If the VTEC in fact has a hydraulic or electrical problem, a CEL will come on. A P1259 will be stored. No CEL, I bet the VTEC works just fine.

The inlet screen on the VTEC solenoid is to prevent crap from blocking the spool valve. Believe it or not, most car owners couldn't tell you the last time they had the oil changed.

I have a feeling you are comparing your stock car to one with a Cold air intake. All open element air filter's have a much louder intake loise in VTEC than the Stock airbox.

 

The problem could be even simpler then the trouble shooting issues already stated! HAVE you checked the level of the oil? Chances are you might be low from the previous oil change due to the fact they might of never filled properly or you can be low from oil burn off! Whether or not you bought the vehicle from a dealer makes no difference, you definitely have a warranty(unless it has a bad title or was stated in purchasing deal). Its a 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty infact. Your vehicle has 9k and is an 03 which places you in that category. Don't bother with the dyno run, that wont prove to much because of the fact that you never base lined your own S2. All S2000's vary in WHP, so it wouldn't be beneficial to take someone else's numbers and compare them to you unless your numbers are super low! Take it right to the dealer.

 

i changed my oil a month ago to see if the problem would get solved and it didn't. THis problem has been going on well over a month now. No i am not comparing it to a s2k with cai. Point is, i do NOTICE a big diff. and it is very obvious. It was synthetic i just wans't sure if i had pronounced it right thats why i said i believe so. I DO know what it was that i put in the car. It isn't just that the car seems like VTEC doesn't engage, it feels as if the power had died down noticably especially during 6k's rpm. Seems as if the car DOESN"T have VTEC and rather an engine that does NOT come with vtec. That is what it feels like. When vtec kicks in majority of hte time you can feel it and tell by the rpm but now you can't what so ever.

 

Question, when was the last time you reved your engine past 6 thousand rpm? How high did you rev it?

 

i do it often. Usually i shift right before redline if i want to just drive it hard.

 

Racer poses an analytical question based on logic. I think what he is getting at is whether or not your engine will rev above 6000 RPM easily and when was the last time it DID rev that high. Any CEL alarms? The F20C engine will trip a CEL code when it fails to properly engage VTEC based on a RPM/throttle position/oil pressure/ parameter failure. It should indicate a code problem related to one of those issues. If not, I would look at the wiring connections to each of those sensors. The CEL won't know there is a problem unless the proper information is sent to the ECU first. Troubleshooting this type of problem follows a sequence of eliminating each probabilty and then moving on to the next possibility. . .etc. I make my living by doing troubleshooting in the industrial field.

 

Okie dokie....I see that your engine will rev to redline. That means that the VTEC IS engaging. FYI...the F20C engine WILL NOT rev to 9000 RPM unless VTEC works correctly. The whole concept and engineering result of VTEC is to advance the output of a small displacement engine by having a dual camshaft timing. The first(or initial timing) is one of a "tame' timing(tuning) and the second (performance) timing (~6000RPM) unleashes the full potential of the F20C engine design.

 

The reason why I asked if you have reved past 6k rpm was to determine if your VTEC was engaging. The fact that you have not only reved past 6k rpm, you have shifted right before 9k rpm. Like I mentioned before, this motor will not run well past 6k without the higher profile cam lobes. If VTEC was not engaging, you would definitely know something was terribly wrong. Not only would your engine run like shit past 6-7k rpm, it wouldn't even go much past 8k rpm much less 9k.

From the info you have given us, your VTEC is functioning properly. Also, you do not have a cel. At 9k miles, it is kind of early for a valve adjustment. If you want to be sure, I would ask the dealer to do a compression test. A compression test will give a technician enough info to determine a proper analysis for your engine.

Dude, if your S2K isn't fast enough, get a supercharger

 

Shucks Boit beat me to the post