First 6 months of Ownership...First Service Time

[CraigHew]

As the title says, I've had my Mega S2000 since August.  I'm intending to do my own servicing (part of the attraction of the Westfield in the first place) on the car but I'm a little unsure of a couple of things.

 

Clearly I could just blunder on, as nothing I think I'm going to suggest will do harm but in the absence of any kind of "service manual" there are a couple of questions I'd like to throw out there if I may;

 

On the basis that any question isn't stupid if you don't know the answer,

 

A) Mines got a baffled sump.  No big problem there as I know what the baffle is, what it does etc. My question is, when doing an oil change would it be beneficial to remove the sump and give it a dam good clean out, or will a simple oil flush do?

 

I've got the oil, I've got the filter, I've got a replacement sump plug and washer.  I don't mind shelling out for a sump gasket if I was to pull the sump off. It looks very accessible having no cross-members or similar in the way

 

 

B) I've got a Pipercross conical foam type air filter fitted.  I've taken it off and can see there's some plastic innards under the foam but I've not had one of these before. Do I replace it / wash it in the kitchen sink / blow it out with my compressor / leave it well alone?  (I'm assuming it doesn't need oiling like the K&N's do)

 

I've already replaced the coolant with Honda Type 2 but I'm planning the usual visual inspection of all hoses, nuts and bolts etc.

 

 

One final question;

 

C) The factory gave me a 6-month warranty when I bought the car off them. It runs out end of January.

 

Is there anything "specific" (other than anything that I find in my visual check) I should be checking before then?

 

 

Thanks in advance...

 

 

 

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

No, don't take the sump off unless absolutely vital, (general comment, for anyone reading the thread!) Honda build the engine using a sealant called Hondabond, (actually several sealants under the group name Hondabond), instead of gaskets for some non-regular service parts. The sump is one, the joint line of the casting is a complicated one and the sump carries some bell housing bolts too. Not sure how easy it would be to separate with the 'box attached, but assuming it was OK, there's a lot of joint faces to get scrupulously clean, both engine side and sump side, before fresh Hondabond could be applied. Get it wrong, and you've got squashed out sealant floating round in the sump, ready to clog the oil pick up...

 

the he baffle is such a simple arrangement anyway, that there's precious little to be gained dropping the sump for cleaning. (I'd only consider it post catastrophic engine damage, but then you'd probably want it off anyway!)

 

Oops, door bell ringing, back in a mo...

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Back again!

 

Just drain (while warm) the oil and replace. Be careful with the filter, S20's (the car), seem to have a bit of a reputation for the filters working loose in some circumstances. I don't know how true this is, but both my OEM Honda filter and my Honda dealer workshop manual both have quite detailed tightening notes on them. As they're only cheap, I picked up one of the cup shaped sockets that fits in a 1/2" ratchet to do mine - tightening with a strap wrench seemed to get vague results. Like I say, I may be worrying about nothing, but it seemed better safe than sorry!

 

The K&N filters can be cleaned and re-oiled, K&N do a clean/oil kit.

 

Depending on age/milage, the valve clearances may need checking/adjusting, TBH, it's probably worth doing anyway so that you know exactly when they've been done, going forwards.

 

As for the rest, check all fluid levels, brake pads etc, then go over all the car you can get at, certainly all critical steering/suspension/braking system parts and do a "spanner check" IE check everything is as tight as it should be.

 

While at it check for condition of joints, rubber covers, chassis tubes etc, looking for any damage, or chips etc. repair/replace/re paint as appropriate.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Have a look in the FAQ section, there are some notes on general servicing type things as they relate to Westfields.

 

In some ways, it's a bit of an odd thing with Westfields, skim through the forum and you'd think they must barely get any service work outside upgrades, 'cause not much seems to be mentioned or discussed.

 

Truth be told, I don't think I ever "serviced" my old XE car. Not in as much as approaching it with a check list and saying right, time for the 6k service. While of course some do carry out formal servicing, many people just carry out a sort of rolling maintenance, and spend so much time tinkering away, checking and maintaining that things just get corrected or replaced as they need it, rather than once a year in one big bash.

[Murraymint]

Sounds like solid advise to me...

[SootySport]

Well, there you have it, a service schedule written by Dave, just print it off and refer to it next year.

 

If you regularly change the oil then the internals will be Spik & Span, modern oils are much better these days.

[stephenh]

I agree, definitely don't drop the sump for a service. Also, I wouldn't be using a flushing oil, like Dave says, just run the engine to warm the oil so it flows out of the sump plughole easily.

If you bought a factory built car, and if the warranty is about to expire, you might want to give the car a thorough "once over" to find any possible problems or faults rather than actually servicing it and then take it to the factory just this one time for them to service and put right any niggling faults. Of course, if you can't find any niggling faults, then nothing to be gained! Must say, this is what I did with my factory built duratec car when it was almost 12 months old and the warranty was about to expire!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

If you regularly change the oil then the internals will be Spik & Span, modern oils are much better these days.

 

The detergents in some modern high performance oils are nothing short of stunning. I've had engine run on them for a year or so that on strip down were not just cleaner than before the oil change, but looked clean enough to be recently stripped and rebuilt!

 

So yes, no need for flushing treatments or additives.

[Terryathome]

Glad I got a Zetec lol

 

Terry

[CraigHew]

Thanks for the feedback.  Great point about the valve clearances Dave, I wouldn't have thought of that.  I've bought a set of offset feeler-gauges tonight so I am going to take your advice.  There's an excellent article on the S2Ki forums giving (me) a step by step guide.  

 

http://robrobinette.com/S2000ValveAdjust.htm

 

I may not have been clear in my original post.  Is there a service routine for the Pipercross foam air filter?

 

C

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Oh, sorry, yes, there are cleaners and re-oiling sprays for the foam ones too.

[lloydox]

Re the valve clearances

Make sure the engine is stone cold and avoid the threads on s2k about setting them tighter than honda recommend as this can cause low compression when warm

If the engine is not tapping and has good compression then just check them and if it's in tolerance then leave them be

As far as the engine oil. The Honda S2000 has a 9000 mile service intervals

I'm guessing here but don't think your car would have covered that sort of milage since the last oil change.

As Dave said modern oils are very good and just as long as you Don't get it to a high temp 120+ deg c then it will be ok on the stock service milage

On my last car (Mitsubishi Evo 6) I changed the oil before and after every track day but left the filter till it had done a few 1000 miles but the oil temp did hit 130 from time to time.

If I was you I'd just do the oil and filter once a year for peace of mind

On mine I'll be changing it once a year along with the filter unless I see oil temps over 120

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Here's an example of the service kits, it's just a cleaner you work into the foam with a brush, then rinse off with warm water, (flushing from inside out, usually), followed by a filter oil to re oil the foam. (It's the special oil that traps all the fine particles).

 

You can wash with warm water and detergent, but the cleaner is better and safer for the foam, long term.

 

You can get in bigger, non aerosol bottles too! But it lasts for ages so you should be fine with the small size.

[Lyonspride]

Personally I don't "service" my cars at all, I do an "oil change" every 12 months, I change or clean air filters in April/May, but I check everything else on an ongoing basis and change/clean/repair as needed.

 

Servicing, the modern definition, is basically paying someone once a year, to check the things YOU should be checking every week.

[tisme]

Personally I don't "service" my cars at all, I do an "oil change" every 12 months, I change or clean air filters in April/May, but I check everything else on an ongoing basis and change/clean/repair as needed.

 

Servicing, the modern definition, is basically paying someone once a year, to check the things YOU should be checking every week.

 

I agree with this approach (for the Westfield anyway) - oil is changed based more on how long it's been in the engine (never more than 12 months) and plugs every 6 months - everything else is regularly sight checked followed up by the odd spanner or screwdriver check (it's called "tinkering" I think ).

 

The only other approach I'm taking is to make sure any exposed "bright" metal is sprayed with AF50 before the damp winter sets in and also I'm now checking the front and rear disc brakes for pad/piston movement (the rear especially as I've just replaced the calipers due to them seizing up through lack of use).