Finally found it!

been looking for over 3-4 mos for my Sprinter, and FINALLY found it. I am going to pick it up on Sunday, have a 1200mi drive to get her home here to Utah. 2006 Dodge. Badge kit already en route (thanks Rudi), LOL.

It didn't have everything we wanted, but we can deal. It's a very clean 140 high roof 10 passenger, white. Will post pics ASAP.

I am also stating for the record that even though it's "mine", my spidey-sense is that wifey will likely take this puppy over, and I suspect I'll be lucky to drive it 1 day/week by August.

John

heheh congrats on the new van mate

Congratulations John! Looking forward to seeing it.

John,

You're a thoughtful husband. She's very fortunate. Congrats on the family addition!

-Jon

hi john
best thing to do is get a driving job that way youll have it to yourself "gave my wife a go in mine said she was afraid of it" hope you enjoy it john
max...

Congratulations on your wife's new get around. Send us pictures when you get a chance to look it over.

BaywoodBill said:

Congratulations on your wife's new get around. Send us pictures when you get a chance to look it over.

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BaywoodBill maybe she will give him a go in it if hes good

Ok, made it back in 1 piece!


$)*#&)*& that drive sucked, 1200mi. Ran like a Champion though. Was a hoot looking at truckers as they passed me.

21mpg @63mph, 10mph headwind most of the way. That's real MPG, not what the odometer says, since it reads around 7% fast by my calculations. Also, my 63mph was real MPH, speedo read around 68.

The drivers electric mirror doesn't work. That covered under warranty? 41k miles (now).....

And I'm still figuring out the controls. I know, RTFM...... I will now that I have time at home. This one has more initial pickup than the 2004 I test drove here a month ago.

Here are pics, it was $25k + my travel/drive. I think I made out ok.

John

DOH!

nice one! that looks like a sweet rig! i wish you many happy miles.

bb

Very Nice John. Congratulations on a nice find!

AircooledJohn said:

21mpg @63mph, 10mph headwind most of the way. That's real MPG, not what the odometer says, since it reads around 7% fast by my calculations. Also, my 63mph was real MPH, speedo read around 68.

John

Click to expand...

John the van looks great! Nice purchase.

It is strange that you would say the odometer is off. It is usually just the speedometer that reads a tad high and the odometer is right on. I know mine does read high and the odometer is accurate from what I can tell by using mile markers and a GPS.

The speedometer also reads a little high on my VW but the odometer is good.

I am a little worried about it being able to heat the rear of the van (no rear heat) in winter, that's my only concern. I wanted the gas heater but it was not to be...

Any feedback on how this is going to heat the rear? Kids to/from school, etc. This van has the heater booster, but no rear heat whatsoever.

It's not the end of the world, I'll be running hot water lines back there to convert to Veggie (*dual fuel) anyways next spring. I'm hoping the stock heater system is adequate for this, if not I'll have to McGyver a rear heater in.....

John

What Dual fuel system will you be installing, a kit?

About your mirror, it should be covered under warrenty. Even if your van was out of it (im not sure how many miles you americans usually give) But even on a used vehical dont dealers usually give a year?

For your rear heating delehma. First, go look at some protable ceramic or such heaters. Check out how many amps it needs to run safely. Then go buy a power converter, plug it in and your gold. My brother likes to hardwire the converters to the battery itself rather then trying to blow fuses with the 12v plugs. In our old ford 350 that thing loved to break the 12v plugger and eat fuses. It can become a little pricy but that is one solution.

I bought from a private party, not a dealer. Van has 41k, I believe warranty is 36k, but unclear on this.

John

Congratulations on the find. The regular heater might blow enough heat back if the rear window cracks open a tad to let it flow at the start. Worth a try.

going to make my own Veggie kit. I've designed automotive pistons and many other fuel system components, this should not be difficult. Sourcing the grease will be harder than building the system IMO. Making the Hydrogen Generator right now. I don't understand how it works (nor do I care), but a friend of mine that does not BS has one and he picked up 30% MPG on a gas van. I'll be happy with 3mpg on my rig.

I will likely end up also making a rear heater, combined with a subwoofer box, and maybe even a stand for the Fridge. Gotta drive this a little and figure out what I want to do. Winter is a ways away so we are goot' for now.

other project is some sort of Scangauge. Gotta research this and figure which one to use.

John

Nice van! Great price too. I spent years looking at these vans and then months discussing the issue with husband. I finially decided the only way we were buying a van was if I got my own financing and did the deal on the next one I saw that was good. I was tired of playing the game with my husband, just buy one already.

As for heat, mine doesn't have rear heat either. My solution, if the front is not enough, is plug in electric ones. My husband just wired plugs into the cigarette trays along the sides, so you open it up and get an outlet instead of a place for ashes. My kids are not smokers, so it's a good use of space!!! LOL

I came across plug in electric heaters for vehicles when looking at actual systems that are installed. Where I live the problem is getting someone with half a brain who can install such an item.

Our MPG is running 19 to 22. We were 21.3 on our recent trip to Canada, no fuel fill ups in Cananda way too expensive. I wish I could report better. My husband took it hiking with 5 other adults and took a seat out and still ended up with the worse fuel mileage yet -- 19mpg. Now in his defense he was driving into the mountains of WV. I think it is his driving though...

I did have the speed worked on before we left. They returned the governor to 81mph. I'm not 5 to 7 miles off on the speedometer anymore, just about 3 mph now. Before our governor was set at 120kilometers so roughly 74 and 74 on the speedometer was really like 68mph which just sucked driving through West Virginia where the speed limit is 70mph.

I'm still under warranty. It is up to 36,000miles. I have some more work to schedule before that expires! Despite gas prices, I am going to be driving my monster 15 passenger van until it sells to make sure I milk the factory warranty on the Sprinter.

Electric is not an option (even if you think it is). I have dealt with this for 30 years on another vehicle, you can't get useful heat from electric only. For reference, a 100W light bulb would draw roughly 10A on 12V. How warm is a light bulb going to heat up the rear?

Maybe a hand warmer, but no way will it heat the back of a sprinter, you'd never even know it was on I guarantee it.

Hot water (Coolant) will work, it's just a matter of building a cabinet for it and running some wires to the switch, then running the hoses and T-ing into the heater hoses. Maybe 3-4 hours tops. It's just a matter of making it look like it belongs there not some Hack Job, which is why I'll probably incorporate it's design into something else for multiple purpose use.

John