my Wayfarer survived 520 mile drive

[DLK]

The 50 Wayfarer and I made it from Clinton, IL to Minnesota today (pic of the seller saying goodbye to his car). Lots of rain to test the vacuum wipers in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The car only went through 1 quart of oil which I think was pretty good. My big concern is that about 200 miles into the drive the car developed a miss that continued to get worse. By the end of the drive the car couldn't even maintain speed on hills. I hope it was the wet weather but suspect it is something more serious. I am going to have to start testing (compression first) to try to pin down the cause. Oil pressure was not bad - steady 45 lb when cruising all day though it did drop to 10-15 at idle after a couple hours of driving.

In that 520 miles I found a number of issues with the car that will have me checking the forum archives. Count me as one of the culprits who have asked questions that have been addressed before - I'll start with the message base this time and give everyone a break from my posts for a while.

[Dennis Hemingway]

That's great to hear that you made it home.

Dennis:cool:

[T120]

..Glad to hear the trip was okay.Car looks great.I believe I see a tear in the eye of the former owner.

[greg g]

hope your testing routine comes up with something simple like a loose wire, or something easy. Driving in the rain always seems to brig out the gremlins. Glad you made it on 4 wheels. Hope you had a good adventure.

[Young Ed]

That sounds exactly like what happened to my car last w/e. Mine turned out to be a bad breaker plate that was allowing the point gap to get bigger and bigger. The bigger it got the worse the car ran. By the end I was only able to go about 40.

[55 Fargo]

Way to go, I just knew you would make it. I hope your engine problem is a simple correction, great looking car.....Fred

[Plymouthy Adams]

it is an awful situation to say that I have had my 54 for almost 2 1/2 years..insured and licensed all that time and I bet I have not driven more than 150 miles in it..you have by far blown my record all to pieces..in just a few hours into ownership..congrats on a safe retrieval

[RobertKB]

Congratulations on getting the car home. Hopefully the problem is a minor issue. Sounds like it needs a bit of TLC regarding the issues you mentioned. Don't be afraid to ask questions on the forum.

[TodFitch]

Congratulations on the successful trip. Good looking car too.

I suspect the miss is something minor.... At least on my old Plymouth the major things generally did not cause a miss while running at speed. For example three burnt exhaust valves and bad rings when I got the car. It idle rough but ran smooth just with less power than is should when up to speed.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, look at the ignition system first. But is could also be dirt from the fuel system clogging up something.

[Don Jordan]

I hope you don't mind but I am going to share your story with my wife. Right now I can't get more than 10 miles from home without problems. Once I get the bugs out it is my plan to go from LA to Sacramento and back.

When these cars were new people drove the snot out of them. It's a tool - they were made to be driven.

What a great story.

[Captain Neon]

I'm thinking about making a jaunt up US-65 from Missouri to Minnesota over Labour Day weekend. My only concern is not my P15, but rather if it is a good use of a rare three-day weekend to spend 16 hours traveling, esp. with the strong likelihood that I will have several 13-day weeks coming up.

[Don Coatney]

Good job and good looking car. They are meant to be driven. Once you fix your minor problems you will some day find yourself a thousand miles from home and your worries of a breakdown will be gone.

[dezeldoc]

Congrats, i knew it would make it, got to stop worring and just relax, the ol girl had it in her after all she is a MOPAR!!!