On the road again...
 

Yesterday was actually the 1st day out, but it was a trip so short it barely registers as a road trip. It's when you have 3 or 4 of these short days that the journey truly becomes the destination.

I stopped overnight in Birmingham, AL for the commencement ceremony of my eldest nephew. Smart kid. He's going to work in Houston for a large IT company. He graduated a semester early. Rare not only for our time, but for our family. :p: As we'd planned lunch and other things, I set my sights on a short trip that would keep me close to my first stop, but not on the road much past sunset. I chose my current locale, Valdosta, GA.

And then there's the drive. Both yesterday and today, I found myself in that happy place I can only get when I am at the wheel of a Bimmer.

In preparation, I changed the steamroller rear style 87's wrapped in 315s to the road tripping square setup 87's. It's not as pretty as the 315's, what with the dash more of a deeper dish and those meaty things peeking over the rear flares, but I try not to think of it. At ~$200 less per tire, I will roll roadtripper rubber from now on.

Tactile. Yeah. That's the word. When you run 315's on this thing, the ass-end just seems sorta tactile. It's right there over your shoulder asking you to try again no matter how much you try to spin it around. And, when you take away a few inches of contact patch with 275's back there, it's there. I mean. It's *right* there. But just a 1/3 of a second less attitude.

This is also my 1st long term road test on the Zionsville. I work from home and see folks sometimes. My longest trip had probably been 30 minutes before this trip. She held steady at 215 degrees. Or thereabout. I guess. Unless my eyeballs got it wrong. I'm pretty sure tho. The more often I run this thing on the long hauls, the more confident I will become. But I do like that feeling of an aluminum radiator. Brings memories of the one in the E39.

Finally, that silly Android Radio and Waze, Waze, Waze. Around an hour or so outside of Birmingham, Waze pinged to let me know. We were in for some sh!t, and it was changing my route. Good enough, then. There were TWO accidents that shut down I-75 south of Atlanta. Waze sent me through an entire mess of back roads.

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The process wasn't all nuts and berries. Waze didn't seem to want to get me too far away from the Interstate. It would try to send me back into a mess of traffic even before I could get *back* to the Interstate. I could fairly easily pinch and zoom to find alternate routes, but I would like Waze to understand that I'd rather cruise the country side than sit on the Interstate even if it takes a little longer.

And then finally, that feeling you only get in your E53 after you've spent more on maintenance than it would cost to buy another one.. Of course, I keep them maintained, but this road warrior has given it all back over so much time... and so very many miles. :thumbup:

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I ran into the same problem with Waze on my last trip to Boston. It's good for local traffic avoidance, but on longer trips I use Google Maps or Apple Maps.

I really enjoyed my run to Florida and back this past week. I know that feeling, even after taking a dime size rock chip on the front windshield on I95. :thumbup:

Well there was that wreck you had to get thru that took forever on the way down.

But the way back seemed to click along nicely :rofl:

Even sitting in traffic is nice behind the wheel of a Bimmer. :iagree:

Here's a fun little "1st time" update:

One of the guys at the shop asked what the BlueTooth OBD reader was so I showed him the Torque App. I'd just plugged it in using an OBD extension cable, so it wasn't pretty. He said, hey, you want my to stuff that under the dash somewhere? SURE! :dancing:

And testing that for function (works!) with the Torque app sorta opened the door to playing with it more. I played with the dashboard, setting up new dials, looked at the logging (I wanna do this). And so it was that on my last short leg of this trip, I got a check engine light! !ouch:

Now, we all know these are pretty common and can come up with something as simple as a loose gas cap. Expecting that, I did my best to pay it no attention for about 4 hours or so. But as soon as I had the chance, I fired up Torque and rifled through the 'Check' menu (or whatever, I don't remember) :dunno:

Anyway, it'll read the codes from the BT OBD device and send 'em right to your phone or Android radio. It did. I don't have *any* idea what they were because I just *knew* they'd come back or stay there. After you read it, which takes about 30 seconds, You get the chance to clear them. (Yeah right). But I did it, knowing that it wouldn't work. :popcorn:

I turned off the truck to go on the errand I was working through. When I returned? I couldn't believe it! NO CE LIGHT! :wow: And no. I didn't take a picture because I didn't expect that what I did would actually work! :(

Probably should have taken note on what code was listed. Whenever I get a CE light I grab my ELM327 bluetooth module and plug it into the OBDII port. Launch my Torque app and scan codes. Note the code listed and then clear codes.

My last CE light was P0172 and P0175 rich condition and happened also on a long 2500 mile trip halfway through it. Cleared the codes and it stayed away until I got back home and lit again. Looked at my long term fuel trims and they were -8 %. (once they hit +/- 10%, you trigger the CE light) Turned out to be a worn out, over reporting MAF sensor. Replaced it along with the original 2 pre catalyst O2 sensors and problem solved.

Solid advice. I would have normally made note, but I was just so certain that I would see it again minutes later that I just ran through the steps. I'll get it next time. I am interested in the trending so I can diagnose like you've done. Very cool.

Setup your dash in your Torque app to display the LTFT and STFT with RPM, MAF and coolant temps. This will give you an idea if you have the same issue I did.

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