Odd about that pinging--I get that also, ever since having purchased it in 2016. It did seem better out west, where I was putting in either the highest octane fuel or better yet, ethanol-free (which gave me the best gas mileage on those tankfuls). I have stretches out there where I'm at 5,000 RPM just trying to keep up with traffic, and I don't recall hearing the pinging. I can't get ethanol-free here except from one station about eight miles away. $4.09/gallon, 90 octane. (I bought some today for the lawn equipment.) The boat docks and marinas within two miles of me all have ethanol-free but can't refuel automobiles, and they are even more expensive. It is only sold in our state for "recreational" use. You'd think it was cannabis or something. ?
I've found around 120-140k miles is when I started having all of the issues. They seem to be mileage related since I've seen the same parts go bad around the same time in both CR-Vs. Ours were built only about six or seven weeks apart, and we have similar mileage on both. Mine does not get driven much during the week (I work from home often), but I take two long road trips each year of at least 5,000 miles each. The other is used for a 40 mile round trip commute daily.
The struts, sure, were probably due anyways, but they got really noisy in the blue '09 in front, and the driver's side rear in my tan (OK, "Borrego Beige Metallic") '09 was leaking onto the driveway. Strangely, others here have had that exact same strut leak, and that same strut in the blue '09 also had some oil on it--not yet leaking on the driveway, but it was not clean like the other side!
The only bad thing is, I went with the better Monroes, and they've proven to be as bad as others here (and on other Honda forums) have hinted. My front left strut is noisier than the blue '09 was, and it's only been about a year. The right clunks occasionally, and now the right rear is making noise (although I think the nut on top of the strut needs to be torqued--I know that sound all too well). I had put Monroes on the rear of our TL and they were excellent. So, who knows what changed. I'm getting new KYBs for the front of mine now, now that they have the "Strut Plus" pre-loaded and ready to mount.
My AC clutch went out on a road trip, after a stop for lunch in a small town in western Minnesota. So after our stops at Badlands and Yellowstone, I had to divert to Salt Lake City and have Ken Garff Honda replace it for me, and their service department was excellent! (And we rented a '17 Civic EX-T for the day. So it was not all bad, other than the bill!) That was early August. By May the next year, the AC clutch in the blue '09 went out. For both, I had them do the whole compressor and check over the entire system.
The starter failed in the blue '09 this year in February. Naturally, during the coldest stretch of weather we had all winter, so the dealer did it for us. Mine had seemed to be straining a bit when cranking, so I replaced it in April myself. It still cranked a little slower than the blue '09, and the battery finally pooped out in July this year. Not trusting the alternator, I went ahead and changed that, since the upcoming road trip had us on hundreds of miles of rural roads with no cell tower signal. Cranks great now, just like the other one.
I've done both of our evap canister purge valve/solenoid thingies, or whatever they are called--those are the ones that throw the Check Fuel Cap message. $40-ish (?) for each sensor, and maybe 15 minutes work.
I had a mysterious whine that was probably the power steering pump. It was noisy when I got home from my road trip last year in August, but it was gone after returning from this year's road trip during the same time.
I've proactively changed the timing chain tensioner in mine; I ordered one for the blue '09 but it was damaged in shipment or something since it was already popped out. I've also replaced my belt idler thinking it was whining--it wasn't, but the bearing was worn anyway. While I was in there, I proactively threw on a new water pump.
The rear disc brakes can be finicky. On both of ours, the driver's side rear pads were seizing up. On mine, the metal brake hardware had corroded, so I replaced it when I did the pads. But on the blue '09, I found a torn caliper pin boot, so the caliper itself had seized. (That was another February job this year--it was a balmy 18°F, warmer than near 0°F and windy when the starter crapped out...and I also finished the job up in an inch of snow, in the dark!) I use only Akebono pads now, and replace all the steel hardware along with cleaning out and relubing the caliper pins.
TPMS error light keeps coming on in the blue '09 intermittently (not the low tire pressure light). I'm betting the TPMS sensors have weak batteries by now. I put new Denso sensors in mine, but the shop didn't feed the IDs into the ECU, so I have to go to my neighbor's shop and have his son work his magic to program them. The batteries I believe are good for ~10 years, so those are a time-related fix.
My front suspension bushings seemed OK, but the rear upper control arm looks as though it should be replaced since the bushing in there is a bit dry-rotted. I've already replaced the stabilizer bar bushings--the rears only take a few minutes apiece. The fronts can be tricky unless you remove the front wheels, since they are mounted on top of the mount for the lower control arms. (Don't try to do it from underneath--I tried it on one, and it took a good hour to get the bolts back in!)
Sorry to ramble, but in a nutshell that's all the age/wear related stuff I have had to deal with, aside from the usual tires, wipers, oils and fluids. I've seen a few quirky or unique problems here on the forum but overall, I don't think mine are anything special that hasn't already been mentioned in other threads. (Think of it as a checklist as your 3rd gen CR-V gets older.)
It is only bothersome because in my '97, I hardly had to replace anything in it over its 290,000 miles of service--still the original compressor, alternator, power steering pump, engine and trans, etc.. If the parking pawl in the transmission hadn't gone wonky, it probably would still be on the road today.