Please complete your profile with your vehicle details.

No idea if your post is serious or not.

Firstly, you've given no info on depth of the snow, the condition of your tyres, the elevation/angle of the road you are on, no details of weather (ie was it snowing, had its stopped snowing etc). A car forum cant "fix" the weather.

As for pushing the car with only a t-shirt (which you have sinced edited/removed reference to), well, no offence, but thats your fault for going out dressed inappropriately - a car forum cant "fix" that logic either I'm afraid. If you know the weather is bad, why did you travel without suitable clothing?

 

I edited it.

 

It appears that your CRV has 7.8 inches of ground clearance. If the underside of your vehicle is in contact with 8-9 inches of compacted snow I'm not surprised in the least that you got stuck.

 

The snow that reaches the hot parts under the car packs up into a solid layer and anchors you in place.

 

You definitely want to know if it's AWD or FWD.
The presence or absence of a driveshaft is usually definitive.

 

It sounds like you went into limp mode maybe?

 

If your V says "AWD" in the back, you have it.
When the rear wheels spin at a different rate than the front, passive wet-plate clutches engage and drive the rear wheels.

In addition to the comments above, I'd ask about maintenance. Have you replaced the rear differential fluid at the Maintenance Minder's indicated intervals?

++++++++

Turning the traction control off might have been a good thing to do for 'rocking' the car back & forth.

 

If your V says "AWD" in the back, you have it.

Not necessarily. The tailgate might have been replaced, or someone might have done a Cheap Upgrade by applying the badge.
Checking for the actual AWD components is the only way to be certain.

 

wouldn't the awd light be on if awd wasnt working?

 

No..only if you tried to go long enough to OVERHEAT your rear diff.

Not necessarily. The tailgate might have been replaced, or someone might have done a Cheap Upgrade by applying the badge.
Checking for the actual AWD components is the only way to be certain.

"Help..I bent over to look for the differential..and now I can't get up!!!" <<Kidding>>

 

My old 2003 Element - AWD EX - with studded Nokian snow tires was stuck several times in a friends driveway (it's a cabin retreat so back then they did not have the driveway plowed when they were not in town).

The Element has IIRC 5.5" of clearance and I would always have to dig out under the low spot (the gas tank under the back seats).

Just because you have 4WD/AWD doesn't mean you can't get stuck in the snow.

 

likely the snow was up to the unbelly of the vehicle and it was stuck that way, kind of rocking

 

Believe it or not... AWD is not a miracle cure for deepish snow. And frankly 8 inches of snow is on the borderline of "deepish", not to mention possible ice from melt/refreezing below the snow.

Any vehicle that is not a spec snow clearing vehicle is not impervious to getting stuck in snow.

I would submit that AWD CRVs, or similar from other brands, give some drivers a sense of being impervious to snow on the roadways. This is actually fallacy, and could be a dangerous mind set to fall into. Snow.. even just a few inches, should always be treated mindfully and respectfully... because all you need is just the right set of conditions and that AWD utility vehicle can and will find itself in trouble.

That said. gen5 CRVs are much better in these conditions as Honda made some quiet, yet significant upgrades to the AWD system in the gen5s. But you are driving on last generation Honda AWD... and there are plenty of youtube videos demonstrated the superiority of the gen5 side by side with a gen4 for difficult traction challenges.

 

Believe it or not... AWD is not a miracle cure for deepish snow. And frankly 8 inches of snow is on the borderline of "deepish", not to mention possible ice from melt/refreezing below the snow.

Any vehicle that is not a spec snow clearing vehicle is not impervious to getting stuck in snow.

I would submit that AWD CRVs, or similar from other brands, give some drivers a sense of being impervious to snow on the roadways. This is actually fallacy, and could be a dangerous mind set to fall into. Snow.. even just a few inches, should always be treated mindfully and respectfully... because all you need is just the right set of conditions and that AWD utility vehicle can and will find itself in trouble.

That said. gen5 CRVs are much better in these conditions as Honda made some quiet, yet significant upgrades to the AWD system in the gen5s. But you are driving on last generation Honda AWD... and there are plenty of youtube videos demonstrated the superiority of the gen5 side by side with a gen4 for difficult traction challenges.

I love my Gen4, but I do wish it had the Gen5 AWD capabilities.😔 My 2001 LX AWD was better in the snow! But, a good set of tires does help. That said, I'd never drive my Gen4 through anything more than about 4-5 inches of the white stuff...and very carefully.

 

The ECU limits the rpms when it doesn't sense the vehicle moving to protect the drivetrain. There is a huge difference between AWD and true 4WD as this video shows. Reminds me of the time when the extended family spent Xmas on Bald Mountain and there was a snow storm. I had to tow the vehicles with 2WD and AWD off the mountain with my Jeep.

 

The AWD CR-V gives security on slippery roads, but it is not a snow vehicle.
It definitely doesn't help you stop.
If the snow is over 6", or drifting enough that high-centering is a possibility, the CR-V stays in the garage and the F-150 comes out.
Always be aware of what your ground clearance is.
Now if you want a real "Off Road" vehicle get a Range Rover. Most of them are "Off Road", meaning in the shop on the lift, most of the time.

 

Cat looking at stuck CR-V in Snow

 

Cat looking at stuck CR-V in Snow
View attachment 153329

You know what.. I suspect that cat had something to do with this... because he is waaaaay to interested in what is going on. Innocent cats, generally are indifferent to human problems. Almost like he is checking out his handy work to grief a human.

Cat also probably is chuckling and thinking.. you know.. some cat litter under the wheels might help fix being stuck. 😋

 

I've driven in deep snow touching the front bumper with winter tires with no problem. However when it gets icy, it is a different story.

 

Ice requires excellent snow tires. Studded are somewhat better but top notch non-studded do fine: Generic Tire Discussion

 

If your “CRV got stuck in the snow” I suggest you don’t let it drive itself anymore so that you can keep it out of the snow 😉😂😂

Sorry, just ribbing you. I love when people phrase their wording to remove their own involvement and thus responsibility 😂😂

 

If like Carbuff2 said the AWD light comes on when you overheat your system only, then how are we AWD owners even supposed to know if our AWD system is even working? Sort of useless then, it might not work ever and we would never even know unless as he said it overheated.

 

The light comes on anytime something is not properly functioning with the AWD not just over temp.

 

There is no surprise here. A vehicle with 8 inches ground clearance can navigate thru 6.5 inches of snow (also can plow thru deeper snow for a few feet distance). In other words to drive at 9 inches snow you need a vehicle with min 10.5 inch ground clearance like a Land Rover LR4, a Jeep Grand Cherokee trailhawk or a Ford F-150 4x4 Raptor assuming tires are min 6/32 “ tread.

 

Well you can't generalize. You have to weigh things like wind speed and direction. You can get a 2 or 3 foot drift if there's only 2 inches on the road.
The consistency of the snow, what's under it, the ambient temperature/humidity, all make a difference, as does the amount of traffic.
If in doubt, stay home.

 

I have a 2016 CRV AWD, it does great on ice and snow with very good winter tires on it. I've also had several Subarus, which are known for having one of the best AWD systems in this type of vehicle.

From actual experience I've needed to tow the Subarus out of snow that was maybe 8" deep with my full sized 4WD truck. Depending on the condition of the snow, and its depth, the Subarus couldn't move.

Fresh powder, no problem, snow that has sat for a while, or packed and hardened can become an obstacle that can be difficult to get through.

The CRV doesn't have an AWD system that's designed for extreme conditions, it's built for on-road situations where normal 2wd just can't do it easily.

 

I have a 2016 CRV AWD, it does great on ice and snow with very good winter tires on it. I've also had several Subarus, which are known for having one of the best AWD systems in this type of vehicle.

From actual experience I've needed to tow the Subarus out of snow that was maybe 8" deep with my full sized 4WD truck. Depending on the condition of the snow, and its depth, the Subarus couldn't move.

Fresh powder, no problem, snow that has sat for a while, or packed and hardened can become an obstacle that can be difficult to get through.

The CRV doesn't have an AWD system that's designed for extreme conditions, it's built for on-road situations where normal 2wd just can't do it easily.

My buddys STI with one if the best winter tires(Nokian Hakkas) has plow through fresh powder snow up to his headlight. We all were expecting it to get stuck, but it didnt. It was fun.

 

Very interesting thread, which gives a glimpse into the minset to the few of those who opt for a AWD vehicle. 🤣 snow?? That's impossible for me to get stuck, I have AWD 🤣🤣👍

I have to say for us, we simply didnt think AWD is necessary, we live in an area where snow lasts maximum a few days, we don't live on a farm, and most of the time we are going up the high street for school runs/ groceries. Only times we do go further is on the motorway every now and again to see family/odd vacation.

Most of the people who buy 4x4 or AWD vehicles (here in the UK especially) will never get to actually get to fully use the system, unless of course they are going off-road; or ìn the case of supercars with AWD like Lamborghini or Audi, doing laps around the ring.

 

I really enjoy watching these ramp test videos and this particular roller test video I think best mimics the winter slippery conditions, and how the car behaves/ unable to get out of tricky situations.



when all wheels are on ice/snow, and accumulated snow drags the car underbody, plus threads full of snow, driver experience, road incline etc etc that are very likely real world conditions, will make matters even worse. The CRV awd doesn’t have locking differential which is key in overcoming these conditions… although the AWD system is very good, I wouldn’t be surprised if it still gets stuck in heavy unplowed sections.

 

2000 rpm is the average stall speed for regular torque converters. At that speed the turbine is fully engaged and there's no additional slippage allowing the engine raise its speed without the wheels turning.

Your wheels were stuck having packed the gaps full of snow and your 4-banger was unable to break them free. So it was not your engine cutting off at 2K, it was your torque converter and it's perfectly normal.

 

oh okay perfect. Thank you so much! Helped a lot I was really confused

 

If at least 1 front wheel and 1 rear wheel is spinning in the snow, the AWD system is likely working okay.. As others have stated, once the snow is deep enough that it starts lifting the frame, you will probably get stuck and there is not a problem with the CR-V. The snow is just too deep for the vehicle.

 

One way to test, take it on a snow covered empty parking lot, accelerate, turn, then give it a good shot of gas, if the rear end kicks out you got yourself some power to the rear wheels lol

 

One of crv’s got stuck in the score backing up out of drive way. Figured I drive over the snow and then clean it up. AWD, I had to turn off the eco mode and traction control. I do recall saying the same thing. This has AWD, when wheels slip, the others should turn and it wasn’t working the way I thought. Was like 2016 I think.