The Diseasel went on its very first long-haul road trip this weekend and boy what a doozy it was. I picked the hottest day in memory to take that poor car for a 2.5 hour drive at 80-85 out west on the Interstate.

The day I drove up it was 108˚F and HOT HOT HOT. I-10 going west has a lot of very long steep hills and west of Gillespie county has a speed limit of 80MPH. Quite the shake-down test for a tired old car.

The trip was completely unremarkable. Car made it without so much as a hiccup. A/C blew ice cold the whole way there and it had no problem keeping pace with traffic even when going up the steepest hills. On the trip going up, it used ~2 cups of oil, about 1/8" down on the dipstick in ~150 miles. This was down markedly from it's normal consumption on fast highway runs in the past. It would use up to a quart or more on a 100 mile trip if doing 75 or better.

Saturday we took it on another fast highway run for another 160 mile trip to go run some errands and do some thrifting. Car didn't use any oil on that trip despite doing the same speeds.

On the trip home, the ride was again uneventful. Car still didn't use any oil on the way home. I'm very happy with that result!

In addition to finally quelling its thirst for oil, my idle shake is also gone. MPG on the trip up was 22mpg, the trip home was 25.5mpg. I attribute some of that to the heat, but the rest to the engine finally working properly. I guess the old belief that these old diesels need to be ridden hard for a long period of time after sitting really is true. It certainly seemed to help this one! I suspect that the hot, hard, long run on the highway finally got the rings hot enough to cook the carbon and other crap out.

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Current stable:
1995 E320 157K (Nancy)
1983 500SL 125K (SLoL)

Gone but not forgotten:
1986 300SDL (RIP)
1991 350SD
1991 560SEL
1990 560SEL
1986 500SEL Euro (Rusted to nothing at 47K!)

Gone and wanting to forget:
1985 524TD 167K (TotalDumpster™) [Definitely NOT a Benz]