Mercedes Benz fuel challenges
Hubby and I have been looking at the Sprinter chassis with the Mercedes diesel engine for several years. We are almost to the point where we can buy. Recently, I have heard some rumblings from 2 fri...
Forum Discussion
Personally I wouldn't touch a Sprinter vehicle. First of all, there are not enough QUALIFIED service facilities. Not all Mercedes dealers will touch a Sprinter, furthermore they are few and far between. If you get stuck - heaven know how far you need to tow your rig for service. Whereas there is a Ford/Chevy/Dodge dealer on every corner in every podunk town across the USA.
Next parts are atrocious to purchase and in most cases even harder to find. When I purchased it new it kept chewing up fan belts and was told 3 weeks for parts to come from Germany. The Sprinter throws codes often.
I'm not going to bore anyone here with the service list and amount paid for service, but do remember this, every dollar you spend on service takes away from the MPG average as that money would have done for fuel. So I bet I'm down to 10 mpg average when I add up all the time and service dollars spent.
I am speaking of a person who owns and has driven a 2007 since new. I can't count the times I needed to drive 100 miles ea. way for simple service and 100 miles back, wasting hours and hours of time.
Want hard facts. I just threw a code 2010 which is a Mass Air Sensor. I called the dealer and it will cost $850.00 for him to replace it, or me purchasing the part for $300.00 and five minutes of work removing two screws from the air filter. In the mean time the vehicle is in limp mode, or otherwise useless.
I learned early on not to take the vehicle on long road trips for fear of service on the road.
Next parts are atrocious to purchase and in most cases even harder to find. When I purchased it new it kept chewing up fan belts and was told 3 weeks for parts to come from Germany. The Sprinter throws codes often.
I'm not going to bore anyone here with the service list and amount paid for service, but do remember this, every dollar you spend on service takes away from the MPG average as that money would have done for fuel. So I bet I'm down to 10 mpg average when I add up all the time and service dollars spent.
I am speaking of a person who owns and has driven a 2007 since new. I can't count the times I needed to drive 100 miles ea. way for simple service and 100 miles back, wasting hours and hours of time.
Want hard facts. I just threw a code 2010 which is a Mass Air Sensor. I called the dealer and it will cost $850.00 for him to replace it, or me purchasing the part for $300.00 and five minutes of work removing two screws from the air filter. In the mean time the vehicle is in limp mode, or otherwise useless.
I learned early on not to take the vehicle on long road trips for fear of service on the road.
