Betting pool: The worst that could happen?

[InterBlog]

Sixth on-the-road failure:

The mysterious phenomenon of “passenger side a/c blows sorta cold while the driver side blows hot air in off the engine” ghost in the machine. It’s talked about as A Thing on Sprinter Forum but little in the way of resolution was presented.

Having hot air delivered into the cab from the engine while the outside air is already 90 degrees is not really a workable driving scenario.

LB_3 is trying to optimize existing pressures well enough to get us closer to home. Gross rule of thumb = about 50 psi low side, 250 psi high.

More details on this later when I have the time.

[LB_3]

borrowed some gauges from AutoZone. I put a little over a can (12+ oz) of 134A into the system and we’re blowing cold again. :-)

I don’t understand why some vents were cold and some were hot previously. Sounds like a couple seperate but related issues.

[Lotus54]

I have read the glowplug ‘box’ has fuses for each plug. The older types blow those fuses, newer ones have circuit breakers.
Some have taken them apart and installed external fuses.

(Check Sprinter Source)

[InterBlog]

The states of NY and PA can kiss my rear view mirror. New York in particular likes to fancy itself as a progressive paradise-in-waiting and yet they cannot find it in their ‘socially-just’ hearts to fix the same massive craters in their freeways year after year. Who is disproportionately harmed by disgraceful road conditions? Poorer people with less disposable income, of course. We can afford to fix our damage; others less so. LB_3 was remarking that there’s a strong correlation between the issues we have and the severe pounding that the van takes on decrepit New England highways as we pass through it. The problems seem to be fewer in Texas where we actually have public transportation infrastructure worth talking about.

[Tronadora]

If by bad NY roads you are referring to I-88 between Albany and Binghamton I wholeheartedly agree; absolutely no excuse for those conditions. Don't get me started as to how/why a state's budget management practices create public problems.


We're still in Maine and will meander back to Oregon starting in about two weeks. If anyone knows how to escape through NY westbound without breaking things, I'd like to hear about it. PM me with suggestions so I don't get this thread off-track. Thanks.

[InterBlog]

Nothing new broke today that we know of, other than my sanity. We set a new one-day distance record of 902 miles. I do NOT recommend a haul that long, but we are highly motivated to out-maneuver the budding hurricane, so it was a miserably long day of driving to tomorrow’s jump-off position.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Nothing new broke today that we know of, other than my sanity. We set a new one-day distance record of 902 miles. I do NOT recommend a haul that long, but we are highly motivated to out-maneuver the budding hurricane, so it was a miserably long day of driving to tomorrow’s jump-off position.

That's a record I never hope to beat. Even equally shared, that was 450 miles, EACH!

Gordon now predicted to be a CAT1 at landfall late tomorrow evening on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Here is position and cone as of 11pm Eastern tonight.

PS - There is a "Tropical Storm Gordon" thread. Lots more info there.
.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Nothing new broke today that we know of, other than my sanity. We set a new one-day distance record of 902 miles. I do NOT recommend a haul that long, but we are highly motivated to out-maneuver the budding hurricane, so it was a miserably long day of driving to tomorrow’s jump-off position.

INTERBLOG - Yes & No. Nothing broke in AI. And you broke your one-day record in AI. . Safe travels. Set the radar detector on full spectrum and "Go west, young man/woman"

[InterBlog]

There never has been a better time to invoke the phrase “it’s time to get the Dodge out of hell”. Non-Gulf-Coast residents might not realize just what a Bad Day even a CAT1 can make for everyone in the IH-12 / IH-10 corridor. I just woke up in Mississippi and the only good way home at this point is via Shreveport, which we’ve never had to do before.

[Lily&Me]

At least in Shreveport you are well north of the coast.

The upside...while bookin’ it for home, your potty stops can be mercifully brief, needing only pull to the side of the road as you carry yours with you.

Travel safe,

Maggie

[Pahaska]

Just had our September rally cancelled due to the weather. We had 20+ rigs coming, 5 cancelled, and the hosts looked at the weather and cancelled the rally. My AI is in the driveway, all ready to have departed in the morning.

Oh, well! We have been waiting all summer for rain with it too hot to do anything. When it is finally fairly cool, we get rained out.

[InterBlog]

Seventh on-the-road failure is also courtesy of the state of NY but minor in the grand scheme of things:

Severely bad roads busted a clamp in the exhaust train. I know that system fairly well because it’s an expensive little sucker whose lifespan I’ve attempted to extend by treating it with POR-15.

So when I heard a disagreeable CLANG CLANG CLANG emanating from under the van I was like, ah, yeah, I know what that is, and I’ll fix it myself after I get home. And I will.

[InterBlog]

BTW, five weeks and 6,367 miles for this trip (for me; LB_3 as a conventionally-employed person managed an unprecedented 3 weeks plus one extra day of time off.

I’ve got some new van refinements in mind. Next year I might try for something closer to 8 weeks, depending on how life unfolds (a number of variables could impact the plans).

[InterBlog]

Before I forget:

We had no trouble traveling 3,000 miles on four of five working glow plug circuits. The T1N engine will still start reliably from a cold condition with one of them on the outs.

We plan to replace all five plugs soon enough, and I'm glad we didn't have to mess with that issue while we were on the road.

[Pahaska]

You can get away with no glow plugs in warm weather. If it not were for the Sprinter detecting a plug out, you would have never noticed.

Today, a Sprinter based Winnebago pulled in to the storage yard pulling a Ford Edge. They had just come from service to replace a glow plug. It was the fourth glow plug to go out for them.

The Edge was way too heavy given the weight of the B+ Winnie and they knew it. They were getting only 12 mpg towing it.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

You can get away with no glow plugs in warm weather. ....

My husband says the same thing. Personally I would not want to test out the theory. I owned a diesel VW Rabbit back in the day, and I can emphatically report based on direct experience that it would NOT start without its glow plugs being operational. All of them had to be functioning.

One procedural distinction: with the Rabbit, I had to wait for the glow plug dash light to turn off, indicating that it was ready for ignition, and I had to do this even during hot St. Louis summers. There's a crazy Russian dude on YouTube who strongly discourages this same practice with Sprinters (can't remember his name). In his opinion, if your area is warm enough to start the engine without FULL glow plug charge, then start it that way, because there's nothing to be gained by letting them power up further, and you'll needlessly put additional thermal stress on your circuits for no reason if you do that.

So I do abide by that much. I have always done a quick crank, rather than letting the resistance current flow for as long a time as I did with my old POS Rabbit.

[Pahaska]

I had a Rabbit Diesel when I lived in Colorado back in the late 70s, but mine would start with a turn of the switch regardless of the state of the glow plug light. I never waited for the light in warm weather.

I used to sit parked with the switch on and listen to the radio until a tech at the dealer told me that the glow plugs remained hot until you hit the starter switch. I had wondered why my battery sometimes did not seem to have much punch and that answered my question.

The Rabbit was a pretty crude best.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

...
I also predict a bit of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome symptoms setting in, as the East coasters are renown for their friendliness and firm handshakes, (especially on the docks).....

BTW, our summer guest from Houston, who had never traveled outside of America before, was shocked at how hostile the average Nova Scotian can be.

And she's a young, sweet, pretty woman with big dimples to go with her big smile, so it was not her presentation that was prompting their response.

Like most other social pictures painted by our brain-dead mainstream news media, the Canadian tendency for politeness and friendliness is grossly overblown and oversimplified, eh?

Sure, when the cameras might be trained on them, they tend to dutifully conform to the expected stereotype. But in private when they feel nobody is watching, their surliness can be unmatched.

Our guest noted what a bizarre contrast resulted - we discussed this phenomenon at length. Most of the tourists were exuberantly friendly because, duh, they were enjoying being on vacation. If people on vacation ain't happy, then they ain't never capable of being happy.

And they were surrounded by many local service people who walked around with black clouds floating above their heads and scowls on their faces. It's no wonder that those people tend to get tagged with disparaging nicknames ("townies" being one such example).

I told our guest that southern hospitality really is A Thing. It may be getting sucked into the expanding realm of political incorrectness, but there's still nothing quite like it. I've known northerners who have decided to move to Texas primarily because most people here are nice to one another. Genuinely nice, whether someone else might be watching or not.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I told our guest that southern hospitality really is A Thing. It may be getting sucked into the expanding realm of political incorrectness, but there's still nothing quite like it. I've known northerners who have decided to move to Texas primarily because most people here are nice to one another. Genuinely nice, whether someone else might be watching or not.

INTERBLOG - One word - WINTER ?

I left Chicago in my mid-20's coz my psyche could not handle 1 more winter snow season. Then I left the SF Bay Area coz my psyche could not handle 1 more winter rainy season. I've lived in the southwest high desert now for close to 20 yrs. The longest I have lived in any 1 place ever. All my allergies subsided dramatically. Summers are VERY brutal but does not deter outdoor activities. Low humidity, no mosquitos. I definitely was born to be a desert rat.

Climate tidbit in Las Vegas, Nevada -
• The US average is 39 inches of rain per year.
• Las Vegas, Nevada gets 5 inches of rain, on average, per year.
• Las Vegas averages 0 inches of snow per year. ...
• On average, there are 294 sunny days per year in Las Vegas. ...
• Summer High: the July high is around 102 degrees.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

INTERBLOG - One word - WINTER ?

....

Two words: Social problems.

Three words: Acute social problems. Of the type that don't make wider news because it wouldn't fit the preferred prevailing narratives.

Studies have shown that 53% of young adults in my birthplace routinely binge drink. They don't just drink - they BINGE. As in, phenomenally stupid college student behavior which pervades society at all levels, and with far older age groups.

It's one of the top two reasons why I immigrated to the U.S. With over half of adults binge drinking, you can bet your bottom dollar that there are few economic activities there. How could there be? A critical mass of prime-working-age people is simply getting too drunk too often to really develop the place.

Not to get too far afield of this thread, but I don't buy the narrative that people drink BECAUSE there are few economic opportunities. Cape Breton Island is routinely voted one of the top islands in the entire world for beauty and travel potential. Opportunities SHOULD be overflowing. But people don't see those opportunities because they're too often staring instead at the empty bottom of a shot glass.