originally thinking about selling the car, can't get enough of the car.