Honda CR-V Maintenance: Save When You DIY

Your Honda CR-V was built to last, but as it ages, you’ll need to perform certain maintenance and service repairs on it. You have done some of these yourself, and maybe sometimes you don’t have the time, so you pay a mechanic. Have you ever stopped to wonder if you’re getting your money’s worth when taking it to a shop? We set out to answer that question.

Using a 2003 Honda CR-V LX as an example, we were able to determine the average repair cost of common repairs. We then compared that to the cost of doing the repairs yourself. Keep in mind that these shops are likely not using OEM parts, but the cost of doing it yourself only factors in OEM Honda parts. Here's what we found using both RepairPal.com and HondaPartsOnline.net.

NOTE: While we recommend a lot of DIY repairs, we do not recommend that anyone tackle a repair they aren't comfortable with. If you don't have much experience working on cars, you might consider finding a friend (or friendly technician) to help you.

Alternator Replacement

Average Repair Cost: $492 to $1,174

Cost to DIY: $252.35

Can This Be Done at Home? Alternator replacement is really just a matter of bolting and unbolting the alternator mount, and unplugging and reinstalling the wiring. It requires no more than basic hand tools, and a few hours of your time. When it comes to DIY alternator repair, we say go for it!

Front Brake Pad Replacement

Average Repair Cost: $158 to $218

Cost to DIY: $46.84

Can This Be Done at Home? This is a very common DIY part that many people do at home. The most complicated part is taking the rotor to a machine shop to have it turned, otherwise, changing brake pads isn’t daunting — even people with very basic mechanic knowledge can complete this task rather quickly.

Fuel Filter Replacement

Average Repair Cost: $75 to $113

Cost to DIY: $21.23

Can This Be Done at Home? This is another easy task, just prepare for a mess if this is your first time. Considering the low end for replacement is almost four times the cost of DIY, we recommend taking on this regular maintenance task at home.

Intake Air Filter Replacement

Average Repair Cost: $39 to $70

Cost to DIY: $15.96

Can This Be Done at Home? This is possibly one of the easiest tasks you could do to your CR-V. Next to checking your oil levels, changing the air filter is one of the repairs/replacements you should always do yourself.

Battery Replacement

Average Repair Cost: $131 to $182

Cost to DIY: $80.33

Can This Be Done at Home? With nothing more than an open ended wrench and a socket or two, you can easily swap out a dead battery — we’re surprised shops even charge for this, seems like it should be a courtesy, like adjusting your tire pressure.

Clutch Replacement

• Clutch Disc
• Pressure Plate
• Release Bearing
• Pilot Bearing

Average Repair Cost: $1,047 to $1,350

Cost to DIY: $296.28

Can This Be Done at Home? Usually, yes, but it can rather involved for first timers. If you’ve never worked on an automobile, this might not be the project to start with. However, if you’ve replaced a few other parts and can follow directions closely, you can save yourself a huge chunk of change here.

If you chose to do your most recent repairs on your own, how much would you have saved on your CR-V maintenance?