hello all, I have a 02 s2000 and recently noticed it sounded a bit off, I took the car in to have a compression test done to find out that cylinder 4 has zero. I was told that my best bet would be to try and find a new motor rather than rebuild it due to cost being roughly the same for both and for the fact that because it hasn't been torn down yet we're uncertain of the reason behind the lack of compression (hole in cylinder/piston). just wanted to get your guys input on this matter as I look to source a new to me motor and tranny combo. thank you.

 

Probably a broken or bent valve?

 

Scope the cylinder... maybe you can see if the problem is valve related or piston related.

 

both great suggestions. ill try them out and see what I find

 

A rebuild is always better than gambling on a used motor.

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how much does a standard rebuild cost usually?

 

It'll depend on how much you can do yourself, how much a machine shop will have to do and what all is needed. First things first, diagnose the engine and find out why you have zero compression in the one cylinder.

 

A good technician will be able to tell you where the loss of compression is coming from and pinpoint where the mechanical issue is... good luck.

 

Definitely pull the plugs and run a scope. If it's a valve issue that would be worth the time to fix rather than swapping the entire engine.

That's a huge over generalization, and quite possibly not true for a F20C engine. Most members on S2KI are known to prefer engine swaps as opposed to rebuilding blown engines like this since the only viable aftermarket pistons (if that's the issue) are Mahle and those still require some special bore/honing to get installed correctly with the FRM sleeves.

Not to mention if you buy a used engine from a reputable vendor like Hmotorsonline or something similar and make sure it's compression/leak down tested first, you're not even close to taking a "gamble" on it...

Salvage what you can from your current engine regardless of what ends up happening.

Edit: Actually I'm pretty sure you can still even pick up new F22 engines from Honda by certain dealerships. May also be worth looking into that.