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Towing 2013 Honda CRV – dead
I’m hoping someone has some advice for us. Years ago, we towed a 2007 Honda CRV with zero problems. Eventually we moved on to a 2010 Ford Edge, and found that the battery tended to die after about 5 hours of towing. We recently purchased a 2013 Honda CRV, and towed it for the first time about 4 hours with no problem. We were passing through so left it hooked up, but ran it after we parked and ran it again in the morning before we left. The next leg of our trip was almost 5 hours, and when we arrived and unhooked, we found the battery was dead. The only thing I can think of that is affecting the 2013 as opposed to the 2007 is that on the 2013 we have navigation and blue tooth. I’m not sure if that makes a difference . . . I even wondered if one of our cell phones in the coach as we drove down the road may have been connected. Has anyone had any experience with this challenge?
Thanks!
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8 Replies
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John,
Check your manuel for the car…. our 2012 traverse requires a couple of fuses to be pulled to prevent the batteries from dying… it’s a pain…. but it works…. Al suggested I go to Napa and get “big” fuses which are about twice as tall but the same rating as the OEM and that makes a big difference in getting them out quickly.
Good Luck
Bill
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Run a charge line to the car and seen what the manufacture requires. Some require a fuse or fuses to pulled. Also make sure everything is turned off. On some cars, like my 2012 Explorer, you can’t fully turn it off because the shifter isn’t in park.
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Unless there is a need for power to the toad I just use a battery disconnect switch. It opens the circuit at the battery and eliminates all current draw. The down side is the time has to be reset.
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On-line, e-bay?, you can buy a switch that plugs into the mini-fuse slot and eliminates the need to remove the fuse under the dash. Just mount the switch onor under the dash. We did this for a couple of years with a 2011 CRV.
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When I towed my former Dodge Ram I used a battery disconnect switch. Never an issue with a drained battery. I’m with Jack on this one.
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Thanks, everyone. We just started pulling the fuse when we tow, and the problem has been solved. 🙂
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We also had a 2007 Honda CR-V w/navigation and had to put in a switch as the fuse box was extremely difficult to get to. The new switch worked like a charm. The installer put it to the left of the radio under an unused plate on the dash.
We traded for a 2013 Honda CR-V w/navigation and had the fuse disconnect switch installed on this vehicle too. This time, they installed the switch on a vacant plate to the left of the steering wheel next to the ‘traction’ button. Looks almost factory. I forgot to switch it off and the battery went dead after about 4 hrs. of towing.
When the battery goes dead, there is no moving of the gear shift which can be a problem if you are trying to reach the battery for a jump depending on how you are parked.
I haven’t looked at the fuse box on the new Honda, it must be better than the ’07 as you didn’t mention if it was difficult to reach or not.
Safe travels,
MM.
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I have a 2011 CRV and had several episodes of battery death on long hauls. My tow bar installer told me that I had an extra 12 VDC wire coming out of my coach, so he connected it to the car battery; supposedly to charge the the car battery while towing. It didn’t work, as my battery died regularly, after long drives. I started removing the fuse, per owner’s manual, which worked to keep the battery alive. I also disconnect the power cable between the coach and car each night and ran the car to ensure a battery charge. All of this was somewhat of a pain. I complained to the tow bar installer, who discovered that the diode between the car battery and the coaches 12 VDC was bad. Since replacing the diode the toad battery has been fine. I no longer remove fuses: I just ensure that the radio is off, the Nav screen is off and the A/C is off. I still disconnect the power cable while I dry camp for the night and reconnect in the AM.
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