got my s2000 this afternoon - 2000year. drives real nice apart from 2 hopefully minor issues.

long story short: the car drove fine on testdrive when i drove it.never had a single flicker of the engine MIL light.
today when i purchase and drive the car home - driving no differently from when i was on testdrive, the engine light flickers on when i give it some gas. goes off when i let off almost instantly.
few 10's of miles later, the engine light is now on permanently, and having lack of power. - it gets to vtec and redline, but does seem to take forever for the type of car it is. certainly slower than my brothers celica 150bhp (he was slowly pulling away with 2poeple and 2dogs on the motorway).

idles fine, runs fine, just asif it's a lesser powered engine then the 240bhpit should be.
fueling is probably ok - motorway with a few miles of country fast roads has used about 3-4bars of fuel which seems about right, so im guessing it';s not an emmisions issue.

any common issues that would cause this?


also,im getting alot of windnoise - from the front lip of the roof. if i pull down the hood with the internal handle it seals ok. i dont think it's bent, more of not coming down enough as it's the entire width of the car the noise is coming from. anywhere/way to tweak the adjustment of the close position? just need an extra 3mm or so of movement to properly seal!

thanks again for any help!
tim

 

I had the very same problem, you need to replace the striker plates that attach the roof to the car. Very simple to do just remove sunvisors and plastic trim.

They cost

 

Can't comment on the lack of power, but the hood noise issue is quite common. The striker plates wear. The short term option is to swap the striker plates left to right. They they wear in a different place and the roof gets pulled down that bit more tightly.

 

Are you closing the hood with the button,then as soon as its at its final closed position and you've closed the striker plates flick the hood button for a second time and it seals correctly.

Not sure about the power problem though,oil level ok? Map whack and then ECU reset,get the CEL code before you do an ECU reset though.

 

veehexx and welcome to the forum,

Check out Marks two threads about hesitation problems with the S. There are a few things to try in there which might help to diagnose the problem.

Thread 1

Thread 2

 

oil was low :S but not low enough to cause any damage i dont think... the very bottom of dipstick was just touching the oil. did have to put 2.5-3litres in. pulled battery off, reset ecu but still same issue..

thanks for link jamie, but it's not so much hesitation, more just lack of power. i did read through it though just for future references. bit more info: engine light (CEL/MIL/check - whatever u wanna call it) comes on when engaging VTEC. vtec stage 1 and 2 seem to come in, but it's still asif it's running with noticable power down - driving more like 130bhp car...

idles fine. runs kinda ok (no obvious misfire, and does rev up). just seems to struggle to get up the rev band. fine if u rev it on neutral, just under driving conditions.
i guess the best way to describe it is like you were towing a caravan.... engine sounds loaded (a deep growl) and just slower than what it should be like.
gonna get it on the diagnostic kit on monday - probably the best way to get this sorted.

you were right on the roof issue - looking at it again, there is definate wear on the car-side brackets. i'll swap 'em left to right for the time being and get this engine issue sorts first.

thansk for the welcome, and info guys

 

Thats a pretty low oil level for an S! Hopefully you managed to add some at the right time to stop any damage.Try removing the MAP sensor on top of the throttle body and cleaning it out and then replacing it,it only takes a few minutes,i think carb cleaner or similar witll work.

 

Sounds a bit like what happened to mine. CEL would flash when entering VTEC and the car would misfire. Then a couple of days later CEL would come on permanently.

That was down to the injectors.

Was it a private sale?

 

I was thinking the same thing. I'd perhaps risk some injector cleaner and make sure you are using good quality 97 RON. Mind if the injectors are already 'ed then you will need new ones.

Might be worth checking fuel pressure as well in case the filter is blocked. PITA to change if it is!

Does not sound like the car has been over maintained. Not somebody off here I hope!

 

Does it behave now you have sorted the oil level?

That is a LOT of oil so it must have been very low.

If oyu can get the code from the ECU, we can help a lot better, otherwise we are just guessing.

Honda will be able to get the code and reset the ECU for you, though they may charge. Don't reset it until you get the code though!

IMO MAP sensor shouldn't be cleaned - if its buggered then replace it.

Go easy with it in the meantime.