I have found a 2000 Honda Crv (4-cylinder 2.0l) that is $600 in my local area. The reason the guy is selling it is because the downstream catalytic converter is bad and was quoted 700 to fix it from a muffler shop. The car only has 197,000 on it and from the pictures appears to be taken care of. A new catalytic converter is less than $200 and I really think this looks like a good deal. I do not know much about Honda's or about emmissions, so any helpful advice will be appreciated. Two questions, Does this car have two catalytic converters? What kind of cheap Catalytic converters do I want to avoid (OEM cats are way to expensive)?
2000 honda Crv for $600?
- Thread starter taztheman
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Are you in an emissions area?
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Unfortunately yes, I am in an emmissions county.
Crawl underneath, make sure it's not a transplant from the north. If it's clean then most anything can be repaired--repairs might well exceed what ought to be done, but all the bolts would come apart.
197k, hard to say, I'd be worried about the automatic transmission (if it had one). If it had regular fluid changes, or was a manual, and lived its life in the south, then I'd wager it was a good deal. Fix stuff as it breaks and run the last bit of life out of it.
Oh and check the a/c. I want to say Honda's often have problematic a/c that often gets expensive. If you don't care, then all the better, perhaps they are selling because of that.
197k, hard to say, I'd be worried about the automatic transmission (if it had one). If it had regular fluid changes, or was a manual, and lived its life in the south, then I'd wager it was a good deal. Fix stuff as it breaks and run the last bit of life out of it.
Oh and check the a/c. I want to say Honda's often have problematic a/c that often gets expensive. If you don't care, then all the better, perhaps they are selling because of that.
Originally Posted by taztheman
Unfortunately yes, I am in an emmissions county.
Make sure it's not one of those CA emissions models (I think it's on a sticker under the hood stating if it's CA or Federal emissions). If it's not CA then get the cheapo cat and a spark plug anti-fouler, and go from there--that would be my plan of attack (if not just the anti-fouler in the first place).
Unfortunately yes, I am in an emmissions county.
Make sure it's not one of those CA emissions models (I think it's on a sticker under the hood stating if it's CA or Federal emissions). If it's not CA then get the cheapo cat and a spark plug anti-fouler, and go from there--that would be my plan of attack (if not just the anti-fouler in the first place).
Thanks Supton for the help. Two questions though, So should it be a pass if it's a California emissions car since I will have to get the oem cat? Since the car is an automatic should I be concerned about the transmission?
No visual inspection: test pipe and anti-fouler
Visual: gutted cat and anti-fouler
Not a chance I would buy that and try to fix it. Maybe if it was a manual transmission.
It's worth scrap price unless it is a parts car.
Visual: gutted cat and anti-fouler
Not a chance I would buy that and try to fix it. Maybe if it was a manual transmission.
It's worth scrap price unless it is a parts car.
https://axleaddict.com/auto-repair/How-To-Pass-Smog-Test-With-Bad-Catalytic-Converter
you need a reasonably large air / propane blowtorch
with the cat removed from the car and preflably outside as i recon some potentaly funky fumes may be given off, light the blowtorch and hold it by the enterance of the cat untill the core starts glowing, now turn the torch off and back on, the falme should be gone but the core of the cat should light back up **** around with the gas mix and torch position till the whole core is glowing leaning out the gas mix will encorage deposits to burn away, an over rich gas mix will produce potentaly loads of carbon monoxide
if the cat dosent light up on propane air mix, get the cat hotter if it still dosent light it's really sick leave the torch burning there a littel longer and try again if that dosent work it's scrap.
i find it very usefull on tuned turbo cars that coat there cats in soot very quickly
you need a reasonably large air / propane blowtorch
with the cat removed from the car and preflably outside as i recon some potentaly funky fumes may be given off, light the blowtorch and hold it by the enterance of the cat untill the core starts glowing, now turn the torch off and back on, the falme should be gone but the core of the cat should light back up **** around with the gas mix and torch position till the whole core is glowing leaning out the gas mix will encorage deposits to burn away, an over rich gas mix will produce potentaly loads of carbon monoxide
if the cat dosent light up on propane air mix, get the cat hotter if it still dosent light it's really sick leave the torch burning there a littel longer and try again if that dosent work it's scrap.
i find it very usefull on tuned turbo cars that coat there cats in soot very quickly
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My daughter's 97' CRV made it to about 300k but not w/o some expenses. I'd look @ the steering rack as well. Probably struts as well need to be replaced. Timing belt. Transmission w/drain and fills every 30K was in fine shape. If you can do most of the work yourself I'd consider buying the car.
Make sure the valves haven't burned! They made some changes to the '99 - '01 CRV and added more power to them. Consequently, these later models are more prone to burnt valves if the valves don't get adjusted every 30 to 50k.
Originally Posted by supton
Oh and check the a/c. I want to say Honda's often have problematic a/c that often gets expensive.
Can't expect a/c to work on a $600 car.
Oh and check the a/c. I want to say Honda's often have problematic a/c that often gets expensive.
Can't expect a/c to work on a $600 car.
I did end up getting the car, the catalytic converter broke off the rear flange and everything checked out on it! The only thing was the owner did not know when the timing belt was last serviced. Is there any way I can find that out?
Sticker under the hood or service records but assume you don't have that. At 197K just change it. If it was let go this much, doubt it was replaced after the first recommended 100K.
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by supton
Oh and check the a/c. I want to say Honda's often have problematic a/c that often gets expensive.
Can't expect a/c to work on a $600 car.
No, but I don't know if the OP expects it to work, or plans to fix it. For all I know, it's a rust free car that could be fixed up on the cheap.
Originally Posted by taztheman
I did end up getting the car, the catalytic converter broke off the rear flange and everything checked out on it! The only thing was the owner did not know when the timing belt was last serviced. Is there any way I can find that out?
I don't know if you can look in there, but TBH I'd look into how hard it was to change it, and do it for peace of mind. Do you know if it's an interference engine?
Good luck on the new-to-you car, BTW.
Originally Posted by supton
Oh and check the a/c. I want to say Honda's often have problematic a/c that often gets expensive.
Can't expect a/c to work on a $600 car.
No, but I don't know if the OP expects it to work, or plans to fix it. For all I know, it's a rust free car that could be fixed up on the cheap.
Originally Posted by taztheman
I did end up getting the car, the catalytic converter broke off the rear flange and everything checked out on it! The only thing was the owner did not know when the timing belt was last serviced. Is there any way I can find that out?
I don't know if you can look in there, but TBH I'd look into how hard it was to change it, and do it for peace of mind. Do you know if it's an interference engine?
Good luck on the new-to-you car, BTW.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/usergals/2019/09/full-76028-36018-41802e4b_edbc_47a6_9c6b_c318013e2c76.png "[Linked Image]")
Does this look like it can fixed without replacing the catalytic converter?
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