Made it back...PHEW!

Just got back from a two week 4200 mile run thru SW USA....with no break downs.

1) MPG ranged from a low of 13 to a high of 19 but with the overal trip average coming in at around 15.5 mpg. 90% interstate driving at 75 mph. Van loaded with about 900 lbs of humans and about 800 lbs of luggage etc...

2) Had one weird event...observed a cloud of whiteish smoke coming from back of van while going 75 mph on interstate. only lasted for a few seconds then gone. No noises, no change in speed, RPM etc...just smoke. no codes on Scanguage either.

Kept driving...all was well. Check out van at next fillup and engine and Tranny levels were fine. noticed oily film on back doors of van and several oily spots on underside of van (tranny pan, muffler, cross member etc.. Residue did not smell like either tranny fluid or engine oil and was light in color. Will crawl under van this week and see if I can pinpoint source.

Anyone know if the NAG1 has a pressure relief mechanism that might dump fluid for some reason or another?

Ed

Good news Ed!

SprintED said:

1) MPG ranged from a low of 13 to a high of 19 but with the overal trip average coming in at around 15.5 mpg. 90% interstate driving at 75 mph. Van loaded with about 900 lbs of humans and about 800 lbs of luggage etc...

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Wow that low! 75mph would probably do it.

How did it do over the Rockies? Which route did you take?

Seek,


I 15 south from Northern Montana down to Cedar City Utah, then out to Zion Natl Park on to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. From there to Desert Hot Springs CA then thru LA on the 10 & the 210 up the 5 on the Grapvine then the 99 to Ripon.

Went home out of Sac. on the 80 taking a left at Wells Nevada going up to Twin Falls ID. East to Pocatello and back on the 15 for the balance of the trip.

It did fine over the rockies...but the biggest hills I had to pull were the Grapevine and Donner Pass in CA....It did ok...never got hot and never went slower than 60 mph going up the hills.

I am pretty bummed about the fuel mileage as well and am starting to wonder if maybe I have an injector or other fuel problem. Mileage has been crappy ever since my serp belt blew out last summer and the engine got a tad hot.

Would think about having dealer investigate but already know what they will tell me..."could not find anything wrong, that will be $300 dollars please"

Ed

SprintED said:

2) Had one weird event...observed a cloud of whiteish smoke coming from back of van while going 75 mph on interstate. only lasted for a few seconds then gone. No noises, no change in speed, RPM etc...just smoke. no codes on Scanguage either.
Ed

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I forget what year/model of Sprinter you have... Could it be a 2007? And the DPF cleared itself?

Bill,

Look at avatar....2005 Sprinter

Ed

SprintED said:

Bill,

Look at avatar....2005 Sprinter

Ed

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Just trying to keep you on the ball, Ed. Naw! I just can't think past what I was thinking. I looked at the picture; I looked at your profile and I forgot the 2007 looks different.

Bill,

Look at avatar....2005 Sprinter

Ed

bill,

I know the feeling...

sorry about the message posting twice...I am having computer issues today...cant seem to get my wireless keyboard working and have to type on my laptop....keep hitting the mouse pad with the palm of my hand....argh!

Ed

Ed high elevation hill climbs will knock your MPG down
soot on the rims and a few spots of black ink on the doors are maybe normal after a long trip , most of what is on the front is a combination of brake dust and soot emissions from the crankcase breather case.Look at the back tail pipe if it looks like a large amount of Chrystal like substances forming sort of lice icing , then your fuel has a very high sulfur content maybe a little additive is needed to clean up the engine .
Just a thought Richard

Richard,

Hillclimbing only accounted for less than 10% of the miles on my recent trip.. The tank of fuel that took me over the Donner Pass in California averaged 18 mpg - and some of the flatter portions of my trip (UT, AZ, NV) only averaged 15 or 16.

There seemed to be no ryhym or reason to my tank average MPG other than fuel source ...I sometimes noticed a change in MPG after filling up.

totally aware of brake dust etc...but if you reread my original post you will see I am refering to something different. The oily residue on the rear doors and the spots of oil under the van on the frame etc... looks identical to when I had catastrophic tranny failure in a 97 chev express and ATF came pouring out at 75 mph.

BTW How does a failing fuel injector behave?

Ed

Ed High mountain climbs, even flat sections! I was thinking of elevation it lowers the MPG performance. Maybe water in the fuel condensation in the fuel tank if your running B2
Look at the top of your engine cover and see how clean the block is if there is large excessive amounts of oil , you could trace this to a blown injector seal which may mean the injector is blocked or part blocked, look at the back of the engine if oil is present it will end up on the trans , this may be possibly a part of the results from oil or soot spots on your rear door.
EGR valve may be dirty, fuel rail sensor could be faulty, I guess that's what the 300 is for
Sorry best I can think of at the moment.
Have a nice day anyway.
Richard

SprintED said:

...Just got back from a two week 4200 mile....with no break downs.

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You sound surprised Ed!

I've only ever been left immobile through a mechanical problem twice in seventeen years in Mercedes-Benz vans (#1 a wheel bearing, #2 a hydraulic pump).

That's over an approximate distance of 1,300,000 miles.

You'd be extremely unlucky to break down.

Simon.

I think you'll get a different opinion from Ed on that one Simon
PS off the thread a tad did Benz prices go up much on your end of the pond, for the 2008 series ours went up between 1.5 to 2.3 percent but we got extra toys to play with.
Richard

Altered Sprinter said:

I think you'll get a different opinion from Ed on that one Simon
PS off the thread a tad did Benz prices go up much on your end of the pond, for the 2008 series ours went up between 1.5 to 2.3 percent but we got extra toys to play with.
Richard

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Richard,

i priced a 2008 at vehix.com and cars.com( they both
now have 2008 figures). price increase is about 10%.

some options more than 10%.


gerry

Having read all of this thread, one thing springs to mind... you might have hit something on the road and splashed it onto your exhaust... a can (or patch/puddle) of oil or fuel or even radiator fluid. You may have had a minor event of radiator fluid leakage (or else you would see low warnings on dash). My radiator fluid has gone slightly low (and no noticeable leak).

If you check your radiator fluid and it is low, please remember to get HOAT (G5) to fill it back up... traditional radiator fluids including Dexcool are NOT ok.

Oh yeah, another remote possible... A/C condensate could have blown over onto hot exhaust... but that would not account for the oily residue. Running over something oily would, and around this time of year in the western US, we have seen the road crews OILING the roads... not seen in Oklahoma since the early 1980s.

KenB

Simon,

I can only dream of the reliability you have had...I have been stranded once with serp belt & idler failure at 35,000 miles that took 8 days to fix. I have also spent no less than 20days in the past 20 months at the dealership getting a multitude of little things repaired. Van currently has several other little issues that I am ignoring because I dont have the time money or patience to have them fixed by the dealership.

I love the ride, handling etc... of my sprinter...but my maintenance and repair issues are really starting to wear me down.

Ed

Ken,

Thought of the splash thing as well...but there is no oily residue anywhere on the mudflaps, running boards and is confined to the drivetrain area of the undercarriage,

Road in question was free of debris and was absolutely not oiled etc...

Will be under the van this week to do a thorough look see and recheck all fluid levels.

Ed

gerrym51 said:

Richard,

i priced a 2008 at vehix.com and cars.com( they both
now have 2008 figures). price increase is about 10%.

some options more than 10%.


gerry

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Where you been hiding
10% plus Ok US dollar devalued Local inflationary pressues pumped up the prices with dealers I noticed that with delivery fees.
Even our local rep thought the prices should not have gone up because of our dollar going upwards, but that may have been because of our own inflation CPI rate of 2.5 percentage points.
Cheers Richard

Altered Sprinter said:

Where you been hiding
10% plus Ok US dollar devalued Local inflationary pressues pumped up the prices with dealers I noticed that with delivery fees.
Even our local rep thought the prices should not have gone up because of our dollar going upwards, but that may have been because of our own inflation CPI rate of 2.5 percentage points.
Cheers Richard

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We only want 1/2 price sprinters in USA.


gerry

gerrym51 said:

We only want 1/2 price sprinters in USA.


gerry

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Ha! Your now at 3/4 priced sprinters on the cargo vans year 2008 prices are not fixed, subject to rise and fall on the dollar values,rise yes! fall In Ya' Dreams
Richard