DEI99662

"Neither Honda Motor nor U.S. regulators have been able to determine why new Honda CRV sport-utility vehicles tend to catch fire after their first oil change.

By the end of last week, 20 people had reported fires on 2004-model CRVs to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and another five people had reported oil leaks and smoke, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

That's up from five reports in late June, just before the NHTSA closed its investigation, which failed to find the cause of the problem.

So far, no injuries have been linked to the fires.

The company said the problem seems to stem from technicians, usually at dealerships, improperly replacing oil filters during the first oil change. The rubber gasket inside the rim of the car's factory installed oil filter sometimes sticks to the engine block, and when a new filter is installed over it, the stacked gaskets fail to seal properly. Oil leaks out and sprays onto the car's hot manifold, catching fire.

However, Honda has been unable to explain is why its 2003 and 2004 model CRVs would be especially prone to the problem."

http://motortrend.com/features/news/112_news30/

biker

It seems like many Hondas are built that - during every oil change the oil drips on the exhaust system. I wonder what's worse - the fire that may happen with the oil leak or the damage to the engine when it's run low or with no oil.

dnl2ba

I think this has been posted (though not necessarily the exact same article). I recall forwarding it to my boss, whose brother recently bought a CRV.

phile

Yeah, but I guess now the problem is starting to grow. I still don't know, and no one can answer this, why it's only on the CR-V and no reports from Element owners, because both cars are essentially the same vehicle underneath.

heyitsme

Yea this was on the local news recently. Not sure I totally believe Hondas reason for the fires.

DEI99662

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The federal government is again looking at why the Honda CR-V compact sport/utility vehicle sometimes catches fire after an initial oil change, according to a published report.

Federal safety regulators are again looking at problems with fires in the 2004 and 2005 Honda CR-V following oil changes.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reopened and expanded an investigation of fires involving the 2003 and 2004 models that it closed more than two months ago.

It said at the time of the initial probe that the fires were most likely caused by faulty work by the people changing the oil, which had been Honda's position. But the newspaper said the new inquiry puts the focus back on the manufacturer.

The newspaper said the new probe is an "engineering analysis," the most serious level of inquiry conducted by NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation. Such investigations lead to vehicle recalls roughly 60 to 80 percent of the time, an agency spokesman told the newspaper.

Honda had been notifying dealers and service technicians about ways to avoid the fire problem. But reports of new fires draw "into question the effectiveness of the service communication," NHTSA said in the official notice of investigation.

A Honda spokesman told the newspaper the company would cooperate with NHTSA and is continuing to conduct its own probe.

The company said the problem seems to be caused by a rubber gasket from the factory-installed oil filter sticking to the engine block during an initial oil change.

When the new filter is installed over it, it fails to seal well, and oil leaks. The oil then sprays onto the CR-V's hot manifold and ignites, said the company.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/14/pf/a...ires/index.htm

EDIT: Also on MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5993716/

TSX559

I have a 2002 Honda CR-V and a 2004 Acura TSX. For 2 years I have never had a problem with the CR-V. I did all the work on it myself. I use M1 synthetic oil. I currently have around 34000 miles on it. I cant wait until i get to 40000 so i can take it in for a check up and any maintenance that it needed to be done. The only problem i have with it is the power. 160 hp. It has good power for the size of the car but a tsx engine would be great. I think its just the person who is doing the oil change thats causing this on the CR-V. I take my time when i change the oil. Or it might just be the newer CR-V i guess. Im just giving a heads up. No problems with my CR-V at all.

biker

When the Honda engineers designed the exhaust system, I have feeling they didn't take into account people leaking oil all over it.

Arcticcl9

I remember the first generation Odysseys having the same problem..the oil filter is right above where the exhaust is. I just changed the oil on my TSX, and I saw that the oil filter is to the side, near the passenger side wheel well. Thankfully, the TSX won't have this similar problem

crazy

Its because:

It uses a K-Series engine and K's are so smoooooooookin' that they catch on fire