What Do I Need To Look For.

[marsh man]

Evening all .... At long last I should be going to look at a Honda CR-V next week with the intension to buy , I cant look round it first as it is nearly 200 miles away , the chap who have got it have kept me up to date with information  and is going to send me several close up photos over the weekend as he don't want me to go all that way and find it is not as described .

With me knowing nothing about engines ect , I am relying on you good people to advise me what to look at ( if anything ) when I get there.

THANKS for the help in the past and for any help to come .

[johnnytheboy]

What age crv? Petrol or diesel, auto or manual

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, johnnytheboy said:

What age crv? Petrol or diesel, auto or manual

Sorry....... 2009 , Diesel , Manual.

[johnnytheboy]

Different from the one I had, the only issue with theses was tyre warning pressure warning light scoring on all the time despite their being no problem! 

Id check for a full service history the outset as is it’s an early model and early models end up part of recall campaign 

[Vince Green]

Any old car is a lottery, I'd spend more time weighing up the seller than the car, but why are you interested in a car that far away? Proof of servicing and any advisories on the MOT are important, not just a service book, see some receipts .

Tyres are my little pet thing, four odd tyres, walk away. Four matching of a known good make buy the car but that's just me..

Edited May 16, 2018 by Vince Green

[PERCE]

We had a 2009 (59 plate) on a lease for 3 years. I think we got mid 30's mpg with it, better with non supermarket fuel. Never had any mechanical issues with it over 36k only putting a set of tyres on it. Only issue was it followed cambers on the motorway & was exhausting to drive on long journeys as you had to hang onto it all the time or you'd end up on the hard shoulder. It hung left in the UK & then hung right on the continent.

We've been looking at getting an older Rav 4 & I've been using https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/ on the registration numbers of vehicles available on autotrader to see if there's any common faults showing up as mot failures.

Edited May 16, 2018 by PERCE

[marsh man]

THANKS to all .the above advice , very much appreciated .

[Vince Green]

21 hours ago, PERCE said:

 Only issue was it followed cambers on the motorway & was exhausting to drive on long journeys as you had to hang onto it all the time or you'd end up on the hard shoulder. It hung left in the UK & then hung right on the continent.

 

That's often a tyres issue,  I have a Merc that does that really badly but the owners club website says its tyres  

[la bala]

Havnt ever had anything to do with Honda, are they cambelt or timing chain, might be something to check on.

[IEH]

Rear diff fluid degrades on these, so check for groaning noises whilst on full lock at slow speed.  A flush/refill resolves if caught early enough but can be expensive if left.

[PERCE]

21 hours ago, Vince Green said:

That's often a tyres issue,  I have a Merc that does that really badly but the owners club website says its tyres  

It's known issue with the CRV. I had 2 sets of tyres on it of different brands & it did it with both.

[Saltings]

first thing finger in exhaust get some soot then spit on finger if the soot washes off its not  burning oil and go from there check front end and boot for crash damage check around header tank for rusty looking water stain possible head gasket problem take for a test drive if the temp needle goes high then drops off and repeats at any time head gasket problem any knocking noises /rattles on start up from cold that goes quiet when oil gets round may need a look at to be fair Honda crv are pretty good all round  have a look about for rust underneath depending on age etc

[marsh man]

12 hours ago, Saltings said:

first thing finger in exhaust get some soot then spit on finger if the soot washes off its not  burning oil and go from there check front end and boot for crash damage check around header tank for rusty looking water stain possible head gasket problem take for a test drive if the temp needle goes high then drops off and repeats at any time head gasket problem any knocking noises /rattles on start up from cold that goes quiet when oil gets round may need a look at to be fair Honda crv are pretty good all round  have a look about for rust underneath depending on age etc

Good advice and well worth knowing ....... Thanks a lot.       M M

[matone]

On 16/05/2018 at 21:57, Vince Green said:

Any old car is a lottery, I'd spend more time weighing up the seller than the car, but why are you interested in a car that far away? Proof of servicing and any advisories on the MOT are important, not just a service book, see some receipts .

Tyres are my little pet thing, four odd tyres, walk away. Four matching of a known good make buy the car but that's just me..

Agree,tyres tell you much about the previous owners attitude to their vehicle !