Radiator

stevel80

I have a 2005 CRV. Bought it brand new in January 2005 and have faithfully maintained it ever since - love the car and one of the best purchases I ever made. It's our 2nd vehicle now and we still use it for commuting and plenty of long distance travel. The alternator did unexpectedly go a couple mounts ago about 60 miles away from home. Got a tow to a nearby Honda dealer, paid way too much for the repair, but oh well, that happens. Wondering now about the radiator and what its life expectancy might be. We're at about 180K miles now and all the American cars I had growing up seemed to have radiators go between 80K and 120K. Wondering what I can expect here? Anyone have any of their own experiences/feedback with a CRV radiator?

Mr_Shiftright

Have you been flushing your coolant periodically? 180K miles is a lot but radiator life depends on quite a few factors, but having the right coolant in there and frequent flushing would really help. I do mine every two years, and at 140K, so far so good. Some techs who service radiators for a living suggest a flush once a year.

Statistically speaking, 12 years is a full radiator lifetime. You might try a visual inspection to see how clogged up it might be, or you can be proactive and just replace it if you plan to drive the CRV hard and fast for another few years.