Hello guys,

Im thinking of buying an S2000, but when I went to test drive it i noticed some strange things.....

1.) When I started it, the EPS light was on constantly and steering felt a bit heavy as though power steering wasn't functioning.
2.) Speedometer was stuck on Zero.
3.) When driving it drives fine for a few minutes - revving freely throughout the rev range, but then the engine management light came on, and the VTEC wouldn't kick in (Car stopped revving at approx 4500k).
4.) When Idle the car was panting until switched off.

Restart the car and the whole process would start again.....

Could anyone shed any light on this, are these problems all linked? I have read on other forums and some people are linking it to a Vehicle Speed Sensor? Im hoping its one single thing thats causing all of these symptoms.

Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Otis

 

Sounds like the VSS is not working if so then the EPS is not getting signal from it which meens that it still works a little because it is getting a tach signal so it knows the car is running just not moving. Then after a little while the car is probably doing a system test and knows something is not right so the car goes into limp mode to save itself. That would be my guess. You could also test drive it again and pull the parking brake lever up just one click and drive very slowly like 5-10 MPH and try to put down the top, if it goes down then it is not getting a speed signal from the VSS at least you would sort of rule out a bad cluster or maybe ECM.

 

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Would this cause the car to pant when it is idle also?

Initially the car idles fine, but as soon as the engine light comes on, it seems to pant when idle.

 

Probably something to do with safe mode.

 

I had this exact problem last week. First thing to do would be to check your grounds under the hood.

Most of them are easily visible but a couple are harder to spot. One is attached to a crossmember in the bottom of the engine bay, right behind the steering rack. The other is mounted on the cylinder head at the back of the engine. you probably won't be able to see this one without a mirror and inspection lamp, but do a search for "G101" on here and you'll find an image of it. Just a matter of reaching in with a ratchet and finding the head of the bolt.

If all of the grounds are good, then check the wiring to the VSS. This is located on the drivers side of the gearbox. If none of these things are bad, then it's probably the sensor thats busted. Not sure on the prices where you are, but in Ireland they're expensive, best to rule out the cheap stuff first. In the end, a new VSS fixed my problem, a very easy job to do yourself. Once you find the problem and clear the fault code (should be P0500), the idling issues should disappear. HTH