Leather

I'm thinking of taking my 2004 CLK on a road trip - 300 miles each way (~650 miles round trip). Roughly 5-6 hours of driving each way (with a 45 minute break halfway through).

I am a little nervous, because my car has surprise issues from time to time but not usually anything mechanical.

What should I check/change/replace to ensure a smooth trip? I don't want to get stranded somewhere.

Some of these things I could probably get away with, but what do you think is most likely to fail on a long road trip like this?

I'm thinking I will:
-Oil Change/New Oil Filter (last change was 7k miles ago)
-New Serpentine Belt (last change was 40k miles ago or so)
-Check Tire Pressure/inspect tires (tires have 20k on them)
-New Air Filters (last change was 15k miles ago)

What else should I check out or replace? What is most likely to fail?

Thanks in advance.

Yidney

Frankly, I would not do any of that stuff besides checking tire pressure. 600 miles is not much of a road trip. I frequently do 3,000+ mile road trips. It's what I like to do. You're not preparing for a mission to Mars. Your belt, air filter and oil are all well below their replacement intervals. You would not do any of that to prepare for your next 600 miles around town would you? Just check all your fluids and tires. Beyond that, you cannot predict what might fail.

megacrazy

Well first of all drive faster. You should be able to get there in about 3.5-4 hours.

I would check the tires for sure. Check the inside walls, as sometimes cracks develop on the inside walls but not the outside walls. The rest is moot. If you maintain your car regularly there's not much to check.

sailorben

Yes a 300 mile drive is nothing, you shouldn't even notice the distance. So long as a car is well maintained I wouldn't bother to check anything, other than the tyre pressures perhaps, if they haven't been checked in the last fortnight.

tw2

Megacrazy is right, if you drive faster then there is less time available for something to fail. I also wouldn't worry to much about it. I occasionally do 1200 mile trips around the country, about 1/2 of the trip is in small rural towns very far from MB parts. I only check tires, oil on the dash display and look at the coolant tank.

Yidney

And yeah, what the other guys said. 300 miles would take me less than 4 hours. I cannot count the number of times I have driven 600 or more miles in a day. Certainly more than 100. Three weeks ago right now I was driving back to Denver from New Jersey in my son's first car we flew there to buy - a sight unseen, uninspected 2010 BMW 535i wagon - drove 1,700 miles in just over 48 hours. Life does not get better than that.

clydem

If your concerned, make sure your AAAPlus membership is up to date & you've got room on your credit card limit

mrbobby

Just drove 1400 + miles in 2 days. Ran like a champ and gave 30.4 MPG in the CLK 350. All this at a speed control setting of 72. WOW

Leather

Thank you for all of the replies guys. I will keep this all in mind If I go on a longer trip, maybe I will check back here with you.

Thanks.