u/aproudapostate

Hi all,

I somehow stumbled upon a post about the CRVs head gasket issues last night on Reddit, which turned into a deep dive and me basically freaking myself out. So now I want to get some additional thoughts from you all on my specific situation.

I have a 2023 CRV, with 1.5L turbo engine. I am just below 45k miles. My “warranty” expired at 36k (not sure if I have the 5yr/60k power train warranty?). I bought this car new from the dealership, and always get it serviced on time. I have an appointment on Monday to get brand new A/T tires on it, which is going to cost me about 1.5k. The stock tires are down to their wear bars. But, after reading all these posts now I’m worried about this car absolutely sh**tting on me at any point from here on out. I still owe quite a bit on it, and from what I’ve read, Honda hasn’t been too eager to help pay for the costs of fixing this head gasket issue when it happens to others. I’m a single mom, I literally would not be able to afford 4k++ fix this car if the gasket blew. I’ve had to save to be able to do these tires (I have a son professionally snowboarding, hence needing the A/Ts). IF this scenario happens to my car, I’m going to have a car I can’t drive that just had brand new tires put on it, and that I still have to make payments on.

My question is, should I trade this car in and take the possible loss of being underwater by a few thousand in a different car, instead of spending 1.5k now on new tires and hoping for no head gasket issues in the future? Am I just overreacting in general? Should I just get the new tires and then hope this issue does not happen to me? How widespread is this issue? If I have the 5yr/60k powertrain warranty, is the head gasket issue covered?

Hi all, hopefully this is the right forum, if not please direct me to the correct one.

I live in California and have 50/50 custody of my 2 sons, ages 15 and 13. Their father lives in Washington. Long story short, it was an extremely abusive relationship. I was forced to relocate to CA when the boys were 2 & 6 months. We made a verbal agreement once I was safe in CA that until they were school age, he would have them for a few months out of the year, and then I would have them the rest of the year. When it was his turn to have them, he drove down and picked them up, and all seemed well. Over the next couple weeks, he completely cut off my contact with them and told me I would never get them back. I filed for emergency custody (which was financially devastating), won, and he was forced to give them back. Our permanent custody arrangement was placed at 50/50, with me having them Monday-Thursday mid day, and him being able to have them Thursday evening- Sunday. He begged for these days and said he would pay for the expenses to make it happen. 13 years later, and he has never got them for his “days”. He’s called once or twice a year, sometimes misses a few years and has came down to visit them twice for one or two days (under my supervision), and that’s it.

Now, my boys are 15 and 13 and have their own phones. My 13 year old wants nothing to do with him, however my 15 year old texts and calls with him on occasion, and has decided that he wants to go to Washington to see his father and siblings for his 16th birthday from Friday- Sunday. I want to support his wish in this, but if I’m being honest I’m terrified that his father will refuse to return him.

It helps my nerves a little bit in that my son is almost 16, mature, and will standup for himself if something goes awry. We have a great relationship and he’s an amazing kid. I do have tracking on his phone as well, so I’ll be able to see where he is. Bottom line I’ll want the address of where he will be staying and also require that my son has access to his phone at all times.

What else should I ask for? What do I do if he doesn’t make it back to the airport? Should I have his father sign something notarized that has dates of handoff etc, or is our custody paperwork enough? Should I even allow this to happen? My son is mature and I trust him and want him to have an opportunity to know his other family and his father on his own terms, regardless of my opinion or worries. I don’t want to stand in the way of their relationship either. Should I tell him he will have to wait 2 more years until he’s 18? The thought of having to file an emergency anything gives me war flashbacks.