Honda CRV Fuse

[billkoboldt]

I have a 2011 Honda CRV I am thinking of towing behind our motorhome. I now tow a Saturn Vue.

The Honda owners manual says to pull #34 fuse, which is a 7.5 amp fuse for the radio, so it don't run the battery down. Does anyone know if I don't pull that fuse and turn off the radio and run a hot wire from the 7 way connector to the Honda battery if it is still necessary to pull the fuse.

Also, has anyone ever had any wheel problems with the CRV as do some Saturns. So far I haven't had a problem with 71000 miles on it.

Any info would be appreciated.

[jc21014]

We have the 2008 Saturn Vue and, as you probably know, an ignition fuse is required to be pulled prior to towing to avoid having the battery go dead. As I didn't want to pull the fuse each time, I addressed that problem by mounting a rocker type switch(which held the fuse in question) on the center console side panel that contains the other fuses. When we were ready to tow, we used the switch to disable the switch so maybe the same/similiar approach could be used on the CRV. BTW, what wheel problems were you referring to for the Saturn Vue? Have never heard of that. Here is a link to the fues setup we used. A little pricey but one could probably configure their own.

http://rv-partsplus.com/rving-fuseswitch

[ccmsm]

We towed a 2007 CRV and now a 2013 CRV. I have never pulled a fuse. I always make sure everything inside the car is turned off. I have never had a dead or weak battery. We never travel over 300 miles a day.

[billkoboldt]

The problems with the wheels were the bearings. Earlier Saturn Vues had a problem with the wheel bearings going bad. I know a friend of mine who has had his replaced at least 2 times, and he doesn't tow his. I understand it is an on going problem if you tow.

In reference to the switch, I did that to my Saturn after the first time I towed it. Much easier flipping a switch than pulling a fuse.

Thanks for the replies.

[nctox]

I tow a 2012 CR-V and I installed a fuse switch, but it probably wasn't necessary. I towed the car a few times without pulling the radio fuse, and all was well. Then after a two day trip, I tried to crank the CR-V and found the battery was too weak to do so. When I returned home I ordered the fuse switch and installed it. After giving the situation some more thought I'm convinced that I must have inadvertently left the climate control on, and possible the fan running on that trip where the battery was drained.

I still use the fuse switch, but I really think if you only drive for 5-6 hours a day, and start and run the engine each morning, you probably don't need to pull the radio fuse. Honda recommends pulling the fuse for lengthy towing, IIRC over 8 hours.

Tim,,,

[fad847]

I recently towed our 2011 CRV from Fl to RI. I installed a "toad charge" system and connected it to the house batteries to keep the juice flowing to the brake buddy. That, in my case proved to be wrong. I had to buy a new battery when I reached RI. I guess the small battery I the Honda cannot handle the charging rate. I do start the CRV and let it run for while like it says in the owners manual. On my return trip to FL I am not going to connect the "toad charge" system and see what happens.

The Honda owners manual does not say anything about pulling a fuse and most other RV people I have talked to don't even worry about the battery going dead just let it run for a while after stopping for the day and first thing in the morning and let the transmission warn up and shift it between rev and dr the get on the road.

[Dranoel]

Been towing a 2001 Honda CRV since new, have probably towed it over 50,000 miles, never touched a fuse, never any problems.

[wigginsjsr]

Have driven and towed a 2008 Saturn Vue a combined 85,000 miles without any wheel bearing problems. In fact have not seen any other discussion of this type problem.

[bizsmith@yahoo.com]

We tow a 2003 CRV. in ten years of towing, I've never pulled a fuse. When the battery was old and needed replacing it would run down if we went too long but with a good battery, it's never been a problem. If we do an overnight stop w/o unhooking, I run the engine 15 minutes at the end of the day. This not only charges the battery but circulates the fluid in the tranny.

[ncjmlar]

I have a 2012 CRV installed a switch an fuse to shut off the radio consolel etc only to find out it also controls the cigarette lighter and now I don't have a socket to hookup the Brake Buddy. I have not yet installed a direct line to battery for the Brake buddy

[five]

We have found that the battery will survive one day's towing without pulling a fuse. If towing consecutive days, we start it at the end of the day and let it run a while to recharge the battery. I'm thinking about getting a trickle charger that I can hook up at night, rather then starting it and letting it idle.

[Cochise49]

Our 2013 CRV has the NAV system. Even with the charge line installed with the Invisibrake, we lost battery after 150 miles. According to Honda, the charge line isn't enough as it only makes up for the power draw from the Invisibrake. Could tow without pulling fuse if we had bought the CRV sans NAV. Will have a Fusemaster installed soon.

[greg126]

We tow a 09 CRV, battery would get a little weak if we towed for a couple of (5-7 hour) days. Once when I was exceptionally ambitous I got all the parts to make up a fuse switch but since running the CRV daily takes care of the problem I haven't bothered to put it together.

[nsjordan]

We just, 3 days ago, bought a 2014 CRV to tow instead of the 04 Pilot we have. The interesting thing is the conflict in the owners manual. It says for driving 8 hours we should pull the Radio fuse but when you look for the Radio fuse in the fuse box there isn't one. When I called the Honda customer support number and finally found a "Tech person" she told me to pull the ACC fuse #19 as shown in the manual ( my old eyes couldn't read the tiny print showing the fuse number). What she couldn't tell me was what else is on that that ACC fuse line. At this point I'm inclined to not pull the fuse I can't easily reach anyway and start the car each time we stop to relieve "fanny fatigue" , have lunch and at the end and beginning of each day.

[five]

As I stated above most of us can run for a day without running the battery down or starting it. I bought that trickle charger I mentioned and will try it on consecutive tow days. I can see the fuse to pull (#34) but it's nearly impossible to get out.

[jlandon13399]

I have a 2013 Honda CRV. The manual states the pre-tow procedures need to be performed. It does stat that if towing more than 8 hours in a day to remove the 7.5 amp accessory radio fuse from the interior fuse box. It also has a diagram of the fuse box and indicates where this fuse is located in the box. You also need to perform the pre-tow procedure each day if towing the vehicle. All these instructions are shown on pages 235 and 236 in the owner's manual.

Hope this helps all that have a 2013 CRV.

[gabeears]

I installed an off switch for the fuse on my 2012 CRV, but the brake buddy did not work then. So I bought a $60 battery pack/ jumper to plug the brake buddy into. Works great now.