by 89ARIES » Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:03 pm
Cool. Well, I hope your oil leak is not too serious. I have a minor oil leak right now where I have to top off the engine with oil every few weeks. The weak points with these cars to look for on long trips are the thermostats and oil leaks (learned from Sacramento trip). Some sources recommend a change of the thermostat during every oil change. Those thermostats can kill a k car. It seems a lot of them end up faulty or get stuck. The one that partially failed on mine was only a couple months old and had been done by a bad mechanic who caused multiple coolant leaks to magically appear in my motor after he supposedly replaced the radiator and hoses. I had leaks like a garden hose. In fact, a large air gurgle or bubble was discovered in the cooling system right after I got back from Sacramento. When my thermostat failed, the temp gauge would maintain steady but sometimes above the 2/3rd mark when cruising. Then, it started randomly going all the way to H at idle and cruising and the thermostat would finally pop open and the engine would cool down. In fact, it only hit the H once on the Sacramento trip and then hitting H all the time once the car got safely home. Climbing the Grapevine at 5000 feet, I was a little surprised to see the needle barely keep steady between 2/3rds and H and I saw at least 6 1980s and 90s Chrysler minivans overheated on the side of the road.
Yep, the K car has a very good engine, but watch out for that cooling system. By the way, Chief, who is on this board, recommends replacing the thermostat and a radiator with a modified one that keeps the engine way cooler and a better fan that keeps the engine cool. I got lucky and finally got the burps out of my system and a decent mediocre thermostat where the needles now goes up to 2/3rds and comes down again like it should. It has only been in the last two weeks that I have stopped looking at the temp guage with fear the car will overheat again. Yes, barring any bad cooling system or loss of oil, I think your K car will perform flawlessly on the journey. By the way, my episode with the car was the only and perhaps last time during all the years of ownership that I had such a sticky thermostat. Good luck. For the route, I would suggest coming down the California coastal route throught San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara on US Hwy 101. It becomes the Hollywood Freeway and runs right into the heart of Los Angeles. The freeway runs within a mile or so of my office. If you can make it here, we'll take pictures and it will look great on the website to see an American and Canadian club member meeting each other as the Canadian continues on his great journey.