That Dang Sprinter Sliding Door and Updates

It has been years since I posted here because I've been busy remodeling my house.

Sliding Door
I just got a bunch of maintenance done on my Sprinter Van. In addition to getting all the fluids changed and filters replaced, I asked them to fix my aggravating sliding door. Way back in this post, I did some surgery on my door handle. It worked for awhile, then not. Lots of spraying lube into the locks helped but I've been exiting through the driver's door most of the time. Lately, I've had to open the passenger door and reach around to push the inside slider handle to get it to open from the outside. It was just hopeless from the inside.

The technician at Sun Motors in Mechanicsburg, PA (great shop who really knows Sprinters!!) said the whole lock mechanisms were shot and needed replacing. $600 later and it opens easily. I was really tired of it. Here's what he wrote:

Removed door panel
Manually opened inside, latch not moving enough to open door
Also has cable bad and removed from retaining clip
Rear door roller has failed, dropping the door, therefore misaligned
Cleaned contact points between door and body. 
Took extra time due to cabinets in the way (2 hours)
Replaced front latch, cable and rear latch, got assistance and replaced rear door roller in track, Adjusted and checked. Opens and closes and locks ok

Labor for this was $348. All the parts were $60 for the front door latch/lock, $72 for the rear latch, and $24 for the cable. The new door roller was $99.

So hopefully the door will again be good to use and not a constant aggravation. Not sure I'm up to doing all this repair and I really don't have the time right now to try it, so I bit the bullet and paid for the experts to do it. It was in a lot worse shape than I thought. I don't think I could have fixed the door roller.

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Van Maintenance
When I went to the Sprinterfests at Sun (who no longer hosts them 😢) we got great seminars on the Sprinters from their mechanics. They said that the best thing we can do for the longevity of at least my vintage Sprinter (2005) is change the fluids. With the exception of the slider door, this vehicle hasn't given me any problems at all.  I want to keep it like that. It is now just under 70,000 miles so I thought it was time to get that done. I had the serpentine belt replaced in 2014 which is another thing I just don't want to ever break on me. I have been changing the oil and filter every year myself but I didn't want to tackle changing brake fluid, coolant, or transmission myself. That cost me about $513. I also had them change the filters: fuel, air, AC cabin for $287.

They thought the tires needed rotating so I had them do that, a bit surprised that they said they were ok. They are now 8 years old. But when the tech started putting in air, cracks showed all around the sidewall. So a call and I agreed to new tires. I asked for the same Michelin Defenders I had had on them, tho they are more expensive. They make the van handle nicely and they lasted 8 years before. I was expecting to get new tires soon. So for another $1000, it has new feet. As I drove it out of the lot, it felt really good. I think that good tires are very important as really, they are the only thing between me and the road.

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House Problems: Propane, AC
A couple years ago, my propane would not turn on. Some questions and people say I probably need a new regulator. The last couple of years on my trips, I just did without. I've been camping in campgrounds with electric anyway because it is so hot, I need the AC on. That allows me to use the electric to heat water instead of propane. Not too bad since I was just driving to Colorado and not doing touristy things. I have an old butane burner that I used to heat water for coffee. It worked ok.

Last summer while in Colorado, on the hottest week, over 100F, my AC quit. That was a big problem because the dog and cat needed the cooling on such hot days. The dry air allowed the night temperature to drop nicely so I was still comfortable to sleep. I called all around the area and the soonest I could get any installer was a month out and soonest I could get a unit shipped was a week out. I was headed back before the week was up so I was really stuck. My sister let me put the animals in her basement bath. She is terribly allergic to them but that contained the dander for her and kept them safe. When I headed back home, I lucked out and the humidity and temperature dropped enough to camp comfortably without the AC. Everyone I talked to said that a unit that old would need replacing.

So those are 2 things that I need to get fixed. I think I have found a reliable tech to do it. I could replace the AC myself except they are really heavy. At least I'm not in an emergency situation now.

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Refrigerator
The Isotherm refrigerator that kept dying on me does make a very good cooler. After the warranty running out and the 2nd compressor dying, I gave up on it. I got a small Dometic compressor fridge to get me by and it has worked well enough. It is small but it stays cold. I put a bag of ice in the bottom of the Isotherm and used it for fruit and veggies that don't need reliably cold conditions on our trips.

This year, I bought a replacement Truckfridge that is really the exact same box but with a simple thermostat and no fancy electronic controls. It gets good reviews and I'm hopeful that a simple setup will be reliable like the little Dometic chest is. I'm also going to replace the wires for it in case there are hidden issues with it.

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That should fix all the issues and get the van back in good shape.

Update and Plans
I've nearly finished all the sprucing up and remodeling of my house and it is so much nicer now. I've spent the winter cleaning out the stuff and getting rid of the majority of stuff that has accumulated. Once I get it purged and all cleaned up, I intend to put it up for sale. There are a few things that I'll put into a storage unit but most things are not worth the fees or the cost to move. I'm not sure where I'll end up but I intend to move into the van full time and wander for an undertermined amount of time. I think this will finally be the year I do that.

That is the big push for me to get the van in good shape to last me for a while. It recently became my daily driver because my car needs a head gasket and that costs more than it is worth. I always intended to get rid of the car when I sold the house so that just comes sooner.

The van is lined with cardboard and tarps and I've taken many, many trips to the dump or recycling center, or Habitat for Humanity Restore to clear out the house. With my focus being getting the remodeling done, I've just chucked stuff into the garage or basement to get it out of the way instead of taking the time and energy to clean it out as I go. The nice thing about my van's design, is I can do that and use it to haul stuff.

Thinking ...

There's only a couple weeks left before I have to take off on my Colorado trip this summer for a family reunion. An idea about sleeping arrangements has been rolling around my head a bit lately. I raised my bed with 2'x4' x 7.5" high boxes over the benches and sleep cross-wise in the back of the van.  At 67" tall, I just barely fit and usually sleep a bit crosswise. It works ok. That height is just enough for my head to miss the upper cabinets when sitting to make maximum use of the space.

When I was thinking about how to live in a van, I went thru the exercise of designing the interior using the Sportsmobile tool to assist in it. I had thought then that having a bed on the side, along the length of the van with a desk area on the opposite side would be a good thing. My van was designed to have a big 75" long side to side bed for two in the back and then put a table in the center for a 6 person dining area. That seems like a huge waste of precious space for a solo traveler. The dog sleeps on the floor and is not allowed on my bed (except for the time she fled up there to escape a broken latch and a door swinging while underway). The cats sleep wherever they like. I raised the bed to get more storage space and more head room for the cat litter box. I find that it is most comfortable for me to have a 3.5' - 4' width for my arms and torso to stretch out. The center aisle board is 3' long and that is fine too. My feet don't need all that space but crosswise doesn't give my feet room to stretch out.

The idea I have is to make another box to raise the seat at the end of the galley counter up to the level of the bed and just sit up high when I use my computer. I can rest my feet on the printer drawer edge or put them up on the opposite side. My little table can rise up to a comfortable height. It is perfectly comfortable to sit on top of the bedding.  One impediment is there is a little lift up counter extension so I would either have to remove it or move sitting to the side of it. I thought that it would be handy but, in truth, I never use it. Then with the 3' board between the 2 benches, I could sleep lengthwise in the van and still have plenty of room at the top for my arms to stretch out. I did a little concept test and it seems ok.

In the future, I could devise a slot for the center board to slide into the opposite side and just come right out to form the widened bed. That would make it easier to push the bed area back when it is not night and have a bit more room in the back of the van when up and about. One thing I don't want to do is lose the permanent bed at the ready and have to make it up every night. When I park with a little slope like along a curb, it might not be so great or it might be ok. One thing I learned is that I absolutely must sleep with my head higher than my feet or my nose gets all clogged up (allergies!).

Hmmm. I could try this idea out this summer with nothing more than a board cut and put together with pocket screws in not much time. The finishing and trimming it out could wait and if it doesn't work all that well, I could easily take it apart and stow the boards and go back to my crosswise bed.

Back to mowing my too big yard.

Welcoming 2012

Sticks always make my dog happy.

Tomorrow begins a new year and marks my second full year of retirement.  I like to look forward in life and make the best of whatever I have.  The past is gone and memories serve as lessons.  So I expect 2012 will be another good year for me.  

Pondering Van Electricity

In pondering what to get for a new refrigerator, I used my battery monitor to see how much juice each thing in my van takes.  It is an interesting exercise.  Here are the results:

49 days on the road. Lessons Learned

This post is a recap of what worked well and what didn't work on my nearly 2 month trip in the van.    I put key words in bold to make it easier to find a topic in this rather long post.

Heading out again

My mail packet didn't arrive until 3:30 yesterday and it didn't make a lot of sense to head out at that hour so we stayed at my sister's for one more night.  That meant one more trip to their land for the dogs to play and run.  My dog had a blast fetching in the irrigation ditch and she made it running at 30mph along side the truck.  She "heels" to the truck and has learned to stay away from the front mostly.

Making a List, Checking it Twice, Thrice

Cat and Dog making themselves at home in the van while I work

Cat jumped into the van and rested.  Dog checking him out.

The reason I've been working so hard on my van mods and repairs this spring is that I'm trying to get on the road in a couple weeks.  Time is getting short.  Very short.  Now that the electrical is fixed, I'm breathing a big sigh of relief.  I found a blown fuse in one of the lights circuits that gives me pause.  It might have blown while I was doing the installs so maybe it is ok.  I'll keep an eye on it.