The story from today began last week. In preparation for the trip, I took the Sprinter to the local dealership for an oil change, some new front brakes and a new air filter since I really didn't want to have to deal with any maintenance items while on the road. The possibility of some sort of mechanical issue with the van on a trip this long has always been present in my mind. What I did not expect was for the Check Engine Light (CEL) to come on only 10 miles away from the dealership and for the turbo to start struggling. I took the van back to the dealership the next day and the problem was immediately diagnosed: a novice technician had knocked loose the hose leading from the airbox to the turbocharger while changing the air filter. A more experienced technician showed me the connection and mentioned that this would be good for me to know since we would be on the road. It's apparently a design flaw. The slip fit gasket can get oily and it is not uncommon for the hose to come loose, letting in a bit of extra air and decreasing the turbo performance. He was nice enough to show me the part (from another van) for a visual reference. I took a picture, just in case.
So when I noticed a bit of a turbo lag as we were driving across Nebraska, my mind immediately jumped to this connection and the gasket. The turbo boost gauge seemed to be showing about 10 PSI lower than normal, which couldn't be explained by rising altitude. The CEL did not appear to indicate a problem, but clearly something was wrong.
I had not inspected the gasket myself before leaving, but the problem at the dealership had been resolved so quickly, I wondered if it just hadn't been cleaned properly before being re-installed.
My first order of business on Monday morning was to get online and check the Sprinter forums before the kids woke up. Thanks to the magic of a tethered cellular data connection, it was actually possible to do this research at our campsite.
Not your typical monday morning at the office!
I have been driving turbos since 1997 and in that time have learned that whenever you search for "Turbo Problem" online, about 90% of the responses you will get are "Your Turbo is toast, prepare to open your wallet." But the other 10% contain information that could help you diagnose the problem. Once, after a dealer quoted me $4500 for a new turbo on my Jetta TDI, I went home, got online and found that the problem could be solved with a $6 piece of vacuum tubing. It worked. I wasn't counting on being that lucky again. And since the engine wasn't telling me something was wrong (no CEL), this was a mystery with few clues and the forums provided few hints. I decided to start with the gasket.
We had all slept well in our little campground in North Platte. Kellan saw some fish rising on the river, so I tied on a hopper and sent him off to cast around while Julia made a batch of pancakes and I tried to figure out a plan for the day.
No luck. And wouldn't you know it, dad, your knot came undone and I lost the fly ;-)
Pancakes are almost ready. We topped them with raspberries from Grandma and Grandpa's farm.
I decided we should head to Boulder, the land of Sprinters and Subarus. With a little research, I found an independent shop with a Mercedes Benz Master Tech who specializes in Sprinters. I called and explained the problem and made an appointment for Tuesday morning. If the solution was the gasket, it would be a quick fix. If that didn't work, at least we would have the van at the shop. Knowing that most independent shops don't stock parts, I also made a call to the Mercedes Benz dealership in Westminster, CO to see if they had a gasket in stock. They had 11 of them (a good sign) and I had them set one aside for me to pick up on our way through. We packed up and headed out for another day on the superslab.
The camera made I-76 look much more colorful than it actually was, but the landscape was fascinating.
To be continued...