Gilgamesh

Hey all. A couple of years ago, I was finally able to buy my '05 back from my family, given that we finally moved into a place with a sufficient garage.

I've done a little bit of searching, but I am still wresting with what to do on my car as far as some of the more intensive maintenance items as the car ages.

When I picked her back up, she had 34k miles on her (had about 12k when I had to leave her with my folks while we lived in a condo) and only the oil changes had been done every year. So, in summer of 2017, she got all of the disposables replaced. New oil, filter, air filter, cabin filter, coolant, diff, trans, clutch and brake fluids. I'll probably let all the fluids slide this year, except for the engine oil. I'll give her a fresh fill of M1 10W-30, maybe some ZDDP, maybe not(?). Drop a new filter and let her rip. She still starts right up, holds idle, and revs like it was day 1.

I'm just a little conflicted on two things. Plugs/wires and valve clearance. I've got no issues up top, so I don't think I ought to open up the valve cover just yet. I am considering at least getting a look at the plugs, and to just break them loose off the head. Then, since they are off anyway, just go ahead and replace 'em, and get the wires while I'm at it? Or is it the same story? Just leave well enough alone?

All the hoses I can reach/see look good, and the car is still fluid tight. Short form giving them a squeeze again this spring and replacing if something seems amiss, I don't see a reason to do anything there. But, same story, would it be cheap insurance to just get coolant and vacuum hoses that are accessible done as cheap insurance? They are 14 years old now, surely time has done its thing to them...

What would you guys do if it were your car?

jyeung528

nothing.

nubbel

This.

Take the spark plugs out, verify gap and note their color, put them back the same order you took them out, torque to 21-25 ft/lbs - Spark plugs are good for 105,000 mi/168,000 km/7 yrs.

Take a look at your clutch and brake fluid, if it's still clear and you can see the bottom of the reservoir fine, don't touch it.

If you want to get some more "hands-on-time" you could treat all your rubber seals with some Shin-Etsu silicone grease

Also, if you are not sure whether the rear axle nut retorque has been performed, take a look here: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/s2000-un...sb-diy-929843/

But please don't pry on the center caps like shown in the thread
Take the wheel off and knock it out from the inside

Chuck S

There's a detailed maintenance schedule in your owners manual. If the car is up to date including cooling and hydraulic fluids it should be good to go. We're not seeing "perished" (love that Brit term) hoses or wiring here and all our cars are now over 10 years old.

Tires, roof, and TCT are all known maintenance/replacement items. Old tires will fail, the roof hardware will rub holes in the roof from the inside, and the OE TCT will wear out. I replaced my TCT with the Billman GenX at 40K miles as preventive maintenance.

-- Chuck

cenix

I adjusted my 06 valves at 38k miles and all exhaust valves were out of spec (tight). Also, the rubber seals (all) on the valve cover were hard and no longer pliable, although none were leaking oil anywhere. I replaced my spark plugs at this time, too, even though they were still OK.

For peace of mind I'm glad I did this, because despite the low mileage the exhaust valve clearances were not acceptable.

Gilgamesh

That was one of my bigger concerns. I've seen plenty of cars that have those "perished" items sitting at lower mileage 12-15 years in. Granted, those are on the Italians and Germans, but rubber is still rubber.

Thinking about the TCT as well, I may just wait to get to 50k and do it then, along with the rest of the linger term fluids.

Gilgamesh

Interesting. How far out were your valves?

cenix

Factory specs range from 0.010-0.011 and all of them were tighter than 0.010. I did not measure with a thinner gauge beyond the 0.010. They were all put back to a "loose" 0.011.

rpg51

The 06 and later cars are notorious for tight valve clearances. Not so much the 05. Still, if it were my car, I would do a valve adjustment, replace the spark plugs, oil and filter change, transmission oil change, and a dif oil change. Also, I would do a turkey baster job on the clutch fluid every time I change the oil - maybe even more.

Spark plugs do have a life measured by years, not just miles. I believe Honda wants them replace at 8 years or so no matter the mileage? Something like that. When I changed the original plugs in my 02 in 2017 it had just about 10K miles or so. Still, it made a noticeable difference to have fresh plugs in there and it is not expensive.

Not sure what you are referring to when you say "wires."

Gilgamesh

Wires to the coils. I suppose those are probably fine.

Im considering trans and diff but I feel I’m still ok, even on a time basis, as I took care of those in 2017.

my question on the valves and plugs was because I don’t remember seeing a time based service on those items. I’ll probably roll the clutch fluid in, but I intend to do a full flush there and on brakes next year, or before putting her away this fall.

And forget get the turkey baster. Dosing syringes ftw!