Jan 2025 15 most often Honda FR-V K20 consumables
This is a list of my most frequent consumables to keep the FR-V running. Than it is perhaps followed by the VTC and Vtec filters, serpentine belt and brake service kits /gaskets, caliper pistons, pads, lubrication, brake fluid/.
Jan 2025 Another useful things for the garage and DIY servicing
Regarding to the 300K milestone, I had to sort out some tools and material. All of them were widely available and thankfully on the cheaper side. Apart of the fuel filter shoes, all delivered from local parts and tools stores.
1/ coolant filling container / 19€, coolant replacement with this funel is ever so easy and quick
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2/ torque wrench 3/8" socket 7 - 112 Nm / 27€, for delicate jobs like the head cover and valves
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3/ Permatex super gray - gasket maker / 11€, couldn't get Honda bond but Permatex is equally good
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4/ Honda 12341-RTA-000 head cover gasket / 21€
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5/ valve adjusting tool / 22€, another very simple but useful device
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6/ starter motor AS S6221S / 95€
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7/ Honda 15845-RAA-A01 VTC strainer / 8€, front VTC filter
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9/ fuel filter shoe PMU-033 set of 10 pcs / long shipping from Asia
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10/ front brake repair kit Febest set of 2 pcs / 28€
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Just back from a very nice trip to the Hel Peninsula and the Sopot area in Poland. The FR-V has made it without a singel sob. All together she's done over 2000 Km. The way there and than back almost in one go, just with 2-3 stops to refill or get a cupof. They took us about 12-13 hours each. The journey itself was quite smooth without major jams or issues. Average fuel consumption /an exact calculation / was 7,25 lit. per 100 Km or 39 mpg. The car PC showed 6,8-6,9 /40-42mpg/. There were 3 of us plus an appropriate load and we traveled by a normal holiday or the allowed speed, mostly with the AC on. An average E10 price in Poland was equivalent to 1,60€ / lit. and on our journey is one toll gate - A1 Gdansk (Ruscin) – Toruň (Nowa Wies). As soon as we got to Sopot we have experienced a heavy downpour. The roads changed to 10-15 cm deep rivers within few minutes. It lasted up to 2 hours and apart of that the weather the car and the whole trip were brill.
A few day days later after we got home, we set off to Piran, Portoroz, Izola in Slovenia. So we have basically connected the Baltic with the Adriatic. Also this trip was excellent and the FR-V behaved once again very good and readable. All together with local runs roughly 3500Km. We tried to travel at nights not to catch the summer heath, in SLO was about 15°C more than in PL and also the motorways were clear of jams. Long term parking in the old medieval Piran possible only in the parking houses as the centrum is no car zone. Two to chose from roughly 22€ per day. Izola and other cities like every else 1-3€ per hour. Fuel prices were a hear cheaper than in Poland, but the motorway vignette was 16€ + 12€ in Austria. Both possible to get ahead on line. They don't cover the Karawanken tunel should you go more westwards /Saltzburg area/, as we did last year.
Jan 2024 Another toy to the garage
Although I got an air compressor with some air powered tools, I recently got this little cordless impact wrench. For me a useful tool as I change the wheels at least twice in a year, plus when doing the brake and suspension service.
Its size, weigh vs delivered power and value is a reason to mention it. Its by the well known budget brand Parkside. The full name is Parkside Performance PPDSSA A1 12v. It has a solid brushless motor and takes 12V 2-5 Amps batteries. With the big battery it weight less than 1,5 kilo and delivers as pre manual up to 300 Nm of torque. Thats is lot of power for such a little guy. It looks like a direct clone of the Milwaukee stubby 12v costing btw at least 5 times more. The Parkside is currently selling across the EU for under 50€ /without the batteries/ but 17,18, 21, 23 mm 1/2 inch impact socked are included. Some good reviews on the Y-Tube. I tighten the wheels circa at 100-110 Nm and the wrench is able to unscrew the nuts very easy. It is small enough to fit under the wheelarches and narrow places when working on the suspension or brakes.
Along with the wrench I bought two working lights taking the same batteries as the wrench. A piece for 10€. They have magnets, tripod holes and can be bent to some 10 deferent positions. Very handy and powerful lights, useful everywhere in the households, workshops, outdoor activities and so on.
Dec 2023 Catalyst converter theft
It is really a nasty issue, until its possible to sell them to scrappers or export them it wont stop. Also punishments for tracked down thieves /if there are any at all/ and the middlemen needs to be a way harder.
To nick it is very easy and take only few minutes. Often happens during the day on carparks, private drives and so on. So if you one day find your FR-V without the catalyst convertor, the car is basically write off. To buy an original CAT + lambda from a Honda dealer - to have done it as it was, will cost more than the car itself, possibility twice as much. Buying a chines/polish one from the E-bay or similar sources - costs and also contains 10x less precious metal so will last accordingly and might not past the emission tests or triggers the EML, but looks like the only option. Making a "decat" - simply welding a pipe instead, is also possible, but it needs some changes to the engine ECU and of course in the EU is illegal. Buying an another car and keep this as donor, or the other way round is not an ideal too, but certainlya way.
Similar to locking wheel nuts, there is an option to make some sort of CAT protector to discourage the morons. Some inspirations are on various webs. I have been thinking of this a lot and soon or later /hope wont be too late/ will create something for sure. Maybe in connection with the steel engine bottom cover, that I am planning to put on soon. Will post an update.
According to the manufactor, the FR-V with R18, N22 and K20 engines uses 16" or 17" wheels with these tyre dimensions: 205/55 R16 or 205/50 R17. However this doesn't stop you to use a deferent rims or tyres size /until they fit or are approved/ but in this country it is basically illegal and can result to MOT failure, the car technical license detention, or even policy lost. To sign deferent wheels sizes to the cars log book would legitimize them, but it is often a cumbersome proces.
For the summer I use 16 inch wheels with 215/55 - these are slightly bigger than the stock, the sidewall grown up from 113 mm to 119 mm, the width from 205 mm to 215 mm and the overall diameter from 632 mm to 643 mm. There is +1 Km/hour speed difference among them which is within the 3% tolerance. For the winter, from half of November up to half of April than 215/60 R16, this set lifts the car for another 11 mm, so the clearance from off the shelf tyre set is 16 mm greater.
The manufactor recommended tyre pressure /its on a label on the driver’s doorjamb/ is 2,2 bar or 32 psi all around for all three FR-V models. I personally find that a bit low and inflate them a tad higher on 2,4 bar / 35 psi. Underinflated tyre causes more rolling resistance which uses more fuel. In overinflated tyres, the sidewalls and tread become harder and the contact patch on the road shrinks. This change in footprint can reduce traction and performance. Driving with varying tyre pressure /or wheel sizes on the same axle if there would be such a dumb/ may cause a drag to one or other side or even the VSA to malfunction.
Air pressure in tyres is directly proportional to the fuel mileage, so people tend to put extra air into the tyres which on the other hand shortens the lifespan.
Sept 2023 Rust protection
This is something I done straight after the vehicle purchase at about 170K Km, as I mentioned in the DIY section. Luckily my FR-V came from the sunny Italy so has not been much attacked by the rust, despite its age.
There is also lot of talk about the rear inner fenders - sound seals being stuck straight onto the body. People has a problem with the material they are made from. The general meaning is that they hold moister and the body under rusts even faster, so many bin them.
When I did this job, I took them down, to see how bad it was under them. Well, it was perfectly healthy, they weren't soaked, moldy or anything like that /only full of dust/. Neither was the metal. I gently power washed them and within 1-2 hours on the sun they were dry as bone again. Yes they are made kind of carpet-isch material but they have the ability to dispose of water pretty well. When I power washed them it didn't seem going into them, water rather flowed down.
Anyway I decided to coated them. Bought for the job 6 cans of cheaper underseal material and applied several layers onto them from the outside, allowed enough time for each layer to soak in and dry.
Then I sprayed the cars fenders itself, again with several thinner layers with a focus on the corners and the body joints. It took another 9-10 cans do the fenders and sills all round. Recently I peeled one of the inner fender off, to see how it was doing. After almost 5 years all was fine and healthy, no trapped moisture or rust developing . When mounting them back I have used little plastic washers to raised them off the tin to create a fine gap.
As far as I know, unfortunately there is no an official repair and workshop printed manual of Haynes or similar style. Plenty of CRVs or Civics books that might help with a certain problems are available though, but no FR-V . The only -up to a certain level useful book, is the official FR-V Owner Manual that comes with the car at the beginning, but not many nowadays owners have. To have a nice print would be lovely, even now in the digital age.
However I came across this interesting book, unfortunately available only in RUS language. It is in both a PDF version for about 19 USD or a printed out for 35 USD. The book deals with K20 and D17 engines, so no R18 or diesel N22. I think it comes from the era of massive private Japanese 2nd hand cars import to Russia and at that time the Edix had only them two versions.
Aprl 2022 The Spring photo-collection
I have taken these photos just before the Easter 22. The FR-V got new wheels DBV Arizona R16 J7.5 ET 35 + 215/55 summer tires that I bought and put together in the winter /been extremely lucky to find them/ . Couldn't wait to pop them on to see how 35 mm offset is gonna look like. No need for the 5 mil wheel spacers I was previously using on the rear axle, that I was not truly happy with, the spacers almost completely covered the central hub edge.
Now all is well, the rims sits just right. The wheels are neatly aligned or slightly poke out of the body line. Didn't measure it precisely, but the car got wider on the axles for about 40-45 mm on each side. Since I got signed in the cars log book only R16", I wasn't messing about with the diameter for now, MOT and insurance are hear-splitting on this. On the other hand staying at 16" I saved at least 70€ and keep enjoying the comfy ride of 55 tire side-wals.
So my FRVs valves are finally done, with a huge embarrassment said first time in her life after 245K Km. As is well known the exhaust camshafts is the K20a weakest point. Damage or excessive wear wasn't made yet /perhaps due to the well oil maintenance or mature driving style/ but the exhaust camshaft on the 4th cylinder would soon develop a substantial wear. To sum up one inlet and 7 exhaust valves need to be adjusted. Well done to the H3Garage that carried out the surgery. Next time I'd like to try to do it myself or with an assistance. At least an excuse to spend a day with a buddy in the garage :)
Jan 2022 Buying an used Honda FRV
Dec 2021 A Quick batt check and winter tires
Winter is definitely here with mornings temperatures dropped almost to 0. The accumulator /Yuasa 3000/ is 4y old now - bought new when the car in 2017. A quick alt-battery test: I´ve made 3 readings. One with engine on 14,6v, than soon after shut down 13,5v, and about 2 hours later when cold 12,8v. Then I made another check in the next morning /3°C/ - it was same like the 3rd. reading 12,8v. I believe these values are just about right and the batt is good for another winter.
Oct-Nov 2021 Autumn trips
Beautiful late summer and autumn trips to some nice places. Almost 1/4 of mega on the clock, still doing well and looking great. Top left pic Štiavnické tajchy - artificial water reservoirs in the Štiavnica Mountains with the Sitno mountain /1009m - bottom left/ at back. The High Tatras range from the Polish side /bottom right/ and The National park Slovak paradise top right.
Sept 2021 Summer fuel economy
The K20 is rather a bigger naturally-aspirated 4 cylinder engine from the smaller size engine range. Some 20 odd years old technology plus the FRV bus-like shape bulky body make sure that MPG is not gonna be the FRVs strength. In spite of this, it is well possible to run FR-V 2.0 up to 7,5 /38-39MPG/ or even better when driving like an old granny. For the last 4-5 years I been collecting the data, Its been jumping between 6 to 9 L/100Km or 32-42 MPG. Its up to the driver, traffic, car state, fuel quality and so on, to what corner its gonna to lean. All the data were collected and processed manually mathematically, the car PC is way to optimistic.
Aprl 2021 To see and to be seen
The car has xenon lights that I like /with the auto height adjustments and washers/ but to be honest they are rather on the dark side. The MOT is quite strict about these so not much to do here, I have only replaced the original D2S bulbs for a set of Osram Xenarc Night Breaker Laser + 200 % /pair 95€/ . While the 200% effect took place by no means, they are a lot better than the previous ones. I have also change the number plate lights, all interior and boot lights, reverse light, front sidelights and the front fog light bulbs for Philips LEDs, so now all of them are of the same color round 4500K and looks just right white cool. As I drive a lot at nights, I have added a pair off small but powerful auxiliary Hella lights /85€/ again with 4500K LED bulbs. The front fog lights were rewired and now also works as DRL on 50% of their strength /or as before like normal fog lights on 100%/.
At first I have tried some cheap E-bay LED bulbs but soon bin them for Philips. They were flickering, going purple and lasted not even a year. The other advantage of this little tuning is the power /and consequently fuel / consumption, for example the front fog lights were 105W now 10W, all the small bulbs /sidelights, number plate, interior, glovebox/ about 50W now up to 5W.
The Alps trip
Our first "proper" FRV trip was to the Austrian Tyrol's Alps Innsbruck-Salzburg-Dachstein area. The journey was over 1600Km with avg fuel consumption round 7Lit/100Km - 40MPG. Weather rather rainy with late summer temperatures. The FRV did really well both performance and economy wise.
Wheels and tires
Summer is on the way so the tire swap. Honda FRV wears by default 205/55 R16. The rim size is J6 /or J6.5/ xR16 and has 64,1 mm central bore, 5x114,3 bolt pattern. Kia, Mazda, Lexus, old Freelander, Toyota, newish Dacia - Renault, Opel van from 2014, Citroens cross something, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Nissan, Hyundai... are swappable.
