Taking 2k+ mile trip soon in high mileage vehicles

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Howdy, my wife and I are moving to Texas from Seattle here in a few days. We are pretty excited!

My wife will be driving our 04 awd Sienna with almost 280k miles on it. She will be with our newborn baby, and all of our animals (1 dog and 2 cats)

I will be driving the lifted truck that has 240+K miles.

I have done lots of recent maintenance on these vehicles but if anyone has any advice to help make the trip a little smoother that would be great! I will be flying back a week later to grab my prius and then I am driving the whole trip again in the prius
laugh.gif


I have made lots of long trips in vehicles way less maintained than this! My wife and I traveled a lot years ago in a little chevy metro that didn't even have an air filter (bought it that way and I didn't even know how to change oil back then).
 
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Bad tires and losing coolant(heater and radiator hoses and water pump) are the two biggest concerns for long distance travel. I have taken long trips with well over 200K and haven't had a problem. On the other hand some friends had a two year old MB diesel and lost an engine with 40K. One never knows.
 
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38PSI in the tires on the van. Safer and more responsive at highway speeds with a little more PSI in the tires.

Sell one car in Washington, that way you dont have to pay for gas to Texas AND an airplane ticket. Then buy a new car in Texas, if you need a 3rd car.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
Bad tires and losing coolant(heater and radiator hoses and water pump) are the two biggest concerns for long distance travel. I have taken long trips with well over 200K and haven't had a problem. On the other hand some friends had a two year old MB diesel and lost an engine with 40K. One never knows.

Already packed extra coolant just in case. I am choosing to drive through Utah And New Mexico instead of Colorado because mountain driving wears me out (and the cars) but desert driving will probably bring out any cooling problems the cars have!

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
38PSI in the tires on the van. Safer and more responsive at highway speeds with a little more PSI in the tires.

Sell one car in Washington, that way you dont have to pay for gas to Texas AND an airplane ticket. Then buy a new car in Texas, if you need a 3rd car.


Thought about doing that but we have only a few days if we were to sell and it often takes longer than that to sell on Craigslist. Plus the plane ticket was only 120$ and the prius is not too expensive on gas.
 
bring or buy the emergency tools such as a jumpstart pack and air compressor (some are allinone)

not having to worry about the most common breakdowns of a low tire or a dead battery takes a lot of stress out.
 
Closely inspect the belts, tires and rubber hoses, and make sure the tires are correctly inflated for the loads they will be carrying. Is the oil due a change?, MAW get it done early if so.
Check all the levels -coolant, oil, etc.
Can you get temporary breakdown cover for a sensible price?.
Check the levels every time you stop for gas and maybe the tires too.
If your vehicles are in decent shape I wouldn't sweat it too much, a long steady haul at sensible speeds on main highways is really a very kind way to treat your transport. Stop start driving and short trips are what hurt gas and diesel engines.

Claud.
 
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Everyone has given great suggestions.

I would look at emergency road service on my car insurance and consider carrying extended emergency road service protection if it only adds a small premium to your policy. I look at the worse case scenario and consider how far it is to have my vehicle towed from all locations I will be at to the nearest trusted repair facility.

If you are bringing along a tow hitch and can hook up one vehicle to another in case of a breakdown, then the emergency road service insurance is probably meaningless.
 
Only truck stops have free air & water.

Bring a good jack & 4-way lug wrench.

Jumper cables, battery terminal cleaner brush & wrenches.

That's about all you can do. You'll be fine.

Oh - road trips are great excuses to pig out on junk food,
but buy it in a grocery store - NOT at the Ga$ $tation$
 
And bring an ELM327 bluetooth code scanner. Just in case you get a check engine light so you can check the code and figure out if it's something major or not.
 
If the vehicles have had any concerns or problems before now they probably will get bigger.
I too will be making several thousand miles next month taking my Aunts belongings to AZ and then as about as soon as I get back taking the camper down to South TX, about 6500 miles on the 99 F350 in two weeks. Just did a oil change and checked items from the DOT list. Get a good seat pad. I couldn't do the trips anymore without a nice wooly sheepskin.
Good luck on the move
 
At least if one of them blows up you can just off load the luggage and leave it on the side of the road......
 
It would cost a lot more to rent a dolly than to just fly back and drive the prius down...I was pretty surprised.

I have the highest level of AAA for free 200 miles of towing.

I will be bringing:
OBD2 Scanner
2 tire inflator kits
2 jump starter battery kits
a nice jack and stands
some tools
Extra of all fluids

Really praying we make it safely! With the baby with us I am more nervous than normal...
 
Make sure your spare tires are accessible and properly inflated. I would bring a tire plug kit just incase, lug nut wrench and small compressor.
 
RedLine Water Wetter. You will have free air and water in California(it's the law if you sell fuel) but you might as well have a air pump and pre-mixed coolant.
A couple of cans of the tire sealant fix-a-flat stuff because sometimes it's the best option when traveling.
 
Originally Posted By: bioburner
If the vehicles have had any concerns or problems before now they probably will get bigger.
I too will be making several thousand miles next month taking my Aunts belongings to AZ and then as about as soon as I get back taking the camper down to South TX, about 6500 miles on the 99 F350 in two weeks. Just did a oil change and checked items from the DOT list. Get a good seat pad. I couldn't do the trips anymore without a nice wooly sheepskin.
Good luck on the move


Your trips sound like a lot of fun! My wife and I hope to move to Minnesota one day, we really like it there (including the cold). How do you keep all your older trucks rusting to [censored] though?
 
You'll be fine. Just check fluids and bring one of every kind of fluid.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that likes it cold! Moved from FL to WI to get back to snow and cold. I've kept rust off my vehicles by rinsing them off once a week during the winter at the DIY wash. Seems to work fine. Spend most of the time underneath.
 
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