Recently acquired 2000 lc 139k. Taking my first road trip about 150 miles and 4ish hours through nyc. What should I be listening for or watching for? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Meant to say truck.
Just drive.

With these trucks it’s simple… you shouldn’t hear anything at all and everything should work as intended. It truly is not like a standard car you have driven in the past. People may overuse this statement but these trucks are built with a 25 year service life in mind. At 21 years and 218k miles, i can vouch for that.

Now, that doesn’t mean you can completely ignore preventive maintenance; and you’ll find through the forum that a lot of issues can be avoided with preventive maintenance in the forefront. The faq’s get into this some detail, but I’ll shoot out some that I think will help you baseline.

timing belt/water pump. If you have no record of that being done, do it. One of the few items that can kill this engine.
Heater t’s - do them. More likely to fail than a water pump/timing belt, simple to change.
Spark plugs - they can come loose and cause some issues if not torqued adequately
Change your oil - in the differentials, gear box, transfer case.
Some not so maintenance items that have become maintenance items:
The starter tends to go out - I’m on the third (more like signs of giving up but never left me stranded)
Alternator - on my second, didn’t leave me stranded just stated making noise and reporting low voltage levels.

If you don’t have any clear signs (leaking, unusual noise), it’s likely none of these are imminent failures but something you want to take care of in the future.

if this is a NE truck from the rust belt you may encounter other issues so I’ll let others chip in but at 139k, you should be in good shape!
 
What to watch out for on a 4hr drive through NYC? Pedestrians, tourists, mad cabbies - the LC is the least of your worries.

I did a 5k mile road trip out to CO and back zero issues. And just got back from 1500 mile road trip to Outer Banks zero issues. 150 miles at an ave of 40mph is a grocery store run.

Just listen for anything unusual - clunks/squeaks in drive train / suspension, exhaust leaks, rattles, etc.
 
I say listen out for good 70-80’s music… Journey, Foreigner, Toto, Poco, Eagles, etc. Even maybe Bluetooth YouTube videos of the carnivore diet or maybe how Kingpin Tony Fauci has so much blood on his hands.

Naa. Just listen and learn. It’s the same as looking out for counterfeit bills as a bank teller (wife was one)….. You just look and learn the real bills. Then the counterfeits will be noticed as something is wrong.
 
This is funny to me. I bought mine sight unseen with 244k and drove it from Phoenix home to Seattle. But seriously. You probably won't hear/feel/smell anything weird. But I would poke around underneath and look at the CV axles, any oil leaks etc.
 
In all seriousness .....

You'll want at least a 4" lift to safely navigate potholes and protesters who choose to lay down in the street. Bypass the diff drop and just replace the axles once you get to about Stamford.
 
Watch for Ubers deciding this is their exit and cutting across a few lanes. Bicyclist that will come up next to you and then cut in front of you to get around traffic. Pedestrians that are going to walk and don't care that you are moving and expect you to stop on a dime. Plan to get honked at if you don't start going as soon as the light turns green.
 
Since you may be rusty, always keep an eye for drips under the vehicle, and wet spots you leave behind.
Not the water near the front passenger side, thats just A/C condensation and always dripping, especially on a hot day. Sometimes the rear a/c drips some water too.

But anything else might be a brake line or a fuel line or fuel tank leaking.

Watch out for brake lights on the dash, especially the dreaded brake buzzer. If buzzer, immediately stop driving and get tow.
If it's just the brake light on the dash, make sure its not just the parking brake accidentally bumped. Also check whether you have fluid (shut vehicle off, pump brake 40+ times, then look at brake resevoir to make sure its at max).
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom