5 days out and back and the car is awesome.There were a couple of hiccups on the road which were minor and the trip was awesome.....thanks so much Chris(Trojan) for making this happen and thanks to Chad(SRT-Hardware for taking a ride).........so anyway I will be posting the pics this weekend,for now heres the Thermostat story.... So we are heading towards Las Vegas going down a very,very long hill.........I think it was a 5% grade and it had to be 10-12 miles long.I am noticing the whole time beforehand the engine temps are in the low 150's......hmmmm....ok I think "it's 20* out and it has a 160* t-stat".Boy was I ever wrong......we go down the long grade....and the further we coast the lower the engine temp gets....it gets so cold the water temp AND the oil temp will not register,so cold I hear DING,look down and not only is the engine light on in the middle of the desert but so is the throttle body light.......crap!Limp mode......in the middle of the desert......you could say I was a tad tense at that point........Chad thought it was funny as hell......I guess from his perspective it was.So he says "do Cams key trick"(turning key off then back on real quick while moving....it does work seen it first hand....I wouldn't recommend it though).....anyway back to the key trick,so I do a quick key dance and the only thing that gets me is HIDs that won't relight!AAAAGGGHHHHHH!Total panic!Holy Chit what do I do now.......heading down hill in the desert in limp mode with headlights that look like disco strobes.......SH*T!!!!!!! At the bottom of the hill is a town and we get off the highway,shut the car down for a bit and read the code.......ready.....'Low Coolant Temp!"......Ya Think!? So clear that and restart the car,let it idle till the temp comes up.....headlights refire and we are off.....but I need to autostick down hills to keep the temp up enough.We stopped in St.George for the night and the next morning found an Autozone,picked up a new t-stat and installed it right in the lot.what we pulled out was nothing short of amazing......the t-stat was drilled with 7 or 8 3/16" holes.......might as well have not even been there.I guess it gets really hot in California.Where this car is going I may need covers for the grille to keep it warm So we hit the highway and maintain 178* all the way home........ there is alot more to come once I get the pics loaded.
WOW, scary as He!!. Did you drive from New York to California??? Not to sound too noisey, but WHY would you drive from NY to Calif? You can tell me to pound salt... if it's none of my business. I drove from Calif to New York when I got transferred to Viet Nam in 1968... Took me 3 hours less than three days! FUN TRIP, BACK THEN! Jim
Erik I have driven those roads in Vegas at night it is pitch black and very scary if you break down, great story my friend glad you made it back ok.
Glad you are home safe Erik. haha I know the road you speak of, and yea, at night it can be a bit unnerving. And the key dance, yea, been there done that a few times. lol
well i guess they needed the t-stat to hold the o-ring so it wouldn't leak (wtf). hahahaha glad you guys made it home safe. it was nice to meet you and chad face to face.
Yep.......Drove all the way to California.....delivered the vehicles I sold and picked up the one I bought.......and I would do it again in a heartbeat......most fun I have had in a long time.
Nice Trip, I've been wanting to do a road trip like that real soon. How long did it take and how much did you spend on gas and stuff ? if you dont mind.
Man I was just thinking to myself, I should of asked if you could have done 2 cam installs during your trip. CRAP! LOL!
Spent $600 on gas and 2 hotel nights......thats both directions.....and the way out was 11mpg pulling a trailer.
averaged 17.5.........saw 19 for about 200 miles going down hill.About what I expected.My SRT only got 19 at it's best.
