My Ford Transit service van just became a rolling fire hazard after that last panel upgrade job

Out here in north jersey, zone 5 winters are brutal on vehicles, but my Ford Transit has been my workhorse for 8 years running electrical jobs. Last week I loaded it up with a bunch of 200A panels and runs of 2/0 copper after a full service upgrade that billed $4500, and now the damn thing's throwing a check engine light every time I hit the highway for callbacks. Me and the boys were laughing our asses off when the exhaust started smoking like we'd wired a subpanel wrong, turns out a loose Milwaukee M18 battery charger shorted out in the back. Swear to god, if I don't get this fixed before the next snowstorm, I'm parking it and calling an Uber for the Home Depot run. Anyone else got fleet nightmares like this? Saw a similar rant in Electricians Network FB group the other day.

Your van's got more sparks than my last wiring job, better check those battery terminals before it turns into a bonfire.

Get a dedicated battery isolator for those chargers. I wired one in my own rig using 14/2 romex and it keeps everything separate.

Ugh, same here with my overloaded setup. North Jersey traffic is bad enough without vehicle drama.

FML, my truck died mid-job last month hauling conduit. Cost me two hours and a pissed off client.

Insurance covered mine after a short fried the dash, but the deductible stung.

Hate when that happens, especially after a big upgrade job like yours.

These vans are money pits, just traded mine for a Ram ProMaster and never looked back.

How's the wiring setup in your Transit? Any tips for organizing tools without shorts?

How do you guys track maintenance on these beasts? I use a simple app to log miles and issues.

Jersey winters eat tires and batteries, been there with the smoking exhaust scare.

Haha, Uber for Home Depot? That's the funniest backup plan I've heard all week.

PE-backed fleets are pushing us to lease junk, mark my words it'll bankrupt small ops like ours.

Damn straight, they're consolidating everything and leaving us independents in the dust.

Same pain, my rig's always breaking down at the worst times.

SharkBite for vehicle wiring? Nah, stick to proper crimps, saves headaches down the line.

Man, fleet issues hit hard, especially solo. Hope you get it sorted quick.

Leasing vs buying is the real debate, I went lease and regret it with all the mileage fees.