MB 1120 Coming to America! Purchase, Build and Now Travel!

Joe917

Explorer
From the Mercedes Engine Build Manual 0M366:
"engine oil consumption may be up to 0.5% of the effective fuel consumption for a newly run in engine under normal operating conditions. This level may rise in individual cases up to 1% of effective fuel consumption depending on the distance travelled and the type of operation (aggravated operating conditions)."
That to me is a huge allowance, for us that would be 2 to 4.5 liters of oil per fuel fill, or over 20 liters between oil changes. That is an oil change!
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
Mercedes has something similar in the OM612, 647, and 602 manuals. IIRC its up to 1 liter/quart per 500 miles or something similar. That limit is probably due to some runaway risk or other engineering concern. If the engine has the much oil consumption, there is likely other issues at hand. Excessive blowby, malfunctioning oil separator, etc.
 

VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
Thanks guys, I will have to watch the miles vs oil consumption closer. Honestly I just keep an eye on fluid levels and top up as needed.

On a side note, while crawling around under the truck doing the radiator I realized I never mentioned we had a new exhaust tailpipe fabricated that goes over the rear axle and exits near the back. We did not like all the exhaust under the truck, it was getting things a bit grungy. Pretty happy with the change. We also have been working on getting the cab a bit more livable. One thing was to add a RAM mount on the dash for the phone, makes navigation much easier. The other thing was I wanted a tire pressure monitor. We got one that not only monitors pressure but temp. It was made for semi's so seems pretty durable, ou can even get an extra sensor for the spare. The kit I got only include 4 flow thru sensors.

I think we are off towards Prescott AZ today. I have been thinking that I might like exterior utilities, like power and water outlets. I am thinking of getting the smallest Tern Overland cargo hatches that would house them. So, 110v, 12v, 24v and water from onboard. Anything else that might be nice?
 

ekibike

Member
Thanks for continuing to post such useful and interesting stuff! When you have the time, I'd love to see pics of the new exhaust! And who makes the tire pressure monitors?
 

VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
Thanks for continuing to post such useful and interesting stuff! When you have the time, I'd love to see pics of the new exhaust! And who makes the tire pressure monitors?
I'll try and remember to take a pic of the exhaust tomorrow. This is the TPMS https://tsttruck.com/507-series-4-flow-thru-sensor-tpms-system-with-color-displatst-507-ft-4-c.html we got, you can get a better deal on it on Ebay (where we bought ours).

Here is a in progress picture of the installation of the new tailpipe. Surprisingly they had a lift that made the job easier.
IMG_20200403_101655.jpg
 

wfv56

Active member
Just finished your thread. Wow! What a beautiful build, you and your wife have a admirable skill set. Good luck with your travels.
 

VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
So we are still losing a bit of coolant after the radiator swap. I think now it is the funky expansion tank that we have as now that the system is holding pressure it is leaking around the center radiator cap. Not sure why Mercedes designed it like this but I know they soon replaced the tank with a different one that, in my mind, makes sense. So, now we have a replacement tank on order from the UK. And, I finally found a Dometic support person that took a bit of time and effort and helped us out. Their normal response is to contact the Dometic center in your country, but after carefully explaining that the USA support center wanted nothing to do with the RTX2000 (and the UK support person directly tried with the USA support), UK stepped in. But of course Covid stops them from shipping directly from Europe to the USA. Never easy right? Luckily I found a UK service that will repost the package via DHL (actually not only the UK, I now have several personal addresses in other European countries). So a replacement PCB are on the way! The current plan is to meet up with both packages in Moab Utah, where we have an old sailing friend who happens to work for the US Forest Service so knows a lot of cool out of the way spots there.

And I have finally started to put in the onboard air system. The compressor is mounted, dash switch and relay in place. I have to wait now for a few items from Amazon (regulator and pressure switch), which strangely now requires more time for "Prime Shipping" than getting the expansion tank and PCB from Europe.

And now the travel update. Last night was another truly epic campsite on the north rim of the Grand Canyon, took about a 30 mile drive on dirt roads to get here but it was worth every minute. The dispersed sites are in Saddle National Wilderness and along with the sites there are hiking trails, today we will walk along the rim towards Grand Canyon National Park (which is closed due to Covid). All the canyon is park but in certain areas the plateau is either park, wilderness or American Indian reservation. Luckily most wilderness designated areas are still open as they are truly remote.
IMG_20200506_173443.jpg

We also visited Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, which is about 30 miles as the crow flies north. It is home to the worlds longest slot canyon and is truly amazing. You can backpack thru but you need a lottery assigned permit for that, so we had to settle on a day hike, but we made it a long day so got to see heaps. It was on another 15 mile dirt access road, kind of why we really need to get the air system set so we can air back up after airing down.
IMG_20200505_143100.jpg

IMG_20200505_091931.jpg

One last thing, given our love of hiking and the size (and my lack of 4wd experience) of the truck the motorbike was a great idea. We are using it to get to rough trailheads and scouting out the road once it starts to get a bit dicey to make sure we can get the truck in safely. Can't now imagine doing a trip like this without one.
 

VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
Don't you have air brakes? air up from the onboard air. What am I missing?
Thought is I will also add an air tank, this will allow me to use air tools(impact wrench for tire changes)/air up while the engine is off (much easier to breath). The system will have a pressure switch and adjustable pressure valve. Would also love an air gun to dust off the motorbike before use. It is really taking a beating with the dust on the back of the truck. If I get fancy I will also tie in the truck air system to allow for quicker air ups, though before I make any changes there I really need to figure out all the truck air system bits.
 

Joe917

Explorer
Yep, you need to tie in a quick coupler to the truck air system for airing up. That is basic, not fancy, fancy is another compressor! If you are not familiar with your air system that is the first thing to do. Air system failures are usually easy fixes, at least enough to get yo to help. A failed air system will stop you, period.
 

Joe917

Explorer
Please tell me you are carrying at least 2 couplings for each diameter of air line and at least a couple of feet of each air line size. I guess you have the bike to get out on though.
 

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