(tldr version at the bottom)

Here's the deal, April 2nd I'm leaving to go to Florida from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'm driving the whole trip myself. But that's not where I need advice..

My Max is a 96, and it has just over 170k miles. So far the car has held up very well. I've had to get the starter rebuilt once, and I've replaced the alternator and put in a new battery in the past year.

Now I've got two opinions on this so far, my step-dad who manages a local shop saying "let's check it out" just to see how it looks, and decide if it'll make it there and back. And my grandfather seems to think the car is going to break down in the mountains of Tennessee...

Anyways the tldr version; Is it a bad idea to make the trip from MI to FL in a Max with 170k on it? What can I check to make sure it goes smoothly and prevent any problems?

 

I say check hoses and belts, get a tune up, and replaceall fluids. When was the last time you flushed your coolant or changed you tranny fluid? Hell, even bleed the brakes to cycle out the old fluid there too. Oh, and address any leaks.

 

itll be fine, it will ♥ the trip, look at the older cars you see that are pre 90's.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. As others have said top up your fluids, check your belts, change your oil, and away you go. These cars love the highway. Hell the engine is pretty much sleeping at 65mph the rpms are so low.

 

Like what other says too, I would definitely check tires condition and pressure as well. Check to see if theres any meat on the pads... and look under the hood to see if theres any leakage anywhere. Pretty much a good tune-up before you go. Make sure you have emergency tool kits just in case anything happen. Have fun and drive safe.

 

And make sure your spare is properly inflated and has no leaks.

personal experience... yes.

 

Check everything as mentioned above and enjoy your trip.
I routinely made trips of that length with that mileage.
You should have no problems!

 

Thank you for all of your advice so far. Glad to hear the positive feedback.

As far as flushing the coolant and everything, it's been a while..

But my options are renting a car or getting some work done on mine before the trip, so I could definitely do that before hand. I also like the idea of having my car worked on as that would be helpful in the long run, not just for the trip.

 

If you get some work done on your car make sure you get it done far enough in advance to do some daily driving before the big trip. Mechanics make mistakes and new parts are just as likely to fail as old ones.

 

If push comes to shove man i could look it over for ya. U know im a hop and a skip away.

 

Preventative maintenance is a good thing.

 

Seafoam it while your at it. Keeps the internals nice and clean and might even improve your mpgs. But yeah oil, coolant, possibly spark plugs if its been a while.

 

i drove from nj to florida about 6 times. i checked all fluids, changed oil, wheel balance/alignment, brake check, light bulb check, music check, and away i was.

 

New radiator (I can do it)
Check the oil
Make sure of no leaks at all
Change the oil
Change the filter
balance the wheels
put air and make sure it doesn't leak air
and a fuel tank of gas, duh lol

 

Good lookin' out bro I appreciate it. I was just thinkin' about hittin' you up the other day actually but I'll do it on Facebook haha.

@rizzindriver89

How much does that cost to do? Never had that done before.


Also, I heard if you get caught speeding through Ohio you're basically SOL. True?

 

I drove from Montreal to Florida (about 1,300 each way) 3 times with my 98 max with 130K on it.

Before leaving you should change the oil/filter and the coolant for sure, and top up any fluids. Check tire pressure and your good to go...just watch out for the cops checking for speed....it's brutal out there.

 

Ohio has speed traps so watch it.

 

I would do the standard tune up...top off fluids, check belts, tire pressure, check the spare, check all lights (dont want a stupid reason to get pulled over)...

 

lol at the toddler version, wish more posts had one actually

Anyway, here's what I think, as long as you've maintained your car you'll be fine. My max is a 95 and I have nearly double your miles and I wouldn't hesitate to drive cross country if I had to.

Some of the key things are maintenance, here's some of the things to look out for.

-Belts, dont want them b***ches snappin at 3am in bufu
-axles
-Coolant system -thermostat/water pump
-tires
-check all your fluids
-also make sure your steering and suspension is nice and play free when the car is jacked

Those are just some of the things. You'll be alright... I've driven my car to Atlanta from Chicago and have been at just about every state surrounding Illinois. Including Grand Rapids several times in the past 2 years and those are 400+ ish mile round trips each time.

 

Oh and, there's nothing like driving your own car unless you're renting a top-end rental instead of some damn cobalt or focus.. I wouldn't like to be seen in one unless its my cousins SS

 

i drove from los angeles to atlanta and back, about 4,200 miles. no problems at all just make sure you check all your fluids....i have 125,000k miles on it know...good cars if you take care of them...

 

i have done 4 trips to west palm beach from new york city with out no problems so u should be good just check fluids and stuff like that

 

Seafoam? Its a 9-10 dollar can @ kragen/pepboys. It takes no more than 10 minutes to do and if you do some searching you'll see people love the stuff or hate it. In mu opinion it depends on if u do it right. I have used the stuff on my car 4 times now and my motorcycle twice.

Pretty much take 1/3 of can and dump into your oil
Another 1/3 goes into your gas.
The other 1/3 you put in a shallow cup and then while the car is running, take the brake booster line(the one that's the diameter of a dime and runs from the INTAKE MANIFOLD to the brake booster, aka the big round thing on your driverside firewall) and suck up the seafoam in the cup.
Your engine will stall out. But the vacumm line back and wait 5 minutes.
Start your car(it will take a couple of cranks) and let idle for 2 min and then alternate between light revs and idle, and then every 5 light revs go up to 4K RPMS.
Enjoy the smoke show.

Thats it!

 

Tires are the big thing.

I see a LOT of cars with flat tires or shredded tires when I travel down south. It's kinda ridiculous actually. Like every 10 minutes on 95 I would see a car on the side of the road with a bad tire.

 

Sounds pretty easy. No risks with it are there?

 

Not to my knowledge, no. Only if u put too much in your manifold. So do 1/3 only or even less. My car always stalled out before all of it got sucked up.

Tip to save you time. Loosen the brake booster vacumm line b4 the car is on, the stick it back on half way. Makes it easier IMO.

I want to post my b4 and after smog results to really get my message across. The smog guy asked if my car had a brand new engine cause emissions were so low. =D

Cheers!

 

I wonder why u kept going to grand rapids? Hmmmm

 

extra fuel pump. yes i said that. the maxima believe it or not is about as durable as a B17 flying fortress but the last thing you need is to have the fuel pump die on a long trip. i drive from vegas to seattle about 8 times a year,(4 times this month already) and that is the one major componet that will sideline your car. if you got the money,go pick one up at a parts store, and keep the recipt so you can return it when you get home.

 

+1 would be a PITA to find at 10pm on some of those highways... I used to have a 'flo-through inline' design on my Z I could turn it off and on from a switch on the dash (had it wired to the oem fuel pump)

 

Not a bad idea at all. How hard would it be to replace if that were to happen?

 

It's under your rear seat, not too hard to get at, just make sure the line pressure is completely gone before disconnecting the lines on it.

 

he means; unplug the fuse to the fuel pump and than crank the engine until it dies.