Back in June I was in VTEC for a bit of an extended period, and after that my engine started a tapping noise. Didn't have time to do a whole lot with it, as I was leaving for Iraq. It got pretty loud at times. Didn't misshift at all. I'm on my second S, this one's a MY00 and as far as I know, has not had the banjo bolts replaced. Didn't realize how important it was. After reading about it, my guess is scoring on the cylinder wall.

It wasn't throwing a CEL, but it's pretty loud and it taps faster as I increase throttle, if that makes sense. I checked the oil level after it happened, was a bit low but nothing catastrophic. Changed the oil out completely just to see if that would fix it, it didn't. I don't really know any mechanics in the El Paso area, I just PCSed there a couple months before deploying.

I'll be getting back in a month or so, so I'm going to look into the problem. I should look for blackening of the spark plugs due to incomplete combustion, correct? My backup ideas are timing chain tensioner and valve adjustment, but it really is pretty loud, and it happened after an extended period of hard use (not a misshift). I'll try and take a video after I get back so you can hear it. This would be able to be resleeved, correct? Or would I be better off getting a new block? My S isn't absolute necessary, and I've wanted to take apart an F20C for a while now, so if I have to do that, so be it. Just want some advice on what educated people would guess.

 

I've got a similar issue. I suspected the timing chain tensioner personally but took it in to honda and their Tech said that the valves needed adjustment. So I'll do that this weekend along with changing the oil and all that. I didn't even think about pulling the plugs and all that. Really before I dive into the S2K I need to get the tranny back into my DD... Hopefully this weekend.