I've never seen a documented case of the retainers failing in a car that wasn't overreved. Overrevs are not Honda's fault.

 

I agree with you Mike the previous owner of the car might've beaten on it. I sure didn't.

I guess what annoys me is the fact that this seems to be a rampant problem and how it's such a weak point on this car that is suppose to hit 9k with no problems.

 

Mechanical over revs crack retainers and bend valves. It's not a design flaw, it's driver error.

 

Billman you're the mechanic around here:

Why AP2 retainers and not AP1 retainers? Are they stronger and better was more R&D done on Honda's side and this is why the retainers were upgraded?

There was obviously a change made for AP2's why?

 

Billman, I knot the only retainers that seem to crack are on the Intake side, are those the only ones you raplace?

 

But it does hit 9k with no problems, just like it's supposed to. 11k is a different story.

I replaced all the retainers in my '02 car after 60k miles and about 45 track days, including a couple of mild (thankfully) overrevs. No visible cracking whatsoever. I don't think the problem is in the design, I think it is in the operator error.

Be aware, there is a potential issue with replacing the AP1 retainers with AP2 retainers. They are more durable but they are also heavier. This will probably cause valve float at a lower RPM. So overrev is still bad, it's just that the failure mechanism changes.

I'm not saying don't swap them out if you want to, but it's not a panacea. There's no way to idiot-proof this.

 

Lower redline allowed for more mass in the valvetrain.

 

I see.

 

HOLY CRAP!!! that is exactly what i got on mine.

a few months after i bought my car i let my friend drive it. he overreved it into 2nd and a few weeks later he did it agian. this time it was into 1st. i put off replacing the retainers for a few months untill a warm weekend came around (work done in a parking lot).
when i pulled the cams, i saw no sunken valves. but i replaced the retainers anyways. i looked at the retainers looking for cracks but obviously not close enough. i did notice the lines that circled the retainers but brushed it off as something else since all the photos of cracked retainers were vertical.
i still have all the retainers i removed. they are sitting right here next to me. all 16 of them are cracked this way.
i dont have a digi camera so i cant post any pics.

my car is a MY2000 and had about 20K on the clock when overrev occured and retainers replaced at around 22K.
car is currently at 25.5K

 

I remember seeing some lines like that on mine too, but they looked more like milling marks than cracks. I'll doublecheck when I get home, but if they are on all sixteen exactly alike, I highly doubt they are cracks.

But really, you let your friend drive it again?! Overreving the engine is a "one strike, you're out" in my book.