road trip

[honerboys]

well my wife and i took the car for a weekend trip from denver to taos n.m. - i've been driving it around town for about a year and decided i trusted it enough to not break down - the car behaved beautifully the entire trip - it ran cool (the coolant gauge never went much above the first line) and the a/c was so cold we had to keep the blower on 1 most of the time - the oil pressure stayed between 4-5 while driving -
the newly fixed cruise control worked flawlessly and kept us going 75mph up and down the hills - we ran out to the ski area down there and that road was a lot of fun being both empty and twisting - the total trip was 700 miles and the car never missed a beat - we averaged 20.98 mpg which i think is pretty respectable for a 33 year old v8 - and that includes some in town driving as well as a few quick "top speed" runs which i know are stupid and waste gas but... i just had to - a few things that probably need to be looked at are a tremor (i won't call it a shimmy..but) around 75 -80 mph goes away higher and lower but returns at higher speeds - could be wheel balance? - or it could be the brake rotors need turning as i noticed a vibration when applying brakes a high speed - two of the seat adjustment switches on passenger side crapped out and would actually move the seat forward by themselves (tightening up my wife's seat belt considerably) - and even though i've "fixed" them repeatedly, the one way valves on the windshield washer system keep failing to open so i could only wash driver's side - minor stuff mostly - first time i've taken this car for a long drive - lots of fun - taos is a nice place to spend a few days - happy fourth to everyone

[harborman]

Nice, I have been there and all over Colorado. Glad the car ran well. I think they are well engineered for the time and very advanced. But they are getting old. I always wondered what I would do if it broke down in the middle of Nebraska? No mechanic, no parts, no nothing.

[stepson]

You would probably go on the 928OC site and find an owner close to your location for help.

What? Not a member of 928OC? This would be among the many reasons to join.

[honerboys]

yes..that thought also ran through my mind .. even the fact that i don't have a spare tire in the car could make something as simple as a flat a real adventure - that's why i've been kind of hesitant to take this out on the open road - now i feel it can go the distance and might try a run out to san diego later this summer

[JK McDonald]

Hey Honerboy - After spending a considerable amount of time shaking out my final few problem areas, I had the same cautionary hesitation when trying to decide if it was safe to take Miss Purdy out on a long road trip. I had jokingly told my wife that in a worse case scenario - a 928 would make a very nice road side memorial with a wreath on the hood if we had to abandon her in a ditch somewhere.

We have now taken Miss Purdy back and forth from Texas to both coasts several times with only one potentially serious hic-up. Out on interstate in Arizona one time (just past the middle of no where) my volt meter suddenly started to flicker around. Luckily after a few tense miles, I found that if I turned on my running lights to load up the alternator a bit, the volt meter settled back to a steady 13 - 14 volts. Once we were home - I replaced the Volt Regulator with a Huco unit which solved the problem.

Good Luck in your travels, Michael