North to Alaska!

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Tincampers

I knew that. Been close to there never all the way, looking forward to going.

And you are going to plan your dates very carefully, right?



I can't tell you how many times I've encountered gushing reviews of Newfoundland in particular on IG and other internet venues where people tend to be in possession of fewer clues than they should have. 'OMG such a beautiful place and nobody lives here, why not? they're all crazy for staying away!' type of sentiments. NF should be on anyone's Maritime itinerary, but here's the reason for the sparse population. This pic was taken on Tuesday of this week. June 26.

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

And you are going to plan your dates very carefully, right?



I can't tell you how many times I've encountered gushing reviews of Newfoundland in particular on IG and other internet venues where people tend to be in possession of fewer clues than they should have. 'OMG such a beautiful place and nobody lives here, why not? they're all crazy for staying away!' type of sentiments. NF should be on anyone's Maritime itinerary, but here's the reason for the sparse population. This pic was taken on Tuesday of this week. June 26.

Yikes! Yes, I believe we will be planning very carefully.

[Lotus54]

I chose to replace all turbo hoses, I already had replaced the turbo resonator with an aluminum straight through one.
I should have done the water pump (I’ve been told to get the genuine MB one, NOT an aftermarket one). Yes, it also has a recirculating pump. You can see it back on the firewall on the drivers side, near the engine. If your Espar heater booster works, then it probably works. (Maybe you never tried it in your heat).
I’ve read (on the Sprinter forum) that they do fail sometimes and can affect heater. I think it runs anytime the engine is running (if I recall correctly).

The rest of the stuff I just brought along. Mine also is low miles (only had 35k when I got it) but age affects things. It has almost 70k now.
I did have the transmission serviced when I paid to have the water pump done. I was going to do it when I got home myself, but just had them do it. Not difficult (although I hear the torque converter drain can be recalcitrant sometimes).

I like to look for stuff that may go wrong, so it doesn’t when on the road. I was planning to replace the water pump before I left, but didn’t find a MB one early enough to replace before we left (well, early enough to put some miles on it and verify no leaks or issues). I should have gotten on it earlier. Cost me big $$
But at least no towing or destroying the engine from overheating. We could drive right to the dealer and just cost a couple of days and a bunch of bucks. Stayed with friends so the layover was no big deal.

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Just the hoses, or other parts as well?

We are having that debate right now. I've got the one turbo hose that was a Christmas gift, but the question is what else should I be looking at replacing? I might get the Sprinter people to open it up and do a bunch of stuff in one fell swoop prophylactically. We are around 58,000 miles now, but it is 12 years old.

I think the O'Reilly website is trying to tell me that there are two water pumps on a 2006 Sprinter - a main, and a recirculating. I haven't researched it yet.

[Tincampers]

What repair manual and scanner tool is anyone using?

[Titus]

Agree with interblog that it would be nice to know how many miles/years to expect. I am at 5 years and 50,000 miles. I will definitely inspect the IC hoses and probably apply some zip ties before out trip to AK next month. May look into ordering a set of hoses to bring along, knowing that I will need them sometime in the next ??? years/ ??? miles.

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by Tincampers

What repair manual and scanner tool is anyone using?

iCarSoft MB II

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=46155

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by Titus

Agree with interblog that it would be nice to know how many miles/years to expect. I am at 5 years and 50,000 miles. I will definitely inspect the IC hoses and probably apply some zip ties before out trip to AK next month. May look into ordering a set of hoses to bring along, knowing that I will need them sometime in the next ??? years/ ??? miles.

We just turned 72,000 miles. If I had the choice, I’d buy the upper hose here: http://riordanco.com/our_products_catalog.htm They claim to have fixed the weak spot on the upper hose.

[wachuko]

What do you mean if you had the choice? Why not order it!

[DBinSD]

Originally Posted by Tincampers

We just turned 72,000 miles. If I had the choice, I’d buy the upper hose here: http://riordanco.com/our_products_catalog.htm They claim to have fixed the weak spot on the upper hose.

Spitting smoke and loss of power and turbo can happen if your oil is low in a diesel.
You mentioned hoses covered in oil. I would suggest checking your oil level.
Good luck!

[Titus]

I have looked at the instructions for the Riordan fitting and have looked at new replacement hoses for my 2012. It appears that MB changed things in 2010 and now have the U-clip metal fitting on both ends of the hose. I don't know if the 2010+ design is such that there is no longer a problem, or if they have now created a problem on both ends, such that I need two adaptors. I have sent an e-mail to Riordan.

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by DBinSD

Spitting smoke and loss of power and turbo can happen if your oil is low in a diesel.
You mentioned hoses covered in oil. I would suggest checking your oil level.
Good luck!

Checked regularly, right on the money.

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by wachuko

What do you mean if you had the choice? Why not order it!

Mercedes is getting the parts. Shipping it here could take a lot of time.

[Lotus54]

Originally Posted by Tincampers

What repair manual and scanner tool is anyone using?

I have PDFs of the factory manuals.
I had the iCarsoft MBII (for quick diagnosis, easy to keep in the van all the time).
I also have the C3 diagnostics interface/computer setup. It will do pretty much anything. I did haul it along on the long trip, just in case.

(PM me about the PDFs)

Mark

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Tincampers

Checked regularly, right on the money.

Good general note for other T1N owners - ours burns about 1 quart every 3,000 miles, maybe a bit more.

And it's tricky to read top-offs correctly. It takes a long time to show properly on the dipstick. I overfilled ours by about half a quart recently, which was not good.

[Lotus54]

Mine used less than a quart in 11,000 miles.
A fair amount of time at 75mph

(ASSYST said I had 2700 miles to go before oil change, but I changed it anyway)

Mark

[InterBlog]

We will soon be deciding exactly what preemptive services to order at Sprinter of Clear Lake. Partly I will do that in conversation with them. I'm very averse to a scenario of breaking down on the road, especially driving solo, our dog with me, and lithium in our rig that I don't want anyone else potentially messing with.

One of our Canada destinations is a 549 mile round trip to the nearest MB dealership. One screw-up could prove to be fantastically expensive. It's expensive to get work done at MB but it's also expensive to get work done by MB *AND* spend four days in a hotel while it's occurring. And I don't even want to think about tow costs and logistics. In my scenario, a rental car would almost certainly be involved in the equation. Rental cars in NS are far more expensive than in the U.S.

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

We will soon be deciding exactly what preemptive services to order at Sprinter of Clear Lake. Partly I will do that in conversation with them. I'm very averse to a scenario of breaking down on the road, especially driving solo, our dog with me, and lithium in our rig that I don't want anyone else potentially messing with.

One of our Canada destinations is a 549 mile round trip to the nearest MB dealership. One screw-up could prove to be fantastically expensive. It's expensive to get work done at MB but it's also expensive to get work done by MB *AND* spend four days in a hotel while it's occurring. And I don't even want to think about tow costs and logistics. In my scenario, a rental car would almost certainly be involved in the equation. Rental cars in NS are far more expensive than in the U.S.

Our breakdown is costing us plenty and don’t even know what the MB part is yet! Fortunately, we can walk to everything we need or use the MB shuttle service. They’ve been great about hauling us around. We were fortunate that we didn’t need to be towed here. They have MB and Dodge dealers here.

[Titus]

More details on the Riordan intercooler hose adaptor (see post #170 above).
I asked Riordan if I should have two adaptors since (starting in 2010) both ends of the drivers side hose has an integrated metal fitting. Their response was "I believe you will be fine just replacing the one end". I decided to go ahead and buy an entire new hose at Amazon and install it before the original one fails:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'll clean up the original one (still good far as I know) and throw it under a rear side seat along with my spare fuel filter, air filter, wiper blades, fuses, torque wrench, and a torx male and female socket set. If/when my replacement Delco hose fails, and dependent upon the failure mode, I may decide to get the Riordan adaptor.

Regarding oil consumption. I cannot detect any drop in oil level between oil changes (which I do every 6,000 to 10,000 miles). I did my first oil change after 4,000 miles and it did not consume any oil during the first 4,000 miles either. I don't know if MB uses some special oil as factory fill to aid in ring and liner break-in. I suspect not as they did not specify an initial change at low (<10,000) hours.

Some posts and other literature suggests that ASSYST looks at the type of driving to determine when to change oil. I cannot tell that my ASSYST does anything besides keep track of mileage since last reset.

[Tincampers]

$600USD later and we are back on the road. Left there about 4pm and are just settling into Kettle Creek Campground for the night. Van Haulin is running like a top. Took them 2 hours to do the work once Fedex dropped off the parts.

[rowiebowie]

Great news!

In no time this problem will fade in comparison to the memories of the awesome trip you've had.