Anyone Towing a 2014 Honda CRV EX-L

We love our new CR-V. . . the only problem that there are about 8 other CR-V's that are the exact year, make, model, and color in our town of 16,000. I need to verify base plates or 2" receiver to get into the right vehicle. I've clicked my key/fob at CR-V's without success.

JL7456 wrote:
We also test drove a 2014 Honda CRV-AWD EX-L today and found it very nice. We checked one out seven years ago and the difference from then to now is night and day. We have not made a decision yet on what we are going to buy, but the CR-V is now in the mix. For the last month we have been checking out the Ford C-MAX Hybrid and thought that is what we wanted, until today. I have never owned anything other than a Ford product but this may be a time to switch to a car that we know is towable, proven and there are lots of them on the road. Thanks to everyone for all of the useful information. The decision has to be made in the next two months. The Ford is still a nice vehicle but do we really need a hybrid.

We, too, had seriously considered the C-Max until we discovered that it had no spare tire and no space for one without taking a lot of the already small storage space. It is one of many new cars without spares; the argument is that the can of Fix-a-Flat and a pump are all you need to get to a tire dealer.

The problem is that when you're in places such as Death Valley or the Canadian Rockies the distance to a tire dealer can be large. Furthermore, the Fix-a-Flat won't work if the flat involves a sidewall puncture.

If you purchase a spare and store it in the C-Max you have very little space left. After further consideration we also realized that a hybrid wouldn't much benefit us with the kind of rural/open country driving we are usually doing.

We also test drove a 2014 Honda CRV-AWD EX-L today and found it very nice. We checked one out seven years ago and the difference from then to now is night and day. We have not made a decision yet on what we are going to buy, but the CR-V is now in the mix. For the last month we have been checking out the Ford C-MAX Hybrid and thought that is what we wanted, until today. I have never owned anything other than a Ford product but this may be a time to switch to a car that we know is towable, proven and there are lots of them on the road. Thanks to everyone for all of the useful information. The decision has to be made in the next two months. The Ford is still a nice vehicle but do we really need a hybrid.

DaveG39 wrote:
Wesdevoe, turn on motorhome ignition switch, go to trailer connector and plug in umbilical cord (mine goes from 7 pin to 6 pin but yours may be 7 pin to 7 pin or other configuration) with voltmeter test the pin connections on the unplugged end of the umbilical cord and find the pin that has 12 volt (most probably the 11:00 or 1:00 position. From there, identify the pin on the towed car that corresponds to the 12v. Take a piece of 10 gauge wire and attach one end to the corresponding pin on the towed connector. Put a piece of wire loom on the wire and feed it through an empty space to the battery. Buy an in line 20 amp auto fuse holder and fuse and attach one end to the wire and the other end to the positive terminal of the battery. Use wire ties to secure the wire in the car. Now remove the fuse, hook up the umbilical cord, turn on the ignition switch in the motorhome measure the voltage between ground and the wire at the fuse. should read 12v. If so, put the fuse back in and you are good to go. Any other questions, PM me.

This approach will work but I can see two areas of possible concern:

First, if your MH is like mine there is no existing pin on the MH trailer connector that provides 12V. So I had to run a new wire from the MH's battery bank back to the rear. Since mine is a DP that wasn't difficult since the batteries are close to the rear.

Second, if you buy one of the packaged toad charging kits it will contain an electronic element that includes diodes to prevent current backflow from the toad's battery to the MH. In addition, in the Toad Charge kit (and maybe others) this device also prevents current flow to the toad unless the MH's engine is actually running. This prevents the toad from draining the MH's batteries if it is left connected overnight.

These latter issues may not be of concern if you have a switched 12V pin on the MH's trailer connector. But for me they would have been an issue.

Wesdevoe, turn on motorhome ignition switch, go to trailer connector and plug in umbilical cord (mine goes from 7 pin to 6 pin but yours may be 7 pin to 7 pin or other configuration) with voltmeter test the pin connections on the unplugged end of the umbilical cord and find the pin that has 12 volt (most probably the 11:00 or 1:00 position. From there, identify the pin on the towed car that corresponds to the 12v. Take a piece of 10 gauge wire and attach one end to the corresponding pin on the towed connector. Put a piece of wire loom on the wire and feed it through an empty space to the battery. Buy an in line 20 amp auto fuse holder and fuse and attach one end to the wire and the other end to the positive terminal of the battery. Use wire ties to secure the wire in the car. Now remove the fuse, hook up the umbilical cord, turn on the ignition switch in the motorhome measure the voltage between ground and the wire at the fuse. should read 12v. If so, put the fuse back in and you are good to go. Any other questions, PM me.

Just bought a 2004 CRV and would like to install a charging line to eliminate having to remove Fuse (Very difficult to get at) Can someone give me instruction to install charging Line?

Just bought a 2004 CRV and would like to install a charging line to eliminate having to remove Fuse (Very difficult to get at) Can someone give me instruction to install charging Line?

Cochise49, that has not been my experience. I had to jump start a lot until I set up charge line. Now no matter how long towing, the battery is charged and the car starts with no problem.

cochise49 wrote:
I keep a laminated instruction sheet in the center console of the CRV. It has Honda's instructions plus tow bar procedure. I go over it at least twice.

We have ours on the back sides of the sun visors. We each check them as we go through the process.

Not sure if I already said this but, if you have the Nav system, even a charge line will not prevent the battery from dying after a few hours of driving. Even turning off the display will not help (menu item on the day/night setting).

I'm not sure why this has to be the case. The vehicle's own alternator has to be capable of supplying the necessary power to run the nav system. If a charge line is properly spec'd it would have access to all necessary power from the MH's alternator.

Charging from the MH is no different than charging from the CR-V's alternator unless you undersize the wire. If you try to supply the power through conductors in the same cable you use to power the CR-V's lights you may get too much voltage drop at higher current levels. That's why the Toad Charge provides a #12 (I believe) wire which I zip-tied to my normal "umbilical" between the two vehicles.

I keep a laminated instruction sheet in the center console of the CRV. It has Honda's instructions plus tow bar procedure. I go over it at least twice. Then I check the emergency brake one more when testing the lights. Not sure if I already said this but, if you have the Nav system, even a charge line will not prevent the battery from dying after a few hours of driving. Even turning off the display will not help (menu item on the day/night setting). You must pull the number 19 (I think) fuse or install a fuse switch on that circuit. Seems like each toad has its own foibles. Pick the car you want to tow, make sure it can be towed, and figure out how to tow it.