in about 3 weeks i will be going on about a 4k mile road trip for spring break/st pattys day/my birthday. my question is this, what do i need to do maint. wise to prepare for the trip, other than the usual oil change, making sure all liquids are topped off and good, and proper tire inflation?
You pretty much covered it unless your car already has problems. Check your brake pads, etc. It would be a little more helpful if you stated what car you have and miles, previous maintenance, etc. We aren't in the business of reading minds here.
05 RS with 50k on the clock, i dont know about previous maintenance, i just purchased the car 2 months ago.
In that case, aside from the usual, a little shakedown of the front end, sniff the exhaust, and even those are a stretch, and you'll prob be fine. 50k isn't even to puberty yet.
As mentioned, go through the basic stuff and you will be fine. just make sure you have all the tools with ya in case of a tire blow out (check the air in your donut tire), and bring a quart of oil with you
I agree with most of what's been said here. However, given that you haven't owned the car long and don't know the service history, I'd do all fluids, including coolant, engine oil, brake fluid, transmission, rear diff. I probably wouldn't flush the PS fluid, but I'd take a good look at it for level and color. Check the brake pads and rotors all-around, check and regrease caliper pins. Check all the accessory belts. Then basic stuff you'd do before any long trip, tire pressure (including spare), windshield wipers, tire tread and rotation, etc. (I'm sitting at a Nissan dealership while they do the 45k service and also replace all the belts before I go drive about 700-800 miles over the next few days, so I'm actually paying someone to do most of this for me. Generally I do all my own maintenance, but on the wife's DD/trip car, I just pay the money to have a pro keep it up)
would replacing plugs and wires as well be a good decision? as far as i can tell they have never been replaced before.
you dont usually need to replace your plugs for 100k. if you are getting major lag and hesitation then of course if would be a good idea. but if you arent throwing any misfire codes then i wouldnt worry about it.
anyone used the nitrogen tire filling? i figured out i get it pretty cheap through work, just wondering if i would actually see any advantages using it, esp if i will be going 4k miles in just over a week.
IIRC, the advantages of nitrogen are that it leaches out of the tire more slowly and expands/contracts less with the same heat change as air. So, I'd say no. No advantage.
"Nitrogen" is already in your tires. 78% of air IS nitro, all they do is increase that percentage closer to 90%. Its a scam. Srsly. Check and set the pressures COLD, and you're fine.
i have an 05 rs as well and am glad i did my plugs at 60k even though it always ran smooth, after replacing them with new NGK platnum ones it ran even better, (a little better pull at low rpm's) and between doing that and replacing my air filter that was really dirty by 60k i got much better millage and its now overall better running. i mention the mileage because last weekend i went down though ames IA to monmouth IL and back. it was about 900 miles round trip in 70 zones and i averaged just over 36 mpg! going about 80 for most the trip!! (about 3100 rpms) doing the plugs and air filter made a huge difference for me and it was cheap and easy to!
Platinum plug manufacturers try to convince you of a 100k change interval. Don't believe them. Unless you want your car to run like crap for 60k of those miles. For that matter, don't use platinum plugs, especially Bosch +4s. They are absolute junk. It amazes me that people get super worried about maintenance when they go on long trips. Driving on a highway for a long period of time is easier on your car than daily commuting and starting and stopping. You should be thinking about this sort of maintenance regularly. As long as you have stayed on top of your maintenance on a regular basis and haven't been neglecting your car, you'll be fine. Change your oil, check your tires and go.
All things being equal, platinum plugs will significantly outlast copper plugs. Will then run 100k? Probably not, but then in the same case, the coppers probably wouldn't last 50k either. Mostly agree here, at least regarding the +4s. Auto manufacturers actually spend a lot of money designing engines, and one of the things they look at is flame propagation and the location of the spark and shape of the plug. So, using a plug that's really shaped differently (like the +4) can hurt performance. Offhand I don't know of any car that uses 4s as OEM, but if there were, they'd probably work better than a traditional plug. Of course you should. But the OP has a car that is relatively new to them, and doesn't know the history. Plus you're missing the point. It's not that a car is more likely to break down on a long trip, but that the stakes are higher if it does. the only reason I did more than check the oil and the tire pressure for my trip was that my car was due for it's 45k service anyhow.
True. Personally, I prefer to change my copper plugs every 30k or so and keep thins running smoothly. I think I still come out ahead or break even cost-wise.
