jkelley

Good morning all,

I am starting to really enjoy working on cars, especially my S. But I've basically got it to 100% now and I have a bunch of brand new tools I'm itching to use
So I'm contemplating keeping the S in the garage on rainy days, especially in the winter because I HATEEEE DRIVING IT IN THE RAIN!
Not because I care about getting the S wet... I just don't like the RWD in the rain and the crap that flings off Columbia SC streets

Since I like working on my cars on weekends, I was thinking about maybe picking up a high mileage CRV on the cheaps because frankly I could sometimes use the cabin space for Home Depot trips .

But this led me to the question of "what exactly goes bad at 300k miles on Hondas?" I've heard a bunch of people say "Hondas will last for 300k easy if you take care of them" but what I'm asking is what exactly is the common denominator for them being "done" at around the 300k mark?

Bottom line, I'm considering picking up a 1999 Honda CRV that's very clean inside and out - but with 250k miles. It runs and shift well (AT) and no apparent bad noises. The guy is asking under $3k and if it lasts me 2 years and costs me $1,000 in parts over those 2 years, I wouldn't be unhappy. I'd be okay with that.

What are your thoughts?

JonBoy

Age and the environment will slowly destroy anything rubber, so bushings and such will definitely go anywhere from 7-10 years into the life of the car. Hoses and fittings can be problematic. You'll definitely be looking at doing the timing belt at some point - typically every seven years or 100K miles, so it's overdue on age and mileage if it hasn't been done recently. A/C compressors and/or power-steering pumps will go after a while as well. Your bearings and/or CV joints are also problematic with age.

Mechanically, from an engine/transmission standpoint, you should be pretty safe. Just keep changing the fluids regularly.

NuncoStr8

Alternator, starter, water pump, and radiator as well. And shocks & struts.

Mr.E.G.

Having owned many high mileage Hondas, I completely agree with this list. The main issue I've had with EVERY Honda I've ever owned is the cooling system. The fan switch stops working, the car starts to overheat at a stop (but cools down once you get up to speed and the air starts flowing across the radiator), and this inevitably leads to getting stuck in traffic in the 100 degree Texas sun and dealing with some heat spikes. As the temp goes up, any weak link in the cooling system is exposed and you start losing hoses, radiators, etc.

Other than that, as Jonboy stated, rubber bushings start to fail, which doesn't make the car undriveable, it just makes you not enjoy driving it.

vader1

Yeah it has been said, suspension parts. Joints, bushings, springs, shocks. Every high mile Honda I have known has had worn suspensions, but suspension parts wear.

I have seen a couple abused Hondas make it to very high miles. My brother (a car moron) ran his brand new 1991 CRX HF Honda to 52,000 miles on the original oil. Over a quart low, and like mud. He was 18 and I checked the oil before he headed back to college and said "when is the last time you had this changed?" He said, "You need to change oil?"

He never did any fluid changes besides oil after that, sold it at 150,000 miles still no trouble. Don't know how it worked out for the next guy.

jkelley

Excellent info everyone, thank you!

What it sounds like is there are a lot of "moving/abused" parts that are going to to fail on the car - generally in the suspensions, alt, cooling sys areas. This is good because I think I should be able to fix these types of issues on my own and learn some stuff along the way

So basically if I keep my oil changes on schedule and looking good and make sure that valves are timed and such that the engine shouldn't be the issue with a high mileage car going into even higher miles? Obviously there are exceptions to this, I know. But I shouldn't 'expect' some internal engine part (ring, rod, piston, whatever) to fail after some 'x' miles, right?

Mr.E.G.

I would trust virtually any old Honda to not experience engine failure. Especially B series engines (like you'd find in an old CR-V).

The Gasman

Of the 14 hondas we've had in our families, a lot have had the a/c's go out and the stereo/dvd player go out.

kolyan2k

Many Hondas and Acuras are known for tranny issues... Don't know about CRV...

marthafokker

At 250k miles, auto tranny might be at the end of its life needing a rebuild soon.