Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sun 19 Jun 2016 11:42
Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids - mss1tw

Just looking into getting hold of the materials to do a 'fluids' service on my new CRV, and cannot believe the amount of discussion online about using OEM Honda coolant.

Is it really that critical?

I've acquired a Honda service manual and the other fluids (PAS, gearbox, diff) seem straightforward enough to change, but while I'm writing this I might as well ask if there's anything to watch out for.

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Sun 19 Jun 2016 12:12
Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids - corax

I had all this with the Subaru coolant. I wanted to get some OE stuff online, but the more I looked into it, the more unavailable is seemed to be.

So in the end I made sure that I knew the specification of the coolant (anti phosphate, anti amine), and used VAG G12 longlife, as my local mechanic used it which meant it was cheap because he orders it by the drum!

So you could make sure of the spec it needs to be , then use aftermarket that meets those specs.

OE coolants are all made by separate manufacturers. It appears that G12 is made by Valvoline.

It's definitely a more complicated subject than it used to be though!

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Sun 19 Jun 2016 13:41
Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids - Wackyracer

When I had my Toyota it was the same, owners club members all repeating each other about must use Toyota red and no other brands but, there were a handful of people (me included) who used RED OAT antifreeze as recommended by a coolant manufacturer without any problems at all for thousands of miles.

Comma recommends using G30 for your CRV.

I did write to Comma technical asking what the difference was between their G30 and their Long life Red. The reply..

Super Longlife Red and Xstream G30 are similar OAT inhibitor based products. The main difference between them is that Xstream G30 holds several OEM approvals and therefore is a higher specification product.

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Sun 19 Jun 2016 14:03
Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids - gordonbennet

Changing completely isn't a problem, so long as you flush the system out thoroughly and use OAT only on a vehicle modern enough, its when you already have genuine maker's coolant in and need a small top up, for the sake of an extra couple quid for a 500ml bottle i'd sooner get OE.

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Sun 19 Jun 2016 15:39
Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids - focussed

Honda original pre-mixed coolant is only £13.00 +vat for 5 litres , why bother using non-original?

www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/genuine-honda-type-2-coola...l

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Sun 19 Jun 2016 17:11
Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids - mss1tw

Honda original pre-mixed coolant is only £13.00 +vat for 5 litres , why bother using non-original?

www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/genuine-honda-type-2-coola...l

Normally I'd agree completely, but I am never in to receive parcels and retreiving them from the sorting office where I live now is a nightmare.

I want to change it out ASAP so was just after a backup plan in case the nearest dealer don't sell/stock the genuine stuff.

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Sun 19 Jun 2016 17:12
Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids - mss1tw

Changing completely isn't a problem, so long as you flush the system out thoroughly and use OAT only on a vehicle modern enough, its when you already have genuine maker's coolant in and need a small top up, for the sake of an extra couple quid for a 500ml bottle i'd sooner get OE.

Indeed, that was my concern; draining the cooling system completely is impractical.

I should have been more specific in my post and asked about compatiblity between coolant types too.

Edited by mss1tw on 19/06/2016 at 17:13

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Mon 20 Jun 2016 13:45
Honda CRV 2.0 2003 - Honda Type 2 coolant and changing fluids - mss1tw

For reference, Yeomans Honda of Guildford had all fluids available over the parts counter.

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