2003 CR-V engine feels very heavy

I have owned six cars so far. 4 gas and 2 diesel. I have never felt an
engine as heavy as the CR-V. Even a diesel engine, which has a lot of engine
braking, does not slow a car down as much as the i-VTEC does. I keep asking
the dealership to check the engine out everytime I take it in for service
but they haven't found anything wrong. I do about 50 miles of highway
everyday and I'm consistently getting less than 23mpg. Is it normal?

Also I notice a burning smell from the rear wheel on the passenger's side. I
think it comes from the brake disc because it feels very hot when I touch
it. Then I was told that there was not excessive wear on the brakes. What
can be wrong?


Ford Cortina Mark III
Citreon BX
Fiat Ritmo Turbo Diesel
BMW 318tds
Subaru Legacy
Honda CR-V

 

You can check the brake drag on the wheel by jacking it up and turning the
wheel by hand. If you give the wheel a spin by hand and count the number of
revolutions it makes, then compare it with the other rear wheel, you will
find out if the brake is dragging. Sometimes the slide pin lubrication gives
out and the pads don't back away from the disk. Feeling the heat there is
suspicious at least.

Mike

 

Thanks for the tip. I sure will try it out before taking it in for the next
service.

Do other CR-V owners find their cars heavy?

 

Yes, but just lately. I have a 2003 EX with about 17K on it. It seems to
feel like the tires are way underinflated (they're not) or the brakes are
dragging (again, they're not). Was starting to think it was just me.

 

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Mike, that doesn't work with an AWD CR-V, since the rear differential
will resist any efforts to spin a wheel by hand. The TCu can be reset,
but the CR-V will always seem to have more engine braking because of the
way it saves gas by shutting off the injectors when you take your foot
off the gas. If it's over 30,000 miles, LC needs to change his Dual Pump
Fluid (since the manual has an error in the maintenance schedule). I'd
change the tranny fluid too, way ahead of time. hondasuv.com has articles.

LC needs to let his V roll to a stop on the highway, then (carefully)
feel the rotors to determine if the slide pin is siezed on the rear
right, like you said. Without knowing the mileage, much is speculation.

'Curly'

 

Ahh... thanks for setting me straight, Curly. That's the strength of the
groups - we are always learning!

Mike

 

Hey Curly.

What years CR-V do the injectors shut off, when you take your foot off the
throttle, I was not aware of that.

Tom

 

--------------------------

Our first '97 certainly did that, since the tach would drop to about 300
when slowing, coming off the highway, and suddenly spring to life just
before you'd expect it to stall. Our '98 doesn't do it as obviously, and
the BOSS doesn't want me to reset her TCU, because she didn't like the
way you had to 'use gas to get to the red light' on the '97.

It was wierd to get used to, but great in bad icy traffic. Very much
like a manual tranny, or using D3 all the time.

Sorry, I don't know if that trick is still around in the Generation II
of the CR-V.

'Curly'

 

It is a 2003 CR-V EX with 39,700 miles on it. I have taken it to the
dealership for services at every 5K miles interval. Is the changing of Dual
Pump Fluid a standard procedure at 30K? Am going to take it in for the 40K
miles service two weeks from now so would like to know whether the
"heaviness" is normal or not.

 

----------------------------

Changing the fluid at that mileage is not 'standard', but time and
experience has proven that many users start getting bad noises around
30,000 Miles, so it must be a 'prudent' idea. It won't make your CR-V
feel lighter, or coast better, but since you're going to have it up on
the hoist anyhow, it's a good preventative measure for troublefree driving.

Hopefully the dealer will find out if your brakes are dragging. Let us know.

'Curly'

 

Every year, make and model of fuel-injected car since about the 80s.

The injectors are shut off when you take your foot off the gas when the
engine is above (typically) between 2,000 and 2,500 rpm depending on make
and model. This is done to reduce emissions and improve fuel mileage.

 

Most Hondas and Acuras do that to save gas. My 94 Acura Vigor does it. It's
even in the Service manual.

 

I get 22 consistently and I'm happy with that considering how fast I
drive. Occasionally, it goes up over 23.

 

If the injectors "shut off", then how does the engine stay running ?

D.Mills - Licensed Automotive Technician.

 

you're kidding, right? as a "licensed automotive technician", what
value do you think is achieved by injecting fuel into a closed throttle
if the vehicle's coasting above 2000rpm?

 

Even some some carburated engines had fuel shut off (before their breed
went extinct). Auto mechanics loved working on those electronically
controlled carburetors...

=======================================================
A very modest collection of Honda tech info can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/ng_randolph

 

My understanding is that cars made in the last decade or so all do that,
killing injection under lift-throttle conditions above some modest RPM. My
1993 Chevy work truck with manual tranny isn't very smooth about it - I can
feel the difference when using engine braking on steep roads. I think it is
to control emissions rather than to save the bit of fuel that would be used
otherwise.

The cutoff only occurs when the engine doesn't need fuel at the moment. The
injection comes back on as the RPMs drop, so you could say for the time the
injectors are off the engine isn't running, only spinning (and sparking and
pumping). It is restarted, as it were, by its own momentum.

Mike

 

Great! Now I'm going to have Mikuni carburetor nightmares again.

Mike

 

Well for starters, if the engine is multi-point injected, then you
wouldn't be injecting fuel into a throttle......it would be injected
into the intake manifold behind the injector. So, if the injectors "shut
off" while coasting, does that mean when you are accelerating in a
manual trans car that the injectors are "shut off" while changing gears
? I would be inclined to think that instead of the injectors being "shut
off", the pulse width of the injectors would be shortened. Watching a
scan tool (set on injector pulse width display ) while driving, or even
just racing an engine at idle, would show you that the injectors are not
shut off.

D.Mills - Licensed Automotive Technician.

 

Well for starters, if the engine is multi-point injected, then you
wouldn't be injecting fuel into a throttle......it would be injected
into the intake manifold behind the intake valve. So, if the injectors
"shut
off" while coasting, does that mean when you are accelerating in a
manual trans car that the injectors are "shut off" while changing gears
? I would be inclined to think that instead of the injectors being "shut

off", the pulse width of the injectors would be shortened. Watching a
scan tool (set on injector pulse width display ) while driving, or even
just racing an engine at idle, would show you that the injectors are not

shut off.

D.Mills - Licensed Automotive Technician.