2010 Sprinter Roadtrek..144"

BobLLL

Active member
Good Morning..

Preparing the Van for the long trip! Found these two bolts in the glove compartment. You have any idea what these are for?



Thank you...

cheers...
I forgot to mention that those mystery bolts in your glove box look like they came off the engine somewhere. Lots of bolts with those heads are holding various brackets onto the engine. Look and see if someone removed something and put it back with different bolts, maybe for ease of future removal. The brackets near the fuel filter would be my first guess.
 

Mein Sprinter

Known member
I forgot to mention that those mystery bolts in your glove box look like they came off the engine somewhere. Lots of bolts with those heads are holding various brackets onto the engine. Look and see if someone removed something and put it back with different bolts, maybe for ease of future removal. The brackets near the fuel filter would be my first guess.
Aye will seek the bolts void, hmmnn...am on the road now and will take a look when camping in Death Valley :wtf:. Hope Motor won't fall off.

Am in Canton. TX..RV Camp overnight after first overnight(28F) at Cracker Barrel. Furnace is a champ...ran all night off batts and LP.

Diesel mileage is so n' so--17.41-19.73 mpg. Well, she's fully ladden sans the Missus for now. Speeds on first day purely 65mph(19.45-19.73mpg)... today 72mph(17.41-17.84mpg).

Drove till the odometer showed 400+ miles then got scary about going further...everytime I fill yer up she's still good for another 5 gallons.

OK, my Smart car has a "D".. floor shelf shifter "1-2-3-4-5" speeds(I see these on the dashboard). Also paddle wheels to the self shifting. You can shift three ways and it has a CVT trans, so nothing to do with the Sprinter but am curious. When in D Sprinter in gear speed 1. It then shifts 2,3,4,5(?) automatically. 5 is overdrive, right? Now when doing the manual shifting 1,2,3,4 that's it... there's no 5 a 5 only gets there if you use the auto D, right? You don't see a number 5 on the dash display when manually shifting, right?

OK, now at precisely(GPS) 65mph the rpms are 2420, hmmnn...right? Am I too high? 72mph..2640 rpms..

Off to EL Paso manana..!

cheers...
 

Mein Sprinter

Known member
Say, Mein, why is your profile pic one of a Vanagon when your name includes 'Sprinter'?

If you are going to the Sprinter Store and don't do it too soon I would wait for SprinterFest west in April. It's shocking to suddenly be surrounded by a pile of likeminded individuals after walking around the waking world with people wondering why you drive such a big car when you could drive a smart car like them. For me it is a 10 hour hike so I save up that drive until I can combine events. Got to check out Portland and the Custom Van guys, even had some cheap keys cloned for my Sprinter at the locksmith Upscale Automotive uses. Great trip.

I did have the guys put on some Konis while I was there, but I am not likely to repeat that with the new RV as they put my teeth on edge driving rough roads, think I am going with the Bilsteins after reading http://www.motorhome.com/rv-how-to/rv-tech-tips/shock-therapy-rv-shock-absorber-test/

-Randy
He, he Randy, about the VW Eurovan... Have yet to make a nice Sprinter a la Familia camping pix. Didn't want to retire the Eurovan so fast, she's been, my God, everywhere and held up forevermore with my care. Decided to give her some honor here till .. ???

See on of our Eurovan Treks:

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=899281

Hope to do the same with M/V ELSHA..the sprinter/Roadrek...(Motor/vessel-ElmerSharon)

cheers...
 

BobLLL

Active member
I doubt there are any bolt vacancies. Probably someone replaced those bolts with a couple hex head bolts.

The upper end of your mileage is about the same as I run on the freeway. Average 19.5 for all 23K miles I have driven it. Rarely above 21, but rarely below 18. Lowest tank was 17.1 on the plains into a steady strong headwind. I don't like to drive past 400 miles to look for fuel, because I've been caught out with not much in the tank and had to worry a couple of time. First, it was a long stretch with no towns and I hadn't been paying attention until the fuel light came on. The next watering hole had gas, but no diesel. Then it was a station with diesel out of order, had to find another in the dark. Then it was the only station at the lonely exit completely out of business on account of the recession I guess. This sort of risk is more common in the West. You probably know the only diesel in Death Valley is at Furnace Creek, and it is usually a cool $1 more per gallon than outside the park.

You figured out the transmission correctly.
 

icarus

Well-known member
When the low fuel light lights up, if you fuel right now, it will take just 20 US gallons. Another 60-100 miles of range. I panic when the light lights, so I stop ASAP, nd it is always ~20 gals.

Icarus
 

BobLLL

Active member
I see the same thing, the light comes on at 20 gallons. The gauge goes to zero at the same time, which I hate, because then I start questioning, "how long has that light really been on, damn I forgot to set the trip odo."
 

sailquik

Well-known member
Elmer,
If you just leave it in "D" (Drive) your Sprinter will downshift to 1st gear if you come to a stop.
Then it will auto upshift to 2nd, then up to 3rd, then into 4th, and finally into 5th gear (0.83:1 overdrive).
You may get better mileage with headwinds or up a hill by shifting down to 4th gear 1:1 straight through the
NAG-1 transmission.
It will at some point "auto downshift" but it won't do it until the % engine Load reaches 100% and has been
there for quite a length of time. What you don't see is that engine management has pushed your fueling rate up to
the maximum possible for your current RPM and cranked up your turbocharger boost to the maximum to compensate
for all that additional fuel.
So, running at 100% fueling rate and 100% turbo boost is not fuel efficient, and if done for too long, it's not really
good for your engine.
You can make a proactive manual downshift when your % engine load reaches 75% (if you have any sort of performance monitoring
gauge package to give this information) and save fuel, get better acceleration and performance and ensure that you get the
best longevity from your Sprinter RV.
No Scan Gauge II or similar performance monitoring gauge package, and you will have no idea of all the changes engine management'
makes for you.
At a steady speed, a steady throttle position (either your right foot or Cruise Control (CC), your Sprinter can be making no turbo boost and using
no fuel (zero (0) GPH fuel flow) to 100% turbo boost (~36 PSIA MAP) and > ~5-6 GPH fuel and you (the driver) changed nothing at all.
What changed is the terrain or head winds.
Your Sprinter has no on board OEM systems to provide this information.
Regarding your fuel fill ups, seems like you are getting pretty good mileage for the speeds you are running but I suspect the terrain has
been pretty flat so far.
If you are on I-10 coming east to west ...I BTDT several times.
Your fuel tank holds 100 liters (26.4 gallons) and the Fuel light and the "Drive to a Fuel Station" notification will show up on your
display when you have used 75% of that 100 liters so you have 25 liters left (6.6 gallons).
That's the way it was developed and implemented.... it just the way it is.
Depending on your current fuel mileage you can use some or all of that as a reserve, but to be safe you need to start looking for
diesel fuel.
So, as both Icarus and BobLLL suggest, 26.4 gal- 6.6 gal (25 liter reserve)= 19.8 gallons used. So, right @ 20 gallons, leaving you
6.4 gallons to find a fuel stop.
Hope this helps,
Roger
 
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He, he Randy, about the VW Eurovan... Have yet to make a nice Sprinter a la Familia camping pix. Didn't want to retire the Eurovan so fast, she's been, my God, everywhere and held up forevermore with my care. Decided to give her some honor here till .. ???

See on of our Eurovan Treks:

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=899281

Hope to do the same with M/V ELSHA..the sprinter/Roadrek...(Motor/vessel-ElmerSharon)

cheers...
I have a 2003 Eurovan Camper too. It is like new, still in my garage. Don't know if I should sell it or not.

2011 Agile
 

Mein Sprinter

Known member
Lousy internet here in the BIG State of Texas…aarrgghhh…at KOA campground! Gotta wait till I hit El Paso's St'Bucks

Thanks Amigos: BobLLL; Icarus; Sailquik...

Rolled into VanHorn,TX last night.

Just for experiments sake drove 75 mph the entire time on I-20 > I-10 and earned a mileage of 16.7 mpg.






Understood the "dive" from 17-19 mpg. Runs great...plenty of power left; no winds; some Texas Hills...but otherwise great.

Of course I look for fuel when the light goes on with one bar :bow:.. which like you said translates to 5-6 gallons left, but come on... that's(depending on your speed/mileage)... I tend to give myself a conservative 15mpg...which would translate to about another 75-90 miles, ... that's plenty of a distance, BUT the light makes on worry...procrastinate...nervous...! Since the advent of GPS where one can pin point fuel availability... it's there!

BUT the design to search for fuel for 90-120 miles to me is absurd at best me thinks but I do it because the light gives me the shivers :frown:.

And my rpms are on the money ?? I ain't in limp mode ?? :laughing:

Took on fuel($3.64/gal) at Flying J south of Fort Worth and without really reading the pump, pumped in 2.5 gallons of their BioMas(biodiesel) B20... wooo.. am only allowed ?? to take <B5 for the sake of the DEF/catalytic converter/EPA stuff, etc). Immediately scoured for another station that had ULSD! So I lugged for some 326 miles this B20 stuff in my tank. Didn't know that they already went that low.

Oh, it's good for the environment ... but the Sprinter isn't designed to take anything lower for now. Miss the days when I ran my Rabbit diesel truck, 190D; 300TD an REAL diesel even with some addition of commercial waste oil cooking oil..etc. Exhaust smelled french fries being broasted:lol:

Rolled into the much polluted city of El Paso..downtown is hardly visible behind this inverse cloud of brown muck.



Now tothe Roadtrek design... you guys ever struggle with this tight, non accessible for man-hands to connect the TV cable. Lordy, lord who ever designed this... children of Roadtrek employees?? Tough to screw in/tough to unscrew in the morning when it is 28F outside..aaarrghh! Gotta modify it to a slide in connect instead. Lookin' for Radio Shack.



cheers...
 

Mein Sprinter

Known member
I have a 2003 Eurovan Camper too. It is like new, still in my garage. Don't know if I should sell it or not.

2011 Agile
I was very hesistant in selling mine, but at my age and my Missus, we wanted a bit more comfort; toilet; occasional shower when dry camping. So we reluctantly took the plunge. The Eurovan sold in a day :bounce:.. put an add in three places..boom, had 4 tkers waiting in line if the first defaults. Sold it at a good price... 130k miles, impeccable; well taken care of my me;!

Look at GoWesty and PopTop campers prices...wooo... outa wack- but I got close!

T5-T6 because the Sprinter took the breath away from VW so does Nissan, Fiat now, BUT if the VW T-5,T-6 comes over your Eurovan will sell for scrap..so beware! As the M.Benz Viano is coming over...

cheers..
 
I just keep a short 6 inch tv cable hooked up with a male to male connection on end. Also put a 45 degree extension on the water and marked my electric cable (with silicone on the top 12:00) so I don't have to search around trying to hook up. Seems to work pretty good for me.

good travels
 

Mein Sprinter

Known member
Went with Craig List; VWvortex; Samba; eBay...

A 45 min. away local Craig List'er snatched her within an hour before others even had a chance! Miss her...but she's in good hands. Would be happy in servicing her for him/her.

cheers...
 

Mein Sprinter

Known member
Here she is after 2414.5 miles and at a cost of $507.00 for fuel getting to Tucson, AZ. Average mpg was about 18.22. Average fuel price was about $3.75....] 18.22mpg/$3.75 = 2.1 c/mile ? That good?? Some thing missing here..??



cheers...
 

BobLLL

Active member
Well, you are getting about about 1 mpg less than I get for similar driving. I use the speed control most of the time. Do you?
 

Mein Sprinter

Known member
Well, you are getting about about 1 mpg less than I get for similar driving. I use the speed control most of the time. Do you?
Yep, use the speed control all the time, except when having climbed the Trans Mtn. pass in El Paso, played with the manual shifter..3,4..!

Maybe it's the newness of the engine,,approaching 11,000 miles. Loaded to the hilt,... cold temps.. been runnig mostly at 73-75 mph, except for a full tank 65 mph experiment. So far so good..

:frown: Ahem, hit and surgically removed a low hanging hefty branch here at my friends house in the middle of the night when arriving. The branch caught between the front awning case's slot. All's fine except a bit of roof scratches which I believe can be rejuvenated using some low abrasive rubbing compound. Will do this in Death Valley.

cheers...
 

BobLLL

Active member
When mine turned 11,000 miles we were in Illinois the middle of a coast to coast on I-72 headed west. Five tanks later, I filled in John Day, Oregon. The average for those five tanks was 18.8. But 4 tanks were all 19.2 and one was 18.1, in Kansas and Colorado with the worse steady headwind ever for a full day. 2 people, every cubic inch packed with something. In fact the mileage for the entire 8,000 roundtrip was 19.6 and ended with 13K on the clock. I can't think why yours would be much different. It was October, further north, so maybe a bit warmer, but would that make much difference? We even have the same paint color and decals, so air resistance should be the same. :laughing:

I don't know what took you so long to hit overhead branches. I got mine before I drove my first 500 miles, on a main street when a fire truck came blazing up behind me, and I pulled right over alongside a line of very nice trees in a very nice neighborhood where they really could have afforded to trim them higher. Harrumpf. Whack, whack, whack, they went. It sound like I would have to turn around and go back to the dealer for a new a/c, but no damage other than scratches.
 
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BobLLL

Active member
You could run some injector cleaner just to see if that makes any diff. Red Line products have gotten the nod from some folks here on the forum. Apparently their "Diesel Fuel Catalyst" and "85 Plus" are the same product, just with different marketing.
 

BobLLL

Active member
Interesting. I'm looking at 24,000 miles of my data and I just don't see the slightest difference between summer and winter. I don't do a lot of winter travel, but a few tanks of winter fuel in weather as cold as Mein Sprinter is seeing, and no difference in mpg.
 

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