the s2k blog

Around 40k miles I started having an issue where under heavy deceleration, 2nd gear would occasionally pop out. I learned to just deal with it, and either hold the shift knob when i was breaking while in second, or just be in a different gear when I did. Apparently there is a problem with a number of 2004/2005 models having this issue and while Honda issued a TSB to have the 2nd gearset replaced if you were experiencing this problem, most of us with these model year cars no longer are under warranty.

Recently I did some searching and found this article about a simple fix:
http://forums.s2kca.com/showthread.php?t=31739

The idea is that doing a transmission fluid change, mixing 50/50 Honda MTF and Amsoil MTF somehow eliminates this problem. While i was skeptical, I needed to do a fluid change anyway, so I gave it a shot and so far after a couple weeks of trying to get the gear to pop out, it seems fixed! I’ll update this thread if the problem start reoccurring.

Here is a thread on how to change your transmission fluid:
http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=22&t=565855&st=

My stock air filter was quite dirty so I replaced it with the K&N filter. It was about twice as much as the OEM filter, but since it can be cleaned/re-oiled, has a lifetime warranty. There’s no noticeable difference in the sound and while it does feel a bit zippier, I think that’s mostly due to a new clean filter than any real differences between the two filters.

About 6 months ago, I noticed some dark brown oil that was leaking towards the rear of the car. Afraid that it was differential oil, i took a peak and noticed it was coming from the driver’s side rear differential mount. These oil-filled mounts have a tendency to crack and replacing them is pretty straight forward. It seems that the driver’s side is the one that cracks most often so I only replaced my broken one. In doing the replacement however, you need to remove both mounts so you might want to replace both if one is leaking.

Here is the cracked/leaking (actually since dried up… i drove on it broken for quite a while and honestly didn’t notice a difference)

Things you’ll need:

The design of this part of the car is pretty poor. If it was more thought-out, replacing this mount would be just a matter of unbolting and replacing. Unfortunately there are 3 things in the way of doing this, the exhaust, the sway bar and the lower part of the trunk. What we need to do is drop the exhaust (no need to remove, just unhook from the rubber hangers to lower enough), unbolt (again not remove) the sway bar to get it out of the way, and then lower the differential enough for the mount to clear the trunk bottom.

Step 1: Lower the exhaust

(I removed the two rear wheels for better access but I’m not sure if that was necessary or not, your call). Remove the two hangers that support each (left and right) exhaust cans. Use some wd-40 or liquid wrench to make this an easier process. I put a jack at the back of the exhaust can to gently raise it enough to make this simple. Once all 4 rubber hangers are removed, the exhaust will drop down about 3-4 inches (enough to give us the space we need.

Step 2: Lower the sway bar

The sway bar is also in the way of the mount, so now that the exhaust is out of the way, it’s easy to remove the 4 (2 on each side) bolts that are holding the bushings to the sub frame. Once these 4 bolts are removed, you can swing the sway bar either up or down to be out of your way.

Step 3: Unbolt both mounts

We need to unbolt the left and right mount because we need to lower the differential enough to get the mount off. At this point make sure to support the differential with a jack because we’re going to slowly lower it to pull our mount off and then we’ll need to raise it again to get it bolted back up.

Step 4: Replace Mount, Reattach Sway Bar and Exhaust

Remove the 19mm center bolt first and then the 4-14mm bolts second. Do this for both sides.

Once unbolted, you’ll notice that you can’t just slide the mount off, it’s still hitting the trunk space. With both L/R mounts unbolted, slide them forward so they’re out of the bracket, and slowly lower the differential until there’s enough clearance to slip the mount off and replace it with the new one. the left (driver’s side) mount is P/N: 50740-S2A-023.

With the new mount on, rebolt everything in the reverse order of removal. The 14mm bolts for the mount go on at 33 ft/lbs and then the 19mm bolt at 47 ft/lbs. The 14mm bolts for the sway bar bushings go on at 40ft/lbs.

Clean up, admire your work and go have a sandwich.

My brake light came on in my dash recently even though the hand brake was clearly down. I was afraid that something was wrong with the hand brake sensor, but I realized that the beeping sound (from leaving the hand brake up) wasn’t sounding, so i figured it was something else. As it turns out there is a separate sensor for brake fluid that also triggers that same light. I topped off the reservoir with some Dot 3/4 fluid and the light has gone away.

Just wanted to share in case anyone runs into the same confusing situation.

I found this picture recently and figured I’d follow up on the Hankook R-S2′s that I had on my s2000. They were really good tires for the price, but I didn’t get much life out of them. About 12,000 miles after I put them on, they were looking like this:

I ran 37lbs of pressure in them so they weren’t over inflated, but they were pretty squirly on anything but perfectly drive pavement at this point.

I replaced them with Sumitomo HTR Z III tires and so far am loving them. They were also really cheap and so far are showing very even and slow wear. I’ll follow up on them as I get more use out of them

Back in Southern Cali, the weather never got very cold, and here in my first winter in Dallas, we had the most snow on record. There was actually only a couple of days of bad snow, but the worst was at a record breaking 12.5″ within a 24 hour period. People tend to drive pretty bad here in general… when it rains it gets even worse, so you can only imagine what it was like in the snow. Fortunately I had no problems driving the S through the snow with my regular summer times on, except for the one day where I couldn’t even get it all the way out of the garage.

It had snowed all night and even though there was snow everywhere figured I’d give it a try. I backed it out of the garage, but soon realized I had no traction since there was ice under the snow. I had such little traction that I couldn’t even get it back into the garage. A neighbor who saw me rocking it helped push me in. I needed to get to work, so I just dusted all the snow off my wife’s car (who parks outside and has all-season tires on her Civic) and had no problem driving the 10 miles to work.

I do feel kind of bad exposing my beloved car to such extreme weather though :\

When I moved out to Dallas from Los Angeles a few months ago, one of the first things I did was get my insurance in order for my vehicles. I had been with Farmer’s ever since I turned 16, but figured with a new start in a new place, I might as well shop around for insurance as well. Finding the best rates on car insurance can be easy at carinsurancelist.com. I saved hundreds of dollars by switching to another insurance company with better coverage than I had before.

The weather is pretty different and can be a lot more extreme here in North Dallas, than anything I ever experienced in Los Angeles. Strong winds, tornadoes, and more commonly hail can do a lot of damage to a vehicle. It’s also getting pretty cold here and snowed for the first time this year. I’m not really sure what kind of damage hail does to a convertible top, but with as long as the hood is on the s2000, there’s plenty of surface area to do lots of damage. Dallas doesn’t get much snow that sticks, but when the temps are low enough, ice can make for some hazardous driving. I keep the s2000 garaged and have been taking the civic to work when the weather is bad, but it’s nice knowing that it’s insured in the event I ever get caught out in it.

I’ve got a few mods planned for the Spring, including a new top (maybe a hardtop?) and some new suspension. I figure I’ll wait until after my first Winter here to see how bad the weather gets and what, if any damage it does to the car.

I was putzing around on ebay and came across a good deal on this neuspeed strut bar so i picked it up. Just got it put on and posting up a pic. The frame of the s2000 is so rigid that i doubt it’ll make much difference, but it looks cool and was easy to install.

Installing is just a matter of removing the 14mm nuts that hold the top of the shock on, putting on the bar, and re-torquing the nuts to 22ft lbs.

Ok, I haven’t updated this site in a LONG time. I got relocated from sunny Southern California to VERY sunny Dallas Texas. There’s obviously a lot of differences between here and Los Angeles, Ca., but one of the biggest driving differences is cops and their radar guns. In my last post, from months ago, I installed a cheapo radar detector that I had lying around, and per the comment it was located in a rather poor place.

There’s actually a lot to radar placement, and the comment that it was too low to be effective was only partially right. For lidar detection, you want the detector to be placed as low as possible, and for radar as high as possible. Since lidar is rarely picked up in time in either case, placing it higher for regular radar (which at least here in North Texas seems to be what the cops are using) is the way to go.

I know the Valentine V1 has long been revered as the best radar detector, but at pricey $500, the second highest rated Escort 8500 x50 was the route I took. I got a good deal on an open box one at Best Buy, without the power cord or suction cup (which i wouldn’t have used anyway) for about $160. The s2000 has a very small window, so I didn’t want to place it under the rear view mirror. instead, I ordered the visor mount and hard wire kit from Escort (available on Amazon for about $15 for the pair), and the install is clean and so far the detection seems very effective.

Unlike Los Angeles where most of the times the cops get you from pacing your speed. Out here cops stand out with their radar gun, ready to chase you down. Since there are so few hills or curves or anything out here to obstruct line of site for the detector, i’ve noticed quite a few seconds, and as much as 20 or 30 seconds or so of heads up before a trap.

I had this in my Acura a few years ago and figured I might as well install it in the S since it was just laying around. I’d like to think in all the years I had it in my Integra that it saved me at least a couple of times. Most of the time it’s only good for finding the entrance to the supermarket, but every now and then, particularly on the highway, it’ll warn me of an upcoming trap.

On the left side of the dash, it doesn’t interfere with anything and is within reach to adjust the audio or turn it off altogether if I want to. I removed the plastic housing on the A-pillar so that I could route the wires down under the dash and connect it to the ignition, so it automatically turns on when I start the car. I also used some braided wire housing to give it a clean look.