Maintenance priorities for x country trip

[Topless]

Good tires and brakes, a less-than-5-yr-old battery, reasonably fresh fluids. Drive it!

For reference:

We just completed a 15,000 mile, 30 state USA tour in a MB Sprinter based RV. MB is not well known for long term reliability but this rig was nearly flawless for 5 months. We did develop a slight exhaust leak on the home stretch but it looks like it will get covered under an emissions recall at no cost. I brought a lot of tools and spares just in case but they mostly were unnecessary.

Cheers!

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Topless

Good tires and brakes, a less-than-5-yr-old battery, reasonably fresh fluids. Drive it!

For reference:

We just completed a 15,000 mile, 30 state USA tour in a MB Sprinter based RV. MB is not well known for long term reliability but this rig was nearly flawless for 5 months. We did develop a slight exhaust leak on the home stretch but it looks like it will get covered under an emissions recall at no cost. I brought a lot of tools and spares just in case but they mostly were unnecessary.

Cheers!

Would be really cool if you could share your adventure in a separate thread, perhaps in the Off Topic forum.

Would love to learn more about your experience as I am looking to do a cross country trip when it's safe to do so, a combination of mixed driving through Canada and the US. Thanks in advance!

[Sandy G]

All great suggestions above. One more: If you haven't already done so in the past year or two, clean the radiators. You'll need to remove the front bumper cover and the radiator shrouds to remove all of the decaying leaves and other crud. You'll get better cooling and help prevent corrosion down the road. It's a half-day job that's perfect for the DIY mechanic, and there are plenty of helpful videos around.

Have fun!

[pilot4fn]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

All great suggestions above. One more: If you haven't already done so in the past year or two, clean the radiators. You'll need to remove the front bumper cover and the radiator shrouds to remove all of the decaying leaves and other crud. You'll get better cooling and help prevent corrosion down the road. It's a half-day job that's perfect for the DIY mechanic, and there are plenty of helpful videos around.

Have fun!

Have you used any soap to clean the radiators after exposing those from behind the A/C condensers? I'd like to get all the dirt out from those without damaging the actual radiators... All loose particles I already vacuumed last summer.