Have just come home from work and as I pulled onto the drive I noticed an odd sound from the front of the car. It's a on and off rattling noise on idle that seems to be coming from the front of the engine. I can't tell if it goes away when I rev the engine or if it's constant and just less noticeable over the sound of the engine.

As I'm a noob when it comes to anything mechanical I took it to my cousin's garage, he thinks it might be coming from the cam chain but as he's not worked on anything like the S2000 he understandably doesn't want to start taking it apart.

Does anybody have any ideas or know anywhere near Taunton that I might be able to take it to to have a look at? Current option seems like the local Honda dealer (Howards) and that's unlikely to do any good for my bank balance!

 

it means your engine is about to explode. take cover!

kidding... might be your timing chain tensioner(TCT) which is common on the S2000. makes a clicking noise at idle and is located at the front of the engine. there are a million threads about it if you do a search.

 

Thanks! I looked in the FAQ and couldn't see anything but the clicking sounds right, I couldn't think how to describe it!

 

the debate about how to fix the TCT rages on but everyone seems to agree that just replacing it with another OEM TCT is not the answer. the design itself is faulty. there are aftermarket TCTs that have worked(billman, inline pro), sand blasting the worm gear inside the TCT has also worked for a lot of people. people have also tried changing the type of oil they use, stretching out the springs inside the TCT, drilling out the oil feed hole, replacing the timing chain guides, etc, with varying levels of success.

 

How's your oil level

 

Why did I not heed that advice Six months later and about 8k miles on the new OEM TCT and I'm back at square one.

Billman one with the lifetime warranty this time I think!