abittenbinder
Doktor A (864-623-9110)
We have returned, intact, from our first annual, Doktor A's Traveling Circus, southern service trip. 2800 miles and approx. 120 gallons of diesel fuel later- the '03 140" Sprinter passenger van performed flawlessly. Front only A/C (std roof van) kept everyone cool in spite of 95 degree Florida sunny days.
Sprinters never cease to amaze me- There are few other vehicles that can provide the vast space, comfort, safety, driving and passenger enjoyment and the fuel economy, of a Sprinter Van.
Escaping this year's cold, dark, damp, bone chilling spring of Pennsylvania was reward enough but the REAL high point of this trip was meeting some great folks in the form of Sprinter owners- Sam and Susan and Eli in their "close to heaven" mountain top retreat in West Virgina, Christopher in Nascar heaven and hell- Charlotte, NC, Jim and Sandy and grandson Nick in Largo Florida, Ron and his wife and office crew in enigmatic Pine Island Florida, Freeman and Lettie and Buddy in gorgeous gulf side Englewood Florida, Carl and Barbara at their very impressive St. Pete business location, and Ed in the coastal low country of South Carolina.
My son kept count of Sprinters spotted along the route and tallied up over 160! Only one private passenger was seen, more than a few RV's, most of the others were hard working work vans and owners.
The emotional low point of the trip was the lack of a successful outcome for Jim's Sprinter surgery. Jim had patiently waited for the broken injector hold down bolt repair to arrive at his door step. All was going well, with Jim as a capable assistant, when a "Murphys moment" struck without warning.
Jim and I had successfully machined out the long broken bolt, had successfully, painstakingly milled the injector bore and injector seal seat in the head, we had finished cutting the treads for the tread insert and were installing the carbon steel insert when the insert installation tool (hard tool steel) suddenly snapped leaving an impossible to machine shard deep, very deep down, where his new hold down bolt needed to reside.
A true- "strike out the blue", Murphy moment. Jim somehow. emotionally, survived this setback but financially is a different story- he had little choice with his work schedule but to replace the head anyway-an expense he was trying to avoid with the Doktor A fix.
This particular custom made insert installation tool had worked flawlessly over 7 times before and upon our return I consulted with the manufacturer and we redesigned the tool with a modified radius at its diameter transition.
Upon our return I received a phone call from a Sprinter owner in Atlanta who had requested a visit for routine maintenance but we could not accommodate in the trip route and schedule.
He had of course waited (until we had returned home) to look under his plastic valve cover and discovered the "Black Death"! Not to be deterred, he promptly drove up to Pittsburgh with his precocious 10 year old navigator, leaving the van here at the shop and flew back home. His '02 118 topped 29 mpg during portions of the trip-despite some fuel (from leaking seat of injector #2) going unburned and coating everything under his cover with sticky diesel shellac.
Sounded fine and performed flawlessly despite the problem.
This particular Sprinter had suffered an injector problem(injector #2) at about 30K and the dealer tech had broken the hold down bolt when removal was attempted.
The resulting warranty repair head replacement took over 2 months and now 50K later, this new head with new injectors is suffering from a leaking injector seat seal at #2! I'll keep you all posted. Doktor A
Sprinters never cease to amaze me- There are few other vehicles that can provide the vast space, comfort, safety, driving and passenger enjoyment and the fuel economy, of a Sprinter Van.
Escaping this year's cold, dark, damp, bone chilling spring of Pennsylvania was reward enough but the REAL high point of this trip was meeting some great folks in the form of Sprinter owners- Sam and Susan and Eli in their "close to heaven" mountain top retreat in West Virgina, Christopher in Nascar heaven and hell- Charlotte, NC, Jim and Sandy and grandson Nick in Largo Florida, Ron and his wife and office crew in enigmatic Pine Island Florida, Freeman and Lettie and Buddy in gorgeous gulf side Englewood Florida, Carl and Barbara at their very impressive St. Pete business location, and Ed in the coastal low country of South Carolina.
My son kept count of Sprinters spotted along the route and tallied up over 160! Only one private passenger was seen, more than a few RV's, most of the others were hard working work vans and owners.
The emotional low point of the trip was the lack of a successful outcome for Jim's Sprinter surgery. Jim had patiently waited for the broken injector hold down bolt repair to arrive at his door step. All was going well, with Jim as a capable assistant, when a "Murphys moment" struck without warning.
Jim and I had successfully machined out the long broken bolt, had successfully, painstakingly milled the injector bore and injector seal seat in the head, we had finished cutting the treads for the tread insert and were installing the carbon steel insert when the insert installation tool (hard tool steel) suddenly snapped leaving an impossible to machine shard deep, very deep down, where his new hold down bolt needed to reside.
A true- "strike out the blue", Murphy moment. Jim somehow. emotionally, survived this setback but financially is a different story- he had little choice with his work schedule but to replace the head anyway-an expense he was trying to avoid with the Doktor A fix.
This particular custom made insert installation tool had worked flawlessly over 7 times before and upon our return I consulted with the manufacturer and we redesigned the tool with a modified radius at its diameter transition.
Upon our return I received a phone call from a Sprinter owner in Atlanta who had requested a visit for routine maintenance but we could not accommodate in the trip route and schedule.
He had of course waited (until we had returned home) to look under his plastic valve cover and discovered the "Black Death"! Not to be deterred, he promptly drove up to Pittsburgh with his precocious 10 year old navigator, leaving the van here at the shop and flew back home. His '02 118 topped 29 mpg during portions of the trip-despite some fuel (from leaking seat of injector #2) going unburned and coating everything under his cover with sticky diesel shellac.
Sounded fine and performed flawlessly despite the problem.
This particular Sprinter had suffered an injector problem(injector #2) at about 30K and the dealer tech had broken the hold down bolt when removal was attempted.
The resulting warranty repair head replacement took over 2 months and now 50K later, this new head with new injectors is suffering from a leaking injector seat seal at #2! I'll keep you all posted. Doktor A
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