My 300,000-Mile S2000’s VTEC Works, But Something Much More Important Broke
Earlier this year I revealed my latest project: A Honda S2000 with over 300,000 miles on the odometer. My goal with the car: Turn it into a competent track machine I could drive to and from road courses throughout the Northeast. The Honda had a few issues when I bought it, but I’ve since fixed most of them.
Now, though, the car is totally undrivable.
So VTEC Finally Works?
Yes! After months of driving this car without its second cam profile, I finally took the time to address why VTEC wasn’t working on this car. Upon closer inspection of the VTEC solenoid, the reason became fairly obvious. One of the three bolts that holds the solenoid to the block was straight-up missing. Or so I thought; once I took the other two bolts out, I realized that whoever had last touched the third bolt had somehow snapped the head off, leaving the remainder of the fastener in the block. Heartbreaking, I know. Also, one of the other two bolts I extracted broke in half as I was threading it out. My theory? A previous owner saw there was an oil leaking from the solenoid area, but instead of doing the right thing and replacing the gasket, they decided to tighten the bolts in hopes that would stop the leak. Don’t do this! As demonstrated by my car, this strategy can cause serious problems down the road.
I didn’t have the right tools to extract that broken bolt, so I simply replaced the gasket and put the solenoid back on with the other two bolts. No, it’s not perfect, but it did form a seal strong enough to get VTEC to activate. I’ll find a way to get that bolt out sometime in the near future. But for now, I’m just going to keep an eye on things and pray that two bolts are enough.
Ok, So How Broken Is the Car Now?
After fixing the brakes I took the S2000 to its first outing at Lime Rock Park, where it outperformed my expectations. Nothing broke while I was lapping, and I was able to drive the car home without any issues. The only thing I discovered was a rattling sound coming from the passenger-side muffler. As it turns out, that rattling is coming from inside the muffler, rather than from something external like a loose exhaust hanger. So, unless I happen to come into ownership of a new S2000 exhaust, I’m going to leave things as-is. I’m not about to cut open a muffler just to remove a loose piece of metal. It’s annoying, but you don’t really hear it when you’re moving.
The real problem started as I was testing the S2000’s newly working VTEC on a windy road near my workshop. I went to downshift into third, and suddenly the clutch pedal lost all of its resistance. It would still return to its up position, but it felt as if it was no longer connected to the transmission. Shifting into gears became much harder, and I couldn’t get the car into first when stopped. Either the clutch slave cylinder or clutch master cylinder, the mechanisms responsible for actuating the clutch fork, had failed.
By some miracle, I was able to limp the car back to my shop and swap it out with my M5 to get home. Those in the know will point out that shifting without a clutch isn’t too difficult provided you know what you’re doing, but forcing the car into second gear to get moving and having to turn the car off just to get it into first or reverse was a bit troublesome at best. Still, it beats calling a tow truck.
A quick check under the dash revealed fresh brake fluid dripping from the master cylinder. It was toast. Swapping it out is a straightforward job, so once I get the new part the car should be up and running fairly quickly.
What Else Is Wrong With This Thing?
Nothing new has reared its head lately. I’m starting to think there may be some binding in the steering, perhaps due to the new suspension height. I want to get the car back into the air at some point and inspect things to make sure I didn’t break anything or install anything incorrectly.
There’s also the semi-unsupportive seats, an issue I still haven’t addressed. I don’t mind them on the street, but on the track there just isn’t enough bolstering to justify keeping them around. If you happen to have a set of Recaro Pole Positions for sale on the cheap, DM me.
Then there’s the tires. I’m planning to source a new high-performance set before the S2000’s next track day. I don’t want a repeat of the lackluster grip and sketchy braking I get from the mismatched no-name all-seasons currently on the car. Even on the street, the current tire’s grip limits can be found without really pushing it. Fresh rubber will certainly improve things.
Stay tuned.
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