I helped a friend replace the coolant pipe that goes from the thermostat housing over the top of the transmission to the hose that then goes to the cabin in her 2007 CRV. From what I gather, it is a know issue that it rusts like an 80s Italian car: the one used in the previous generation do not and the later ones seem to have gone back to the 2nd gen pipe; my junkyard checking supports that claim. Given the fact said pipe is well hidden underneath the intake manifold, you will only be able to know it is rusting out when it is seriously rusted, what can be done to minimize this from happening again? We did use official Honda premixed coolant and had said factory pipe shipped from Japan (at the time we could not find any dealer selling one and voted against getting one made of Chinesium) in hope that improves things, but that still does not put my mind at easy.

Thoughts?

 

Scope? Mirror? Camera? Taking off the IM Isn’t time consuming

 

As long as you're using good coolant and not watering it down I would think you should be fine. Stay away from salted roads or the beach lol. Make sure you have all the splash guards intact on the vehicle. It is a 10+ year old vehicle though... Its not unexpected for something to rust within that time frame.

 

Maybe change your coolant every 4 years instead of every 5 years and use extended life coolant.

 

I work at the dealer, we see 90-110 cars a day. I've never heard of these rusting out.