While I am not particularly good at vehicle maintenance, and even worse at performing repairs, the fact is that keeping your van in good running condition is important for vanlife. It’s important to part-timers like me, and even more so if it’s your home.

I’m okay at repairing things I can see. If my tire is flat, I know what to do. I can even troubleshoot slightly more complicated issues, thanks to YouTube. The ones that feel like they are beyond my capability to fix are ones that are difficult to see.

My van’s battery is being drained by… something. People’s kneejerk reaction is that it’s something I’ve added to the electrical system, but everything I’ve added to the van does not tie into the vehicle’s electrical system at all. Everything in the back of the van runs off my Bluetti power station, and the only ways I charge it are through solar or a direct 120v source outside the van. I don’t charge it from the van’s 12v system and it’s not connected to my alternator. The only thing I’ve added to the van at all is a new radio and to troubleshoot the problem I removed it, which made no difference.

Ever since I bought it, the van has had some sort of connection issue with the dash cluster. Every time I drive the van the speedometer, tachometer, and fuel gauge will lose and regain power multiple times. I suspect there is a short going to the cluster tat may be draining the battery, too. To get around this problem I bought a battery disconnect that is wired in-line with the van’s battery and is supposed to disconnect the battery if the voltage drops too low. I suspect that’s what happened this last time and between vacation and other obligations, I just let the van sit for too long. It took me two solid days of charging the battery, alternating between 12v and 75v mode, to get it to finally start. The battery is only two years old and I recently had it tested. The guy at O’Reilly’s said the battery is good and that it’s the van that’s bad.

I got some good advice on YouTube regarding pulling and testing every single fuse, which sounds laborious and not a project to start right now as temperatures are reaching 100+ degrees Farenheit on a daily basis. Maybe if it cools down in a couple of weeks I’ll jump in and see what I can find.

In the back of my mind I have always had a feeling that this van is “a” van but may not be “the” van. I haven’t given up on it yet, but like many things in life, the van is always shinier on the other side…