Diesel class c

AJR wrote:
God bless you diesel folks. Did one and never would do it again. I will say it was a 6.0 Ford diesel. Like the first ones produced. It was so expensive to keep going for the first 60k miles. After that it was a great puller for my TT.

My experience is they are costly to keep running. I know “other brands” are different. But if something goes wrong. There is a bunch of money involved to get it right.

You happened to buy the worst model diesel engine ever made and I'm sorry it was your first experience with diesels. The 6.0 was Ford's first in-house attempt at it, and the additional complications made by new emissions requirements made the engine exceptionally problematic. It also had only four bolts per cylinder head, which often resulted in cracked cylinder heads from overboost conditions. (7.3L has 6) The fuel injection module could fail in low voltage conditions, and it was placed on top of the engine where it was subject to extreme temperatures and vibrations that caused the solder joints to fail.

The subsequent 6.4 and 6.7 liter engines have done much better. My own personal opinion is that the best, simplest, most durable and reliable diesel ford ever put in their trucks is the 7.3L made by International. This is the engine that directly preceded yours and was only discontinued due to its inability to meet new emissions requirements. International made over two million of them. I bought my 2000 F250 when it was 9 years old and already had 93k miles on it. (it was babied and taken care of by a racing mechanic.) Since then I have put 60,000 more miles on it without a single problem. Just changed the oil and filters. It is chipped with a hypertech controller and develops an enormous amount of power. Very happy towing with it. Just goes up the hills like there isn't anything there.

I see a lot of Sprinter based "C"s, all of which are diesels. Most recent models are rated for 5000 pounds, which is good enough for a Jeep Wrangler or such.

As an alternative, I might recommend a short "C" on a Ford E-450 chassis, especially if using a toad? Some models by Coachmen are rated for 8000 pounds towing, and the Ford V-10, although a thirsty engine, can easily handle almost any hills you can throw at it. The difference in price between the Ford chassis and the Sprinter can buy a lot of fuel, and even though Sprinters are decently reliable, there are a lot fewer Mercedes places that service them compared to Ford dealerships.

mlts22 wrote:
he difference in price between the Ford chassis and the Sprinter can buy a lot of fuel, and even though Sprinters are decently reliable, there are a lot fewer Mercedes places that service them compared to Ford dealerships.

We found the "service difference" issue to be a priceless difference on our recent long RV trip.

We thought we had a Ford transmission issue late one Friday afternoon at the beginning of a holiday weekend out in the middle of the small town countryside a long way from home.

Three different mechanics/technicians we easily located at three different locations close to us knew all about Fords and collectively saved us from a potential trip-ending disaster. (As it turns out the Ford TorqShift transmission was fine - just low on fluid, which is another long story as to how that happened.)

As an example, I shudder to think what would have been the outcome if we'd been where we were in a Sprinter based Class C on the beginning of a holiday weekend in small town USA.

Yeah, but you had a transmission issue with the Ford. Pretty rare with the Sprinter.

No Ford transmission reliability issue while on the trip .... only:

1. 5 quarts low on the fluid,
2. because I didn't check it on the first part of the trip,
3. because the transmission was a remanufactured one installed 3 days before we left on the trip and should have been filled and remained filled,
4. because the orignal transmission should NOT have failed in only 51,000 miles,
5. and because either the installers, or remanufacturers, of the replacement transmission shouldn't have left a pressure check plug in the transmission only partially screwed in such that it would slowly leak while we were traveling on the first part of the trip. :E

The Sprinter BETTER be super reliable considering what you pay for it and considering you could be out of luck if it doesn't turn out to be reliable in many remote/rural areas of the country. Actually, I have read in these forums that in fact transmission issues are real issues on Sprinters - at least when employed in Class C motorhomes ... which load the chassis constantly often close to maximums ... and then many owners often try to tow on top of that.

The Ford TorqShift 5-speed (6 ratio) transmission has a generally stellar reputation and is typically not failure-prone. I'll install a Scanguage this year to make sure that my driving habits of cruising full speed up long highway grades with full air conditioning in the Sierras and Rockies do not overheat my replacement transmission. The replacement transmission is a heavy duty remanufactured one and is guaranteed for 3 years with unlimited miles. However, the fluid in the original failed Ford transmission was a healthy pink color - with no brown discoloration at all.

I see a lot of Sprinter based "C"s, all of which are diesels. Most recent models are rated for 5000 pounds, which is good enough for a Jeep Wrangler or such.

You can't tow 5,000 pounds with a Sprinter class C. 5,000 pounds is the hitch rating and will put you well over the GCWR. Loaded up, a Sprinter class C is very close to its GVWR of 11,030. Many owners routinely run a couple hundred pounds over. The GCWR of 15,250 minus the GVWR of 11,030 leaves 4,220 pounds for towing.