Hello everyone. I'm a long time reader...first time poster.

I'm looking into purchasing a '00 S2000 with a leaking intake manifold gasket (it's hissing). I'm curious as to the repair cost of this...I'm assuming it will be in the 600-800 range.

I know it's a fairly easy procedure aside from the messiness and reataching the manifold (bolt sequence and torque specs)...I've just never done this before and I don't want to destroy anything. Would I be better off taking it to my mechanic? I'm also not sure if any coolant is leaking into the engine. What should I expect as far as worst case scenario?

thanks a bunch,
Jay

 

hondata

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fknfast &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hondata </TD></TR></TABLE>

sucks???


The runnners dont match up very well at all. I have looked at 3 of them after they were put in and you can see where the runners dont match up

 

whats good then?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blkturbos2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

sucks???

The runnners dont match up very well at all. I have looked at 3 of them after they were put in and you can see where the runners dont match up</TD></TR></TABLE>

out of the hundreds of people that have it.... this is the first time i've ever heard it it not matching up properly....

if you're going to say something sucks cause of yada yada reason, at least give an alternative product to it...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kendash &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hello everyone. I'm a long time reader...first time poster.

I'm looking into purchasing a '00 S2000 with a leaking intake manifold gasket (it's hissing). I'm curious as to the repair cost of this...I'm assuming it will be in the 600-800 range.

I know it's a fairly easy procedure aside from the messiness and reataching the manifold (bolt sequence and torque specs)...I've just never done this before and I don't want to destroy anything. Would I be better off taking it to my mechanic? I'm also not sure if any coolant is leaking into the engine. What should I expect as far as worst case scenario?

thanks a bunch,
Jay

</TD></TR></TABLE>

There are simply too many unknowns. Simple rule is if the IM is OEM, be cautious of further damage. There's no service bulletin (that I'm aware) for the manifold.

How old is the seller? How many miles? Does the car have an accident history? If any of these are questionable, you may just want to spend $40.00 and have your trusted mechanic check it out (if the seller permits). IM and gasket are $350.00 - $400.00 plus labor. I've never replaced one nor have my collegues. Hope that helps you out.

EDIT: I asked around a bit. Has this car ever been boosted?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 03s2kblue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

out of the hundreds of people that have it.... this is the first time i've ever heard it it not matching up properly....

if you're going to say something sucks cause of yada yada reason, at least give an alternative product to it...</TD></TR></TABLE>

how many people do you know that have them??? How many of them really look at stuff like that. Also, how many people have taken there intake mani back off after they put the Hondata one on? Call Inline and ask John about it. They had one on a civic and had to take that one off also. It was killing the air flow. There was alot of the gasket still in the runner. I use a stock gasket, I dont see why that one wont work just fine???

 

Thanks for the input.

The seller is a kid unfortunately (18). He has owned the car for roughly a year and has done nothing to it since purchase...that does not rule out the possibility of the owner before him having done something to it...if the car has been boosted, I wouldnt be able to find out from the current owner.

The car has 67k on the odo. No accident history. On top of the bad gasket, it throws a P420 code (bad cat/or exhaust leak). Everything else checks out visually...I would really have to take it to my mechanic to have it throughly diagnosed.

You mentioned "further damage"...considering what's wrong with the car now, what else might I expect?

 

Bad cat/exaust manifold could happen if the car was too low and took a couple hits. Any visual damage to the cat? Is it spitting up carbon out the exhaust? If you can get under the car, tap the cat and listen for anything loose inside.

Do you think the car hit redline quite a bit? Could be looking at problems with the clutch and syncros, depending on how it was driven. Possible engine damage (way out there speculating).

Personally, based on what you've told me, I'd pass on the offer unless it's sub-15K.

 

Well, the kid tells me that for the year he's had it he "drove it how it should be driven". So if that's not a red flag, I must be blind.

Regardless, upon first impression, the car felt/sounded fine to me. I've driven an '05 S so my comparison was only based on a minty new S...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blkturbos2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

how many people do you know that have them??? How many of them really look at stuff like that. Also, how many people have taken there intake mani back off after they put the Hondata one on? Call Inline and ask John about it. They had one on a civic and had to take that one off also. It was killing the air flow. There was alot of the gasket still in the runner. I use a stock gasket, I dont see why that one wont work just fine???</TD></TR></TABLE>

i know of 4 people that have them.. and no complaints from them...

and about inline i wouldn't trust them to install anything on my car... way to many horror stories about them taking short cuts and missing things they should do to prep the motor before final install.....don't get me wrong they do wonders on their own cars but when it comes to customers cars they tend to slack off at times..... so it wouldn't surprise me that the messed up hondata gasket was due to poor installation... (which will be my asumption if inline is your source)

 

if you took y=the time to cut the gasket it will work fine. Like I said, how many of these guys that you know have taken the gasket BACK OFF? When you take it back off you will see where teh carbon starts to build up on the overhang of the gasket. Like i said, if you shave it im sure it will be fine

 

You should port match gaskets before you install them anyways. If they didn't trim it like they should, then that would explain the gaskets/flashings in the runners. I like to take on things like that myself, then I can't blame anyone for shitty work.