First (short) road trip
 

I'm taking my car out of NYC this afternoon. First time since buying it a few months ago; just a weekend trip to Norfolk, VA. I'm having a hard time deciding which tools to bring. Anyone have a short list?

Also. Been getting an external light failure warning. Replaced all the rear bulbs, now it stays on the second I step on the brakes. I finally noticed this morning that my rear deck brake light occasionally stays dimly lit when my foot is off the brakes. The only reason I'm worried is that this seems to affect my turn signals. Sometimes they slow down or stop altogether. It may or may not be exasberated by rain. I'm stool trying to figure out if there is a corrolation between a right side mystery leak and my strange electrical faults. Even funnier: my drivers power seats don't work for about 10 minutes after a car wash. Opinions?

I forgot to add: i normally take the eastern shore, but I'll be taking 95 for the purpose of an experiment. Going to drive one way with my roof rack on, and the other with it off. No bike carrier, just the bars. I've always been curious how much racks affect fuel economy.

Also, Ill be rolling over to 200,000 miles around Richmond, VA. It's weird that excites me. I got terrified seeing the odometer in my outback hit 160k.

Id take a couple metric wrenches, 10-19 probably. The injectors are 17mm on the 617, don't know on yours, worth having a wrench in case of an air lock. It would also be nice to have a couple metric nut drivers for hose clamps and the like. Then the usual check to make sure you have a jack. spare, and tire iron.

You should get a few wrenches, drivers, and grab one of those 40-50 dollar tool sets from walmart, should fit nicely in the car under a seat or the trunk, and then you can take care of most emergencies.

Oh, and maybe a fire extinguisher after that one horrible thread. That scared the bejessus out of me.

Screw drivers, a 13mm wrench or two and other items mentioned.
I live between Richmond and Norfolk, wave as you pass by and let me know if you need help.

tools for a trip in a 95?
VISA card and a good cel phone?
as long as your serpentine belt is in good condition, and your coolant is up to date, tires are good, and you have a good spare, and you fill up from known good fuel filling stations, I think you will be trouble free.

The MPG experiment failed. I topped off as soon as I got on the NJ Turnpike, and as soon as I pulled into Hampton, VA. With the bike rack on I got 35.5 MPG, better than I was expecting. Unfortunately, I had bumper to bumper most of the way back, and didn't even bother to fill up when I got back to Queens.

A few days before I left I hit a really bad pothole. I followed vstech's advice and checked the tires, but apparently not well enough. After averaging 75 MPH for a while I pulled over and noticed my front left tire had a hernia in the sidewall. That was scary.

I don't know if it was caused by the pothole, but I'm always going to closely inspect the tires after hitting a bad one!