danmurphymn

I'm in dreaming mode right now. Planning a 2025 road trip from MN > Black Hills SD > Yellowstone > Boise ID > San Fran > down PCH towards LA all the way to San Diego > Phoenix > Tucson > Grand Canyon > Million Dollar Highway in CO > Misc colorado roads back to Minneapolis.

I've owned my car for about 10k miles. Changed all fluids, replaced AOS, & done misc service.
What maintenance would you want to do before an epic road trip?
Consider this as a car with basic maintenance done to date...

De Jeeper

A good set of tires, check the spare and go.

SoCal911t

This does sound like a epic trip, good for you.

Kinda hard to say without knowing what the 'misc service' that you've already done included.

danmurphymn

Sorry, I updated the post to consider the car as one with "basic" maintenance done.

This is a 2025 trip plan so I'm just looking for a list of things to do, & why so I can start researching them prior to the trip.
If it helps, I'm SUPER handy. Can fix nearly anything & carry a full tool kit with me on trips like this.

168Sierra

How long has it been since the last water pump and coolant reservoir replacement? If it has been 5 years you might want to change them.

168Sierra

I did a 9200 mile trip from Tn to CA up to Seattle and back across the northern US last Sep-Oct. Great trip! My wife and I built a new 4.0 motor for our 02 C4 cab just before the trip.

danmurphymn

I know the coolant reservoir has been replaced recently, but no receipts for the water pump... Thanks!

golock911

I'm jealous even before you start posting pictures during the trip. I also recently drove across the country in my 996. The car was fantastic. Super comfortable all day between 75 and 90. Me and the trucks in the morning. The engine seemed to run better after the trip.

Take a close look at your hoses. Some of them have plastic tees for a 3rd hose to connect. One of mine had some splits in the plastic. It looked like it would fail any day. Make sure to carry enough extra liters of 'your' oil. Get one of those jumper batteries, small airpump, and tire plugging kit. And go! If needed and timing works, I can offer a place to change your oil. I'm 30 miles outside of San Francisco.

GC996

Dan, sounds like a great road trip. Comes in handy that you are a DIY guy in prep as well as for the trip.

I would take a look at all of the maintenence items you have done including parts that you replaced and figure out what you should probably replace that could give you a problem when you are in the middle of nowhere that could create a difficult situation.

In addition to tires and brakes, examples would be headlight switch (been there with no lights), ignition switch, cooling system, power steering, sensors, belts, you get the idea. Some of these things are small and you can just throw in your frunk as a JIC, others like cooling lines, power steering lines, water pump, oil filler tube, etc probably should be fresh on the car to eliminate any pita situations. Yep, have fresh light bulbs.

You know the 3 main catastrophic failures, IMSB, Water Pump and AOS, so make sure you have a fresh OEM water pump, LN IMSB and UAOS Track on the car.

Importantly, you will be trekking thru canyons at varying elevation changes. If you are using the OEM AOS, you will most likely find that you will need to run it at a lower oil level thru the hills due to smoking which is sub optimal for lubrication and oil consumption. So you may want to consider getting the UAOS track on the car, and fill your oil up to full or above full by 1 qt.

It will pay to map out porsche dealerships along the way if you need parts quickly.

Lastly, consider getting a Durametric if you dont have one.

Enjoy the trip!

Corso

Jelly. Sounds amazing. Please document and share.

danmurphymn

Awesome, thanks for all of the suggestions everyone! This will be a lot of planning as I don't just have to plan the route, but I have a bunch of other logistics as well.
I have a 6 year old son that I have 50/50. I will also be coordinating my girlfriend who will fly out & drive sections with me, and my son for parts of the trip.
I have clients all over the West coast so I'll be doing meet & greets with various clients as well.

Step 1 will be planning the route out. As I plan, I'll share my route so you call can offer suggestions...
Right now, working on Wyoming routes! I friggen love Wyoming!

plpete84

Love to see this. Aside from what has been mentioned, I'd check all the drive belt pulleys and the belt itself. I had a stupid pulley get me stranded 3 miles from home. Since this is a 2025 road trip, I'd start putting together a list of all the things and start tackling it little by little. It sounds like you're mechanically savvy so bring along a toolbox with most common tools. It's basically one of those situations where if you bring a rain coat it won't rain and as they say "future success is dependent on prior preparation" so it sounds like you're on the right track. It would be a great idea for you to start a thread covering all the prep you did and document the trip itself. I've seen these threads pop up in the past and always love seeing the 996 getting used. They're such an amazing road trip car.

dcsjc

Sounds like an awesome trip! You put on your list to check if PCH is still closed or not just south of Big Sur. It’s still worth driving as much of highway 1 south as you can, and then turning around, detouring back to up to 101 and down and around to rejoin 1 around Cambria.

-Dennis

danmurphymn

100% agreed. I always bring a more than ample tool kit with me. For years of my life, I spent some time daily reading the epic ride report sections of ADVRider.com so I love people sharing their trip stories. I think the hardest part will be the wait!

danmurphymn

Oh seriously? It's still closed??? What is the anticipated timeline to be back open? I've driven the PCH a handful of times in the past but never in a porsche!