Worries about Drive Fl to CA

[VF1Skullangel]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

I just drove my car back from Colorado to California on one bad spark plug after discovering I had gotten cheated by a shop who worked on it....:banana:

Id say get all the problems worked out, get the car pressure tested. if it passes then get an oil change, make sure your tires are in good shape, all the spark plugs, wires and so fourth are in working order.

Nothing was more scary then driving in the middle of Santa Fe New Mexico and experiencing a misfire in the middle of no where and you still had roughly 14 hours to go and being 150+miles away from Colorado Springs, I knew I couldn't return home. But thankfully she was robust enough to keep pushing and took me through the hot Arizona desert back to Southern California.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

How was your oil pressure during this long drive???

[htmabe]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

I have a oil filter cut off tool that I bought from speedway and use it every oil change. First time I did it I wasn't so sure what I was to look for but poured the oil through a paint strainer and cut the paper out with a knife. Filter should be clean with no metal { different than dirt use magnet to rule out metal} and deffinetly don't want to see any gold copper brass looking metals , they would indicate bearings. Might give that a try too. Kind of a hillbilly engine analyzer but it works. The more you do it the better you get at it too. Nowadays I even put the paper under a microscope, replaced many bearings doing so but probably/hopefully nursed an engine to the finish line a few more times. Filter tells all.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

Thanks, but this information is not really going to help me figure out whether my oil pressure will hold up for a 2500 mile drive

[htmabe]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

Imho it kind of does give you the info you need when taken in it's entirety. Engines don't wear out over a 2500 mile trip, they wear out from abuse , lack of maintenance and cold starts after sitting. To your engine it doesn't know the difference between a one mile trek down the store or a 2500 mile drive to the west coast. Whatever your pressure is now is what it will be when you get there. Also like many others have said here don't put to much faith in the GM gauge, remember they're the same idiots that created all our electrical demons we all constantly fight and solve right here on this site. Without putting a real gauge on it , nobody really knows what your true pressure is. If the engine runs good now it will be fine. An oil filter analysis tells you when it's time to rebuild/ freshen up.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

It just seems that as the engine gets hot over a period of time, the oil pressure goes lower. When I get home I think I smell what appears to be burnt oil. I am not sure.

[ssms5411]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

It just seems that as the engine gets hot over a period of time, the oil pressure goes lower. When I get home I think I smell what appears to be burnt oil. I am not sure.

Its normal as the engine is hotter the lower the oil pressure.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

Okay...good to know.....I am going to try a drive from where I am to Ocala, Florida next week ...about two hours or so, and see how the car performs.

[ssms5411]

Re: Worries about Drive Fl to CA

Yeah , you'll know if its going to drop with a 2 hour drive. I had mine drop to at least 30 PSI before after running a bottle of nitrous(doing 100 shots) on a 110 degree day, I thought I had toasted the engine but it was fine after it cooled down.