Hello all,

I have a 2003 Honda CRV. Its exterior and interior, gearbox and everything beside the engine is in great condition. Thus I want to keep this car.

I have done alot of travelling in Thailand and the car is approaching the 250,000km mark. The grunt coming from under the bonnet just isnt

what it was. Not that the 2L motor was ever that powerful, but i could at least get up hills with the A/C on.....now, its struggling.

Does anyone have experience with CRV engines, in particular how easy/difficult are they to fit? What would be estimated cost of new and reworked motors and would it be financially viable to do so compared to buying a new car? Are Honda engines made in Thailand or need to import from Japan/elsewhere?

Would you go with a new engine or a reworked one? If reworked, where to find one? Would you only do at Honda dealer or average Thai mechanic could fit?

I realise that this information could probably be obtained from my local Honda dealer, but their English is terrible and my Thai even worse...

Appreciate any advice on this as my knowledge on the subject is very limited.

cheers - J

Honda is sooooo common here every mom and pop shop can do just about anything you need on them but that doesn't mean I'd trust every mom & pop shop anymore then anywhere else.

But that is what you need to sort out in the end regardless who does it. The point is there is plenty of options, I'm always of the mind "better the devil you know versus the devil you don't" so if my engine isn't completely trashed, I'd opt for a professional rebuild, the key word being "professional" but that will take more time to do properly then just popping in a second hand one that comes with little, to no, known history of it's use or abuse..

Parts very available most places..

Honda is sooooo common here every mom and pop shop can do just about anything you need on them but that doesn't mean I'd trust every mom & pop shop anymore then anywhere else.

But that is what you need to sort out in the end regardless who does it. The point is there is plenty of options, I'm always of the mind "better the devil you know versus the devil you don't" so if my engine isn't completely trashed, I'd opt for a professional rebuild, the key word being "professional" but that will take more time to do properly then just popping in a second hand one that comes with little, to no, known history of it's use or abuse..

Parts very available most places..

Cheers mate, a rebuild is another option to consider.

I's also suggest a rebuild if at all possible. Is this the k20A3 engine? It's the same as in my civic and still going strong at 190K kms. 250K kms isn't a lot. Once I had a mini and had the head done to replace the lost compression - made a huge difference. I guess you can get the compression checked to see if there's any lost power in any cylinder. I don't imagine a valve job is too expensive. I think a second hand k20 could be 80-120K baht. Even dropping in a k24 might be possible. I'm sure someone will come alone with better advice about how to check your engine for it's condition.