Due to the size of the battery with the box and cover and wanting to set it in the space with too much wrangling, bent a bit of the radiator crossmember yoke in a bit to ease installation. Again, probably not necessary, but one of the last pics shows the spacing at completion.

As mentioned before, I opted not to use the Odyssey hold down strap or j-bolts. I preferred to have somewhat of a factory-looking install. So I kept the Odyssey tray and cover. But I went to the junkyard and found a hold-down strap that I thought might work well. It was a fluke that I found it, but the weather here today was nice and a great excuse to wander around the local pick-n-pull. This strap is out of a 2000 Toyota Sienna (didn't get the motor size, but they're probably all the same). It was long to reach so all it needed was some cutting and massaging.

The outboard side is shown above. The hole to locate it on the CR-V body is drilled. The cut to trim off the unneeded portion is almost done.
The engine side shown below. Sienna strap on the left. Original CR-V strap on the right.

As you can see, due to where the battery has to be located in the space, the original CR-V strap won't reach. Well, it will reach IF the battery is tucked up real close to the radiator crossmember and the back plastic of the driver's side headlight. But then the j-bolt is at a goofy angle and, frankly, it looks bad. And this was after flattening the original strap some to give a bit more length. (Note the vice grip ugliness.) Sienna strap looks much nicer. Cut at an angle and filed to remove burrs. Hole drilled is 1/4". Fits perfect for the 10mm hex head original bolt.

next post...

 

Odyssey cover was trimmed to fit in what I thought would be the final location, but it turned out to be mostly unnecessary. In fact there are two locations on the cover that were trimmed but turned out to be unnecessary: the front portion by the crossmember and the left side portion right behind the driver's side headlight. Although you can see here the additional space afforded by the massaging of the crossmember.

The space right behind the driver's side headlight is below.

Below is the spacing with the rear corner by the negative battery post and the electrical junction box on the chassis at that corner. The negative battery cable is temporarily placed out of the way under the electrical box for clarity.

Below is the shot showing the spacing between the positive battery post corner and the intake charge hose (between the air cleaner assembly and throttle body). The positive battery cable is not installed yet for picture clarity. One of my concerns with this install was access to the transmission dispstick. Fortunately, I'm not too overweight, so I can just barely reach down into the gap between the air cleaner box and battery tray to extract the dipstick and get a vinyl tube connected to a funnel down into the fill hole to replenish the transmission fluid. All the more reason to have the negative battery cable out of the way.

To get the battery into and out of the space, the positive battery cable not only needs to be removed from the battery (DUH!!), but the clip that holds the cable to the lower tab on the metal mount point on the electrical junction box needs to be released so that there is enough slack in the cable to move it out of the way. It is also a lot easier to lower the battery into the tray and space if the cover is already installed on the battery. In other words, lower the battery and cover together into the space. Also, lower it so that the bottom of the battery is angled slightly out toward your feet. There's not much extra space to work with. Once the battery is in place and the crossmember bolt and j-bolt nut are tightened down, the battery is not going anywhere. Then the cable clip can be reinstalled on the tab and terminals attached to their posts. There is JUST barely enough negative cable to attach that terminal to its post, as long as there isn't too much slack allowed toward the engine when the negative cable is relocated under the platform. I doubt the engine moves much while in operation, and any movement is likely fore/aft, due to transverse mounting. The cable runs laterally, so it's not likely to get stretched.

Voila...
(Little bit of rubber hose cable-tied to harness convolute tubing as a chafe-guard, just in case.)

Even the hood hold-up rod still fits in its stowed position.

If I was to do it over, I'd do a few things differently. Still get the Odyssey tray and cover; part numbers are posted elsewhere in the forum. Wouldn't have purchased the Odyssey j-bolts and hold-down strap (didn't end up using 'em. Reused original j-bolt and nut.) Wouldn't have trimmed the cover (wasn't really necessary, except for a small bit right where the Napa battery lift strap interferes with a top part of the cover). I'd stay with the Sienna hold-down strap; it's a nicer-looking install. Probably can still be gotten new at a Toyota dealership. If you're JY or eBay picking, the hole-to-hole dimension - from j-bolt hole to crossmember mount hole (at least for how this battery is placed) - should be around 10-1/4" to 10-1/2". If it's longer, you can of course cut and drill. But if it's shorter, NG.

Also, as another aside, bought one of those OBD-II connectors to keep 12V continuously supplied to the car while the battery was disconnected. Thought it might be worthwhile to save daughter's factory stereo presets and avoid having to dork around with trying to figure out the secret radio code to get the radio working after the battery was disconnected. Shouldn't have bothered, the radio either doesn't get power from the same circuit as the OBD-II connector or whatever. Had to get the code anyway. I would have thought the radio code would have more dealership security. I called the dealership with the 8 digit sequence the radio gave me, and the dealership gave the me 5 digit code the radio required to start working. Nice security system. Maybe with a 15 year old car, they figure it doesn't matter that much. (Or maybe they recognized my phone number as a customer...hmmm.)

 

That's alot of work just to replace that battery. What matters to me is the CCA of the battery when things get's cold or age of the battery or if it got drained more then 2-3 times that is times for a new Battery. When I get my Auto Battery I always go for the CCA of the biggest battery that will fit the CRV without any modifications to get the battery into it's location. Bigger battery without a larger CCA to go along with it won't stop a dead battery from happening if it cranks too long or too much that can drain precious Amperage that is needed.

 

Great post, thanks for sharing. I too plan to replace my 500CCA 51R stock battery with a beefier 700CCA 24F replacement once the former gives up the ghost. The 24F costs only $10 more than the 51R at Costco, for instance.

Plenty of Gen 2 CR-V owners are rightly complaining about issues related to the meager 51R standard for this vehicle...


"If I was to do it over, I'd do a few things differently. Still get the Odyssey tray and cover; part numbers are posted elsewhere in the forum. Wouldn't have purchased the Odyssey j-bolts and hold-down strap (didn't end up using 'em. Reused original j-bolt and nut.) Wouldn't have trimmed the cover (wasn't really necessary, except for a small bit right where the Napa battery lift strap interferes with a top part of the cover). I'd stay with the Sienna hold-down strap; it's a nicer-looking install. Probably can still be gotten new at a Toyota dealership. If you're JY or eBay picking, the hole-to-hole dimension - from j-bolt hole to crossmember mount hole (at least for how this battery is placed) - should be around 10-1/4" to 10-1/2". If it's longer, you can of course cut and drill. But if it's shorter, NG...."

 

I too would have gone with the Costco 24F AGM battery, but "soldout" was on the website. Called the local Costco and was told there were none to be had anywhere in the Northwest. Went with the Napa 9824F. Pricier, but gift card from father-in-law for b-day helped pay for it.

 

Also there is this video:
Upgrading a CRV Battery 2005 2006

 

I have a 24F in my Pilot which is oem and oem size in CR-V too. I just upgrade to the Autozone Platinums which are AGM style.