S2000 ownership costs
Discussion
mat205125 said:
Couple of topics mentioned above that I have a query about:
Oil Consumption
When viewing a car, what could be the signs that a particular car consumes an "excessive" amount of oil? Dirty tail pipes? Black plugs?
Seized Suspension
I'm assuming that we are referring to finding the bolts and bushes seized when it becomes necessary to adjust the geometry. Is geometry adjustment quite regular? Are there any obvious signs of mis alignment - worn tyres? When we say "expensive", what could be the worst case price?
I doubt you'll be able to tell the oil consumption.Oil Consumption
When viewing a car, what could be the signs that a particular car consumes an "excessive" amount of oil? Dirty tail pipes? Black plugs?
Seized Suspension
I'm assuming that we are referring to finding the bolts and bushes seized when it becomes necessary to adjust the geometry. Is geometry adjustment quite regular? Are there any obvious signs of mis alignment - worn tyres? When we say "expensive", what could be the worst case price?
I've a MY00 and it did use a lot of oil, when I swapped from Castrol to Shell it used less, when I added a supercharger it used even less, and now I've added KrankVents (one way valves for the PVC system) it uses, more or less, none.
It seems most cars benifit from a *proper* alignment. Mine is like a different car now, less skittish and more predictable. Mine has been in the UK 2 years and I have two seised castor bushes. Worst case? Two lower wishbones, fitted at about £500 each IIRC. But I'll probably drill them out and get polly bushes instead.
mat205125 said:
Couple of topics mentioned above that I have a query about:
Oil Consumption
When viewing a car, what could be the signs that a particular car consumes an "excessive" amount of oil? Dirty tail pipes? Black plugs?
Seized Suspension
I'm assuming that we are referring to finding the bolts and bushes seized when it becomes necessary to adjust the geometry. Is geometry adjustment quite regular? Are there any obvious signs of mis alignment - worn tyres? When we say "expensive", what could be the worst case price?
My car ran perfectly. Initially it consumed about a litre every 2000 miles. It settled down to less than half that by the time I sold it. I cleaned my pipes regularly and they were always a wee bit black.Oil Consumption
When viewing a car, what could be the signs that a particular car consumes an "excessive" amount of oil? Dirty tail pipes? Black plugs?
Seized Suspension
I'm assuming that we are referring to finding the bolts and bushes seized when it becomes necessary to adjust the geometry. Is geometry adjustment quite regular? Are there any obvious signs of mis alignment - worn tyres? When we say "expensive", what could be the worst case price?
I had the alignment done every year and I could tell from the way the car felt afterward that it made a difference. The readouts I received proved it had wandered.
mat205125 said:
MrFlibbles said:
Indicators on the left.
Yes! One less obstacle / hurdle.Starting to really like the look of one of these.
mat205125 said:
I can't think of a time when I've not had enough vision of the road ahead, and planned my manoever badly enough, to need to change gear and switch the indicators at the same time 
touche!
Blimey. you've never had an indicator cancel as you turn into a roundabout? Your foresight is so good that the situation never changes, and every manoevre goes to plan? It must be quiet where you ndrive, where do you live? touche!
Still, perhaps we're right and the rest of the world is wrong. Thats usually how we see it.
To be fair, Bibbs' car IS supercharged 
By the time he's seen the turning, he's almost past it
As for the suspension bushes issue - the main problem is Honda don't supply the bushes independently. So if they seize, you're looking at an entire wishbone replacement, despite the part involved only really costing a tenner. Ouch.
By the time he's seen the turning, he's almost past it As for the suspension bushes issue - the main problem is Honda don't supply the bushes independently. So if they seize, you're looking at an entire wishbone replacement, despite the part involved only really costing a tenner. Ouch.
Heebeegeetee said:
mat205125 said:
I can't think of a time when I've not had enough vision of the road ahead, and planned my manoever badly enough, to need to change gear and switch the indicators at the same time
touche!
Blimey. you've never had an indicator cancel as you turn into a roundabout? touche!
It doesn't take legendary premonition skills to make sure you are in the correct gear before turning through a roundabout either.
Enough on indicator stalks anyway. It makes no odds in the real world, I'm just glad they are on the left. Not because it is in some way better, but because that's what I'm used to.
Famous Graham said:
As for the suspension bushes issue - the main problem is Honda don't supply the bushes independently. So if they seize, you're looking at an entire wishbone replacement, despite the part involved only really costing a tenner. Ouch.
Got a contact who custom makes bushes. Result! 
Any half competant machinist with a lathe could make some given the right materials to be honest.
mat205125 said:
Got a contact who custom makes bushes. Result!
Any half competant machinist with a lathe could make some given the right materials to be honest.
Yeessss. Any half competant machinist with a lathe could make some given the right materials to be honest.
But Honda use differential-elasticity bushes to 'tweak' the ride and handling of a car, esp. their performance ones.
So unless you know the 'specifications' of each bush, and can find material to match, you're not going to get an exact replacement. It's the main reason why most S2000 owners are reluctant to go down the poly-bush route!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/POWERFLEX-SUSPENSION-BUSHES-...
http://www.j-w-racing.co.uk/acatalog/s2kbushes.htm...
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/list.asp?g=&s...
http://www.priracing.com/section.php?xSec=287
C'mon Bushes....here bushy bushes,,,, come and get your bushes...
http://www.j-w-racing.co.uk/acatalog/s2kbushes.htm...
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/list.asp?g=&s...
http://www.priracing.com/section.php?xSec=287
C'mon Bushes....here bushy bushes,,,, come and get your bushes...
I Hope that helps and it only took me a couple of mins to find those. Hopefully you can get rid of those lame standard bushes and replace them with proper ones. I can vouch for the powerflex bushes, they are very good, so far as to say they are better than whiteline (i've got both).
Your S2000 bushes are shedloads cheaper than Scooby ones...not fair really
Your S2000 bushes are shedloads cheaper than Scooby ones...not fair really
ScoobieWRX said:
I Hope that helps and it only took me a couple of mins to find those. Hopefully you can get rid of those lame standard bushes and replace them with proper ones. I can vouch for the powerflex bushes, they are very good, so far as to say they are better than whiteline (i've got both).
Your S2000 bushes are shedloads cheaper than Scooby ones...not fair really
Your S2000 bushes are shedloads cheaper than Scooby ones...not fair really
Not convinced they won't change the ride/handling balance of the car though, as all aftermarket ones tend to be stiffer, and the car is stiff enough, thank you very much (it already has a slight rear mismatch due to springs a bit stiffer than the dampers are matched for, from what I can tell...stiffer bushing would only exacerbate that).
...and those Spoon ones are hardly cheap, FFS! (Powerflex?!? :spit:
)
I bought my 2001 MY one last July. It had just been serviced by Honda at 45k miles before I bought it. Since then absolutely nothing has dropped off, broken, and it has never let me down. It's been a joy to own. In terms of running costs over the last 9k miles:
- Approx 240 miles to the tank
- 1/2 litre of oil every 1000 miles (checked weekly!!!)
- 2 x proper Bridgestone rear boots (£180)
- Front discs / pads (£120 parts and I've yet to fit them).
- Just had the big 54k mile service for £310 (oil, filters, diff oil etc. I supplied the plugs) at the local Honda dealer.
Not too bad all in I'd say
- Approx 240 miles to the tank
- 1/2 litre of oil every 1000 miles (checked weekly!!!)
- 2 x proper Bridgestone rear boots (£180)
- Front discs / pads (£120 parts and I've yet to fit them).
- Just had the big 54k mile service for £310 (oil, filters, diff oil etc. I supplied the plugs) at the local Honda dealer.
Not too bad all in I'd say
Edited by MoonMonkey on Saturday 26th May 15:14
1/2 litre of oil every 1000miles seems a lot to me. My Scooby uses next to bugger all oil and i only need to top it up slightly, maybe 1/2 litre every 4000 or so miles. These RX8's seem to be similar to the S2k's in that they use shedloads of oil too.
What is it about these cars that make them so heavy on oil?
What is it about these cars that make them so heavy on oil?
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