I highly doubt your valves need adjusting. I've done 100 plus VA's on the s2k and never found a valve so loose it wold cause a tap.

I think Xviper is on the right track with the chain tensioner. Esp because you said it was more of a wodden sound.

 

thanks for the replies guys.

I dropped my car off at honda this morning. They contacted me a few hours later.

The issue is with one of the valves. I asked if its a big problem and the guy said not really they can replace it etc fix it up without too much hassle. They are going to do some further checks on the engine and investigate more to make sure they thoroughly fix the problem and see if there is any other damage related to the faulty valve; thus i'll be missing my car for a few days. I asked the guy if there was any engine damage and he said at this point no which was a great relief!

 

I'm curious to know what the exact problem is. A "faulty valve" is quite expensive to replace...

 

With this engine design, a 'tapping' noise from the top of the engine is NOT a good sign. As the engine wears, the valves drive deeper into the seats which actually lessens the valve lash distance. This simply means that the distance between the valve stem and the tappet lessens so that there is less chance of that 'tapping' sound. If the sound is actually determined to be from the valvetrain in this engine, then it is a warning of soon-to-be catastrophic problems. The tapping sound could be that valve(s) could be hitting the seats. Not good!! Valves hitting the seats won't last long. As RPM's rise, an out-of-adjustment valve will wreak havoc on this high revving engine. There are 16 valves in this engine and ALL need to be adjusted correctly. Any valve(s) that are too tight or too loose will cause severe problems over a short period of time.

 

My engine (01) w/ 83,000 mi has ALWAYS had a slight tapping noise, nothing very loud though. And that's w/ many autocrosses and about 450 track miles in the last 2 yrs.

I am thinking about pulling the cam cover and inspecting the keepers to see if they're backing off or are cracked, but I'm not sure how to do it and what EXACTLY I'd be looking for. So now that we're on the subject, anyone want to post some pics of what a cracked keeper and a keeper that has backed off too far look like? Thanks.

Warren

 

Sounds pretty vague to me. Almost like they're not quite sure themselves what it is and they're giving you a guess at this point.

Let us know once you get it back exactly what it was and if the problem has been fixed.

 

Try this thread and associated links:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...0&#entry6160821

 

Went down to honda yesterday.

They pulled the top end off the engine etc, that all seems to be fine.

However the bottom end, cylinder 2 is scored and the spark plug from cylinder 2, half of the metal bit was melted or cracked off. They have said the cause of this damage is low oil.

However the 'check engine' light never came on, and i only just bought the s2k, having done 3,300 kms in it. I said i find it hard to believe that it drank all the oil in 3,300 kms, plus no engine light?? I thought the engine light would come on if the oil was low? The guy said no when the oil pressure is low. I said it was still kicking into VTEC, so obiviously there was sufficient oil pressure? I've only owned the car 3 weeks. They told me that the oil should be changed every 5000 km's....i said thats fine because i only did 3. I was never told these things drink oil like they do petrol.

Issue is still being investigated.


Can anyone clear up anything about the 'check engine' light - i believe it comes on with low oil level or low pressure? and the check engine light is logged in the ECU if it comes on? Surely with low oil level being so critical - you would imagine that it would alert you to the fact that its low well before it gets to a level where you toast the motor.

 

A Malfunction Indicator Light (or CEL) will NOT come on because of low oil. The CEL light is an indicator of some malfunction that a sensor can detect. Low or no oil pressure would generate the oil pressure warning light (separate system) and as long as you still have at least a couple of liters of oil in the crankcase, you will have adequate oil pressure to keep the light off. Having adequate oil pressure doesn't always mean having adequate oil "cooling" abilities. Low oil level, but adequate pressure will still allow VTEC activation. But the oil's ability to act as a cooling agent is greatly hampered.
Checking the oil level on any car, especially on this car is a responsibility of the owner. It's even stated in the owner's manual to do this at every gas fill up. This is Honda's way of covering their ass. And yes, it is possible for your engine to burn through that much oil in 3300 KMs - 1 liter every 1000 to 1500 KMs is still not considered abnormal for this engine. This is a well known characteristic since the car first came out.
BTW, just how much oil did it take to bring it back up? Was anything else done to the engine in terms of modifications?

 

not sure how much oil was put in

car is stock standard.