Will my Chevy make it?

[ahdi7]

I recently bought a 96 lumina with 170 k miles. it was well maintained and i got a good deal. will this car make a 600 mile trek. about 9 hours drive time. has anyone done so. please let me know asap. any technicians think it can be done?

[cadgear]

No reason why not. If it was indeed well-maintained anyhow. My 1991 Cutlass Supreme made several 600+ mile journies, and I think it had 180k around the big 2000 mile one, ran just fine without a hitch.

Golden rule: If you take care of your car, it will take care of you.

[ahdi7]

before i leave in a few days im gettin an oil change and check up. anything else i should check up on. its actually going to be 1200 miles because ill be heading back 3 days after. has anyone else successfully or unsuccessfully made it.

[jase386]

from what ive seen of the lumina cars and vans, it should have no problems. the 3.8 engine has a very strong track record, and from what i know of the 3.1. its a very long running engine also.

[ahdi7]

has anyone NOT make a 600 mile trek?

[EAGLESFAN]

well, i own a '93 lumina with 130k miles and I drive 250 miles to school on the PA turnpike then back home around 20 times this year with out any problems. As long as everything checks out you should be fine. But because you haven't owned this car for very long it is a big ? If you had AAA i'd feel a little more secure.

[ahdi7]

yea thats the problem ive only had the car a month and not used to it yet. does anyone recommend that i dont do it? and why?

[richtazz]

you're good to go. I took my 91 grand prix (sister car to the lumina) to Florida and back ( I live in Flint, MI) and it had 200k on it. made it there and back with no probs, and got close to 30 mpg to boot.

[ahdi7]

great im going to do it. save myself 300 for plane ticket. but if i dont make it . im gona sue u guys haha

[decollect]

I read the replies, and concur with the gent that recommended AAA. However, I would not hesitate for a second to hop in your car and drive it to Hades and back. 170k on the clock is "just getting good and broke in" on these cars.

That and the fact that no one can ever predict something breaking that is functioning perfectly. Well, most of the time you can't. Sure you can get SOME indicators but from the sounds of it, you're sharp enough to be able to notice those already.

Gas her up and enjoy the trip. Hope the weather is great for ya

[ahdi7]

Ok i just had a problem with the car. I posted. "check engine light and weird acceleration" should i still go for it?

[decollect]

Originally Posted by ahdi7

Ok i just had a problem with the car. I posted. "check engine light and weird acceleration" should i still go for it?

Get thee to Autozone and seek the counsel of one of the highly skilled counter people to bring their OBD-2 scanner out to your car. That will tell you what the S.E.S. light is trying to warn you about. As far as the "weird acceleration" is concerned, I would need to know more about the symptom. Things such as: when it's happening/or happened if only once, what was the car doing at the time? Was it just idling in park, or were you at a light, or were you just driving down the road when it happened. Those things will help pinpoint your problem.

If it's a one time occurrence, I wouldn't worry too much about it. My '90 has just over 315k on the odometer, and up 'till I just replaced it with a '97 it regularly made trips from Delaware to Western PA. That's about 750 miles round trip. And a few of them were all in 1 day (wow were THOSE days long!) so I'd say she got a good work-out on those trips. Oh and it's only running (the '90) the 2.5 litre 4 banger.

[tblake]

Ha, I had a 1990 with a 2.5 4 banger before I bought my 2001 Lumina with the 3.1 V6, and I must say that that 4 banger was a good motor till the end. It started to have every little thing go wrong with it. oh, the stories I could tell ya, "shade tree" mechanics and what not. But we wont go there. It was an all around good car, so when it came time to let her go, I had to take my chances with a newer lumina, and so far so good. No problems yet.