How not to use public transport. Now Mercedes camper shenannigans.

[Talbot]

17 hours ago, juular said:

Is the pump cable / bar driven from the pedal? If so, could an engine that's moving on its mounts cause the cable to tension/loosen enough that it changes the power demand?

 

17 hours ago, cms206 said:

@juular may be onto something - the throttle linkage on these is a ridiculously long and over complicated mess. Maybe worth having a look at that?

The accellerator linkage is absurd on this.  It goes from the pedal, via a cable across to where the pedal would be on a LHD vehicle.  It's then joined by a cable from the fast idle knob on the steering column to a selector linkage which means the pedal and fast idle can work together.  From there another cable to come from the body to the engine, but on the "wrong" side of the engine.  From there a shaft through three plain bearings on the back of the engine block, across to a linkage which appears to be pressure/vacuum fed to allow automatic fast idle control, then finally a connection to the injection pump.

All of it (and I do mean all of it) was stiff and partially siezed when I got it.  It took most of a can of WD-Squirty to free everything off and allow it to move properly.  I am wondering if the fact that it is all now free moving is contributing to the shuggle.  We'll see.

[Floatylight]

@sutty2006 may have some ideas on this as i think he worked for some time for Merc Commercials repairer, not sure he saw those of this vintage though.

I only ever drove this about where ever it was stored as it gave the fear (brought on by the fact the first time i drove it was to put it into a barn with an arched door, it was tight but do-able) until the floor dropped down in the barn, the back of the van came up denting the roof on the barn door arch, above the awning housing.)

I always thought the throttle was incredibly still but seeing as it was serviced and MOT'd every year (for 20+ years) at quite significant expense i would of hoped stuff like that would have been addressed..

 

[Talbot]

19 minutes ago, Floatylight said:

I always thought the throttle was incredibly stiff but seeing as it was serviced and MOT'd every year (for 20+ years) at quite significant expense i would of hoped stuff like that would have been addressed..

Unlikely TBH.  The service would have been engine oil & filter, fuel filter and air filter, and then probably just checks on everything else and attending to grease points..  I did notice that the engine oil was astonishingly clean (IE not pitch black!) and that the grease points have been regularly done, but things like the accellerator linkage would just be addressed when it's an issue, or if specifically asked for.

Similarly the engine mountings.  Clearly at least a couple of them are shot, as at certain speeds there is a remarkable transmission of engine vibration to the chassis, and I have a feeling that the engine wobbles more than it should at idle.  It's hardly surprising that 30+ year old rubber mounts have gone hard/soft/cracked/split/failed in some way.  Amazingly, they still appear to be available, as I was concerned I would have to cast my own from polyurethane or something.  But I wouldn't have expected that to be picked up on any service or MOT.  It's just a thing you have to be aware of on an older vehicle like this.

This post brought to you from the seating area of said camper, with a laptop powered from the solar panel on the roof.  I am using this a lot more than I expected to!

[Floatylight]

Did you sort the throttle linkage issues?