My son has a 2002 Honda S2000 w/80K mi he has had since 49k. It just began giving him trouble starting. He bought new stock NGK plugs. We installed them & tried to start the car, it started right up but had a wandering idle, up & down from about 1K to 2K. Above that it revved cleanly.
The old plugs were opened up to about .08" (guessing) & the center electrode was way-worn. I figured that perhaps the engine management was still set for the old worn plugs. I told my son we could let the car 're-learn' by disconnecting the negative ground. In the meantime, I suggested a trip around the block. We let the engine get up to operating temperature and since the engine was running properly, I asked him to let it hit the VTEC range. We were on a branch road w/no traffic ahead, and from a slow roll he let it wind (redline is 9000 rpm). It hit the 7000 rpm range & kept climbing like my buddy's Porsche Turbo in the speed it blew thru to 9K. He caught second, and again, rapid revs until 7K, and the needle flew to 9K, and he backed out, shifting to third and easing back omto the gas.
I asked him if he had ever changed the plugs since he owned it & he said, 'no,' then I asked him if it was running as well as at any time since he had it. He said, 'yes, and probably better!' Also, no more wandering idle! Seems as though the engine management was able to adjust to the new plugs after a couple trips to redline. He took it on a 35 mi. ride and said, 'no problems, runs great, no idle issues!' so it looks like things are better.
Now I have driven the car around town a bit but never had it for a longer time on the road, never did anything through > 3 gears. I was very impressed with how it ran and will be asking to borrow it in the future! Apart from a turbo, it's the closest normally-aspirated thrill ride I have had to VBoost.
The old plugs were opened up to about .08" (guessing) & the center electrode was way-worn. I figured that perhaps the engine management was still set for the old worn plugs. I told my son we could let the car 're-learn' by disconnecting the negative ground. In the meantime, I suggested a trip around the block. We let the engine get up to operating temperature and since the engine was running properly, I asked him to let it hit the VTEC range. We were on a branch road w/no traffic ahead, and from a slow roll he let it wind (redline is 9000 rpm). It hit the 7000 rpm range & kept climbing like my buddy's Porsche Turbo in the speed it blew thru to 9K. He caught second, and again, rapid revs until 7K, and the needle flew to 9K, and he backed out, shifting to third and easing back omto the gas.
I asked him if he had ever changed the plugs since he owned it & he said, 'no,' then I asked him if it was running as well as at any time since he had it. He said, 'yes, and probably better!' Also, no more wandering idle! Seems as though the engine management was able to adjust to the new plugs after a couple trips to redline. He took it on a 35 mi. ride and said, 'no problems, runs great, no idle issues!' so it looks like things are better.
Now I have driven the car around town a bit but never had it for a longer time on the road, never did anything through > 3 gears. I was very impressed with how it ran and will be asking to borrow it in the future! Apart from a turbo, it's the closest normally-aspirated thrill ride I have had to VBoost.
