The check engine came on showing P300, 301, 303 codes. Replaced plugs, wires, cap, rotor. No effect. Cleaned fuel system, no effect. Researched and found out about factory defective Honda cylinder head for this B20Z engine. Adjusted valves, car ran great, and went right through emissions testing. 2 months later the light comes on again with the same codes. Went back to valve adjustment and found #1 exhaust valve nearest the engine front could not adjusted to get proper cold clearance. Adjusted all the way to the stop and couldn't get a .005 feeler gauge through it. Adjuster is clearly much higher than the other valves. This cylinder head has to come off and will likely need replaced. I bought the car in 2010 with 93K miles from a friend that had it serviced at Honda. There was no audible indication that valves were a problem. I've owned a Honda motorcycle, 2 new Honda cars, a used Acura Vigor, and this 2001 CR-V. This will be my last Honda.

WELL IN 2011, WE HAD OUR HONDA CRV 2001 EX WITH AROUND A 10000 MILES ON IT, AT THE HONDA SERVICE CENTER LOCAL. WE HAD A TIMING BELT, A WATER PUMP THE TENSIONERS, CAM SEAL, A CRANK SEAL ALL NEW BELTS, IDLER PULLEY, HOSES, NEW SPARK PLUGS ,WIRES , CAP , ROTOR, VALVE COVER GASKET.

WELL THAT WAS ALL WELL AND GOOD IT WAS VERY COSTLY THEN, AROUND 18 OR 19 HUNDRED DOLLARS,,, WELL, IT RAN GREAT FOR A FEW MONTHS, THEN IT STARTED. I WAS ASKED TO CHECK OUT THE CRV. IT WAS RUNNING ROUGH AND SHAKING AND STALLING OUT, SO I FIGURED THE WIRES OR CAP, ROTOR WAS THE CAUSE OF IT. SO I CHANGED THEM WITH HIGH END PARTS OVER THE OEM SPECS THAT WAS REQUIRED. THAT HAD NO EFFECT ON IT IT STILL RAN BAD AND STALLED. I LET HER DRIVE IT IN TOWN FOR A WHILE THEN IT LOST POWER IT DIDN'T HAVE THE ZIP IT HAD. SHE REFUSED TO DRIVE IT ANY MORE TILL WE GOT IT FIXED.

BACK TO THE DEALER IT WENT. AFTER A FEW HOURS THEY CALLED AND ASKED ME TO COME TO THE SHOP ( I KNEW THAT IT MEANT BAD NEWS) I WAS RIGHT. THEY HAD THE HEAD OFF IT AND SHOWED ME THE CRACKED VALVE ON IT. I JUST KNEW THIS IS GOING TO COST US SOME BIG MONEY!! THEY WANTED OVER $5000 TO REPLACE THE HEAD AND THE LABOR. I WAS NOT HAVING THAT DONE. SO THEY SENT THE HEAD OUT TO BE REDONE. WHEN THEY GOT IT BACK, AFTER THEY PUT IT ALL BACK TOGETHER, THEY SAID THAT THEY COULDN'T (WARRANTY) IT BECAUSE IT HAD A NICK IN IT FROM THE VALVE CRACKING.THEN THEY TOLD US THAT ONLY THE VALVE THAT WAS CRACKED HAD BEEN REDONE, NOT THE ENTIRE HEAD !! JUST 1 VALVE WAS DONE.

I NEVER HEARD OF A MACHINE SHOP THAT ONLY DID 1 VALVE REPAIR. THAT LEFT US WITH A BAD TASTE IN OUR MOUTH ABOUT THIS HONDA DEALER, AND OF COURSE THEY REPLACED THE CAP, ROTOR, WIRES, PLUGS AGAIN. WE TOOK IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, AND SAID THAT'S A LESSON WELL LEARNED. IT COST US $3800 FOR A HALF ASS JOB!!! THEY DIDN'T EVEN ADJUST THE VALVES THIS TIME EITHER??? IT RAN GREAT FOR ABOUT 4YRS!! SEE NEXT RANT AND RAVE FOR THE NEXT TIME IT HAPPENED TO US. THE ENGINE SERVICE LIGHT WAS ON AS WELL... I NEVER EVEN ASKED ABOUT THAT... BASTARDS

I brought this car from a friend in 2011. Right away, I noticed a problem with the car shaking a little at stops and having a hard time when I first hit the gas. I took it to the Honda dealer and talked with the service manger. He told me, great car and no issues or recalls. He checked it out and said, get a transmission flush. And it was test driven for 5 miles and nothing. Then took it another dealer shortly after that, another transmission flush and a major service job. The dealer told me, everything seems OK and Honda doesn't have a recall or service notice about any problem with this car. Then I found another shop, more transmission flushes, about 3 more, and couldn't figure out why the engine light keeps coming on and off.

At this point, I thought I am going to drive the car till it just stops and someone would figure this out. Now, the car is shaking more while at lights, having a hard time getting started. I pulled into a Hyundai dealer who has a check engine light for free. I found out cylinder 4 is misfiring and to change spark plugs and wiring. I did. Still engine light flashing.

I finally took it to my nephew Andy who is in mechanic school at Cerritos College 2015, and he checks it out and came back with bad news. That there is only 40% compulsion in my 4 chamber. I was shock. He told me, looks like a bad head cylinders and engine or pistols. I did NOT believe him. He told me, car is not worth it. But this is a Honda and I have 3 Hondas in my name. I took it to a dealer and asked them to run a engine diagnosis, paid the $80.00 and he was right. But once again no service notice from Honda.

I came home and went on the internet and found all my answers. This is happening to a lot of Honda CRV owners and Honda is still not taking care of it. I talk with another service manger yesterday 2/7/2015. He told me, if you would have come to me," I knew it's your head cylinder. There was a bulletin, briefly by Honda saying, cars are misfiring, head cylinder are going out. One problem was, the values should of been serviced when customers brought in their car for services, but Honda didn't recommend it at that time, until customers complained of hearing a clicking noise. But by that time, the pistols already damaged the head cylinder. Honda is not taking care of their customers saying " warrant is 36,000/3 yrs. If when I first went to Honda with only 44,000 and a Honda service would have only check that small bulletin, I would of saved $1000,00 of dollars and much headaches. My car is now at Honda, trying to get Honda to fix what should of been fixed yrs ago.

same scenario as others check engine light came on, rough idling, then check engine light starting flashing. took to my mechanic, he replaced distributor, spark plug wires, and other items and did valve job. Got car running again. Six months later, different mechanic is saying cylinder 4 misfiring. Looks like I was lucky to get this defective engine to 150,000 miles. My first and last Honda for me. How many more complaints are out there? Can I swap different year Honda CR-V engine into this model?

My CRV check engine light came on and then starting blinking when idling rough. After doing some internet research, I just thought the cylinder head valves had to be adjusted. But after bring it to a mechanic, I was informed the cylinder head had to be rebuilt which would cost $2000. I have not fixed the problem because I may trade the car in. This is not the first major problem I have had with the car and I have dumped lots of money into fixing problems since I bought it in 2005. I always thought Hondas would last to at least 200K, but not impressed at all. And to see so many others having this problem is very disappointing.

This is the second time we would have had to replace the head. Honda wanted 7500.00 in 2008. We ended up having it reworked for 2800.00. Engine light came on New Years Eve. We took CRV immediately to shop less than 4 miles away. Mechanic said it needed major Tune up. After tune up the engine light still on, mechanic now says 1200.00 to fix . Next morning mechanic emails me bad news, found Honda bulletin about 2001 and valve issues. he now quotes me 4200.00. Paid 427.00 for tune up, car sitting in driveway. So sad!

Looks like I'm another Honda victim. The car seemed to run just fine until last week. Engine light came on, car started running rough (idling almost to the point of stalling, lost pickup, etc)...took to a honda dealer and they said it needed a new cylinder head and would cost $4600. All this happened within a few days' time. I started to search this issue online and was shocked to see how many people this has happened to. I bought my honda because of reliability, and never thought that it would die at 101,000 miles! I told the dealer that I knew it was a common issue and they seemed not to care much so I called honda and opened a case. They said they will get back to me in a day or 2, but warned me that the 3 year/36000 mile warranty is out so they might not be able to do anything about it. They better, or they lost a customer for life...and I will never stop preaching to others about what has happened so they will lose more than 1 customer if they screw me over. I don't have the money to fix this or get another car, and sure as hell wasn't expecting to have to buy a new car with only 100,000 miles on my honda.

So is anybody pushing for a recall or (even better) a class action law suit??? I've seen so many stories from people who have had this same problem happen, but nothing seems to be getting done.