I made the 2k mile road trip from where im stationed in san diego to my parents house in Indiana....my mini at the time had 79,800miles on it...the day before i left i installed new samco hoses and t-stat so i was a bit leery about going on that trip without a proper break in test but i have a scan guage and was watching it like a hawk the whole way home and it suprisingly that never became an issue........but some other things did...

I was in Kansas on i believe it was Hwy 57 and crested a small hill going about 70(speed limit was 65) and when i got to the top some &*%&*&% trucker had a retread blow out and it was all over the road....couldnt avoid it so i tried to get to a part of the road that has the smallest pieces but all i get is a loud whump and a dragging noise....i pull over and find my Wyvern splitter was busted! The impact split the thing in 2....i couldnt make any major removal actions on the side of the road so i took out my cordless drill i keep in the back on long trips and drilled holes on either side of the break and used heavy duty zip ties to keep it together...

I left my half sisters house in kansas in the early morning and everything seemed to be working just fine...all the fluids were optimum and no leaks detected...i took a 4 lane highway through missouri just so i didnt have to deal with st louis....i got though missouri just fine and when i crossed into Illinois i went to go on a off ramp to the next interstate and when i turned the wheel it was fighting me and was extremely heavy....i lost my power steering! I pulled over at a gas station and turned the car off and checked under for damage but couldnt find any....turned the car back on and the PS was back! I got back on the road and continued on...and when i went to change interstates again no PS only this time it would not come back on .

I managed to get the last couple hundred miles to home with no PS and a destroyed splitter....but atleast the thermostat worked great lol.

Oh and to top it off while i was home i took a interstate off ramp and snapped a rear bar endlink!

And for the final shot on the trip back to SD my battery died on me!

so for the final total on this trip
Wyvern Mini Splitter:200$
Power Steering Pump:807$
Endlinks:60$
Battery:150$

It seemed when my car hit 80k miles all hell broke loose!

 

You were probably due for the battery anyway but everything else sucks

 

Did the fan for the power steering get knocked out with the tire bits you went over? WoW bad luck

 

nope no damage to the PS fan