Overdue Update....
After WI we continued to IL-MO-KS-MO-AR-MS-TN-AL-FL-AL-MS-LA-TX-NM-CO-UT-NV-ID-OR-WA Home!
Got home today, 46 days, 8000 miles, and 22 states visited. Friends and family along the way, tons of cool destinations and a couple bucket list destinations.
Copilot keeping mamas seat warm while she makes me a sammich...
In Arkansas I added a folding RV handle to the flap door, and in Florida I found a set of OEM steps and installed them. It's an awesome combo, we no longer use the folding step to get in and out.
The van drives Freakin' Awesome, I love the power that the 6.0 has.
Recap of 8000 miles of issues....
1) One of the fittings on my hot water heater leaks. Because of the construction of the heater and the myriad of hoses I have been unable to identify the source on the road. When not pressurized it doesn't leak, so we de-presurize the water system after using the pump. I plumbed the overtemp/pressure relief valve back to the holding tank so depresurizing is as easy as manually actuating the valve. Since I'm home now I can take the cabinet apart and properly identify and remedy the leak.
2) Kinda related to #1... I installed a electric recirc valve in the hot water system. Somehow, during the cabinet building process I reinstalled one of the components wired incorrectly so when you actuate the recirc valve it blows the fuse. If this was working correctly it would have simplified #1, but whatever. I just need to track down the short and rewire it properly.
3) The chinese coolant parking heater I got leaves something to be desired in the documentation. It does work very well, but I haven't deciphered how to get it to turn off automatically. That means we pretty much have a manually controlled heating system. I replaced and remounted the fuel pump due to noise mid-trip and it's pretty nice now. I also re-routed the exhaust as my original configuration dumped under the van. I didn't think anything of it, but when my wifes super sensitive nose slept in the van she called me out on it right away. a 1' turn out extension solved it and now wifey is happy.
Thats pretty much it for the house systems.
4) The free set of wheels I used has one bent a leaking one. I had to refill about every 3 days. I will replace the offending wheel or all of them before the next trip.
5) The last 1000 miles my VGT issue came back. On post #110 I tore down, cleaned, and lubed the turbo for this exact issue. Unfortunately the fix didn't last long, or really at all. I suspect maybe the VGT Solonoid or connector is failing, but haven't been able to troubleshoot it yet. Since I've made it home now and have several parts rigs and a shop, I think I will be able to fix it pretty quick.
Since I have an EGT gauge installed, I was able to keep the numbers in check. It was like driving a heavily loaded (20k#) turbo diesel. I figured out if I kept the rpm up above 2000 it would build a little boost and keep going. For reference it would regularly pull 20# of boost in normal driving. With a non-responsive VGT and my turbo stuck at whatever angle, the best I ever saw was 6#. I wound up driving the last 1000 miles on the EGT gauge, and at 2000+ rpm. Probably hurt the MPG a bit but I feel good about the rest.
Thats a pretty good list, but some of it may have to wait. My wife informed me that she is tired of me talking about wanting to attend KOH and that I should just go.
We maybe a little bit cut our trip short so we could return home and refit for KOH. I've never been so it will be a learning experience.
Already on the list is gutting the van to refit the car hauler into a more capable camping rig. The fridge, inverter and batteries are going for sure, wifey also wants the couch/bed. Hopefully not much more. 3 weeks and counting....
