newbie to sprinter/mercedes, lots of question! help please

#1 get the chip out of your head, it don,t need it and doesn,t work any way. #2 I have a older one 2007 5cyc mb engine pull a 17ft bass boat from ohio to AZ not one problem with power ,pulls mountains just fine. slow down and smell the roses. your mb will out last the rest of the rv.

well it feels a real driving machine and I always improve on my other vehicles and love to enhance that. Ive got a chip in 6.7 diesel ford and have one in newer Z06 corvette, (just out of warrantee) BUt yes, I'll give a few trips before I do it. thanks.

mine has a 100k warrenty on the engine, if yours does? it might screw your warreny up. ours has been great just turned 40k and no engine problems. I,ve had big rv,s and for two people its great . you can take it any where and thats where we like to go off the free way. local roads.

Don't let your engine battery get low as those Mercedes diesels take a lot of juice to start. Many of them don't have the emergency start switch that other motorhomes have to join the house battery to the chassis battery for starting.

I have a diesel pickup and never found a need to chip and I pulled a 32ft. trailer loaded with gear and my Jeep. IMHO, a chip adds stress to an engine and transmission. As far as any warranty, my guess is you will be on your own.

The Sprinter Forum

Good place for advice.

I got my approved oil, oil filter wrench, oil filter on Amazon for far less than local retail.

List of Specifications

You don't "chip" a Sprinter. One company, Green Diesel Engineering, has engineered new software for the Sprinter's computer and a method for you to load it in the computer, and retain the original software. It adds some performance, but not a whole lot, more reliability than anything (no personal experience, but from what I have read on the Sprinter forum, and the View/navion forum.

Remember, you bought a motorhome with an engine half the size of one in other Class C's and carrying essentially the same weight, you cannot expect it to do more than what it does, get you efficiently from point A to B in comfort and reliability.

Mercedes is extremely picky about fluids and lubricants and for the sake of the exhaust filter system you need to stick with the oil specs in particular. You will not find the oil you need at Wal-Mart or many auto parts places. NAPA carries the proper spec Mobil I and Valvoline oils and many times has it on sale.

This Bevo page here lists all current MB specifications. Use your owners manual to find the proper specs and click on the spec number on this page and it will link to the list of approved lubricants and fluids for that spec..

http://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/bevolistenmain.php?language_id=1

Sheet 223.2 lists all engine oil specs for various motors. In your case you have a diesel engine - worldwide - w/particulate filter - van engines - OM642 (you find the engine model on the sticker on the valve cover) and this is the next to the bottom line on the first page of this PDF.........

http://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/downloadf.php?filename=en/Spec_223_2.pdf

Follow across the page and you find your approved oils are 228.51/229.31/229.51/229.52

The 229.52 spec is more for fuel savings (as opposed to the 229.51 spec) and thus does not approve any 40 wt oil for this engine.

Go back to the first link I posted and click on the 229.51 link and it will give you this page.........

http://bevo.mercedes-benz.com/bevolistenmain.php?navigation_path=bevolisten&blatt=229.51&content_action=show and it will give you a list of oils world wide that are approved to this spec, with footnotes you need to pay attention to.

Easiest oils to find in the US for your engine are the Mobil 1 ESP 0W-40, and the Mobil 1 ESP Formula M 5W-40 and the Valvoline MST 5-40 oils.

Using non approved oils will cause you grief as they will clog the exhaust filter.

Transmission fluid, only a couple are readily available in the US, the OEM MB fluid, Fuchs 4134, and Shell ATF 134. The Shell is stocked by many Distributors and using the Shell Distributor locator and calling them will find what you are looking for.

The oil filter cap is plastic, get the proper socket (the aluminum ones work better than the stamped one, and use a torque wrench to reinstall them, 25 nm/220 lb-in/ 18.4 lb-ft of torque as they are easily damaged if over torqued.

Buy you a Fumoto oil drain valve, either a F106 or a F106N (has a nipple for a hose) and your oil changes will be fast and easy and no mess.

http://www.fumotousa.com/results.php?make=57&year=2014&model=28072&makeid=MERCEDES-BENZ&modelid=SPRINTER+3500+3.0L+V6+DIESEL+TURBO

Wheel speed sensors in the 2014/2015 vintage CHASSIS (chassis is usually one year older than the coach) are prone to failure and are covered under the EMMISSIONS warranty which is, if I recall 5yr/50K mi. failure of a wheel speed sensor, esp a right rear, will cause the vehicle to go into limp mode as this provides output speed sensing for the transmission and without this speed sensing the transmission cannot determine what gear it is in.

The Sprinter is quite reliable until it breaks, then it is a real devil to fix if you don't understand it. I highly suggest you join the Sprinter Forum and if there is a forum for Sprinter/Forester, join it too.

Charles

landyachter wrote:
well it feels a real driving machine and I always improve on my other vehicles and love to enhance that. Ive got a chip in 6.7 diesel ford and have one in newer Z06 corvette, (just out of warrantee) BUt yes, I'll give a few trips before I do it. thanks.

Sounds like you should have bought a travel trailer or a truck camper to go with your Ford Diesel, I'll bet you would be happier.

Charles

azdryheat wrote:
Don't let your engine battery get low as those Mercedes diesels take a lot of juice to start. Many of them don't have the emergency start switch that other motorhomes have to join the house battery to the chassis battery for starting.

Wrong on all points. The engine starts instantly - as long as you allow the wait to start light to go out. All of the ones I've seen have a switch to allow the house batteries to provide starting voltage.

To the OP,

Most new Sprinter chassis are rated to tow 4200 lbs +/-. A small boat, as long as the tongue weight is less than 500 lbs, is no problem. These things will do anything you ask of them to do without extra horsepower as long as you respect the chassis weight limits.

thanks for ALL info, I think ive read enough to scare the **** outta me! I'll give it a go and see how they work. Thanks for info about sprinter forum, I'll be checking that out. No chip for me until I see what this rig does. I'm picking up rig from Indoor RV center north of dallas today and start my experience.
Not sure what all I expect to be better than USA C class other than slightly smaller, quieter! And better MPG. Ive bought a new 5th wheel from indoor Rv 3 years ago, BEST rv compnay to deal with by far from what I can tell. I tried to buy local (houston) but nobody compares to INDOOR RV.