[RhyminSimon27]

Hey everybody,

After much deliberation about which relatively small SUV to get, I finally decided on the first-gen CR-V (I believe the chassis code is rd1? Correct me if I’m wrong.) and just picked one up from a dealer in NJ today. It’s a 2000 electron blue ex with 40k original miles and I don’t think I could have asked for a better example.

I’ve been a honda fan for a long time; My first car was a 2006 RSX and I still own a 2003 s2000 as well. This is by far the most spacious vehicle I’ve ever owned and my first foray into owning anything with AWD, so I’m excited to do a little “soft-roading” and be able to haul around the necessities for outdoor leisure activities.

I’m still figuring out the car (already delighted by the picnic table and bed-style folding seats), and just wanted to ask for some advice about ownership. I’ve been reading about the valve adjustment this engine needs, it’s every 30k miles right? I’m trying to figure out how to tell if it has been done or not, seeing as the car has 40k. Probably will try to call the honda dealership that serviced it frequently according to carfax. I’m also wondering what else I need to be aware of, I’ve heard timing belts every 100k, and keep an eye on driveshaft u-joints and the ball joints.

My goal is to have this thing last as long as possible, hopefully another 10-15+ years and 200k+ miles. I also want to make some small modifications, mostly for aesthetics. Is there a catch-all website that sells everything you could want for these cars, or no? I might’ve been spoiled by the aftermarket support for the RSX.

And apologies if I’ve formatted anything incorrectly, I haven’t been active on a forum in quite some time now.

 

[racoon]

Welcome! My first CR-V was a 1999 EX with a manual transmission.

Hopefully you got the Owners Manual with your CR-V?
It has a detailed Maintenance Schedule printed in it, and all of the maintenance items are listed with mileage or number of months, and specifically says:

Service at the indicated distance or time -- whichever comes first.

So even though it only has 40,000 miles on the odometer, it's probably overdue for some maintenance tasks due to it's age.

 

[otto888man]

Welcome to the forum! Glad to have you aboard! Nice Colour! Is this the original color? Yes, you have to do the valve lash adjustment as the exhaust valves seats tends to sink into the cylinder head the other members will be able to explain it better. If you plan to do it yourself be sure that the head is stone cold before doing the valve adjustment. Is this a manual trany?

 

[RhyminSimon27]

I did get the owners manual, only took a brief glance but I’ll go through it tomorrow, thanks for the tip. The car has regular service records throughout every year on the carfax so I feel pretty confident about the previous owner keeping up with maintenance. It apparently was always serviced at a honda dealer, with one or two exceptions. I was just wondering if there was a quick and easy way to tell if the valves were attended to. I’ll have to see how much info the dealer will give me on what they did to it at each service. It is the original color as far as I know, nothing indicating otherwise. It’s an automatic, partially the reason I bought it. Believe it or not, daily driving an s2000 in a city gets old pretty quick. Especially after the city changes traffic light timing block by block to be 1000x more inconvenient in an effort to reduce speeding.

 

[racoon]

Electron Blue was one of the original colors for 2000 and 2001.
The 1997-1999 colors were a bit different, with the blue being Supermarine Blue Pearl.

There's no easy way to check if the valve clearances were done regularly without having the maintenance records. If there's any doubt, go ahead and adjust them now.

 

[Toomanyteendrivers]

Welcome. Looks nice.

 

[kloker]

Welcome to the forum! Wow, wow! 40k? That is a stellar find! Looks super clean. I highly recommend you get yourself a factory service manual (I got mine from eBay). Your engine should have a timing chain and not a belt, so no need to worry about that. Depending on what is up to date, I would check all belts and hoses, vacuum lines, have the A/C evacuated and recharged with a fresh gas and oil charge, and change all fluids, including trans and diffs, brakes, etc. Be sure to check brake hoses at wheels. If they need replacement I'd go with braided stainless, it gives a solid pedal feel.

Very solid purchase! Enjoy, and keep us posted on how it goes.

 

[otto888man]

Welcome to the forum! Wow, wow! 40k? That is a stellar find! Looks super clean. I highly recommend you get yourself a factory service manual (I got mine from eBay). Your engine should have a timing chain and not a belt, so no need to worry about that. Depending on what is up to date, I would check all belts and hoses, vacuum lines, have the A/C evacuated and recharged with a fresh gas and oil charge, and change all fluids, including trans and diffs, brakes, etc. Be sure to check brake hoses at wheels. If they need replacement I'd go with braided stainless, it gives a solid pedal feel.

Very solid purchase! Enjoy, and keep us posted on how it goes.
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I agree with Larry. Go with Braided hose if they are ready to be replaced. This model has a timing belt with B20 engine like the Integra. Don't forget the steering fluid too.