get your own pictures of the engine before the parts are sent away. othwise you will have a much harder time gathering any evidence you may need.

 

Yes, go in there with a camera and say your lawyer wants you to take pictures and document everything. Take lots of pictures of the valves since that is clear evidence that you did not overrev. Make them put everything in writing as well. They hate that

 

i am in the midst of having serious problems on my car as well. My car is not vtecing, check engine light is on, and also has started ticking since it was at the dealer for repairs. I hope it is not a severe ticking that may cause damage to my engine....

 

There is some kind of lubrication failure here. Get hold of your crank and look very carefully for blocked or undrilled oil holes that supply the bearings. You may also have inadequate oil spray on the bottom of the piston. I have seen both of these problems over the years. Back in 1980 I examined a crank in a Mazda that had the bearings replaced three times under warranty in the number three cylinder. When it was finally broken down by an outside mechanic after Mazda refused to cover it, a broken drill bit was found wedged in the crank oil hole. Absolutely amazing that no one saw this before. Drilled out and extracted, the car never had another problem. There is a reason these things happen. Make them find it. The very methods that make these rods strong also make them somewhat brittle, but it sounds like you siezed the piston first. Look very hard for inadequate oil supply somewhere in the loop.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bullit
[B]i am in the midst of having serious problems on my car as well.

 

Man, from reading this board, the S2000 sounds like one of the least reliable cars on the market!

I know I've had mine 3 years, 76,000km, and no problems so far. Keep my fingers crossed. The engine's modified now, so no warranty would hold anyway.

 

You can't assume that unless you know the failure RATE. We discuss failures on the board more than cars that run without problems.
My own guess/hope is that there is a specific cause for the cooling/lubrication failures and that Honda will find the problem and fix it. That won't prevent the engine from failing, but I think it will prevent 80% or 90% of the catastrophic failures leading to short block repairs. It still won't fix failures due to missed shifts or failures due to supercharging/turbocharging or failures due to running the engine with the oil low.

 

The typical symptom of an overrev is bent valves (which you've already checked for). This disproves their case.

Oil starvation is more likely to be the cause as others have pointed out - nevertheless, you should be able to prove it's not owner neglect or driver error...

 

In the case that it's oil starvation, remember: the European TSB/recall specifically addresses oil starvation.

Keep fighting!

 

Try to take good close up pictures of everything, including the parts of the engine that did not fail. They give clues as to what is happening. The underside of each piston can give an indication of the heat that each cylinder experiences. If the engine oil "bakes" on and forms a yellow-orange residue only on one of the four pistons its an indication that only one cylinder has a problem. Long periods of abuse would likely show all four cylinders with this buildup. Take pictures of the tops of the pistons and the carbon build up. A clean top indicates water was getting in the cylinder. An oily top indicates that oil is getting by the rings. Note where on the piston and cylinder wall the scuffing occurs. Under abuse or lack of oil conditions the "thrust" side of the cylinder will experience the most scuffing. If water was getting on top of the piston the engine could "hydraulic"/try to compress water (which it can't of course) and force the connecting rod to bend/break and force the oil layer between the rod bearing and the crank to be eliminated, thereby causing the rod bearing to fail. A subsequent knock would occur.

I don't have time now but I'll write more later.

TAKE PHOTOS OF EVERYTHING !!!!!!!!!!