My Experience on PCOR - Lake Tahoe to Central Oregon

[Darkstar]

Thats a great trip report. Thanks so much for sharing.

[lchukar]

I'd love to hear more about the blown fuse. Just where was it? How did you figure out which one it was, just random checking of every fuse? Thanks.

[mk216v]

Thanks for the detailed trip report E-350!
Pics are broken, or is it just me?

[daveb]

Originally Posted by mk216v

Thanks for the detailed trip report E-350!
Pics are broken, or is it just me?

I see em fine on my end...even the terrifying instrument cluster picture!

[BACKRDS]

Nice report! I'm also interested to know which fuse caused the problem, and if you have any idea what may have caused it to blow . . .

Thanks in advance.

[E-350]

mk216v: I can also still see the pics.

Thanks for the positive feedback guys!


THE BROKEN FUSE:
Engine Compartment, no. 23 (for gas engine): CMS, HEGOS, MAF, EGR, A/C clutch relay

I have been lucky to have manual with me: no. 24 was also 20A and I found it's for the trailer. So I pulled this out, put it in spot 23 and the engine is firing up since then :-)

Root cause... TBH: no idea! 2006 van, 270k miles, no problems since then... I guess it just failed. happens. It would give me a headache once I see this fuse failing again and again, but a single time...

Now got a package mini and standard as well as a pack maxi fuses :-D should be prepared next time.

[E-350]

[QUOTE=lchukar;299233]I'd love to hear more about the blown fuse. Just where was it? How did you figure out which one it was, just random checking of every fuse? Thanks.[/QUOTE

--> eventually yes!

As you can see in the pic I have been on a very easy road, nothing could have damaged the underbody, torn something off or anything. Therefore it had to be something that can also happen on the street.

I opened the hood and the compartment has been very warm. I could touch the cooler reservoir for ~10s. Hot, but not like burning your fingers, meaning most probably below 65C/ 150F. The cooler itself has been hotter, I took my fingers off after ~2s. Therefore I spilled some gallons of water over the engine/ cooler and waited an hour.
As this failed I started looking deeper. Under the assumption the engine might have gotten too hot (it was ~90-95F), I started looking for any loose cables or any other visual sign of failure.
Nothing. Due to the light "check gages" and the display saying "check gauges" I could somewhat link it to any kind of sensor.
Check my oil, fairly low (also standing with the front uphill...). So a friend dropped off 2 quarts of oil, I filled it in but no change at all.

At that time I didn't had the idea to look for the fuses, so I asked the friendly guy to tow me.
At the parking lot I was looking for the temperature sensor (still seeing the hot engine as main cause) and while I was doing so a guy came by and helped me finding it (also a hobby mechanic).

And HE said "did you check your fuses?" :-D
I said no, as I didn't have any multimeter with me and he showed me the trick how you can visually detect it:
Either the wire is broke and/or you can see black spots on the outer housing.

While he had a maxi fuse in his hand I grabbed my pliers and pulled out another one with a transparent housing. And, believe it or not: we started laughing when he said "see, this is exactly how it looks like" :-D

So yes, eventually pull our every single fuse or touch them with a multimeter. But for us the search was over after the second fuse

[mk216v]

Weird on the pics. Maybe it's Safari...