[arudlang]

Will the bigger tire fit in the spare location?

Thats a good question. I didn't bother buying a new tire for the spare, I can roll a short few miles at low speed with the slightly smaller one if I have to and I carry patch/plug kits to avoid that as much as possible.

Where there is a will there is always a way, whether that would mean making a custom bracket to hold the spare another inch or two higher is about all it should take if it doesn't clear the bumper. As long as there is about an inch of extra room under the current spare it will probably squeeze in?

 

[TheGrinch]

Hi! I enjoyed reading your post and wanted to share my own green CRV. I see green CRVs all the time but never have the chance to share with the owner or get their story. I call her The Grinch because she's green and has a big heart. It's a 98' with 224,000 miles.

Problems include: Suspension noise (I want to figure this out before I jump the gun and buy new struts), sticky brakes (going to try changing the brake fluid soon), noisy second gear (maybe it's normal but I'm going to try changing out a quart of fluid), oil leak (stop leak stopped the leak), crappy paint (I'm going to sand it down and throw some clear coat on it unprofessionally), and (best for last) it used to frequently turn off while I was driving but I took care of it (ignition switch). When I bought it, she was overheating (thermostat) and couldn't turn (crappy power steering house had kinked).

I'm 20 and this is my first ever project car. I made every mistake possible and put it all on credit. It's funny that you were talking about CV axles because I saw my boots were ripped as well and decided to do the whole axle. 2 hours in I couldn't pull the old inner axle out and I'd stripped the lower ball joint beyond use and had to get the car towed. I did all of this in a car maintenance port at my apartment complex (used for light washing and maintenance, no overnight parking) and envy those with a garage. A garage is a very nice thing to have because if you're a fuck up like I am you can leave your car there overnight and take another crack at it in the morning. I actually tried driving the car with one axle just to park it in a space and I heard the worst sound I'd ever heard a transmission make. I thought it was done for but here we are 6 months later and I got this death trap to 90 MPH right before the pic was taken.

It all might sound pretty dumb but mistakes made are lessons learned. Good luck with your CRV!

 

[ms3224a]

sticky brakes (going to try changing the brake fluid soon)

Change the brake fluid and remove the pads from the calipers and file off all the rust.

noisy second gear (maybe it's normal but I'm going to try changing out a quart of fluid),

Drain all of it, not just 1 quart. Do this 3 times, getting it to Interstate speeds and using reverse, in between each change. You'll need 3.x quarts per change.

 

[TheGrinch]

Change the brake fluid and remove the pads from the calipers and file off all the rust.

Drain all of it, not just 1 quart. Do this 3 times, getting it to Interstate speeds and using reverse, in between each change. You'll need 3.x quarts per change.

Before the CRV I had a 2011 Kia Soul, and I did like you said and swapped all the fluid out (just once though) and took a big trip the day after. Well halfway to Lake Meredith in the Texas panhandle (so in the middle of nowhere) the transmission starts slipping. I threw in a bottle of Lucas when I was able to get to a Walmart but it still did all the things a slipping transmission does including not going over 60, losing speed entirely, hard grind with reluctance between 3rd and 4th gear. I'll grant you that it was intermittent (intermittent enough that I still drove it to Denver and back) and that it wasn't doing that anymore by the time I sold it, but I'd rather not have to put this transmission through that as well. From what I understand my tranny did that because I removed the deposits by changing the fluid too quickly so that's why I was going with a quart.

As for the brakes I did replace the rotors and pads when I got it but I'll try cleaning them when I do the fluid.

 

[arudlang]

@TheGrinch welcome to the party, we should be able to keep our clunkers going with a little work! I bought a Chiltons and regular honda service manuals so if you need any info looked up let me know.

The suspension noise could be many things I had that too and in my case it turned out to be the sway bar end links. Pretty cheap replacements available on rock auto but they can be a PITA to remove the old ones 😁 good luck!

 

[glazer1972]

The 215/75r15 will fit on the back.

 

[Theman5]

Great guys at the local shop got my tires mounted. Took a fair number of weights to get some of them balanced but should be good enough for this buggy. I would hardly care at all except that we do live right off of a 70 MPH highway so it won't be uncommon to have this car up to a pretty good clip even for local errands. Some vibration at high speed is totally acceptable for this car, on our newer ones I am a lot pickier.

Just need to touch up some spots on the rim from mounting and installing weights with a little more paint and I can probably mount them up. Weather is pretty crazy here right now though so it might get put off a day or two, we'll see. We keep going from sunshine to snow to sunshine then rain, then snow, then sun again... spring in Minnesota.

View attachment 138326

View attachment 138327

Nice looking tires!

 

[arudlang]

After about a month of letting the car function as a stationary storage bin, I finally took an hour to put in the new "clutch pressure control solenoid" to hopefully make it mobile again.

The little thing is kind of a pain to reach:

The new one has a small metal mesh screen built into the gasket that the old one did not have (old solenoid pictured here

I replaced the air filter with a $5 cheapie I got from walmart as the air box went back in, and even put a new nut on the oil pan stud that was mysteriously missing one on a corner that I noticed...

Why the oil pan would be missing a nut... I don't even want to know. This poor thing was clearly worked on by much bigger hacks than me before I got ahold of it.

Oh well, I went on a 15 mile test drive and although I will say it has fooled me before for up to 100 miles at a time... so far so good (knock on wood!)

The transmission shifts smooth, no error codes, and it even seems to be properly locking up the torque converter on the highway. Time (more miles, really) will tell if this holds as the solution to the main stalling issue I was having. I hope it will because I really need to drop off my primary daily driver to get some cosmetic bumper damaged fixed but I'll be kinda relying on this CRV while the other car is in the shop for who knows how many days.

My wife is really hoping it will stay running decently for a while too since its the only car we have with the convenient separate-opening hatch glass. We live near many lakes but the closest ones are still 1 mile away and we want to jam our paddle boards in the back to make the short trip to the water without using a trailer.

I still have a number of outstanding to-do items like new sway bar end links and I have to do something with the rear CV axles and their bad boots but hopefully I can get a few short local trips out of it first without the stalling/transmission issues. Fingers crossed!

 

[Theman5]

Thanks for the update!

 

[arudlang]

Well, the transmission is shifting fine and giving no issues that way still but I found out last night at about 11 PM and 10 miles from my house that my random issues are far from over.

We loaded up our paddle boards and met up with a friend at the lake, had a good paddle and then went back to the friend's house for some pizza and movie. All seemed good until we went to leave late at night... turn the key and it would fire up, and a second later it would die. Back to its old tricks again. After a few restarts it ran long enough to make it out of the driveway and about 200 yards down the road, stalled out. Another couple restarts, it ran enough to limp it home but had occasional gauge dropouts and near-stall conditions.

I'm not sure whether this points to the ignition switch itself (seems very jankety when you turn the key), or the ignition control module, or maybe a crankshaft position sensor, etc. I currently have no error codes for a crank sensor or anything else which makes me suspect the ignition switch or ICM but I'm not sure. Going to take a bunch more $$$ to keep trying more parts and see if we can get it to behave. In the meantime I guess its a storage unit again.

Its too bad because that separate-opening rear hatch glass is perfect for the purpose intended, easily chuck the boards back there and no cares about wet or sand when we go to leave.

 

[Lochinvar]

I'd like to see it if you ever make a spare tire bracket for your bigger tires! I'm curious what it will look like since you will have to make the tire clear the glass as well as the bumper.

 

[arudlang]

I'd like to see it if you ever make a spare tire bracket for your bigger tires! I'm curious what it will look like since you will have to make the tire clear the glass as well as the bumper.

I feel like the spare would probably squeeze on their without modification but I'm not certain of it. If I am ever rotating the tires or pulling one to do some brake work or similar I will zip the regular size spare off and give it a quick try for you.

-----------------------

I ended up ordering an ignition "switch" (just the electronics part, not the whole lock cylinder assembly) for $30 so here's to hoping another fistful of dollars and a couple more hours of tinkering will lead to some increased reliability. I also sprung the $55 for a basic remote start kit with lock/hatch buttons on the fob. I received the car with nothing but a single all-metal key, I don't know if it ever had a remote fob for locking/unlocking the doors but if it ever did its long since ended up in a landfill or someone's junk drawer, so I will try to get that lock/unlock working to make it more convenient and then the remote start portion will be easy since I will have those wires in-hand anyways changing that ignition switch.

Remote start is pretty nice here in northern Minnesota when winter rolls around. In the cities they have laws against idling but the fact is you cannot drive anywhere until your windshield is clear, and if its fogged/iced up on the inside you have no choice but to wait for the defroster to do its work no matter how you feel about idling an engine and burning extra fossil fuels. I prefer to wait out the defrosting process from inside the house or office

 

[Kazoo2U]

During winter, beware of the outer tip of the passenger wiper blade. The defrost vent/s are poorly designed. Defrost heat doesn't do very much out there.

 

[Lochinvar]

Your car wouldn't have come with o remote because your car is a LX. The remote came with EX models and was a dealer option on the LX, but installation sometimes required a replacement power door lock computer.

 

[arudlang]

Thanks for the info guys! Much appreciated.

The replacement ignition switch assembly came Friday so I reached up and just unplugged the original one without removing it, and jammed the connectors of the new one in so I could test it out a little. I didn't have time to take the dash apart to actually install it, plus I am still waiting on the remote start kit in the mail and going to do those both at the same time.

I've made a couple short local trips so far without any issues, I just use the tip of the key to turn the switch assembly and start it up then I put the key in the lock cylinder to unlock the steering wheel 😁 It might stay that way through the 4th of july week, I have better things to do than wrestle with this like sitting out at the lake but before too long I'll get this new switch assembly properly installed with the remote start wires patched in.

 

[kloker]

Good luck with the 4th festivities. They just shut ours down. Lakes closed, not boats, no swimming, no gathering. The 'Rona!"

 

[arudlang]

More than a year later, you may be wondering "Is that car still going? Does he still have it?"

The answer is yes and yes. I apologize for the hiatus, I pretty much got the car working to the point shown in the previous post and ever since then I've just been using it, with no issues. Granted, I have only been driving it all of a couple times per month to take recycling out or for hunting or other dirty jobs, haven't hardly put any substantial miles on since last post, but it still just starts up and goes even when I let it sit for a couple weeks.

My cousin asked if he could buy it off me for his first car. I told him he'd be better off finding something in a little better shape. It's one thing to occasionally putz it around up here in the sticks, down in the cities where he lives I don't think it would last one week of daily driving. Hard to say for sure though. Then there is still a long list of little issues..

I've been working from home a lot lately and long story short decided to sell my 2017 daily driver Jeep and just make this old CRV my main car for... however much longer its wiling to go. I typically only leave the house a handful of times per week, usually on optional trips where if the car doesn't want to go then I can usually stay home without issue. I don't go more than 10 miles in any direction from my home in this car. We still have our 2020 Jeep that my wife is driving, that is all we use for road trips and general transportation when we are both going somewhere together. "Why have two Jeeps with payments?" I figure I can save about $400 a month if we go down to one Jeep and just see how far this CRV gets me for those days I have somewhere to be.

I can hear you guys already:

Indeed, it might not end well. It might blow up after a week of gentle local driving, but then again it might just keep on truckin. Worst that can happen is I need to find another decent beater without a payment for a few thousand, and I'd still come out ahead compared to making payments to finish the 14k I owe on the 2017 Jeep. If this CRV just lasts through the end of the chip shortage I'm sure that will be good enough. Gives me time to save for some other fun new car.

I've got a to-do list to get this thing into daily-driver condition, though.

I've still been turning the replacement ignition switch with a screwdriver... time to put that where it belongs at the bottom of the ignition lock cylinder! I might throw a cheap remote start kit on while I'm monkeying around with those wires though, would be nice for winter.

My wife was kind enough to vacuum it out for me, removed a few acorn shells from the glovebox and beneath the rear tray. Hopefully the critters haven't been in the airbox again, I already changed that cabin air filter a year ago and I'd like the defrost to work this winter...

Borrowed an ozone generator that probably just finished its second 30-minute cycle to freshen up the inside a bit. Didn't smell too bad but it smelled like a car that sat more than it was driven.

My friend up the road has a hoist in his garage and I have a few things to do if I can get an afternoon in on that;

• Install new swabar end links on all four corners
• Patch a small exhaust hole back at the muffler
• Throw some cheap spring coil spacers on the rear springs (they are a bit saggy and my oversized tires rub a bit when loaded down)
• Brace the universal hitch receiver that I installed (not used for towing, just for a cheap cargo rack I haul deer on)

If I have time I might also change the rear diff fluid and address a cracked CV boot in the rear. I don't really want to put new axles in the back but might have to, unless anyone here has a recommendation on a good fitting split boot I can just cram on there quickly and let ride. From what I understand those often don't work for most people, but its tempting.

I hope the AWD still works since this is northern Minnesota, but I should be OK either way since the tires I put on are still like brand new. Probably not even 1k miles on them yet.

I did do one itty bitty mod that I can't remember whether it ever got posted here or not. I popped out the wire harness between the factory radio head unit and the optional CD player, cut the line-out wires from the CD player and spliced them into a standard 3.5mm headphone jack that I drilled a small hole in the dash to mount. Now I have an aux input on the factory head unit with a $9 bluetooth receiver plugged into it works perfect, the only catch is that you have to have a CD you leave in the factory CD player to trick it into thinking its playing something, otherwise the head unit doesn't pick up the signal. The front door speaker wires are in bad shape, speakers cut out when you open and close the doors so I need to address that too, but basically I got bluetooth on the factory radio for $9 so I can take a phone call on the road or listen to some tunes.

Its going to be interesting to see how this plays out, especially when it hits the real cold part of winter. Better swap some fresh oil in the motor one of these days too, not sure that's happened since 2020 but again, hardly put 1000 miles on it either so... its fine I'll keep you guys in the loop.

 

[Soufigured]

Read your whole thread and really dig what uve been able to do with the crv.

I'm in a very similar situation with mine. Only the whole low budget thing isn't very optional. That being said mine was just about to head off to a scrap yard.

Since then I've overhauled it as best I financially can. Plugs, wires, fluids, filters. New axels up front, new (used tire shop, factory size) tires all around and a second set of winters on rims. Oh and rust repair/sealing.

I do have some worn suspension components but I do plan on a fairly comprehensive lift. So as nothing is giving me any issue or bad sounds it's just.. worn... I feel very safe as is, and I've been buying up parts little by little and shelfing them. The plan is to accumulate all parts and bigger wheels and do all the work in one go.

I like to go off road and bush trails and anything like that whenever I can. I'm city bound most of the time tho. The crv (mines 5sp awd) in stock form does great in the city and can suprise people off road but it's not a monster truck or Baja racer.

While I accumulate parts I hop on anything I can get a deal on or for free that ups my offroad ability and safety/piece of mind. So my rides got a few led lights I got for free, a tube bumper I'm pretty sure was made for a ram, and a cheap little atv winch that should be more than enough to handle some mud or snow.

Anyway I've enjoyed your thread and really wanted to share my story. I've owned mine 5 months. It's been back on the road for almost 4. 8000km 5-6k miles? Bad at math. And going strong daily in the city and me and the little one love to mistreat her any chance we have beyond city limits.

Last photo is pre winch install. I just got done that so I don't have daylight pics yet

Please do keep us updated as you do more work

 

[craig baconator]

Read your whole thread and really dig what uve been able to do with the crv.

I'm in a very similar situation with mine. Only the whole low budget thing isn't very optional. That being said mine was just about to head off to a scrap yard.

Since then I've overhauled it as best I financially can. Plugs, wires, fluids, filters. New axels up front, new (used tire shop, factory size) tires all around and a second set of winters on rims. Oh and rust repair/sealing.

I do have some worn suspension components but I do plan on a fairly comprehensive lift. So as nothing is giving me any issue or bad sounds it's just.. worn... I feel very safe as is, and I've been buying up parts little by little and shelfing them. The plan is to accumulate all parts and bigger wheels and do all the work in one go.

I like to go off road and bush trails and anything like that whenever I can. I'm city bound most of the time tho. The crv (mines 5sp awd) in stock form does great in the city and can suprise people off road but it's not a monster truck or Baja racer.

While I accumulate parts I hop on anything I can get a deal on or for free that ups my offroad ability and safety/piece of mind. So my rides got a few led lights I got for free, a tube bumper I'm pretty sure was made for a ram, and a cheap little atv winch that should be more than enough to handle some mud or snow.

Anyway I've enjoyed your thread and really wanted to share my story. I've owned mine 5 months. It's been back on the road for almost 4. 8000km 5-6k miles? Bad at math. And going strong daily in the city and me and the little one love to mistreat her any chance we have beyond city limits. View attachment 152081
View attachment 152080
Last photo is pre winch install. I just got done that so I don't have daylight pics yet

Please do keep us updated as you do more work

I love the blue colour! Even better with the red windshield script.

how did the rust repair turn out? I did my wheel wells with firbreglass with impregnated “kitty hair.” Rust came back within one year. Would like to make it be gone.

 

[craig baconator]

More than a year later, you may be wondering "Is that car still going? Does he still have it?"

The answer is yes and yes. I apologize for the hiatus, I pretty much got the car working to the point shown in the previous post and ever since then I've just been using it, with no issues. Granted, I have only been driving it all of a couple times per month to take recycling out or for hunting or other dirty jobs, haven't hardly put any substantial miles on since last post, but it still just starts up and goes even when I let it sit for a couple weeks.

My cousin asked if he could buy it off me for his first car. I told him he'd be better off finding something in a little better shape. It's one thing to occasionally putz it around up here in the sticks, down in the cities where he lives I don't think it would last one week of daily driving. Hard to say for sure though. Then there is still a long list of little issues..

I've been working from home a lot lately and long story short decided to sell my 2017 daily driver Jeep and just make this old CRV my main car for... however much longer its wiling to go. I typically only leave the house a handful of times per week, usually on optional trips where if the car doesn't want to go then I can usually stay home without issue. I don't go more than 10 miles in any direction from my home in this car. We still have our 2020 Jeep that my wife is driving, that is all we use for road trips and general transportation when we are both going somewhere together. "Why have two Jeeps with payments?" I figure I can save about $400 a month if we go down to one Jeep and just see how far this CRV gets me for those days I have somewhere to be.

I can hear you guys already:

Indeed, it might not end well. It might blow up after a week of gentle local driving, but then again it might just keep on truckin. Worst that can happen is I need to find another decent beater without a payment for a few thousand, and I'd still come out ahead compared to making payments to finish the 14k I owe on the 2017 Jeep. If this CRV just lasts through the end of the chip shortage I'm sure that will be good enough. Gives me time to save for some other fun new car.

I've got a to-do list to get this thing into daily-driver condition, though.

I've still been turning the replacement ignition switch with a screwdriver... time to put that where it belongs at the bottom of the ignition lock cylinder! I might throw a cheap remote start kit on while I'm monkeying around with those wires though, would be nice for winter.

My wife was kind enough to vacuum it out for me, removed a few acorn shells from the glovebox and beneath the rear tray. Hopefully the critters haven't been in the airbox again, I already changed that cabin air filter a year ago and I'd like the defrost to work this winter...

Borrowed an ozone generator that probably just finished its second 30-minute cycle to freshen up the inside a bit. Didn't smell too bad but it smelled like a car that sat more than it was driven.

My friend up the road has a hoist in his garage and I have a few things to do if I can get an afternoon in on that;

• Install new swabar end links on all four corners
• Patch a small exhaust hole back at the muffler
• Throw some cheap spring coil spacers on the rear springs (they are a bit saggy and my oversized tires rub a bit when loaded down)
• Brace the universal hitch receiver that I installed (not used for towing, just for a cheap cargo rack I haul deer on)

If I have time I might also change the rear diff fluid and address a cracked CV boot in the rear. I don't really want to put new axles in the back but might have to, unless anyone here has a recommendation on a good fitting split boot I can just cram on there quickly and let ride. From what I understand those often don't work for most people, but its tempting.

I hope the AWD still works since this is northern Minnesota, but I should be OK either way since the tires I put on are still like brand new. Probably not even 1k miles on them yet.

I did do one itty bitty mod that I can't remember whether it ever got posted here or not. I popped out the wire harness between the factory radio head unit and the optional CD player, cut the line-out wires from the CD player and spliced them into a standard 3.5mm headphone jack that I drilled a small hole in the dash to mount. Now I have an aux input on the factory head unit with a $9 bluetooth receiver plugged into it works perfect, the only catch is that you have to have a CD you leave in the factory CD player to trick it into thinking its playing something, otherwise the head unit doesn't pick up the signal. The front door speaker wires are in bad shape, speakers cut out when you open and close the doors so I need to address that too, but basically I got bluetooth on the factory radio for $9 so I can take a phone call on the road or listen to some tunes.

View attachment 151492


Its going to be interesting to see how this plays out, especially when it hits the real cold part of winter. Better swap some fresh oil in the motor one of these days too, not sure that's happened since 2020 but again, hardly put 1000 miles on it either so... its fine I'll keep you guys in the loop.

I say great call on freeing yourself from car payments. The biggest scam perpetrated on the American public. I can’t even imagine. I figure my cost of ownership has been about $900/year for the last 11 years, including purchase, repairs, maintenance, oil changes, tires and it’s in a hopefully good condition for the next 5 years.