Service On Sprinter Chassis?

[bagman]

Has anyone had and issues or problems getting service on the Sprinter Chassis, with respect to parts being available and high cost. Or have you had to travel a long distance to get service? Just curious if this could possibly be a problem for class B owners built on the Sprinter chassis! Bagman.

[RobertRyan]

bagman wrote:
Several manufacturers are building on the FORD Cutaway chassis and that chassis is lighter than the Sprinter and the FORD inline 5 cycl Power Stroke diesel actually cranks out more Torque than the Sprinter and FORD dealers are everywhere. I am not what you would call a FORD lover and that last one I bought was used and it was a pile of junk. However, the Transit chassis has really caught on and from were I live, there are 3 FORD truck dealer within 5 miles from our home! For that reason alone, I would prefer a FORD B or B+ RV.

In Australia current Transit is not used. Most prefer the Sprinter or the Renault Master( which does not exist in the US)
Japanese Small Busses or colloquially “ Coasters” are much more prevalent than any Van chassis, but have a lot of the aspects of a traditional B

[AsheGuy]

You ought to send a link to this thread to the MB Customer Support people that I linked to.

VW took a different route. 😞

[davepcpowernet]

Wilsonville MB informed me of the problems with the Sprinter and that they are actually working on it. However, the real problem is that they and most other dealers are woefully lacking in technicians that truly understand the complex emissions "patchwork" systems. I am not so sure that I would again purchase an MB Sprinter again given the expense and problems with today's engine complexities with their failure history. Though, even I with over 50 years experience with complex computer systems and with a basic knowledge of how the NOx systems "should" work would not even attempt to try to diagnose and restore the proper functioning of the MB system. Let's hope that we can resume our trip to see our grandchildren before we can't drive anymore.

[davepcpowernet]

Thanks, that was the site I was looking for. MB has a new site for support that does not have any reference to email.

[AsheGuy]

Have you tried Mercedes-Benz Customer Support to relate your story?

I have no idea if this would help but I would certainly try to go up the chain.

We have the previous generation Sprinter (no DEF) and after 144K miles can say we have been quite happy with it.

[davepcpowernet]

I suppose I should post some factual data:

Sprinter
2015 3500 6 cyl.
On one of our trips at about 8000 miles we experienced low DEF warnings and within 50 to 100 miles received limited restarts.

Filling the DEF with no more than 2.5 gallons and often with a gallon or less cleared the restarts.

Stopped at Freightliner dealers in Minneapolis and at St. Paul, was told they were too busy to look at it. Maybe in a week or so could get it in. Our home is in the Portland Oregon metro area.

Continued to add DEF as needed, no more than a gallon or rarely 2 gallons with no warnings or limited restarts.

In January 2018 took in to Mercedes/Sprinter dealer in Wilsonville, Oregon (approx. 30,000 miles, 33 months on warranty), after one week could find nothing wrong.

In April, after driving 400 additional miles limited restarts on nearly full DEF and with check engine light. Returned to Wilsonville dealer on April 10, 2018. With 4 restarts remaining. Total additional miles after January 950.

Contacting dealer for status updates as of April 23, 2018, have had no return information.

My iCaresoft scanner showed:

47643.14 km since last regen (29,604 miles)
Last regen at 47643.96 km

18BC00 upper limit value for long-term adaptation of the SCR system was exceeded DTC stored

16CF00 Fault in system AdBlue – The number of possible engine starts is limited DTC stored

Engine off:
Current kilometer reading 49112 (30,517 miles)
Fill level of DPF 89.37%
Soot Level 7.11 g
Ash content 0 g

Engine on:
Soot content of DPF 5.03 g
Ash content 0 g
Engine speed 679 1/min
Pressure differential in DPF filter 7 hPa
Upstream temp of turbo 155.30 C
Upstream of DPF 143.7 C
Exhaust back pressure 1100 hPa

[davepcpowernet]

We have been experiencing rather poor service from Sprinter dealers in regards to the emissions systems in our Roadtrek. Dealers are "too busy" to look at anything for one or two weeks. If we are traveling, as were were two years ago in Minneapolis/St. Paul, we couldn't afford to wait for more than a week in a motel while the dealers were putting us in the queue behind the commercial Sprinter users. So, we live with faults until they become a crisis. The other side of it is some dealers are too busy to even do a proper diagnostic until a crisis develops and then it takes weeks to find and then "fix" the problem by throwing parts at it until something happens to work. I have a saga of our Roadtrek that I would like to share, positive for the Roadtrek but negative for the dealer support of the Sprinter. To bad it is too long to share on this forum.

Right now we are waiting for the dealer 50 miles away to fix the emissions problem that made us abort our 2 month long trip to our grandaughter's birthday. It has today been two weeks sitting at the dealer.

[MDKMDK]

gemsworld wrote:
I don't have a dog in this fight since my moho has the Ford V10 gas engine. But based on my limited knowledge it seems modern diesel engines' reliability have gone down and the cost of maintenance and repairs have skyrocketed since the introduction of current pollution controls in diesel engines.

Good point regarding the emissions hardware and systems that have hit the newer diesel engines. The more complicated you make a device, the more the chance something will fail. That does seem to be the most common issue with newer diesel pusher/puller powered motorhomes. I wonder if a 6L+ Cummins diesel is inexpensive to repair when it has problems? Or the Ford 3.2L D?

I hope I don't have to find out by experience, but if it happens, I'll deal with it just like you would with your V10, and anyone else would do with their rig. My 2002 Roadtrek was a pita for a lot of chassis related stuff. There was always something, and not always an easy fix. It was not always an inexpensive fix either, when things broke, and they did. As it got older the availability of parts became an issue. After market became the norm. For repairs, the main benefit of the Roadtrek was it's size. It fit in most shops. I was lucky enough to live near a decent repair facility, so that part of it was a bonus, but since I use Good Sam Roadside, it didn't matter as much how close the repair shop was to me. They'll tow it there regardless. And, when you're in the middle of nowhere, that often includes all makes of vehicles. A tow truck in Whitehorse doesn't come and get you any faster, because of what you're driving. And I'll wager a guess that not every Ford and Chevy dealer, or corner garage, can fix every chassis problem same day either. I know, because I've been there, done that, with one each, both Ford and Chevy.

[MDKMDK]

To each, his own? YMMV?
Did your friends post up their tales of woe on any public forums, like this one? I'd be interested to read them. I'm curious about the details, like year/make/models and the actual problems encountered. Symptoms, diagnoses, and fixes.

[mumkin]

The key term there is "most." I based my final decision to avoid them on two factors.

Two personal friends who had purchased Sprinter based RVs and had so many issues with them failing on the road, that they traded in nearly new rigs.

The fact that the nearest service was over 300 miles away.

As a woman who travels alone... no thanks.

[MDKMDK]

For me, it seems to depend on what you read, or who you ask.
I read several forums, some with dedicated Sprinter sections, and the majority opinions there seem to refute those negative reviews and articles. Most owners seem happy with them, based on what I see.
They have issues, just like every power train, but there seem to be mitigating circumstances that make service and maintenance a push between the MB 3.0L V6 D and the other options. I know my V10 was a stump puller, but it had a few negatives that made me consider trying something else.
We'll see how things go, I guess. Right or wrong.

[Community Alumni]

I don't have a dog in this fight since my moho has the Ford V10 gas engine. But based on my limited knowledge it seems modern diesel engines' reliability have gone down and the cost of maintenance and repairs have skyrocketed since the introduction of current pollution controls in diesel engines.

[MDKMDK]

soren wrote:

MDKMDK wrote:
A little light reading for any interested parties......

Seems like what goes around comes around. If you try hard enough, you can always find something online to support your point of view. Or, to discredit someone else's.

What a strange way to view the question of reliability in a $100 +/- purchase. If there are significant issues with any product that is an option in the OP's search, it would seem to me that it's ALL relevant, including info on Transits, or Ram vans. I have read, and listen to reports from mechanics that actually work on them, stating that the latest generation of Sprinters is expensive to maintain, unreliable, ridiculously expensive to repair, and far from bombproof product they were 10-15 years ago. If your response to that is an elementary school level of, "well, look what I found about Transits, See I can discredit your information, so there" All I can say is hopefully anybody who really wants to understand the potential downsides to any high dollar purchase takes the time to find intelligent discussion on the subject elsewhere.

The information posted is just as negative and anecdotal in nature from multiple sources about another similar product, as your internet sourced negative articles and your "friends" opinions are to the Sprinter. That was my point. You can always find info that supports your opinion, pro or con, on the internet.
It's the nature of the internet. Not everything you read there is necessarily real, true, or factual. I would be wary of forming my opinion based on anything I read on the net alone, pro or con, and I try to use very large grains of salt in the process.
The experiences of others are certainly interesting to read, but I'm not going to formulate my final opinion on any subject, based on someone's blog. It's unverifiable opinion as far as I'm concerned.
Hearsay is just that.

btw, this internet forum has posts from Sprinter based motorhome owners that generally refute the internet articles that others have posted up that are negative. Typically people don't write lengthy articles if they're happy with the product. They only jump in to complain. If everyone was unhappy with their Sprinters, this website and the internet in general would be rife with them, and it clearly isn't. If people aren't buying them and MB withdrew them from the NA market that would be a significant event, but it hasn't happened. Sales are supportive of continued production here. You don't make a product that you can't sell, for very long, unless you like losing money. That's Business 101. A few negative reviews here and there are interesting to read, but certainly don't seem to define the current majority opinion, and their continued success in the marketplace.

[soren]

MDKMDK wrote:
A little light reading for any interested parties......

Seems like what goes around comes around. If you try hard enough, you can always find something online to support your point of view. Or, to discredit someone else's.

What a strange way to view the question of reliability in a $100 +/- purchase. If there are significant issues with any product that is an option in the OP's search, it would seem to me that it's ALL relevant, including info on Transits, or Ram vans. I have read, and listen to reports from mechanics that actually work on them, stating that the latest generation of Sprinters is expensive to maintain, unreliable, ridiculously expensive to repair, and far from bombproof product they were 10-15 years ago. If your response to that is an elementary school level of, "well, look what I found about Transits, See I can discredit your information, so there" All I can say is hopefully anybody who really wants to understand the potential downsides to any high dollar purchase takes the time to find intelligent discussion on the subject elsewhere.