About the Car - A Cautionary Tale about Older Honda CR-Vs
I mentioned a week or so ago that I had car trouble. That’s putting it rather mildly. One week and $2600 later, I got my car back from the shop. But let’s go back a bit…
It all began about 10 months ago, when my car (a 2000 Honda CR-V) started taking longer to warm up in the mornings. If it didn’t warm up a few minutes before I left for work, it would occasionally stall or run rough until it did warm up. I took the CR-V into the shop and got a tune-up, thinking that bad spark plugs might be the problem. For a while after the tune-up, the car did run better, but then the problems resurfaced. Eventually, I got into the habit of turning my car on for 5 minutes before leaving each day to warm it up so I could head to school without the car stalling.
However, I realized that this was just a band-aid, so I took the car into the shop again. BTW, this auto shop is run by a friend who used to investigate other auto shops for dishonest practices, so I trust them with my car. Anyway, this time they thought it might be the air intake motor (or something that sounds like that – I don’t remember the actual name), so they flushed out the system and cleaned the filters. Again, the car ran more smoothly for a while after this fix, but the problems resurfaced about a month later. At this point, Jeff replaced the air intake motor to fix the problem. It didn’t work though, and the car’s condition continued to worsen.
I brought it into my mechanic again, and this time they recommended I run a full diagnostic on it. The results that came back were quite distressing. My car needed a valve job! A 2000 Honda, with less that 90,000 miles on it needed a valve job! It just seemed wrong. I had the mechanic hold the car for a day, while I did some investigating on my own (I didn’t want to spend all that money if this wasn’t actually the problem).
Here’s where things get interesting. Online, I found that Honda CR-Vs produced between the years 1997 and 2001 have a little problem with their motors. Their valves tighten with wear, rather than loosen, and they should be adjusted every 30,000 miles. However, in my owner’s manual, it says to adjust the valves every 105,000 miles – which is why we never suspected this was the problem. In all the American owner’s manuals the recommendation is for an adjustment every 105,000 miles. In the European owner’s manuals, it says every 30,000 miles. I’m not sure why there is this discrepancy, but the conspiracy theorists say it’s because Honda felt Americans would be less likely to buy a car that required valve adjustments so regularly. Who knows what the truth is? All I know is that other CR-V owners around the country, myself included, have had to get costly valve jobs when their cars were around the 90,000 mile mark because they never knew to get their valves adjusted every 30,000 miles.
On the bright side, my car now runs like a champ, and I paid less than others have to fix the problem. Plus, I got a new timing belt, a tune-up, and some other things done at the same time. It just stinks that I’m now $2600 poorer because of a problem that you wouldn’t think would happen with a Honda. I’m still mulling over in my mind whether or not I should contact Honda Corporate about the issue. I’m not sure it would do any good, and it could just be an exercise in frustration on my part. But, maybe others have complained, and there is some offer of reimbursement out there? I guess I won’t ever know unless I pick up the phone.
So, a word of caution to all of you out there who may own a Honda CR-V built between 1997 and 2001. Get your valves adjusted on a regular basis! It will save you a lot of hassles and money in the long run.
It all began about 10 months ago, when my car (a 2000 Honda CR-V) started taking longer to warm up in the mornings. If it didn’t warm up a few minutes before I left for work, it would occasionally stall or run rough until it did warm up. I took the CR-V into the shop and got a tune-up, thinking that bad spark plugs might be the problem. For a while after the tune-up, the car did run better, but then the problems resurfaced. Eventually, I got into the habit of turning my car on for 5 minutes before leaving each day to warm it up so I could head to school without the car stalling.
However, I realized that this was just a band-aid, so I took the car into the shop again. BTW, this auto shop is run by a friend who used to investigate other auto shops for dishonest practices, so I trust them with my car. Anyway, this time they thought it might be the air intake motor (or something that sounds like that – I don’t remember the actual name), so they flushed out the system and cleaned the filters. Again, the car ran more smoothly for a while after this fix, but the problems resurfaced about a month later. At this point, Jeff replaced the air intake motor to fix the problem. It didn’t work though, and the car’s condition continued to worsen.
I brought it into my mechanic again, and this time they recommended I run a full diagnostic on it. The results that came back were quite distressing. My car needed a valve job! A 2000 Honda, with less that 90,000 miles on it needed a valve job! It just seemed wrong. I had the mechanic hold the car for a day, while I did some investigating on my own (I didn’t want to spend all that money if this wasn’t actually the problem).
Here’s where things get interesting. Online, I found that Honda CR-Vs produced between the years 1997 and 2001 have a little problem with their motors. Their valves tighten with wear, rather than loosen, and they should be adjusted every 30,000 miles. However, in my owner’s manual, it says to adjust the valves every 105,000 miles – which is why we never suspected this was the problem. In all the American owner’s manuals the recommendation is for an adjustment every 105,000 miles. In the European owner’s manuals, it says every 30,000 miles. I’m not sure why there is this discrepancy, but the conspiracy theorists say it’s because Honda felt Americans would be less likely to buy a car that required valve adjustments so regularly. Who knows what the truth is? All I know is that other CR-V owners around the country, myself included, have had to get costly valve jobs when their cars were around the 90,000 mile mark because they never knew to get their valves adjusted every 30,000 miles.
On the bright side, my car now runs like a champ, and I paid less than others have to fix the problem. Plus, I got a new timing belt, a tune-up, and some other things done at the same time. It just stinks that I’m now $2600 poorer because of a problem that you wouldn’t think would happen with a Honda. I’m still mulling over in my mind whether or not I should contact Honda Corporate about the issue. I’m not sure it would do any good, and it could just be an exercise in frustration on my part. But, maybe others have complained, and there is some offer of reimbursement out there? I guess I won’t ever know unless I pick up the phone.
So, a word of caution to all of you out there who may own a Honda CR-V built between 1997 and 2001. Get your valves adjusted on a regular basis! It will save you a lot of hassles and money in the long run.
It seems to me like a letter to Honda couldn't hurt! We had some problems with our Accord that we used to own and found out later that the faulty part had been recalled and they paid us for our mechanic fees with a simple letter. Worth a try!
I HATE car problems!
I would write a letter or call.
What a pain! It seems like every time there is a warning light or problem on a car it ends up costing thousands of dollars.
I'd definitely second sending a letter to Honda. A lot of people complain about things but don't actually follow through with the companies. A lot of companies can be pretty responsive to valid complaints, which yours certainly is!
I hate car problems! At least you have a friend you can trust to get it checked out. I always say I wish we had a car mechanic in the family!
And I agree. It couldn't hurt to send a letter to Honda. A company like that should be responsive. You never know what you might get out of it!