Sprinter… on the road
So, we stopped yesterday after james complained that the van was surging, loosing power suddenly, and just not behaving right. I found a Dodge dealership in Toledo Ohio that apparently does has tons of sprinter experience and parts.
Two hours of diagnostics later, I was told we needed a new fuel pressure sensor, a $400+ part, that would need to be ordered. Not an option, had to be in Cleveland for the show last night. So, we hit the road, and tried to just deal with the problem, the sprinter slipping in to "Limp mode" as mercedes calls it, until we eventually lost power on the highway at full speed, a little scary. We eventually made it to the venue, and after we played I inspected the fuel pressure sensor as seen above. To my surprise the wiring harness was damaged. Really?!?! why didn't the techs at the dealership catch this. Two of the wires shorting out. I used a bit of electrical tape to insulate the wires, pulled out my OBD2 pocket scan tool, cleared the codes, restarted the van, drove it 10miles on the highway at full speed, with no problems, rescanned, No Codes! Any competent tech would have caught this immediately. In the service manual it explicitly states after scanning the code P2306 Sensor Supply 2 Voltage Low that the first thing to do, is to turn the car off, clear the code, and then rescan. The second step is to visually inspect the wiring on the boost pressure sensor, and the fuel pressure sensor. Either the tech didn't read the manual, or didn't follow the directions.
Sprinter Update 4
New window arrived. Not shattered like the last two, but scratched and mangled, oh well, I'm going to get a credit form the supplier, and at this point, that's fine, I'm just glad it showed up in one piece. Below is the blank where the new window is going.
So the idea is to cut this blank out, you can see that I've already got starting slots cut in the 4 sides. I used my angle grinder with a cut off wheel to make these cuts. You want to cut just on the outside of where the sheet metal transitions from being flat to bubbling out where the window should be. This is where the window is designed to fit, and this is the smallest cutout you can make while still leaving a flat edge for the window to grab on to.
Below is the window. It is split at the bottom with a small vent opening. You can see my greasy paw marks all over it, nothing windex won't fix.
Okay, so now we cut a big gapping hole in the side of a perfectly good van. (Thanks for the reciprocating saw Danny!) To my surprise the 18v cordless black and decker firestorm reciprocating saw, while not the finest piece of machinery, does cut through sheet metal like butter with a good blade on it.
One side left to cut.
Cut out done. All i did then was grind down the edges to get rid of any burs, and clean any dust and dirt from the edge. Then lay down some weather stripping along the inside edge (Note: the side window required weather stripping inside and out, this one has a rubber gasket on the edge of the window, so only weatherstripping inside was required.)
Window in. There aren't any pictures of the window going in, because I was more worried about the window not breaking or falling than I was concerned about taking pictures. But you set the window in from the outside, check that all the edges have a good place to seal, then there is a flange on the inside the screws in to the frame holding the window securely in place.
Voila!
Sprinter Update 3
Oh my goodness gracious, it's been too long. I'm a slacker, my camera died, and I missed some exciting installs.
I don't have photos of the install, but below are some pictures of the window that was installed in the sliding door. It was surprisingly easy to install. Simply cut out the factory stamped panel with a sawz-all, line the inside and outside edge of your hole with weather stripping. Drop the window in from the outside, and secure it from the inside with the supplied flange, that will sandwich the edge of your cutout between the window and the flange. This was my first time installing a window. They were ordered from C.R. Laurence Company, the only supplier I could find for 2004 Sprinter windows. There is a second window going behind the driver as well, but this one has damaged TWICE in shipping, both times UPS delivered a box full of bits of safety glass, the box damaged in the same spot. (Update, C.R. Laurence finally delivered an intact window today, but it had clearly already been installed, uninstalled and returned. small marks on the inside of the window and flange as well as pre-worn sheet metal screw holes, they are goign to get a piece of my mind on monday morning, completely unacceptable, but I'm not risking a third shattered window, just happy to have one that isn't broken.) See below.
I put in a cargo wall to protect the band from betting impaled with guitar headstocks in the event of a high speed crash or an abrupt stop. This my first experience with expanded metal sheet, it's 1/8" thick, and is super sturdy, and much lighter than a solid steel wall. See Below.
The loft got a plywood platform to support a mattress, and also you can see that I finished the framing for the hinged bench seats, there will be lots of storage below them. The hinges are secured to the plywood bench seat with bolts, and to the steel bench frame with large sheet metal screws.
Hinges!
I needed to think more before proceeding, so I moved on to the cargo areas which I had a firm grasp on how to finish. Step 1 was to insulate it. The custom cut panels are similar to the closed cell bubble wrap you would use in packaging, often used as sun shields in car windshields. So the outside is shiny, and the inside is white. They came from sprinteraccessories.com. They definitely were easy to install, using double stick tape (included in the kit) and came with a self explanatory map of where each panel needed to go, but they took FOREVER to process my order and deliver, beware. The insulated cargo area, is shown below. Then I cut the original plastic side walls of the van to fit the new cargo area.
Vent from top unit installed.
Next, the inside unit gets bolted to the outside unit, and the vent is sealed to the inside unit. the Ac is secured to the roof just by these 4 bolts that are sandwiching the ceiling of the van. Its rather secure, and tightening the bolts also compressed the thick rubber foam gasket on the roof around the hole, creating a water tight seal.
Next up is a detailed installation of the driver side window which just arrived un-shattered!!
Sprinter Update 2
So yesterday I worked on the van some more, and the framing is almost done. Cargo area, bunks, and benches made out of steel. Here are some pictures. What wasn't documented was removing the cargo wall behind the driver/passenger seats, removing the flooring, recutting it to fit the new footprint, and building the bunks.
Sprinter Update 1
Here are some pictures of Arizona's new tour van. I'm outfitting it for use as an RV. It's a 2004 Dodge Sprinter 3500. It's a Mercedes that dodge re-sells in the US, it's a Turbo Diesel engine, and empty on the drive home got 26mpg, and the previous owner claims 23mpg when it's fully loaded. It's a huge step up from the 8-14mpg that the typical Ford E-350 tour van gets. No plans to convert it to run on vegetable oil yet.
You can see that there is a cargo divder, and no insulation to protect from the elements. The divider has been removed, I've done more work than I have pictures of, so there is a small gap in the documentation.
So here is the basic idea (I love google sketchup, but I really wish it would run on my Linux Ubuntu box). Shown from the behind the driver/passenger seats back. There will be two benches in an "L" shape, a small kitchenette, overhead storage bins, and in the rear, two bunks, with a cargo area below. Windows will be added, to the sliding door, and opposite behind the driver. The interior is getting insulated, and then a rooftop AC unit is going in as well. Electrical systems are going to be 2 AGM batterries, a 2000watt inverter/charger, and the kitchen stove will run off of small 1lbs propane tanks. Some of the design has already changed, but it's all in my head.
