Category: How-to

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What to do with your 3-person passenger seat bench when it’s not in the van

Three-person passenger bench seat removed from van

The bench seats in a Sprinter are burly. They are designed to keep three passengers safe in a crash, so they are heavy and sturdy.

We move our seat out of the van every now and again, either when we’re working on the interior or when we need to carry oversize objects.

What we needed was a way to get the seat from the van to wherever we want to store it, and also a way to make sure the seat can be easily moved by just one person if it’s in the way of other stuff we need.

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There’s nothing “Stealth” about camping in a Sprinter

Overnight city parking - urban camping

People often refer to parking overnight in an inhabited area as “stealth camping.” Unless your Sprinter has no exterior adornments, no condensation on the window glass, local license plates, and absolutely no light showing through the window covers, it’s unlikely you’ve gone unnoticed. What’s more important is that you are not disturbed.

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Using the Autel MaxiDiag Elite MD802 Code Reader on a Sprinter

Autel MaxiDiag Elite 802 diagnostic tool

The Autel MaxiDiag MD802 will read and reset OBDII diagnostic codes on Sprinters. The “All systems” version will reset ABS and SRS warnings and can help you do a brake bleed too.

Although this reader can’t change values like the more expensive Mercedes STAR system can, it is still a useful tool for diagnosing and understanding Sprinter issues.

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Showing km/h on the dash of a USA Sprinter

kilometers per hour in Sprinter dash display

If you ever drive “North of the border” into Canada with your US-specced Sprinter van, you’ll soon start to curse Mercedes’ decision not to put kilometer per hour markings on the speedometer.

Luckily, if you have the highline dash display (steering wheel with buttons) there’s a fix that lets you see your speed in Km/h in the status bar section in the lower half of the display, where you normally see the temperature.

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How tall are we? How long are we?

McDonalds have a 9' maximum height at their drive-through

Sadly it seems we’re not going to be able to use the McDonalds drive-through. We’re just too tall. I’ll never get to experience the delights of a Big Mac. Because, I mean, who’d actually walk into a restaurant?

More seriously, if you catch the ferry in Washington state, they need to know how long your van is so they charge you the correct fare. If you want to know (rather than guessing) whether you’ll fit into a parking garage or under a low bridge, you’ll need to remember how tall your van is.

The answer is super-simple, inconspicuous, and cheap.

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