blkswan

A very hot track day, I had about a quarter tank left and figured I could run just a few laps before turning in for a refill.. unfortunately after 2 laps, my ap1 lost all power... from my experience i assumed it was related to no gas... i did my best to push the car (probably mistake now) to go another half mile out of the track... when i finally made it out, the car completely died... after trying to restart it after filling gas, the car will not remain running and its hard to start, requiring multiple cranks.. cel read misfires and p1456, p1399.

a few folks at the track said it might be related to air in the fuel lines and recommend to try keeping the car running to clear it hut it was difficult to do it without completely destroying my clutch trying to keep it running instead of dying when idle.

Anyone have a experience? Im very worried that i might of destroyed my fuel pump or injector and checking online, its very experience to fix.

thanks,

flanders

Most likely the fuel pump that has been damaged.
If you remove the left interior piece in the trunk you can access and remove the lid on top of the fuel tank.
With it open have someone cycle the ignition on/off and listen if the pump is running without any weird noises, it should run a few seconds each time.
If you got a current clamp you could also measure how much current the pump is pulling, it should read around 7A when working normal.

Car Analogy

Measure fuel pressure?

Agree that running hard low on gas can kill fuel pump. Inherent in the design is its kept cool by immersion in fuel in the tank.

Imagine pump running hot, but kept cool by fuel surrounding it and fuel passing through it. Remove the bath of fuel around it, and dramatically reduce fuel passing through it as it sucks air and barely any fueo flows through it, as engine limps along. That is what happened in your low fuel track session.

Now pump unable to supply sufficient fuel. It all fits, symptoms and scenario. In tbe grand scheme of things, not the worst bad experience that could happen on the track.

blkswan

thanks guys... but unfortunately bad news, was finally able to tow the car to my mechanic...which after seeing it confirmed that its a blown engine with most likely causes by the rod going through...

anyone have any suggestions on what should i do next? whats most affordable? rebuild? used engine? my friend told me i can get a used AP1 engine for around $2.5k with good compression.

thoughts? did i do this to my car? or just bad timing? im 4th owner, purchased at 133k and done about 3k miles with 5-6 track days the past year. i changed my oil pretty frequently and got a value adjustment last year... car ran perfectly ran before the last track day... i did get a new timing belt right before...

thanks

SoFlaKidd

Do you mean timing chain and also was the car low on oil ?

janders111

That sucks man. You will see a lot of people say that s2000 engines are not rebuildable, but what they are talking about is the FRM coating in the cylinder walls. There are only a few shops that can hone and bore them, and you can barely bore them at all.

So if the cylinder walls are still good, you can probably save the engine. But the question I would ask is what caused the rod knock? it happened for a reason, and that same reason could have caused other damage. Were you always changing the oil? Did it have an upgraded oil baffle? the oil pumps are pretty bulletproof. What else might it have been? are the rest of the rod bearings damaged? How is the bore? (this is the 5+ thousand dollar question)

Before you get a new engine, I would also call inline pro. One of the few shops that can actually rebuild our engines without having them blow up 10k miles later. They can do any type of machine work, and they also have a program where you can trade in your old engine.

I just had a bad experience with a used AP1 during which I had to make this same decision. Since my FRM was damaged, I had to buy a used engine. I bought a JDM engine. HMotors Online or eBay, this route will cost thousands, but you usually get a new transmission and all of the accessories except for AC pump all in one package.

2.5k sounds pretty low to me. You might be able to get a high mileage one for this price, but over time our cylinders get ovalized and our engines already have oil issues in the first place, so I would think twice about a high mileage cheap engine.
If you go the repair route, you would have to find out what caused the issue in the first place and fix that, inspect the bore, get a polished crank, get new rod(s) and bearings, and get them reconditioned, etc. That is what I would try to do.

blkswan

Plot thickens.. turns out the shop I took it to didnt really spend the time to inspect the engine. I'm not really sure how they determined it was a blown engine but when the tow truck came to tow my car home, the guy at the shop said my engine sounds different and it maybe a issue with the TST chain. I was missing my tow hook and had to drive up the ramp on the truck.

I spoke to a few different shops and they they are surprised that I can still run the engine by cranking it and applying gas.
A few shops said if a valve did drop, you could not even start the motor and recommended I do a compression test. Thoughts on this?

I was very close in pulling the trigger on buying a used engine but it sounds like I should probably have the car inspected thoroughly before.. its just been a pain towing the car back and forth all these places so making sure the next step i do is right.

thanks,

Car Analogy

Shops. Ugh. This is why I strongly prefer to do all my own work. Rampant incompetence and willful deception.

Yes, do a compression test. A more thorough inspection is warranted. Blown Motor can mean a lot of things. Which of those things did that shop mean? My bet is its the one that has you spending several $k for them to do a rebuild, which ends up destroying your motor. When it blows for real in a few k mikes after their rebuild, they can just blame you for driving it too hard.

twohoos

What year AP1? Could be cylinder 4 scoring, which does make some ominous sounds but typically the engine still runs. The original oil jet bolts were used until about 4/'02, after that is ok (check car's production date on driver's door jamb sticker). If the engine serial number is readable, then anything after engine #1025386 is ok.

s2000Junky

Could be anything, just not enough info. Might just be a bad tct or accessory. Lucky if it was.