I am a owner of a local performance shop and 3 time 1st gen crv owner as daily drivers up here in Wisconsin, all have been RT4wd 5 speeds. Most recently picked up a 2000 with 205k miles on it for a good deal and im bringing it back to life one part at a time.
Well, i can spin the front tires all day long and the rear never engages. I put it up in the air and tested and again rear did not engage at all. Assuming the fluid has been neglected by the previous owner (had it for 10 years+ from the date i saw on the title) i went out and bought some dual pump II fluid. Drained the fluid and it was pure black! It had some grey to the color as well when i played around with it telling me i had some material in the fluid :/. Well i put fresh 1.1QT in and went out and did 10 full lock circles in my parking lot both ways and proceeded to the nearest rock parking lot to test out if it would lock and it did not. The rear end itself makes zero noise even while under full lock.
At this point given the miles and the way the fluid came out is it safe to say this is not a salvageable rear end? Ive personally never seen a CRV diff go bad in a 1st gen considering the way they operate, and cannot find any instances of failures posted online anywhere besides noises and or sounds which this makes none of so im a bit stumped as to what to do next. I can get a new rear from the local junkyard for $80 (pick and pull 102k miles) or i can go back to honda and buy a few more qts of dual pump ii and try the whole process again a couple times and find it to either work or be totally dead and have wasted half the price of a whole new diff on fluid for a bad unit.
Well, i can spin the front tires all day long and the rear never engages. I put it up in the air and tested and again rear did not engage at all. Assuming the fluid has been neglected by the previous owner (had it for 10 years+ from the date i saw on the title) i went out and bought some dual pump II fluid. Drained the fluid and it was pure black! It had some grey to the color as well when i played around with it telling me i had some material in the fluid :/. Well i put fresh 1.1QT in and went out and did 10 full lock circles in my parking lot both ways and proceeded to the nearest rock parking lot to test out if it would lock and it did not. The rear end itself makes zero noise even while under full lock.
At this point given the miles and the way the fluid came out is it safe to say this is not a salvageable rear end? Ive personally never seen a CRV diff go bad in a 1st gen considering the way they operate, and cannot find any instances of failures posted online anywhere besides noises and or sounds which this makes none of so im a bit stumped as to what to do next. I can get a new rear from the local junkyard for $80 (pick and pull 102k miles) or i can go back to honda and buy a few more qts of dual pump ii and try the whole process again a couple times and find it to either work or be totally dead and have wasted half the price of a whole new diff on fluid for a bad unit.