Rocky Mountain Road Trip Pt.1

want to take a trip in your aging BMW? Here is what to look out for.

14,114 ft the Summit of Pike's Peak

14,114 ft the Summit of Pike's Peak

Knowing what your car is like to drive in high Altitude is key

The journey starting in St. Louis Missouri which is pretty much at sea level. With a full tank of fuel, the ECU reports about 420 Miles in range. Which is still find amazing for #540i 's 4.4L V8. So we headed west on Interstate 70 toward Kansas. Finally, after some hours of driving, we arrived in Denver Colorado.

Passing through Denver on i70 the feels like it starts to lose power and it does. because by this point you've gone up to an altitude of 5,000+ feet. Now you start to get a little scared when you see late model cars, trucks and SUVs pulled over with the bonnet up. Your thinking that your car might be next.

Turn off the A/C

Blake Castle

The temperature outside has dropped as much as 15 degrees C. Why the hell is the A/C still on? Just turn it off and crack the window. Also, the ECU in the car is working out what the heck is going on. What happened to all the air I'm used to?

Mountain Passes: the art of downhill coasting.

In the Rocky Mountains, your are always going up or down. When going up a pass keep that A/C off and use lower gears to get your speed up.

Torque is your friend

Going down a pass the throttle is sometimes not needed. But, those brakes oh those brakes. Seems like these days everyone just wants to ride the brakes down the hill. But you know better. Even my 2002 #BMW #E39 #540i 's automatic gearbox has Steptronic manual shifting mode. Use it! I'm not saying don't hit the brakes but geez downshift.

Computer says 543 Mile Range?

In our journey, we chose lodging in Breckinridge Colorado. After fueling up at about 9,690 ft the ECU started throwing out what I thought was crazy range numbers.

But then I thought about it. There is less dense air. So the car is short of breath just like you are. So it's compensating by using less fuel to keep the mixture correct. Another good idea is to get a new engine air filter when you get there.

Most likely if you driving into the mountains on a road trip your covering some good distance to get there. For us, it was 900 plus miles and we had done a mini service prior to the start of the journey. But folks these days don't even check or change their own oil. So who knows when that filter was last changed.

Take care of you HIGH MILER and it will take care of you.

Thanks for reading and watch out for more stories of our trip coming soon. #HRT

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