Here's my Sad tale....

chefdennis · Apr 20, 2012

Chris that Sprinter was Idled for hours during the summer...it also has not been insulated to keep it cool or hot...so no insulation, and over idling had the normal affect on the CC..that was diagnosed over a yr ago...that is why you were told to have ALL THE CODES pulled when you started having the DPF light stay on, they are tied together...

davekc · Apr 20, 2012

I'm not a van driver but those repairs and down time buy a lot of fuel/gas. Certainly gives one a reason to pause.

chefdennis · Apr 20, 2012

ChrisGa23 said:
Yep true its being worked out in the "deal"

He is my SIL, but hey, business is business...make sure you also work into the deal at a minimum, the cleaning od the DPF filter when the CC is replace....if you buy it, make him make everything right when you take it...EVERYTHING.....

Jason2 · Apr 21, 2012

I think the government should pay for all the problems that they have caused.Look who wanted all this so called pollution crap put on the trucks.

Jason2 · Apr 21, 2012

Hobo hope you get the situation straightened out quick

pellgrn · Apr 21, 2012

Got a 06 ford with a 5.4,the last yr or so got the cat code[lower bank] about 2 months ago it started idling ruff.I took it to a really good ford dealer by me cause they have the best software and with 550,000 on it they ran all the test you can run only to come away with the cat needs to be replaced not gonna hurt nothing just a ruff idle.They want 2,500 on there suggestion i talked to an exhaust place that will do an aftermarket on for 850.00,i wil have a to pass an emission test in the next yr or so.The point to this thread is not just Diesels have this trouble i've had 4 7.3 and 6.0 fords and all but one had over 500,000 0r close when i sold them.

Lawrence · Apr 21, 2012

Hobo,

Sorry to read this, hopefully others will learn from your situation.

Please repost it here: MySprinterVan.com

bill98 · Apr 22, 2012

my dodge dealer in monroe mi only charged me 300.00 to take off and put back on and had it up in the air all week waiting for filter to com back from ct

tbcabs · Apr 23, 2012

I hope people know that with the newer sprinters. You have to have the system regenerated every 75000 miles. And the only place that can do it is the dealer. The dealers wont tell you that it needs to be done cause it is only 300 dollars. They want you to spend that 3-5 thousand dollars to get things replaced.

mrguard · Apr 24, 2012

Ouch, sorry to hear about your problems there.

You might wanna check out what Ford has out now and coming out soon.

tumbleweeds · Apr 24, 2012

Thanks for sharing your troubles with the Sprinter. My wife keeps telling me that we need more room for the two of us in this Chevy Extended Van. She points out every nice Sprinter she see's and says "we really need one of those". This post was the final nail in that coffin. Not a chance in the world that I will buy a Sprinter. I can accept the EGR problems, and maybe a new tranny after 300K but there are just too many problems and way too high and expense for ALL of the troubles the Sprinters have. If we were going to spend $48K on a vehicle, we would expect it to be of good quality. It is a shame Toyota or Honda don't make an appropriate van for our business. We have never had a problem with the Honda's or Toyota's we have owned. And we put a ton of miles on them.

OntarioVanMan · Apr 24, 2012

tumbleweeds said:
Thanks for sharing your troubles with the Sprinter. My wife keeps telling me that we need more room for the two of us in this Chevy Extended Van. She points out every nice Sprinter she see's and says "we really need one of those". This post was the final nail in that coffin. Not a chance in the world that I will buy a Sprinter. I can accept the EGR problems, and maybe a new tranny after 300K but there are just too many problems and way too high and expense for ALL of the troubles the Sprinters have. If we were going to spend $48K on a vehicle, we would expect it to be of good quality. It is a shame Toyota or Honda don't make an appropriate van for our business. We have never had a problem with the Honda's or Toyota's we have owned. And we put a ton of miles on them.

unfortunately from what little info I've seen the 2013 model of Sprinter still has not addressed the DPF and Cat system problems. It took them less then 2yrs to address the old EGR problems back in 03 with the redesigned EGR and had little problems after that....

BobWolf · Apr 25, 2012

I've thought abbout adding a van for the small stuff but, so far I havent heard much good news abbout sprinters when it comes to maintainence. F350 or Chevy van looks good to me.

BobWolf · Apr 25, 2012

Dito the E.P.A.

RETIDEPXE · Apr 28, 2012

JAYSON said:
I think the government should pay for all the problems that they have caused.Look who wanted all this so called pollution crap put on the trucks.

Or at least get the gov't out of our wallets. One has to be reminded where the "gov't should pay" moneys come from.

Hightech_Hobo · Mar 29, 2013

I know this is an older thread but I think it is still relevant and I need to update it to give credit where credit is due.

The Mercedez Benz Dealer where I bought my sprinter came through during the second saga of the DPF problem in a really big way and I feel they should be commended for that effort...

To Summerize....DPF filter became clogged and I was looking at approx a 5K repair...I decided to have filter cleaned instead of replaced...When told about needed repairs I got REALLY mad and at 6'3", 220 pounds and I'm told I get an expression that can be ...Shall we say "intimidating"... Whether they told me about the second part.."The Sprinter equivelent of a catylitic converter" is still in dispute...

In any event I had the dpf filter cleaned but did not approach the other part...3 months later this part also fails and I am looking at another 3K in repairs..(much of the cost in a DPF Filter repair is in the labor costs...

.. you can imagine my reaction to this news...

The bottom line here is RBM North Mercedez Benz went to bat with Daimler and made an arrangement with them that reduced this 3K repair to around $600.00 my cost...

I am quite sure that this cost them some...for lack of a better phrase...some serious "Political capital"... with the warranty dept at Diemler.

I am also extremely impressed with the service manager at RBM...He is extremely knowledgable on sprinters and has built a team of techs who are truly technicians not just parts changers...If you have a serious Sprinter problem this is one of the few people in the USA you want to get advice from...

Kudo's also need to go to Rick Castleberry (Sprinter Sales Manager) and Teresa Cox(service rep) as they were instramental in negotiations with Daimler....

Thanks for letting me get this out there...I should have done it long ago but life got in the way and delayed me...

Deville · Mar 29, 2013

$600 is way more reasonable than the numbers you were quoted earlier.

Opel2010 · Mar 30, 2013

I never had a positive opinion about Sprinters and I'll never will. Long live the gas engines!

asjssl · Mar 30, 2013

tumbleweeds said:
Thanks for sharing your troubles with the Sprinter. My wife keeps telling me that we need more room for the two of us in this Chevy Extended Van. She points out every nice Sprinter she see's and says "we really need one of those". This post was the final nail in that coffin. Not a chance in the world that I will buy a Sprinter. I can accept the EGR problems, and maybe a new tranny after 300K but there are just too many problems and way too high and expense for ALL of the troubles the Sprinters have. If we were going to spend $48K on a vehicle, we would expect it to be of good quality. It is a shame Toyota or Honda don't make an appropriate van for our business. We have never had a problem with the Honda's or Toyota's we have owned. And we put a ton of miles on them.

I just bought a 2010 Chevy Hi-Cube SRW..for that reason ..was NOT getting a sprinter for the same reasons You said...the only good thing sprinters have are fuel milage...well this new truck with the 6.0 L with the 6spd auto..is getting and avg. Of 17 mpg. stock.. 12' box 6' tall roomy..... there are options besides a sprinter ..my last cargo van an 06 with 4.8 is clocking 600,000 and still going..why I wanted to stay with a Chevy..but did NOT want sprinter...