Hey guys, just wanted to say i had Honda's since i learned how to drive with my very first Honda.
In HS i bought a 1985 Honda Prelude with the flip up lights ( sadly no 4 wheel steering lol ) , charcoal gray , 2 door carbuerated. Owned a 1991 Honda Accord after HS, then owned a 1994 Honda Civic 2 door , then a 1995 Honda Accord, until i drove a 1994 Nissan Sentra SE-R , then moved to Nissan. Owned a 1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R with the SR20DET engine and loved to drive fast.


BUT! Driving fast gets expensive!

Got rid of the turbo Sentra, bought a 2000 Nissan Maxima, then the wife decided she wanted a 1st gen Honda CR-V!

So we got rid of her 2000 Infinity G20 and bought a low mileage CR-V, bought it for $3000 with 128,468 miles off of craigslist, and found out it lived its whole life in Florida!

Body has ZERO rust , had the infamous P0420 code and had NO misfire codes!

I work for Honda ( technician ) and figured that anything that can go wrong with it, i can fix.

So far in the last 3 weeks we replaced ...

timing belt ( was worn bad )
water pump
i performed an oil pump reseal ( just some preventative maintenance )
replaced oil pan gasket ( leaking )
valve cover gasket ( had to remove to replace timing belt )
valve adjust ( was nervous on the exhaust valves, but they adjusted fine )
replaced cat ( P0420 )
replaced all belts
replaced compressor ( was grinding )
replaced dryer ( had to replace to get warranty from Denso )
performed alignment
balanced tires
cleaned out IACV
adjusted and cleaned FITV




We hope to get another 150,000 miles on the CR-V with regular maintenance , i was afraid of the exhaust valves recessing into the head, but it turned out good.

I did accidentally add too much freon to the a/c after i replaced the compressor and dryer, but bringing down the charge made the a.c blow cold again .

Too much freon in the system is the same as not enough, a.c either wont turn on with low pressure OR the PGM-FI ECU will try to shut the compressor off with too much pressure , both resulting in warm air blowing from the vents .


I do hope to chronicle her journey through the ups and downs in case any one else comes across any issues with their 1st gen CR-V

 

 

Thats a steal at 3k. Is it 5-speed too? Then im really jealous. It will go another 150k easy, welcome back to Hondas.

 

Yeah thats a great deal for 3k! I always liked the older crvs

 

Nope, automatic.

I was searching CL for like 2 months and i could not find anything with less than 170,000+ miles , and all were going for no less than $4k + , then found some small dealership that had posted it for sale asking $3200 obo, from Miami ( he buys from auctions and sells ) due to having the CEL on and wanted to get rid of it ASAP.

He figured the P0420 would make it difficult to sell ( dealer cat was $900 ) so he put a low price on it. Little did he know a brand new cat from Advance Auto was only $160...

Still left to replace...

LF window regulator
2 rear lug nut studs ( broken off )
left axle seal leaking
headlight restoration ( cloudy )
steering rack ( leaking )
suspension ( feels stiff , 1st gen are known for having bad suspension when being left in the air for too long , like on a lift )
tie rod boots torn ( super easy to replace )






I managed to get all of the big stuff done in the past few weeks and now all that it it needs is small things, little by little i am replacing things on the cheap. Considering how these hold their resale , i got lucky !