New member, new sprinter owners.

G'day everyone, we've just bought a 2010 NCV3, 319CDI low roof van. MWB auto 5 speed, 3.0DT. Its an ex ambulance and its still decked out in the back with seats and cupboards. The only thing that looks to be missing is the gurney.
Who ever fitted this thing out did one hell of a job and did it to last and stay put. Its going to be a bigger job than I thought to gut the back out.
The van runs well but drains the start battery within a few days if its not driven. It now sits with a trickle charger on it which keeps it topped up. Once we gut the back out I'll get it to an auto electrician to see if he can find out why its draining the main start battery so fast. There's also a sealed battery under the bonnet on the passengers side that has a very swollen end on it, I think it might be stuffed. I've tried to charge it and it starts to charge and then the charger beeps showing a fault in the battery.
I'm not 100% sure how it all works but I'm learning as I go. This is a very handy site to have on hand, thanks. Hooroo, Kevin.


Ive tried to attach photos, fingers crossed they work.

Hi Kevin

Welcome to the forum.

It looks like an ETT built ambo like our 2 old Melbourne metro 315's.
If its wired up the same way as our old 315's, then all the ambo gear is wired up to the main battery, which results in a flat battery after a few days standing still.
Only the communications gear was connected to the aux battery.
It looks like the ambo ecu & control switches have been removed to be fitted to a new ambo, which will result in all the ambo accessories (driving lights, reverse camera & external work lights) will not work.
Removal of the front passenger seat will reveal the where the ambo gear modules are/were fitted. One of the solenoids/relay connects the aux battery to the starter motor via a solenoid/relay mounted under the aux battery, to start the engine on the aux battery. Could be very handy to leave that one there.
Removal of the fuses to the ambo gear under the passenger seat and in the main battery compartment should hopefully stop the drain on the main battery.
There should be a fuse under the bonnet connected to the aux battery. Remove that fuse as well, because the dead aux battery maybe draining the main battery?

Using a cheap multimeter will help determine what wires are connected to the main & aux batteries, due to the different voltages of the 2 batteries.
This will also save a lot money on an auto electrician, whom could spend many hours trying to work it out.

To gut the back out, start at the bottom and work upwards. The rear upper cabinets were the first to be installed and therefore the last to be removed (if not wanted).
There is a lot of silastic sealing the cabinet joins, so a good utility knife is needed after you think you have removed all the mounting bolts/screws.

I would recommend keeping the wiring to the external work lights (they are so useful when reversing in the dark)

Kevin.
Welcome to the forum.
You have a good 3 months work to restore your vehicle to factory specks, I have done many like yours. Best not to take it to an auto electrician, they tend to freak out when they see the mess. If you strip out the ambo components then rewire the way you want it. If you need a hand with the job you could come to see me in Melbourne. Eric.

Thank you for the welcome.
I've struck gold with you two guys, I'm grinning from ear to ear.
Sockeye you know your stuff. Driving lights, reverse camera, internal drivers cab lights aren't working.
There's a lot going on under the passengers set (I'll remove the seat and take photos to post)
It looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of multimeter work trying to work out what wires go where.

My game plan is to unbolt from the floor and then work my way up the walls.
The cupboard near the passengers side sliding door is bolted down with nylon lock nuts which have the fuel tank hiding them. I hope to drop one side of the fuel tank just enough to get my hand in there and get to the hidden nuts.
I feel I've bitten of a bigger job than I first thought, bit by bit I'll beat it.

Its guys like you two that make this a great site. I really appreciate your input and help.

I'll snap pics as I go and post them on here in the hope it might help others. Kindest regards, Hooroo, Kevin.

Hi Kevin...

mine's a different model, but you should find that the original wires are wrapped in cloth and the ambulance wires are in plastic.

Yeah, the wires go in all directions seat to seat to dashboard to under bonnet to out the back...and each bundle can split off to go to a number of places (and mine had a heavy gauge unfused live wire going to under the passenger seat)

But it's all doable...one at a time occasionally.

Plenty of help on this forum

Patrick

Kevin.
By now you will have found the tool box under the passengers feet, just to the right of the tool box you will have a disconnect for the battery, if you pull that each time you park the vehicle your battery will stay charged. Eric.

Bought my ex ambo nearly a year ago, I originally thought nice 3 month project to convert to camper.

Now nearly a year later and I'm just fitting the cabinets and furniture, lots more work than I ever anticipated but I'm trying to do it right first time, lots of floor prep work, insulation, anti corrosion and I ripped all the old roof AC off leaving a multitude of holes, all welded filled and full roof respray.

Really enjoying seeing it now come together as most of the previous work will be unseen.

My biggest problem is sourcing the right materials here in Oz, like nice finished lightweight furniture board, trims etc. All readily available in the uk but hard to get here, I've imported lots of gear like seat swivels, trims etc, but prices and freight soon add up !

I have had to settle on some Baltic birch ply for cabinets and maybe some spray painted finishes like cabinet doors, didn't want to use pre finished MDF as it's so heavy.

All good fun though and I'm still enjoying the build so far but can't wait to get out there in it as a camper.

Banjo48 said:

All good fun though and I'm still enjoying the build so far but can't wait to get out there in it as a camper.

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I feel your pain about sourcing good materials. You could do what I did, and just rough out what you need using whatever comes to hand. Then you can actually get to use it as a camper. And just gradually replace stuff with the proper finished item.

The trouble with this is that you never get finished items. Because you are forever re-doing things because you find a better way of doing it after using it in anger. Multiply this by 100's of various things in your camper and it becomes a never ending process.

Eric Experience said:

Kevin.
By now you will have found the tool box under the passengers feet, just to the right of the tool box you will have a disconnect for the battery, if you pull that each time you park the vehicle your battery will stay charged. Eric.

Click to expand...

I never found the battery disconnect in my ambos as shown in the owners manual.
ETT removed the jump start post under the bonnet in my 315's, thought they may have done the same with the battery disconnect?

owner said:

I feel your pain about sourcing good materials. You could do what I did, and just rough out what you need using whatever comes to hand. Then you can actually get to use it as a camper. And just gradually replace stuff with the proper finished item.

The trouble with this is that you never get finished items. Because you are forever re-doing things because you find a better way of doing it after using it in anger. Multiply this by 100's of various things in your camper and it becomes a never ending process.

Click to expand...

I would take the same approach. I would even go to the point of camping out in it overnight in my driveway to checkout the ventilation, lighting and privacy issues throughout the conversion.

Bellapaca said:

The cupboard near the passengers side sliding door is bolted down with nylon lock nuts which have the fuel tank hiding them. I hope to drop one side of the fuel tank just enough to get my hand in there and get to the hidden nuts. Kindest regards, Hooroo, Kevin.

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The cabinet to the right of the silly ambo aluminium step in picture 2 is a blanket warming cabinet (I call it my pie warmer). Built in underneath the cabinet is a heater radiator connected to the coolant system. Don't damage the coolant lines to the heater while trying to get to the hidden nuts. There should be an inline ball valve to shut off the coolant feed to the heater somewhere.

Sockeye770 said:

I would take the same approach. I would even go to the point of camping out in it overnight in my driveway to checkout the ventilation, lighting and privacy issues throughout the conversion.

Click to expand...

That's my idea, soon as I can get the single beds done, and kitchen cabinet organised we'll be off for a few weeks to iron out any problems.

One issue I am having is what fridge to put in, I'm not wanting to spend 1 1/2k on a Dometic or Waeco, but the cheap Chinese one's don't have a great track record, some ok some not.

I could go with a chest type like an Engel or the cheaper ones but then it's fitting it in a suitable accessible spot.

Still got my solar and batteries to buy as yet too, oh and a roof rack to mount it all on !

G'day everyone and thank you for your input.
The gutting has started with the gurny base which had 8 long bolts holding it down. Luckily the bolts were tack welded to the stainless steel base and it was just a matter of dropping the nuts off to release it. The killer was unit near the passenger sliding door. For this the fuel tank had to be unbolted and slightly lowered to gain access to the hidden nuts and base plates. All the seating is out and its time to start on the walls.
Ive found all sorts of goodies under the passenger front seat. There's a DURST smart charger a REDARC pure sine wave inverter and a Mobitronic by Waeco. Ive yet to remove the front seats to have a good look under them.
Eric spoke of a plug in the tool box where the jack is located (floor front of passengers feet). In there I found a weird plug which is a bit like the jump start post under the bonnet. I'll attach a pic of the power post and the connecting plug cap. I'm not sure if this is what Eric was referring to?
Sockeye thanks for the heads up with the silastic, that's stuff could hold Christ to the cross. With a quick spray of WD40 along the silastic and a long thin blade knife things soon parted.
I found the warming unites and I've even found a fridge compressor and motor tucked away in the side cupboards.
Sockeye you were right about who knocked this thing together. It has ETT moulded into the roof wing.
I've yet to mess or trace any wiring. If I've had to cut any wires I've been electrical taping them up so not to short anything out if they're live.

Thanks again to everyone for their help on this, it really has helped. Hooroo, Kevin.

Your lucky the battery charger & inverter are still there.
The charger costs $497.00 (ex GST), http://www.durst.com.au/Store/cart_detail.asp?group1=Battery-Charger-BCS
The Redarc inverters aren't cheap either.

The fridge should be a good unit to keep as well.

Kevin.
Yes that plug you are holding is the battery disconnect. You can see the wiring next to the disconnect is wrapped with black cloth, that is MB wiring and you can see the wiring near the charger is in plastic, that is the ambo wiring, that makes it easy to know what to pull out. The fridge unit usually have the pipes going through an insulting panel that can be removed in one piece to preserve the gas. Eric.

G'day Eric, by disconnecting that plug in the photo (passengers tool panel plug) and leaving it disconnected will it cause any trouble? and will it let the main battery that's under the passengers feet stay charged for longer than a few days? I'm thinking there is nothing in the rear of the vehicle that should be drawing power so what do you think is draining the main battery under the passengers feet? I'll point out I think the grey battery under the bonnet might be stuffed, the front end of the battery is swollen and pushed out, when I try and charge it the battery charge squeals showing faulty battery. Could this be draining the other battery?
As for the fridge unit, I haven't had a good look at it, I'll take a few pics of it this weekend.

Eric, do you know what the Mobitronic box does? I've got half an idea what the other things do but I'm stumped on that one.
I'll lift both front seats out this weekend and have a good look under them.
The photo I'm posting is the swollen end on the battery, its a bit hard to make out the bellied end.

Thank you, Kevin.

Bellapaca said:

...do you know what the Mobitronic box does? I've got half an idea what the other things do but I'm stumped on that one.

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Looks to be a 230 V to 12 V adaptor, used to power 12 V equipment from a 230 V supply.

https://www.caravanrvcamping.com.au/waeco-mobitronic-240v-ac-adaptor

Keith.

Kevin.
That is the purpose of the disconnect, to stop discharging the start battery. Do not stress to much about what the black boxes do, just remove them if they are ambo parts. The 2nd battery is dead just toss it. When you are posting on this forum your text is too wide, can you fix that. Eric

Thanks Cheyenne (Keith).

Thanks for that Eric you're a great help.

Wide text? "When you are posting on this forum your text is too wide, can you fix that. Eric"

I'm sorry Eric I had no idea I was wide texting? When I log in here and read the threads my text looks the same as everyone else's? I cant even find a way to change the text size, I've found Bold,Italic,Underline and Colors but no text sizing?
If I can make it right I will. Hooroo, Kevin.

I was just attaching a Screenshot to show my view of the site. I clicked into the advanced side that accepts photos and I see there is Sizes in here. Maybe that's the way to fix this wide text problem ?

sometimes wide photos drag the text out wide