I bought a 05 Dodge Sprinter Van a couple weeks back. Wooooo!!!! (definitely click that hotlink) It has 181,xxx miles and is pretty well empty in the back. It was insulated before I owned it, but it doesn't look pretty. Definitely going to redo it. The goal is to make this into a gear/adventure/fun van to take out into the wild.
I drove it for a while to figure out all the oddities and what needed to be done. Now over this Christmas weekend I spent my holidays ripping it apart! Because I am in a giving mood, and maybe some person will fall onto my website from google, I am going to give a highlight of what I did, and how I did it (with links to sprinter source and various videos)
Also if you are buying a sprinter van check out this link here to see some issues to look out for. I definitely am experiencing a few of them.
- Blower Heater Resistor
- Viper Security System Removal (dash take apart)
- Shitty "I wired a radio before bruh" radio system removal
- Fan Selection Knob loosening
- New Radio Wiring
- If you are going to be working on a sprinter van create an account at Sprinter-Source so you can access all the attachments. If it has broken before I guarantee someone else has fixed it on that website.
The blower heater resistor is this funky looking guy, and can be found in the engine compartment and it is snugly flush with the blower fan. The reason I know it is bad is because the one I pulled out looked like S@#! and also the heater only works on the "4" setting (full blast). Directions to fix are there. If by some miracle enough people stumble upon my website and need photos from me I can add them.
The previous owners (K2 Skis....) wired in a security system that was tapped into the starter, and various other electronics. To make sure I got ride of it all I followed this dash removal guide, and ripped it all out... gently. Also while I did this I took out the fuse block, and completely disassemble it and check all the soldering connections since I have had a blinker issue recently. It can be because the turn signal relay on the bottom of the fuse block can become loose, or the whole fuse block is shot. Check it out here
While the dash was apart I lubed the blower fan selection knob because it felt so stiff that I was going to break it. Easy just spray some lube of choice up into that system.
The old stereo system with an amp was ripped out because it was wired horribly and also only one speaker was working.... useless....
I put in a new stereo that can connect to my phone now and also all the speakers are wired correctly as the new wiring harness tapped straight into the standard one built with the car. All of the guts ripped out can be seen above.
I also spray painted the grill black since it was looking like junk and falling apart. Sweet.
I am realizing I should have taken photos of each and every step... I will do next time I tear into this van.
-Nick Annis Visuals ©
Gutted the cruddy stereo and security system. Hopefully this solves and prevents some issues