I just don't know what i should do because i don't want to waste money by replacing retainers that do not need to be replaced and I dont want to blow my engine either

 

If you look at the thread Xviper posted above, he can point you in the right direction. By simply removing the valve cover and looking at the retainer tops, you can look at the pics that Billman has posted within that linked thread (again the one Xviper posted) and see what to look for in a bad retainer. Essentially, if its bad you will be able to see from the retainer and keeper height. A dental mirror will proabbly be required. If you truly over-reved the motor, it cant hurt to check it out! A few hours (less if your fairly tool savy) could save you a few thousand dollars if its missed!

 

I think these fellas have covered your questions very well, so I won't expand upon them.

There are very few really good S2000 mechanics around these days. Most of them "think" they understand what's going on with our engines, but we've seen many such cases where lots of mechanical experience may mean very little when it comes to the S2000. He may even be the kind of mechanical who will rotate your tires for you free just for coming in to get a valve adjustment.

Remind me (and these people as well) what were the circumstances behind your over-rev?

 

Im not going to sugar coat it about 2 months ago I slammed into 2nd from 3rd on accident, and 3rd was at 8700 RPM. This was a week after ownership.

 

[QUOTE=djpeak10,Sep 6 2006, 09:56 AM] Im not going to sugar coat it about 2 months ago I slammed into 2nd from 3rd on accident, and 3rd was at 8700 RPM.

 

IMO, replacing retainers on a 01 isnt a waste of money, especially after you over-revved it a couple times. Its more like insurance.. You can pay a few hundred now, or a several thousand later. My motor is being redone now (new shortblock from Honda). and when my mechanic took apart my head to have to cleaned, I had him buy new retainers. (it helped the head was apart already)

 

Yes, if the head is already off this should be done as a matter of routine. But if the head is not already off, it's a bigger expense. You can replace the retainers with the head still on, but it's kind of a PITA and you can screw other things up along the way. (As they say, "ask me how I know...".)

ps. my car has at least three on-track overrev events and almost 60K miles. I'm in the middle of replacing the retainers right now, but so far there is no sign that any of them are cracked.

 

Exactly, my motor had 90k miles on it when it went. Before the head was off I asked him to just buy new retainers. Turns out more than half of them had cracks and scorchmarks. Ask me how I'd feel if I just paid 5k for a fresh motor and had a valve drop due to a broken retainer 1000 miles later

 

Thanks for all the info. I am going to take it down there and talk to one of my friends at the dealer who has over reved his car before as well. If however I dont see that the retainers look bent or broken would it be a good idea to replace anyways and if so how much are the parts? I know there is a plethora of other things that could have gone wrong such as a damaged valve or something along those lines. So would replacing retainers really do a whole lot? Thanks a lot this has help tremendously.

 

Read the other threads on this subject. Failed retainers don't look "bent or broken". What happens is that the valve stem seems to "drop" into the retainer.