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Old 09-28-2014, 08:14 PM   #1
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New Interstate Owner

My wife and I purchased a Black/Cream Ultraleather 2013 3500 EXT with 3400 miles last Friday as our first RV. It still had all of the packing in the bath, refrigerator, microwave, etc. It had been owned by a very high ranking NASCAR executive who evidently used it for office duties.

We spent yesterday and today removing stickers, cleaning and familiarizing ourselves with all of the manuals and equipment. Drove it to Sam's yesterday for some driving experience and to my son's house today to take our grandson to dinner to celebrate his 14th birthday.

My father-in-law is 93 and having some health issues in northern Indiana. My son works for a NASCAR related company and cannot get away until after the racing season. We have all been planning on a trip to Indiana around Thanksgiving time. As I expected, my son and his family were all over traveling there in the Interstate. The grandson has already staked out his place on the rear lounge where he will hook up his PlayStation to play games all the way to Indiana from NC.

Looking forward to some shakedown trips in the near future once we figure out what to pack. At our recent 50th class reunion my best friend from those days (and best man at our wedding) invited us to visit him at his house on a mountain overlooking Monterrey Bay. Sometime after the first of the year, we will be headed his way. Our new puppy will become a traveler as well.
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Old 09-28-2014, 08:20 PM   #2
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Congrats! and Happy Travels!
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Old 09-28-2014, 08:40 PM   #3
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Welcome to the forum and safe travels!


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Old 09-28-2014, 08:43 PM   #4
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Glad to have you on the forums.
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Old 09-28-2014, 09:08 PM   #5
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welcome to the club. Sounds like you got a beauty!
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Old 09-28-2014, 09:40 PM   #6
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Congrats on your new toy.

Suggest you try out everything at home before heading out on the road. One by one, check out the furnace, air conditioning, water heater, dumping the tanks, turning on the propane switch, generator etc.

Manuals are great, but you don't really know how to do these things until you do them.

Safe travels and have fun.
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Old 09-28-2014, 10:36 PM   #7
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Congrats and welcome to the forum.

Don't trust the pump handle cover when you fill up. Not all stations use green or yellow for diesel. Guy here filled up at a BP station which has green handles on the gas pumps. Not good.
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Old 09-29-2014, 01:40 AM   #8
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Congrats on your new purchase and welcome! It sounds like you got a great deal on the 2013. Enjoy your trips!
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Old 09-29-2014, 04:20 AM   #9
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Congratulations and welcome!

May you enjoy many happy miles of travel.

Watch these Forums for the Alumalina rallies, near Charlotte, and come jon us in March.


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Old 09-29-2014, 05:17 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by 73shark View Post
Congrats and welcome to the forum.

Don't trust the pump handle cover when you fill up. Not all stations use green or yellow for diesel. Guy here filled up at a BP station which has green handles on the gas pumps. Not good.
Thanks for the alert. This is my first diesel as well so I will be on the lookout for this.
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Old 09-29-2014, 06:02 AM   #11
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Thanks for the alert. This is my first diesel as well so I will be on the lookout for this.
Equally important, avoid diesel pumps that are labeled B20. You need to use 100% diesel or at worst B5 (95% diesel, 5% biodiesel) lest you damage the emissions control system— which will cause the engine to lock itself out until repaired.

You can go to this list of sources for biodiesel:
Biodiesel Retailer Listings - Biodiesel.org
to locate which ones sell B20, and avoid them like the plague. Kind of the reverse of what the webpage was set up for, but hey, it's the best list of biodiesel sources I've found so far.
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Old 09-29-2014, 07:30 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 73shark View Post
Congrats and welcome to the forum.

Don't trust the pump handle cover when you fill up. Not all stations use green or yellow for diesel. Guy here filled up at a BP station which has green handles on the gas pumps. Not good.
Good advice.

I filled up at a station in Chattanooga, Tenn that had a green pump handle cover for regular. Luckily I noticed and used the pump marked diesel.
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Old 09-29-2014, 09:32 AM   #13
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My dealer advised me to not even use diesel B5 except in an emergency.
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Old 09-29-2014, 10:00 AM   #14
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My dealer advised me to not even use diesel B5 except in an emergency.
He's being overly cautious. B5 is safe for all diesel engines, including engines that use DEF systems and common-rail fuel injection.

Higher levels of biodiesel beginning with B6 start to have problems with fuel viscosity, which can adversely affect the operation of the high-pressure fuel pumps and injectors in a common-rail direct injection system, not to mention having different exhaust chemistry that degrades the effectiveness of DEF to treat the sulfur compounds in the exhaust.

But diesel higher than B5 is not the only problem. Also avoid fuel that is low sulfur (500 ppm) diesel. All road-use diesel is ultra-low sulfur (15 ppm), but if you refuel in a rural area, you may find that there is also a pump specifically labeled for off-road use only, that is only low-sulfur for filling tractor fuel tanks. I nearly made that mistake at a Shell station near Toledo Bend Reservoir earlier this year. The clerk who directed me to that pump didn't know any better, so it's a good thing I was paying attention.
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Old 09-29-2014, 10:49 AM   #15
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While we're on the topic of diesel engines, I'll relate my latest experience with mine last weekend. When I started it for its monthly run, it started hard and seemed to be running on only 4 or 5 cylinders. It then died. It was very hard to restart requiring several attempts. I let it set for a few minutes and tried again and it started up and seemed to run a little bit better and then finally ran normally. Tried again the next day and it seemed to be normal. I never liked problems that seem to solve themselves because they usually don't.
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Old 09-29-2014, 12:20 PM   #16
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While we're on the topic of diesel engines, I'll relate my latest experience with mine last weekend. When I started it for its monthly run, it started hard and seemed to be running on only 4 or 5 cylinders. It then died. It was very hard to restart requiring several attempts. I let it set for a few minutes and tried again and it started up and seemed to run a little bit better and then finally ran normally. Tried again the next day and it seemed to be normal. I never liked problems that seem to solve themselves because they usually don't.

Do you leave it sit for a month between runs? That alone could explain the symptoms you are experiencing. I never let mine sit for more than a week.


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Old 09-29-2014, 12:24 PM   #17
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Do you leave it sit for a month between runs? That alone could explain the symptoms you are experiencing. I never let mine sit for more than a week.
One or two weeks at most for me. With my Viper alarm system hooked up to the chassis battery, if I let it sit longer than two weeks, I run the risk of running down the battery. Viper alarms are good systems, but every single sensor is a separate parasitic draw, and I can't unplug the disconnect by the accelerator pdal without setting off the alarm.

On the plus side, since I have to fire it up to keep the battery topped off, I don't have to worry about the engine suffering the effects of non-usage.
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Old 09-29-2014, 12:31 PM   #18
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Jerhofer,
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you scored a sweet deal on a lightly used Interstate.


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Old 09-29-2014, 12:51 PM   #19
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Do you leave it sit for a month between runs? That alone could explain the symptoms you are experiencing. I never let mine sit for more than a week.


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Since my solar panel keeps all three batteries fully charged, I didn't see any need to start it more frequently. I've been on that cycle for 3 years and this is the first time I've experienced this problem.
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Old 09-29-2014, 01:23 PM   #20
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Dealer is blowing smoke. From the horse's mouth:

Quote:
Mercedes-Benz USA and Daimler AG (hereinafter “Mercedes-Benz) approve the use of B5 according to ASTM specification D975 [Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel (ULSD) with a maximum of up to 5 % Biodiesel] in all Common Rail Injection (CDI) and BlueTEC diesel engines.
Biodiesel Information for Mercedes-Benz Vehicles 2014 Edition
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