Recommend 50 mile drive from Berkeley

[Muse]

I stayed with my cousin almost a week at Thanksgiving. Got to talking with her husband about my car (it wasn't with me) and he gave me a bottle of Chevron Pro-Gard Fuel Injector Cleaner, said it would clean my fuel injectors which would likely improve mileage. The car's a 1997 Mazda 626LX 2.0L 4 cylinder coupe with around 26,700 miles on it.

He said it would benefit from the additive poured in the gas tank, but that the car would get the most benefit if I took it out on the highway and did a straight 50 mile shot. 25 would be OK, 50 better. So, I'm wondering how I might do this. I could, of course, just head out toward Livermore and keep going and turn around when I get to 50 miles, but I figure as long as I'm doing this I ought to get in some sight seeing.

So:

1. He suggested I could pick up a case of this stuff when I go to Costco. Good idea?

2. Is he right about the 50 mile thing?

3. If he is right, can I get some recommendations of where to go from Berkeley, CA? I have a nice DSLR, am fairly fit, could even do a hike or something.

Thanks!

 

[Greenman]

Head up to Capitola. Nice drive, several great places to eat, nice little town.

 

[mztykal]

Injector cleaner is a waste.

 

[7window]

1997 with 26700miles?

 

[NutBucket]

If you want to clean them have it done professionally. I agree a bottle won't do anything. If the car is running right it isn't anything to worry about.

 

[Muse]

1997 with 26700miles?

Yup. I'm averaging around 1500/year right now.

 

[Muse]

Injector cleaner is a waste.

Maybe. This guy and his wife (my cousin) used to rebuild Corvettes and such. They'd have the transmissions in pieces in their living room, legend has it. He can be wrong, I know this...

I've kept careful records of my miles vs. fillups, so I know my mileage over the last several years. Of course, the wild card is your driving habits. However, during certain periods my driving habits are pretty uniform, so I can compare the mileage for those periods and have a handle on whether or not the "treatment" had a beneficial effect on mileage.

 

[sontakke]

Get the Techron Concentrate instead. It is available widely, including most auto parts store and at Walmart/Target too. The ProGard is weaker and does not do much.

As far as driving in Bay Area, if you do not like to do that, get the car on a dynometer and let it run for 50 miles. It is like a treadmill for the car

 

[Imported]

Napa? Half Moon Bay?

 

[xSkyDrAx]

You only need to go out 25 miles and then turn around for the other 25...

 

[Muse]

Napa? Half Moon Bay?

Thank you, I was thinking similar.

 

[Muse]

You only need to go out 25 miles and then turn around for the other 25...

This is true if I don't want to stop over somewhere, a very valid option.

Actually I played a round of golf today at a course around 15 miles from me. I could scout around for a cool course 50 miles away that I'd never otherwise play. The weather has been pretty ideal for golf.

 

[row]

i'd say napa's the better bet. there is no easy way to get to half moon bay from berkeley, and most of your driving would be in traffic.

 

[Muse]

i'd say napa's the better bet. there is no easy way to get to half moon bay from berkeley, and most of your driving would be in traffic.

I had another idea being Point Reyes. In the late 70's or early 80's I used to hitchhike over the San Rafael bridge and bicycle St. Francis Drake to (I think) Point Olema, then head south to Stinson Beach, take a break, then keep peddling down HWY 1 eventually to Sausalito, thence over the GG Bridge, then take BART back to Berkeley. One time I peddled north from Point Olema, destination Point Reyes (I'd been there 10 years before by car), but didn't make it, it became daunting and I turned around. I think maybe if I picked the right day (or maybe any), it would be pretty spectacular IIRC. It may not be an ideal drive for cleaning out the fuel injectors, though. Napa's maybe more of an open highway trek.

Then again the first suggestion of Capitola might be interesting. One day I set out to hitchhike to Santa Cruz from Berkeley, having heard good things about it. This was also late 70's or early 80's. Couldn't get a ride! I think that's the last time I stuck my thumb out. Looking at the online maps, Capitola looks to be right next door to Santa Cruz.

 

[MrA79]

i'd say napa's the better bet. there is no easy way to get to half moon bay from berkeley, and most of your driving would be in traffic.

Agreed. You'd have to drive back out 80 and then down to the peninsula. Beautiful once you get there, but it's a lot of traffic.

Personally I'd just hop back on 80 east across the Bay Bridge, drive out to about Vallejo and then turn around and come back.

 

[Muse]

Agreed. You'd have to drive back out 80 and then down to the peninsula. Beautiful once you get there, but it's a lot of traffic.

Personally I'd just hop back on 80 east across the Bay Bridge, drive out to about Vallejo and then turn around and come back.

I'm in Berkeley, no need to go over that bridge to drive to Vallejo.

A lot of traffic is something I don't like. It's one reason I'm partial to my skates, bicycle, BART in that order. Also, driving isn't what it used to be. Traffic, and the condition of the roads has deteriorated. Bad road surfaces are hell for skating, can be very unpleasant to impossible for bicycling, and vexing for driving. I try to pick and choose my routes based a lot on the condition of the roads.

 

[dbcooper1]

As little as you drive your car, if you don't add anything to it and just go drive 50 miles, it will do it some good.

 

[chucky2]

Redline SI-1.

 

[Greenman]

I've thought it over, and the best ride I can come up is drive over to Pittsburg, and I'll buy you a beer.

 

[phucheneh]

You might wanna throw some octane booster in there and get the tires filled with nitrogen just to be sure everything is kosher.

(or just clean your throttle, as that's usually 99% of the problem people try to fix with 'injector cleaner')

 

[Muse]

I've thought it over, and the best ride I can come up is drive over to Pittsburg, and I'll buy you a beer.

My oldest friend from grade school was born there. Haven't seen him in almost 20 years though. He's in Santa Barbara, assuming he's still alive.

Now, if I drive to Pittsburg and stop for the beer I wouldn't have my continual 50 miles drive. However what I think does work is a drive to Pittsburg, an about face and a drive back stopping in Pleasant Hill where I can do a slew of errands I've got backlogged. That's just about 50 miles. I want to hit Walmart (where I'll buy a new battery for the car, hopefully), Costco (where I'm going to stock up and maybe buy a GPS for the car), Harbor Freight, Barnes and Noble, maybe even Kohl's. They all have stores in Pleasant Hill. If that's not quite 50 miles, I'll go past Pittsburg a few miles before turning around. I think I have a plan here, this week for sure.

Looking at Google Maps I think the plan is to keep going on HWY 4 past the turn off to Pittsburg around 5 miles to Buchanan Road and turn around there and head back down to Pleasant Hill, make my stops, change batteries at Walmart (don't know if they'll do that or I'll have to do it myself to leave my old battery with them), head on home.

 

[Greenman]

My oldest friend from grade school was born there. Haven't seen him in almost 20 years though. He's in Santa Barbara, assuming he's still alive.

Now, if I drive to Pittsburg and stop for the beer I wouldn't have my continual 50 miles drive. However what I think does work is a drive to Pittsburg, an about face and a drive back stopping in Pleasant Hill where I can do a slew of errands I've got backlogged. That's just about 50 miles. I want to hit Walmart (where I'll buy a new battery for the car, hopefully), Costco (where I'm going to stock up and maybe buy a GPS for the car), Harbor Freight, Barnes and Noble, maybe even Kohl's. They all have stores in Pleasant Hill. If that's not quite 50 miles, I'll go past Pittsburg a few miles before turning around. I think I have a plan here, this week for sure.

Looking at Google Maps I think the plan is to keep going on HWY 4 past the turn off to Pittsburg around 5 miles to Buchanan Road and turn around there and head back down to Pleasant Hill, make my stops, change batteries at Walmart (don't know if they'll do that or I'll have to do it myself to leave my old battery with them), head on home.

Don't make that run late in the day, or it will take you an hour to get from Martinez to Pittsburg, and another hour to get from the top of willow pass to Buchanan.

 

[Muse]

Don't make that run late in the day, or it will take you an hour to get from Martinez to Pittsburg, and another hour to get from the top of willow pass to Buchanan.

Just saw this. I actually did it yesterday, had no traffic issues at all, got home at 5:30PM. I left Berkeley about noon, not much after, after ducking into a filling station, dumping the additive in the tank, then filling up.

From the filling station, I was on 24 headed east almost immediately, drove without slowdowns 2-3 exits past Pittsburg, doubled back to Walmart in Martinez, exactly 50 miles from the filling station, which was less than a mile from my house. Bought a new car battery and installed it in Walmart's lot. Had Google Maps printouts for each leg... drove to Pleasant Hill Harbor Freight, from there to Concord Costco, and from there home.

I actually had trouble getting the car started before leaving the Costco lot. A guy who said he normally gets $100/hour for giving such help showed me that the terminals on the battery were too narrow for my cable ends. They were cinched tight but the grip was still loose. He suggested cramming something like a little screw in there before tightening down to insure good contact. I did that this morning, using a couple pieces of a nail. Next time I buy a battery I will hopefully buy it from O'Reilly, I have an idea that this battery isn't so great!

I did have one bum steer from Google Maps. One thing on my shopping list was a GPS at Costco. They had three to choose from. I jotted down the Garmin part numbers for further research. Will probably wait for a sale on something there. I heard that Costco's a good place to buy a GPS because if it ever stops working (because Garmin no longer supports it, in spite of their claims for lifetime free service), Costco will refund you.

 

[sontakke]

It is not your new battery posts are thinner but rather the clamp have spread. This is quite common on Japanese cars. I use shiny copper penny instead of the nail but the same concept!

 

[Muse]

How do you get a penny in there?

Thinking about it I think it would have been smarter to buy the battery from O'Reilly. Reason is I'm about 3-4 miles from them. If I need to bring the battery back that's almost next door compared to Walmart, especially the Martinez Walmart. Closest other Walmart is 8.5 miles. I can take a battery to O'Reilly in my bicycle basket, did so around a year ago.