20240323 Return of the RV

 20240323 Saturday, March 23, 2024

Communications with Tacoma Mercedes Benz had been quite poor.  I had to call several times, leaving messages to have my call returned with estimates of when our RV might get looked at by a mechanics, but repeatedly not getting a response.  I finally got a voice mail from a Victoria who was the service advisor that our RV had been assigned to.  She said that there was a backlog of work due to tow ins (like ours) in addition to their usual backlog, but she did acknowledge that they did have our RV safely stored and in their work cue.  She thought it might be mid week (the last week of February) before a technician could get a look at the RV and that she would call at the end of the week with an update, but I didn't hear back.  When we had our break down, Tacoma Mercedes Benz had made us an appointment on March 13th, so we hoped that they might be able to get to it by then at the very latest, but calls at the end of that week went unreturned.  I finally got a call back on March 15th after leaving yet another request for an update on her voice mail.  She advised that the technician would be headed over to where the RV was with diagnostic computer equipment that after noon and that she would call back that afternoon, but that didn't happen.  The following Monday, I left another voice mail but I finally heard back from her on Tuesday March 19.  She said the technician had confirmed my suspicions that the problem was caused by a failed Electronic Ignition Switch Control Module (EIS CM) and that parts should arrive mid week.  I called again on Friday March 22 and left a voice mail.  She returned the call late in the afternoon to say she was surprised to learn that the RV was fixed and could be picked up on Saturday March 23.  She said the technician had to repin the connector to the EIS CM because corrosion had damaged many of the pins and that the technician had claimed it took 0.5hrs x 20 pins or 10 hrs of labor to complete the repair.  Having done similar repairs myself, it was apparent this was a grossly inflated labor charge since it only takes a few minutes to cut and strip the wires, crimp the connectors and heat seal the insulation for each pin.  Victoria said she'd give us a 50% discount on the labor and only bill the parts without additional markup.  That total was $2332.  She said the technician would check into the possibility of warranty coverage, but that if we wanted to pick up the vehicle, we'd have to pay up front.  

It was a fortunate coincidence that we were traveling down to Onalaska for a memorial service that day, so we were able to stop by and pick up the RV.  We had thought we could park the RV at a nearby Indian casino, but as I drove around their parking lot, I got chased down by a mob of Indian security personnel who said I couldn't park the RV on any Casino property because it was "oversize".  So we ended up driving south to the Lacey Costco parking lot where we got lunch and left the RV while we went to the Memorial.

We picked the RV up without incident headed back north after the memorial.  We got home and parked it back in the barn just after dark.

The next day (Sunday March 24), I decided to check on the repair.  I had learned from online Sprinter forums that Mercedes Benz had issued a service bulletin covering this defect with a recommended remedy.  This involved covering the top of the EIS CM and connector with a protective "boot" and resecuring the wiring to create drip loops to prevent repeat failure in the future.  

But when I inspected the EIS CM, the protective "boot" was installed upside down so that instead of protecting the EIS CM and connector from future water damage, it would trap all liquids coming down off the A-pillar and drown the EIS CM.  So I had to disassemble the driver side kick panel to access the EIS CM and properly protect the EIS CM and another Body Control Module mounted on the firewall very near by to prevent failure of that as well.  I did manage to get a YouTube video out of it, so that may help other Sprinter van and RV owners avoid a similar fate. https://youtu.be/qUZ-pgGz-1Y

Although the Demco supplemental braking system worked when I tested it around the neigborhood, during our razor clamming trip, it didn't seem to activate, so will need to be investigated.  It may be that the G-force sensing brake controller may have failed after a minimal burn in period.  We'll see.

We will be leaving shortly on a trip to Mazatlan to view the total eclipse of the sun on April 8, 2024, so this will have to wait until we get back from that trip.