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Old 08-23-2018, 06:49 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by Fitz View Post
Not long winded, all good info. Keep passing on the learnings, that’s what makes this such a great place. I have been wondering where you were on your epic journey, now we all know!
Hey Tim, yes we are thoroughly enjoying our epic 20,000+ mile journey (when completed- currently about 17,000 miles traveled since early May). We are currently traveling and boon-docking around Newfoundland and are about to turn back west again in a few days.

We will catch the ferry and travel back through Nova Scotia and down through Maine to visit friends and stop by the farm in northern Maine were I was born. I will have our 20,000 mile service in Portland Maine (lots of miles especially since we only picked our rig up from SMB Austin 5 months ago).

After Maine we plan to travel north again and explore Prince Edward Island (north of New Brunswick) before turning west again through Quebec and Ontario. We will then probably head down through the Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and finally our winter home in Sedona probably in early Oct.

Since leaving Alaska on July 19th, we have only stayed 3 nights in campgrounds and 3 in hotels. The rest have been boon-docking in some very interesting places and also some really incredibly beautiful places.

I am keeping a journal and taking pictures so when our journey is complete (and I have consistent internet), I will publish a travelogue of our adventure.

Talk to you soon....

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Old 08-23-2018, 07:00 PM   #22
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I occasionally get the "ding, ding" sound. It happens if I try to start my 2015 Sprinter with the driver's door open. So I've learned to always shut the door first before I turn the key. If I forget and the annoying "ding, ding" sound occurs, I just pull the key out and wait a minute or so and it stops on its own.
4liner, maybe you did not completely read my post but the dinging was not because the door was open at all. It dinged wether or not the key was in the ignition or completely removed. It dinged the whole 20 miles to the nearest town while driving plus for quite a long time after we stopped again and pulled the key completely out of the ignition again.

I believe this problem was caused by the electronic modules receiving low voltage from the battery that had a loose connection. The primary codes I received were stating "low voltage" to the PCM along with other modules.

FYI, when I inquired with a MB service manager who seemed quite knowledgeable, he stated that the electronic modules are less likely to suffer any damage from low voltage vs if they received high or a spike in voltage.
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Old 08-24-2018, 05:07 AM   #23
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Thanks for sharing. We had a similar problem two years ago with our VW Eurovan which is why we bought a Ford Transit...we're never more than one exit away from a Ford dealer.
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Old 08-24-2018, 07:58 AM   #24
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You mention MB Sprinter dealers. Did you try Freightliner Sprinter service? My experience is that they service any variety of Sprinter, plus many of them are set up to handle fleet operations (in addition to over the road semis), so they operate 24/7.

We were traveling in New England when the first of many subsequent wheel speed sensors failed, lighting up the instrument panel like a Christmas tree. MB Sprinter dealers in the area wouldn't look at it for a week or more, but the Freightliner/Sprinter dealer in Boston diagnosed it as soon as we drove up Friday night, ordered the part and replaced it Saturday morning.
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Old 08-26-2018, 11:01 AM   #25
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THANK YOU for sharing this harrowing tale, and thanks to fritz for showing us the fuse to get. i've got 3 spares now...
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Old 08-27-2018, 12:17 PM   #26
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I have the Sure Power 1314-200 separator on my 2012 Sprinter. It is wired to the start switch so the engine and house batteries are connected through this 150A fuse while starting. The batteries are also connected when the engine has charging voltage but not when the house batteries have charging voltage. I chose this separator so the solar panels will not turn on the separator which draws an extra amp or so.

SMB Huntington blew this fuse more than once while building the van because I had installed an old model UltraGauge that ran down the engine battery after a few days. This confused them because the house batteries were being charged at the time. When starting, more than 150A blew the fuse. They were buying the fuses through Mercedes at $30 each.

So anyway, this explains why the fuse would blow when trying to start with a bad connection to the engine battery, but the separator will keep the house batteries from powering the engine computer.

David
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Old 08-27-2018, 07:41 PM   #27
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Dave, y’all have logged plenty of miles around the US, any input on the question/s around getting support from dealers, (or?) when an issue pops up? It’s an aspect of this trial akfirefude has gone through...
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Old 08-28-2018, 03:59 AM   #28
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Originally Posted by VtSoundman View Post
Add a small...small drip of loctite blue to these connections.

Drip a small amount of loctite around the top of the thread where it comes out of the bolt...it will seep down a little bit, but not affect the electrical connection.
Sorry to be so late with this reply but for me I'd not use Loctite 242 or "blue" for small fasteners like this, I'd prefer 290 or "green". Its lower strength and has capillary action so can be applied to a bolt & nut after assembly effecting the locking action. Even better if #290 is used a typical 40 watt soldering iron could be used to crystalize the Loctite freeing the bolt/nut.



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The reason fuses will pass a VOM test but not high current is carbon tracking and partial breaks - the clearing event was not enough to clear the material, but enough to cause a fracture or high impedance....
Interesting---thanks for sharing!
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Old 08-28-2018, 08:28 AM   #29
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Sorry to be so late with this reply but for me I'd not use Loctite 242 or "blue" for small fasteners like this, I'd prefer 290 or "green". Its lower strength and has capillary action so can be applied to a bolt & nut after assembly effecting the locking action. Even better if #290 is used a typical 40 watt soldering iron could be used to crystalize the Loctite freeing the bolt/nut.





Interesting---thanks for sharing!
Good tip regarding 290. .... a long ago, a trusted ME told me to use #10/ green or smaller, blue on everything else and red on perm/critical bolted/high torque connections. I don't recall seeing green in the typical store.

These connections are generally reliable with just torque so no modifier is required, but some have found loose nuts.

I've always used a small drip of blue without issue as it only seems to wick in a thread or two....is this bad advice? The stud and nut are also likely used in the current path. I'm not a fasteners expert - I chase electrons (an EE)...
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Old 08-28-2018, 10:02 AM   #30
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Dave, y’all have logged plenty of miles around the US, any input on the question/s around getting support from dealers, (or?) when an issue pops up? It’s an aspect of this trial akfirefude has gone through...
We have over 5 years and 94,000 miles on Vanessa. Most of the 10k service visits have been MB dealers all over US. Although very expensive, overall the experience has been good. A few visits to Freightliner service (AK) has been just as good, and less expensive, but we have had the extended warranty from MB which is just about to run out (Freightliner can do warranty work only in states which don't have MB). We have never been down needing a tow, but did have a few bad experiences with MB service: 1) Hose came off new fuel pump leaving a trail of fuel in a parking lot; 2) I complained of road noise so they replaced the front right wheel bearing which did not reduce noise that turned out to be from the tires; 3) Estimate of $1600 not covered by warranty for replacing squeaky ball joint (probably a result of item 2) later done covered by warranty at a different MB dealer; 4) The dealer that did item 3 left the front wheels out of alignment destroying the front tires.

We have had two intermittent problems that MB dealers could not fix since they were never broke when we were in the shop. 1) In a very weak moment I installed an aftermarket steering wheel control for an aftermarket radio -- it went bad and lit up the dash with error messages, off and on over the first year or two before I removed it to solve the problem; 2) The dash fan air gates that move air from one vent to another will all close randomly on a hot day while using the A/C, reducing air flow to almost nothing with fan on high and lots of fan noise. It resets when we turn off the A/C and cycle the air flow dial once all around.

In spite of these problems we love our Sprinter and will definitely go with another one when we have SMB make Vanessa 2.

David
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