Glow plug replacement is a fairly common repair on diesel engines. Glow plugs inevitably wear out over time, and it can be a fairly easy remove-and-replace procedure. However, this repair requires a bit of caution, as sometimes glow plugs seize and become difficult to remove. If it happens to you, don’t apply too much force, […]
After 18 months of owning a ScanGauge, I finally figured out how to reset a check engine light with it on a Sprinter. I have tried many times, but it never worked before. The trick is to put the key in the ignition and move to the on position without turning the engine on. On the […]
After many cold nights without a heat source in our Sprinter, we finally bought and installed an Eberspaecher Airtronic D2 heater. We chose to do the installation ourselves, and while time-consuming (probably 10 hours of labor), it is definitely a doable project and we recommend doing it yourself. We bought our heater at Heatso, based […]
During our trip, we kept track of all maintenance and other repair items on the Sprinter. We’ve added a section on our website giving you an overview. You’ll hopefully find it useful to get a better sense of maintenance cost before purchasing your own. Sprinter Maintenance Log
We’ve had several people ask us “Why put cedar in there?” and our response is “why not?!” At the time of the build, we wanted the van to be functional, but also cozy and to feel like home. During the endless hours working on the van, we kept debating what to do with the walls and […]
Stove Storage One of our favorite aspects of our kitchen is that we can have stoves at the store, storing it in the bedframe, just below the bedside cabinets. Whenever we need it, we slide it out onto the counter. When we don’t, we can use the entire counter space. Out of ½” birch veneer, we […]
As we were building out the van in Pennsylvania last March, it started snowing (a lot) out west. At that point we had only completed the bed frame, but decided to take a little break from building and go on a 10 day “test” trip from Pennsylvania to Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, to ski. While […]
We’ve been seeing a number of different solar panel setups while on the road (most of them probably fairly small compared to the typical US RV). Ours has worked well for us, but I just recently helped troubleshoot someone else’s setup, and there are some lessons that may help improve on common problems. The setup was […]
The platform for our bed and cabinet storage is 68” wide, of which we decided to use 50” for the bed, and the remaining 18” for storage compartments. To decide on these dimensions we laid down to see what is comfortable. The width of a queen size bed is 60”, so while ours is a […]
The most important consideration for our van build was, of course, the layout of the floor plan. We chose a Sprinter with a 144” wheelbase and high roof because its length allows you to park in regular parking spots, while its height allows both of us to stand up, even though Jakob is 6’2”. The […]