Mercedes Sprinter chasis

X2 mines a 5cyc and I pass going up grades ,some of those big boys just can,t keep up. and I love the mpg.

jimx200 wrote:
Our RV group just had a 4 day outing in Tahoe area and I drove a members Sprinter w diesel up from Sacramento for her. Compared to our Class C 22' with the V10, the Sprinter is gutless. Foot to the floor on the climbs and no passing power. Trans kept hunting for the best gear way too much. Not my choice for a engine.

5 or 6 cylinder? Something wrong here. With numerous steep mountain grades, we have passed most RVs and maintained speed limit with ease.

Our RV group just had a 4 day outing in Tahoe area and I drove a members Sprinter w diesel up from Sacramento for her. Compared to our Class C 22' with the V10, the Sprinter is gutless. Foot to the floor on the climbs and no passing power. Trans kept hunting for the best gear way too much. Not my choice for a engine.

Just back from 2k plus miles thru hills of West Virginia - NOT a flat state by any means! Towing 3200# Suby up, down, and around - Sprinter did very well. Have had it and toad out thru mountains of CO, too. Plenty of power - most torque around 2800 rpm, IIRC. Do have Scangauge installed, so monitor LOD (engine load, if you will) - as LOD approaches 90%, I simply slow down and downshift to keep LOD to 80-85%. Not afraid to climb hills at 40-45 mph - similar to OTR trucks on climbing lanes - keeping RPMs around 25-2800 and LOD in low 80s. Using this "formula", still getting 15 mpg on average, high was 15.8 this trip, and that's fully loaded and pulling toad. So can't complain about power available. ST

CharlesinGA wrote:

Matt_Colie wrote:
Jack,

You say "Using all the horspower" like it is a bad thing. If you bought it, it is yours to use, so use it. The diesel is governor controlled (they all are), so don't be afraid to use it.

By the way, if this is your first diesel, be aware that they don't warm up much idling and that there is little engine braking to be had. That is why they are good on fuel.

Matt

Not sure where this comes from. With a 20 something to one compression, they provide lots of engine braking. I have descended 8% grades and geared down and barely had to touch the brakes. For such a tiny engine I figure its pretty darn good.

Charles

Diesel engines in general don't have a whole lot of engine braking without the addition of an exhaust brake or compression brake or similar. The high compression ratio doesn't matter much here because the energy expended in the compression stroke is released back in the power stroke; the air acts mostly as a spring, not as a damper. The engine braking in a gas engine is largely due to the intake stroke against the closed throttle valve (there's atmospheric pressure, or something like it, on one side of the piston and a vacuum on the other). Since a diesel lacks a throttle valve, there is less natural engine braking by nature.

Adding the exhaust brake or the compression (jake) brake changes things significantly, of course; then the engine is acting basically as an air compressor (on either the exhaust or the compression strokes).

Matt_Colie wrote:
Jack,

You say "Using all the horspower" like it is a bad thing. If you bought it, it is yours to use, so use it. The diesel is governor controlled (they all are), so don't be afraid to use it.

By the way, if this is your first diesel, be aware that they don't warm up much idling and that there is little engine braking to be had. That is why they are good on fuel.

Matt

Not sure where this comes from. With a 20 something to one compression, they provide lots of engine braking. I have descended 8% grades and geared down and barely had to touch the brakes. For such a tiny engine I figure its pretty darn good.

Charles

We have a Thor Fourwinds 24H/L only available on the Sprinter 3500.

Yes, it has enough power. We are generally at gross, towing a boat. Remember it is turbocharged so it will produce good power at altitude. I do not know its critical altitude. I presume it is above 12,000 feet given the performance to date.

I have had a Duramax and the Sprinter does not have that kinda power.

Rick

OP here
The Duramax in my GMC makes good power
about 200 more ft/lbs of torque than the Mercedes,
So I was really just looking for people’s opinions after extended use
of this platform, and it seems like owners are more than satisfied.
Thanks for the input.

myself I wouldn't buy a mercedes chassis, with other options available.
bumpy

Have you ever had a vehicle that's marginal on power? I'm not saying the 5 cyl is (because it's subjective) but if you feel it's weak then you should pass it up.
I always remember seeing one trying to drive up on leveling blocks and it didn't have enough torque to do it.