2002 Honda CRV - Shed Thread Directed
Discussion
Rather than clog up the shed thread I thought I would do a quick reader's rides.
A few weeks ago I needed a car to act as the family wheels, it had to be automatic, big enough for 3 child seats in the back and a boot to take a double pushchair. Only needs to last us until mid December, so was browsing the shed thread and a generation 2 Honda CRV (2002-2006) was recommended.
I tried to buy one for £1500, but in the middle of the dealer sending me photos on WhatsApp someone else bought it. A few days later I spent a bit more than I was planning and paid £2k for one with ~72k miles, good MOT history and a full service record with invoices. Downsides were that it needed new tyres on the front, aircon doesn't blow cold and the rear driver side electric window doesn't work. Drive home was fine, it doesn't like corners, but is more car like than I expected.
Car seats fit 3 across if you're OK with not using ISOFIX.
Boot is a decent size.
I immediately put 4 new Vredstein all season tyres on it with the best of the rears going on the spare.
I also realised that I didn't want to run it as a shed and would spend a bit of time fixing a few little faults that I noticed when I'd had it a few days.
A few weeks ago I needed a car to act as the family wheels, it had to be automatic, big enough for 3 child seats in the back and a boot to take a double pushchair. Only needs to last us until mid December, so was browsing the shed thread and a generation 2 Honda CRV (2002-2006) was recommended.
I tried to buy one for £1500, but in the middle of the dealer sending me photos on WhatsApp someone else bought it. A few days later I spent a bit more than I was planning and paid £2k for one with ~72k miles, good MOT history and a full service record with invoices. Downsides were that it needed new tyres on the front, aircon doesn't blow cold and the rear driver side electric window doesn't work. Drive home was fine, it doesn't like corners, but is more car like than I expected.
Car seats fit 3 across if you're OK with not using ISOFIX.
Boot is a decent size.
I immediately put 4 new Vredstein all season tyres on it with the best of the rears going on the spare.
I also realised that I didn't want to run it as a shed and would spend a bit of time fixing a few little faults that I noticed when I'd had it a few days.
Shed owning FR-V owner here signing in to follow!
We bought out FR-V on 60k miles and have put the same amount on it. It's now worth bugger all and we tow a caravan with it, so am considering a CRV as a replacement.
It being a Honda it has been mega reliable apart from needing a new clutch at 100k, and a new exhaust back box at 110k, plus brake pads/discs/tyres.
Hopefully you'll be able to report similar low cost running.
We bought out FR-V on 60k miles and have put the same amount on it. It's now worth bugger all and we tow a caravan with it, so am considering a CRV as a replacement.
It being a Honda it has been mega reliable apart from needing a new clutch at 100k, and a new exhaust back box at 110k, plus brake pads/discs/tyres.
Hopefully you'll be able to report similar low cost running.
After happily driving around for a week I decided to give it a good clean and thought I would start by checking for mud inside the arches, there was a bit in the rear, but then I spotted that the side skirts were full of mud and my heart sank.
That photo is after I'd spilled half of the mud already, the plastic wheel arch and side skirt trim were hiding rust.
The horrible feeling of jabbing your new purchase with a screwdriver while it crumbles like a cheap biscuit meant I didn't actually take any photos of after the investigation, but I was left with 2 holes on the passenger side and significant sections of multiple panels missing on the driver side.
For completeness I pulled off all the plastic trim and found this mess behind the front wheel arch liners.
Passenger side hadn't crumbled, but had fairly deep surface rust.
I have no welding skills at all, so found a local mechanic who does MOT repair style welding and agreed with him that I wanted a sturdy repair, but it didn't have to look fantastic as it's all hidden behind trim. I wire brushed everything back to bare metal and dropped the car off for a few days.
I would be doing the paint myself with rattle cans from Xtreme Auto Accessories and ordered some Bilt Hamber Deox gel and Electrox primer.
I felt a bit unhappy with the car and myself for not spotting it before buying, I have a strong dislike for rust after it killed my lovely old mk1 MX5. I reasoned that it just goes with the territory of buying 20 year old sheds though!
That photo is after I'd spilled half of the mud already, the plastic wheel arch and side skirt trim were hiding rust.
The horrible feeling of jabbing your new purchase with a screwdriver while it crumbles like a cheap biscuit meant I didn't actually take any photos of after the investigation, but I was left with 2 holes on the passenger side and significant sections of multiple panels missing on the driver side.
For completeness I pulled off all the plastic trim and found this mess behind the front wheel arch liners.
Passenger side hadn't crumbled, but had fairly deep surface rust.
I have no welding skills at all, so found a local mechanic who does MOT repair style welding and agreed with him that I wanted a sturdy repair, but it didn't have to look fantastic as it's all hidden behind trim. I wire brushed everything back to bare metal and dropped the car off for a few days.
I would be doing the paint myself with rattle cans from Xtreme Auto Accessories and ordered some Bilt Hamber Deox gel and Electrox primer.
I felt a bit unhappy with the car and myself for not spotting it before buying, I have a strong dislike for rust after it killed my lovely old mk1 MX5. I reasoned that it just goes with the territory of buying 20 year old sheds though!
I'm a bit hesitant to put up photos of after the repair as it looks terrible, but there are a couple of things that add to that:
First is that I decided that I wouldn't use filler to smooth things out as it's all hidden and I know it can be a bit of a moisture trap.
Second is that the use of Tiger Seal seam sealer has been quite liberal as there were quite a few weld seams to cover, particularly on the driver side rear.
Overall I'm happy that it's safer and will live on for a few more years.
While I had the paint out I thought I would tidy up the driver door threshold where the paint had rubbed away over time. All the paperwork, MOTs and condition of the rest of the interior make me believe the 72k mileage, so not sure what caused this. I know the original owner who had the car for most of it's life was pretty old, so maybe metal walking stick?
Probably could have done with more sanding and / or a high build primer to remove all traces, but it looks a lot better.
The side skirts have metal clips on that the front arch trim and mudflap screw into, these had rusted to bits, so I had to make some new ones with sheet steel. Worked well, but I think I need to put some kind of finish on to stop them quickly rusting, any suggestions?
I also found that most of the side skirt lower trim clips were broken, so found a pack of 20 on eBay for £3.50 delivered. Exactly the same shape as the original ones, but feel like slightly more brittle.
It felt good to pop the trim back on and forget about that whole episode.
First is that I decided that I wouldn't use filler to smooth things out as it's all hidden and I know it can be a bit of a moisture trap.
Second is that the use of Tiger Seal seam sealer has been quite liberal as there were quite a few weld seams to cover, particularly on the driver side rear.
Overall I'm happy that it's safer and will live on for a few more years.
While I had the paint out I thought I would tidy up the driver door threshold where the paint had rubbed away over time. All the paperwork, MOTs and condition of the rest of the interior make me believe the 72k mileage, so not sure what caused this. I know the original owner who had the car for most of it's life was pretty old, so maybe metal walking stick?
Probably could have done with more sanding and / or a high build primer to remove all traces, but it looks a lot better.
The side skirts have metal clips on that the front arch trim and mudflap screw into, these had rusted to bits, so I had to make some new ones with sheet steel. Worked well, but I think I need to put some kind of finish on to stop them quickly rusting, any suggestions?
I also found that most of the side skirt lower trim clips were broken, so found a pack of 20 on eBay for £3.50 delivered. Exactly the same shape as the original ones, but feel like slightly more brittle.
It felt good to pop the trim back on and forget about that whole episode.
When I ordered my Bilt Hamber rust remover and primer I decided to add some Dynax S-50 cavity wax and Dynax UC clear wax to my order. I had always been put off trying to Waxoil a car at home after hearing what an awful messy job it was.
I was pleasantly surprised. The Dynax S-50 can is like a double height spray can and comes with a fairly narrow 60cm long tube with some kind of nozzle on the end. I found that 1 can was enough to do the inside of all the sills, chassis box sections and hollow subframe components. It's a mid brown colour.
It was around 18 degrees outside when I did it, it's fairly runny when sprayed, but doesn't seem to run too badly if I was careful about timing the spray. I just put a tarpaulin down and poked the tube into holes and sprayed while slowly pulling the tube back out.
A day later and any runs had dried to a waxy finish, so I assume that's what it's like inside. No idea if it's useful when a car is already this old, but it is fairly cheap at ~£15 a can and much easier to use than I expected. I would definitely do it again on future cars, I would stick some tape about 10cm from the end of the tube next time so I know when I've nearly pulled it out.
I have only used the Dynax UC clear stuff to cover behind the arch liners and plastic trim panels so far, I found it a little more awkward to apply and ended up using a rag to smear it around. I think that's just because the tight spaces and smaller coverage areas make it hard to be accurate. I'm planning to use it to cover the bottom of the chassis, floor plan, etc...
I was pleasantly surprised. The Dynax S-50 can is like a double height spray can and comes with a fairly narrow 60cm long tube with some kind of nozzle on the end. I found that 1 can was enough to do the inside of all the sills, chassis box sections and hollow subframe components. It's a mid brown colour.
It was around 18 degrees outside when I did it, it's fairly runny when sprayed, but doesn't seem to run too badly if I was careful about timing the spray. I just put a tarpaulin down and poked the tube into holes and sprayed while slowly pulling the tube back out.
A day later and any runs had dried to a waxy finish, so I assume that's what it's like inside. No idea if it's useful when a car is already this old, but it is fairly cheap at ~£15 a can and much easier to use than I expected. I would definitely do it again on future cars, I would stick some tape about 10cm from the end of the tube next time so I know when I've nearly pulled it out.
I have only used the Dynax UC clear stuff to cover behind the arch liners and plastic trim panels so far, I found it a little more awkward to apply and ended up using a rag to smear it around. I think that's just because the tight spaces and smaller coverage areas make it hard to be accurate. I'm planning to use it to cover the bottom of the chassis, floor plan, etc...
I'd started to forgive the car, so treated it to some free fixes.
The boot open switch wasn't working; the boot light wasn't coming on when the door was open and the central locking would lock again as it didn't think you had opened any doors.
It's just a little metal L-shape on a sprung bracket that gets pushed when the door is closed.
Held on with a single screw you access by pushing the switch back and just a single wire connected. I presume it just completes a circuit to earth / chassis.
It was just a bit rusty, cleaned with a bit of Deox gel and some sandpaper and all working again.
The drivers seat had a slight rocking motion when accelerating or braking as if something was loose at the front between the seat base and the seat rails.
This bolt circled in red was a bit loose, this is part of the seat height mechanism. Tightening it reduces the play, but it is still there very slightly. I think there is a little bit of wear on the mechanism and it's very slightly widened a hole. It's reduced the rocking motion to almost nothing though and I only really notice now on entering or exiting the car.
The driver seatbelt was slow to retract on the last couple of feet of webbing, YouTube videos suggested that this was because the belt was dirty and the dirt was causing the roll to be slightly bigger and lose the spring tension early. Others said the mechanism itself was dirty or you could just spray silicone lubricant on the belt.
I decided to try cleaning first and stuck the middle portion of the belt in a bucket of hot water with some washing up liquid and laundry detergent. After soaking for an hour I gently scrubbed it with a nail brush, then rinsed it, dried it with a towel, hair dried it, then let it fully dry overnight. Now works perfectly!
Very satisfying when you fix things for free.
The boot open switch wasn't working; the boot light wasn't coming on when the door was open and the central locking would lock again as it didn't think you had opened any doors.
It's just a little metal L-shape on a sprung bracket that gets pushed when the door is closed.
Held on with a single screw you access by pushing the switch back and just a single wire connected. I presume it just completes a circuit to earth / chassis.
It was just a bit rusty, cleaned with a bit of Deox gel and some sandpaper and all working again.
The drivers seat had a slight rocking motion when accelerating or braking as if something was loose at the front between the seat base and the seat rails.
This bolt circled in red was a bit loose, this is part of the seat height mechanism. Tightening it reduces the play, but it is still there very slightly. I think there is a little bit of wear on the mechanism and it's very slightly widened a hole. It's reduced the rocking motion to almost nothing though and I only really notice now on entering or exiting the car.
The driver seatbelt was slow to retract on the last couple of feet of webbing, YouTube videos suggested that this was because the belt was dirty and the dirt was causing the roll to be slightly bigger and lose the spring tension early. Others said the mechanism itself was dirty or you could just spray silicone lubricant on the belt.
I decided to try cleaning first and stuck the middle portion of the belt in a bucket of hot water with some washing up liquid and laundry detergent. After soaking for an hour I gently scrubbed it with a nail brush, then rinsed it, dried it with a towel, hair dried it, then let it fully dry overnight. Now works perfectly!
Very satisfying when you fix things for free.
Final post to bring it up to date and to write down the details for me. This is a photo of the nicely arranged invoices that came with the car, it has had a service every year, with the main supplying dealer until 2016!
When reading it through, what this actually means is that it has had lots of inspections, oil & oil filter every year and air filter & spark plugs every 2 years. No record with the main dealer of brake fluid, coolant, diff fluid, transmission fluid, cabin filter, etc...
The previous owner had the diff fluid replaced at an Indie a couple of years ago and a few brake jobs mean that at least some of the brake fluid will be newer.
The last record of oil change in January 2018 suggests that the oil used was semi-synthetic, so although it's only done ~3000 miles since then that was my first service job with some 0W-20 synthetic Triple QX from CarParts4Less, along with Mann oil filter, air filter and cabin filter. One consequence of this being an SUV is that I could drain the oil with the car just sat on the ground. I pulled all the spark plugs and they look fine, they've only done 11k miles.
That leaves me with:
Automatic Transmission Fluid; it's recommended at 10 years / ~75k miles that you flush / change this by draining and filling 3 times in a row with a quick drive between as you can't drain the whole system. Takes around 3 to 3.5 litres per fill, so I need 10 litres. A shed thread owner recommended you use Honda supplied fluid, but that's going to be ~£110, Comma MVATF would be £55 from Amazon and says it meets the correct Honda ATF DW-1 specification. No idea if I should leave it for the next owner as I only need the car until mid December, or get it done. There are no signs of problems.
Coolant; Honda 5 litres of pre-mixed for £18, or CarParts4Less Triple QX blue for £10 before whatever discount code they're doing. Deionised water is really cheap in the supermarket if I fancy doing a flush.
Brake Fluid; £10 for 500ml from Honda, not sure if I'll need a second bottle.
Power Steering Fluid; £14 for 1 litre from Honda.
Clearly Honda don't make fluids themselves and I should be careful with my money, but car manufacturer marketing departments have done well and I can't help feeling I should just pay a bit extra or I might regret it!
I'm tempted to get some piston and slide pin replacement / rebuild kits for the front brakes from eBay for around £30 per side. They're not showing signs of sticking, but they have a reputation for it and the rears have had the driver side replaced and the passenger side rebuilt 2 years ago. It's also a job I've never done and fancy having a go.
It looks like there also might be a Valve adjustment on Honda K-series engines to be done every so often, if I find my feeler gauges I might research that a bit more.
When reading it through, what this actually means is that it has had lots of inspections, oil & oil filter every year and air filter & spark plugs every 2 years. No record with the main dealer of brake fluid, coolant, diff fluid, transmission fluid, cabin filter, etc...
The previous owner had the diff fluid replaced at an Indie a couple of years ago and a few brake jobs mean that at least some of the brake fluid will be newer.
The last record of oil change in January 2018 suggests that the oil used was semi-synthetic, so although it's only done ~3000 miles since then that was my first service job with some 0W-20 synthetic Triple QX from CarParts4Less, along with Mann oil filter, air filter and cabin filter. One consequence of this being an SUV is that I could drain the oil with the car just sat on the ground. I pulled all the spark plugs and they look fine, they've only done 11k miles.
That leaves me with:
Automatic Transmission Fluid; it's recommended at 10 years / ~75k miles that you flush / change this by draining and filling 3 times in a row with a quick drive between as you can't drain the whole system. Takes around 3 to 3.5 litres per fill, so I need 10 litres. A shed thread owner recommended you use Honda supplied fluid, but that's going to be ~£110, Comma MVATF would be £55 from Amazon and says it meets the correct Honda ATF DW-1 specification. No idea if I should leave it for the next owner as I only need the car until mid December, or get it done. There are no signs of problems.
Coolant; Honda 5 litres of pre-mixed for £18, or CarParts4Less Triple QX blue for £10 before whatever discount code they're doing. Deionised water is really cheap in the supermarket if I fancy doing a flush.
Brake Fluid; £10 for 500ml from Honda, not sure if I'll need a second bottle.
Power Steering Fluid; £14 for 1 litre from Honda.
Clearly Honda don't make fluids themselves and I should be careful with my money, but car manufacturer marketing departments have done well and I can't help feeling I should just pay a bit extra or I might regret it!
I'm tempted to get some piston and slide pin replacement / rebuild kits for the front brakes from eBay for around £30 per side. They're not showing signs of sticking, but they have a reputation for it and the rears have had the driver side replaced and the passenger side rebuilt 2 years ago. It's also a job I've never done and fancy having a go.
It looks like there also might be a Valve adjustment on Honda K-series engines to be done every so often, if I find my feeler gauges I might research that a bit more.
grantone said:
After happily driving around for a week I decided to give it a good clean and thought I would start by checking for mud inside the arches, there was a bit in the rear, but then I spotted that the side skirts were full of mud and my heart sank.
That photo is after I'd spilled half of the mud already, the plastic wheel arch and side skirt trim were hiding rust.
The horrible feeling of jabbing your new purchase with a screwdriver while it crumbles like a cheap biscuit meant I didn't actually take any photos of after the investigation, but I was left with 2 holes on the passenger side and significant sections of multiple panels missing on the driver side.
For completeness I pulled off all the plastic trim and found this mess behind the front wheel arch liners.
Passenger side hadn't crumbled, but had fairly deep surface rust.
I have no welding skills at all, so found a local mechanic who does MOT repair style welding and agreed with him that I wanted a sturdy repair, but it didn't have to look fantastic as it's all hidden behind trim. I wire brushed everything back to bare metal and dropped the car off for a few days.
I would be doing the paint myself with rattle cans from Xtreme Auto Accessories and ordered some Bilt Hamber Deox gel and Electrox primer.
I felt a bit unhappy with the car and myself for not spotting it before buying, I have a strong dislike for rust after it killed my lovely old mk1 MX5. I reasoned that it just goes with the territory of buying 20 year old sheds though!
Genuinely surprised at seeing that. I thought the Gen 2 was far more resilient to rust. Mine is the same age and I've seen no signs of rust really, but I may investigate further just in case... Made me worry a bit!That photo is after I'd spilled half of the mud already, the plastic wheel arch and side skirt trim were hiding rust.
The horrible feeling of jabbing your new purchase with a screwdriver while it crumbles like a cheap biscuit meant I didn't actually take any photos of after the investigation, but I was left with 2 holes on the passenger side and significant sections of multiple panels missing on the driver side.
For completeness I pulled off all the plastic trim and found this mess behind the front wheel arch liners.
Passenger side hadn't crumbled, but had fairly deep surface rust.
I have no welding skills at all, so found a local mechanic who does MOT repair style welding and agreed with him that I wanted a sturdy repair, but it didn't have to look fantastic as it's all hidden behind trim. I wire brushed everything back to bare metal and dropped the car off for a few days.
I would be doing the paint myself with rattle cans from Xtreme Auto Accessories and ordered some Bilt Hamber Deox gel and Electrox primer.
I felt a bit unhappy with the car and myself for not spotting it before buying, I have a strong dislike for rust after it killed my lovely old mk1 MX5. I reasoned that it just goes with the territory of buying 20 year old sheds though!
Can't say I've every actually taken any of the plastic coverings off. I assume they are easy to get off? Might do that later and have a proper look.
Edited by gman88667733 on Wednesday 23 September 08:46
grantone said:
I'd started to forgive the car, so treated it to some free fixes.
The boot open switch wasn't working; the boot light wasn't coming on when the door was open and the central locking would lock again as it didn't think you had opened any doors.
It's just a little metal L-shape on a sprung bracket that gets pushed when the door is closed.
Held on with a single screw you access by pushing the switch back and just a single wire connected. I presume it just completes a circuit to earth / chassis.
It was just a bit rusty, cleaned with a bit of Deox gel and some sandpaper and all working again.
The drivers seat had a slight rocking motion when accelerating or braking as if something was loose at the front between the seat base and the seat rails.
This bolt circled in red was a bit loose, this is part of the seat height mechanism. Tightening it reduces the play, but it is still there very slightly. I think there is a little bit of wear on the mechanism and it's very slightly widened a hole. It's reduced the rocking motion to almost nothing though and I only really notice now on entering or exiting the car.
The driver seatbelt was slow to retract on the last couple of feet of webbing, YouTube videos suggested that this was because the belt was dirty and the dirt was causing the roll to be slightly bigger and lose the spring tension early. Others said the mechanism itself was dirty or you could just spray silicone lubricant on the belt.
I decided to try cleaning first and stuck the middle portion of the belt in a bucket of hot water with some washing up liquid and laundry detergent. After soaking for an hour I gently scrubbed it with a nail brush, then rinsed it, dried it with a towel, hair dried it, then let it fully dry overnight. Now works perfectly!
Very satisfying when you fix things for free.
My driver seat has rocked like yours since I've had it and it drives me nuts. I will give this a go! It was a proper recall in the states due to a bearing in one of the adjustments I believe.The boot open switch wasn't working; the boot light wasn't coming on when the door was open and the central locking would lock again as it didn't think you had opened any doors.
It's just a little metal L-shape on a sprung bracket that gets pushed when the door is closed.
Held on with a single screw you access by pushing the switch back and just a single wire connected. I presume it just completes a circuit to earth / chassis.
It was just a bit rusty, cleaned with a bit of Deox gel and some sandpaper and all working again.
The drivers seat had a slight rocking motion when accelerating or braking as if something was loose at the front between the seat base and the seat rails.
This bolt circled in red was a bit loose, this is part of the seat height mechanism. Tightening it reduces the play, but it is still there very slightly. I think there is a little bit of wear on the mechanism and it's very slightly widened a hole. It's reduced the rocking motion to almost nothing though and I only really notice now on entering or exiting the car.
The driver seatbelt was slow to retract on the last couple of feet of webbing, YouTube videos suggested that this was because the belt was dirty and the dirt was causing the roll to be slightly bigger and lose the spring tension early. Others said the mechanism itself was dirty or you could just spray silicone lubricant on the belt.
I decided to try cleaning first and stuck the middle portion of the belt in a bucket of hot water with some washing up liquid and laundry detergent. After soaking for an hour I gently scrubbed it with a nail brush, then rinsed it, dried it with a towel, hair dried it, then let it fully dry overnight. Now works perfectly!
Very satisfying when you fix things for free.
grantone said:
Final post to bring it up to date and to write down the details for me. This is a photo of the nicely arranged invoices that came with the car, it has had a service every year, with the main supplying dealer until 2016!
When reading it through, what this actually means is that it has had lots of inspections, oil & oil filter every year and air filter & spark plugs every 2 years. No record with the main dealer of brake fluid, coolant, diff fluid, transmission fluid, cabin filter, etc...
The previous owner had the diff fluid replaced at an Indie a couple of years ago and a few brake jobs mean that at least some of the brake fluid will be newer.
The last record of oil change in January 2018 suggests that the oil used was semi-synthetic, so although it's only done ~3000 miles since then that was my first service job with some 0W-20 synthetic Triple QX from CarParts4Less, along with Mann oil filter, air filter and cabin filter. One consequence of this being an SUV is that I could drain the oil with the car just sat on the ground. I pulled all the spark plugs and they look fine, they've only done 11k miles.
That leaves me with:
Automatic Transmission Fluid; it's recommended at 10 years / ~75k miles that you flush / change this by draining and filling 3 times in a row with a quick drive between as you can't drain the whole system. Takes around 3 to 3.5 litres per fill, so I need 10 litres. A shed thread owner recommended you use Honda supplied fluid, but that's going to be ~£110, Comma MVATF would be £55 from Amazon and says it meets the correct Honda ATF DW-1 specification. No idea if I should leave it for the next owner as I only need the car until mid December, or get it done. There are no signs of problems.
Coolant; Honda 5 litres of pre-mixed for £18, or CarParts4Less Triple QX blue for £10 before whatever discount code they're doing. Deionised water is really cheap in the supermarket if I fancy doing a flush.
Brake Fluid; £10 for 500ml from Honda, not sure if I'll need a second bottle.
Power Steering Fluid; £14 for 1 litre from Honda.
Clearly Honda don't make fluids themselves and I should be careful with my money, but car manufacturer marketing departments have done well and I can't help feeling I should just pay a bit extra or I might regret it!
I'm tempted to get some piston and slide pin replacement / rebuild kits for the front brakes from eBay for around £30 per side. They're not showing signs of sticking, but they have a reputation for it and the rears have had the driver side replaced and the passenger side rebuilt 2 years ago. It's also a job I've never done and fancy having a go.
It looks like there also might be a Valve adjustment on Honda K-series engines to be done every so often, if I find my feeler gauges I might research that a bit more.
If you're going to do the transmission fluid, I would only use genuine Honda fluid, these transmissions do not like anything else. I can't stress that enough! I know it is a shed, but for the sake for £50...When reading it through, what this actually means is that it has had lots of inspections, oil & oil filter every year and air filter & spark plugs every 2 years. No record with the main dealer of brake fluid, coolant, diff fluid, transmission fluid, cabin filter, etc...
The previous owner had the diff fluid replaced at an Indie a couple of years ago and a few brake jobs mean that at least some of the brake fluid will be newer.
The last record of oil change in January 2018 suggests that the oil used was semi-synthetic, so although it's only done ~3000 miles since then that was my first service job with some 0W-20 synthetic Triple QX from CarParts4Less, along with Mann oil filter, air filter and cabin filter. One consequence of this being an SUV is that I could drain the oil with the car just sat on the ground. I pulled all the spark plugs and they look fine, they've only done 11k miles.
That leaves me with:
Automatic Transmission Fluid; it's recommended at 10 years / ~75k miles that you flush / change this by draining and filling 3 times in a row with a quick drive between as you can't drain the whole system. Takes around 3 to 3.5 litres per fill, so I need 10 litres. A shed thread owner recommended you use Honda supplied fluid, but that's going to be ~£110, Comma MVATF would be £55 from Amazon and says it meets the correct Honda ATF DW-1 specification. No idea if I should leave it for the next owner as I only need the car until mid December, or get it done. There are no signs of problems.
Coolant; Honda 5 litres of pre-mixed for £18, or CarParts4Less Triple QX blue for £10 before whatever discount code they're doing. Deionised water is really cheap in the supermarket if I fancy doing a flush.
Brake Fluid; £10 for 500ml from Honda, not sure if I'll need a second bottle.
Power Steering Fluid; £14 for 1 litre from Honda.
Clearly Honda don't make fluids themselves and I should be careful with my money, but car manufacturer marketing departments have done well and I can't help feeling I should just pay a bit extra or I might regret it!
I'm tempted to get some piston and slide pin replacement / rebuild kits for the front brakes from eBay for around £30 per side. They're not showing signs of sticking, but they have a reputation for it and the rears have had the driver side replaced and the passenger side rebuilt 2 years ago. It's also a job I've never done and fancy having a go.
It looks like there also might be a Valve adjustment on Honda K-series engines to be done every so often, if I find my feeler gauges I might research that a bit more.
Even after some research online, rust on Gen 2 CRVs doesn't seem to be a thing. I'm really not sure what's happened to yours.
If the weather doesn't improve, I won't check mine until the weekend, but I'll definitely take the plastic panels off and give it a clean and check it all out.
If the weather doesn't improve, I won't check mine until the weekend, but I'll definitely take the plastic panels off and give it a clean and check it all out.
PurpleTurtle said:
Shed owning FR-V owner here signing in to follow!
We bought out FR-V on 60k miles and have put the same amount on it. It's now worth bugger all and we tow a caravan with it, so am considering a CRV as a replacement.
It being a Honda it has been mega reliable apart from needing a new clutch at 100k, and a new exhaust back box at 110k, plus brake pads/discs/tyres.
Hopefully you'll be able to report similar low cost running.
The car came with a nice Witter towbar, I don't have anything to tow though! Tow ball bike rack might fit if I got the right one, but the tow ball doesn't stick out any further than the spare tyre cover.We bought out FR-V on 60k miles and have put the same amount on it. It's now worth bugger all and we tow a caravan with it, so am considering a CRV as a replacement.
It being a Honda it has been mega reliable apart from needing a new clutch at 100k, and a new exhaust back box at 110k, plus brake pads/discs/tyres.
Hopefully you'll be able to report similar low cost running.
It seems to have been fairly reliable for the previous owners if I have all the paperwork.
2007 - Driver door switch.
2009 - Replace front passenger seat belt (no idea why).
2010 - Rear brake discs and pads, front brake pads & skim discs, 4 anti roll bar links.
2011 - Replace battery.
2012 - Replace both rear brake backing plates, replace both rear drop links.
2013 - Replace rear brake pads.
2016 - Replace cat heat shield & centre silencer, replace driver side front drop link.
2018 - Replace driver side rear caliper, clean up and grease passenger side rear caliper, replace rear brake pads and discs, replace battery.
2019 - Re-gas Aircon including UV dye to check for leaks.
2020 - Replace all brake pipes in the wheel wells.
I think that is a fairly short list for a nearly 20 year old car. The engine and gearbox still feel strong too.
carinaman said:
It's a nice colour. Good work on the free fixes. I really don't like rust. Has that CRV lived by the coast?
The address on the old invoices is about 10 miles from the Lincolnshire coast.The rear rust seemed to emanate from where the mud and grit had piled up in the rear of the side skirts. There's no big openings, so it must have been slowly building up over a long time.
The front rust is weird, it centres on a trim clip at the top centre of the wheel arch liner and was eaten from the underneath rather than the top. Maybe spray and grit got trapped.
A lesson for me to check more carefully next time as I have a similar dislike for rust. You can't really pull trim off though when checking out a car (can you?).
grantone said:
The address on the old invoices is about 10 miles from the Lincolnshire coast.
The rear rust seemed to emanate from where the mud and grit had piled up in the rear of the side skirts. There's no big openings, so it must have been slowly building up over a long time.
The front rust is weird, it centres on a trim clip at the top centre of the wheel arch liner and was eaten from the underneath rather than the top. Maybe spray and grit got trapped.
A lesson for me to check more carefully next time as I have a similar dislike for rust. You can't really pull trim off though when checking out a car (can you?).
Just checked the driver side front of mine, mine has surface rust in the exact same spot around the top trim clip of the arch liner. Strange! Luckily, at least the driver side of mine is just surface and a good wire wheel will get rid of it. When I get time i'll do that and coat it. Other than that one spot where the trim clip attaches,.it looks like new in behind it, so it is really weird. No muck built up as I pressure wash the arches weekly.The rear rust seemed to emanate from where the mud and grit had piled up in the rear of the side skirts. There's no big openings, so it must have been slowly building up over a long time.
The front rust is weird, it centres on a trim clip at the top centre of the wheel arch liner and was eaten from the underneath rather than the top. Maybe spray and grit got trapped.
A lesson for me to check more carefully next time as I have a similar dislike for rust. You can't really pull trim off though when checking out a car (can you?).
Am yet to check the rear end...
Just checked the rear end. No rust whatsoever. Managed to break a lot of the trim clips overall, but i'd rather that and know it's all okay than worry! (This is just the driver side. Not sure if I need to both checking the passenger side?)
Edited by gman88667733 on Wednesday 23 September 11:45
gman88667733 said:
Genuinely surprised at seeing that. I thought the Gen 2 was far more resilient to rust. Mine is the same age and I've seen no signs of rust really, but I may investigate further just in case... Made me worry a bit!
Can't say I've every actually taken any of the plastic coverings off. I assume they are easy to get off? Might do that later and have a proper look.
The plastic trim is a little awkward to get off.Can't say I've every actually taken any of the plastic coverings off. I assume they are easy to get off? Might do that later and have a proper look.
Edited by gman88667733 on Wednesday 23 September 08:46
At the rear you remove the mudflap then the arch trim has a mixture of screws and trim clips underneath before you can pull it off outwards as it has 5 or 6 hidden trim clips on the face of the car that you can't access (these didn't break for me). I think the hidden clips we're red and stayed in the arch to be twisted out at 90 degrees.
At the front you remove the mudflap which for me had 3 screws, 2 of which were rusted into the metal clips I had to fabricate on the side skirts. With some twisting, hand contortion and penetrating fluid I managed to get pliers in behind to grip the broken clips and free the screws. You can then remove screws and trim clips on the arch trim and pull it off like the rear and that gives you access to the arch liner trim clips. My arch liner was also screwed into metal clips on the front liner that were rusted in place, so I just left them alone and pulled the arch liner to the side.
The side skirts have 6 or 7 trim clips underneath, then 6 or 7 white plastic hidden clips along the face of the sill. In theory, with all the other trim removed, you should be able to slide the skirt forwards to slide it off the white clips, but I couldn't do this and had to brute force it off the white clips (none broke) which stayed in the sill to be twisted out at 45 degrees later.
You should be able to check the rear well enough to know if you want to investigate further without pulling trim off. The front is completely hidden.
In some ways I wish I had never looked so closely, a lot of people wouldn't have thought to do it and it was never noted on MOTs.
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