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I am ANGRY....and do not know where to direct it.....

H

Hightech_Hobo

Expert Expediter
My sprinter went into Limp mode yesterday and I ended up at Stoops in New Haven, IL...It was determined that there were several small problems that caused the problem...

Knowing sprinters as I do I was fairly happy to think I was going to get out of the shop for around $750.00..

One of those problems was 2 bad glow plugs...around $60 bucks each and about an hour of labor...It seems that during extraction is is easy to break the glow plug...this is what happened during my repair...

The end result of a broken glow plug is that 27 shop hours of time is required to remove the head, send it out to a machine shop to have the broken piece removed, head remachined and then sent back to the shop for reassembly.

The cost for this will be upwards of $6000.00 out of my pocket!!

Luckily, this will not have to be done right away. The van will run sans the glow plug, but I am told I may have problems during the winter with cold starts..But I have a great deal of money in this vehicle and I want it functioning correctly...

I cant really blame the Mechanic as this kind of thing happens...Stoops hasn't any culpibility that I can see...but I havn't done anything wrong as far as poor maint either...

If you have read my previous post "Here's my Sad Story" you already know of the costs I encountered during a DEF filter problem.

Between that problem and this one...The sprinter van is no longer a viable expeditor solution in my opinion when one adds in the normal high maint costs...

I am truly pi$$ed off and will be on the phone with Daimler 2morr after I have calmed down and can speak like a human again...but I expect little if any result from that conversation...

Suggestions, comments and ideas will be greatly apprciated...
 
Jenny

Jenny

Veteran Expediter
What year is your sprinter? If it is an older model take it to Wayne Rodd in toledo. He is a Sprinter guru, and even has special tooling to remove broken glowplugs without the headache of replacing the head. If you want his contact info send me a p.m. and I will pass it on. Even if it is a newer one, it is worth giving him a call. He has saved us literally thousands with our sprinter.
 
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B

briggie1

Seasoned Expediter
i been where you are,, i had nothing but headaches with my 2007 sprinter, i owned it since new and it was always maintained correctly, made it to 400,000 miles and just sold it last month, i am relieved now without it.
 
R

Rocketman

Veteran Expediter
Wow...hope you can get that price down. It seems like it could be repaired for a fraction of that costs. Hopefully Jenny's guy can fix ya up.
 
Turtle

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Glow plugs are $25.60 a pop and take maybe an hour to change out all six of them.

Andy Bittenbinder in Pittsburgh invented the removal tools for broken glow plugs and for Black Death injectors. Obviously, he has the tool. So does Wayne in Toledo. You can also rent the removal tool from Europarts ($70 plus a refundable $700 deposit - John is serious about getting his tool back :D). It doesn't take anywhere near 27 hours to remove and replace a broken glow plug. More like 2, and that's if they have problems.

Removing and replacing the head, incidentally, is 16 hours book labor. If they say 27, they're incompetent. But, they think you have to remove the head to replace a broken glow plug, so it's a given that they're incompetent.

If you let the engine get really good and hot, then turn it off and let it "heat soak" in its own juices for 4-5 minutes, the glow plugs will almost always come out without much problem, using very little force, certainly not enough to snap it off. If you let the engine cool down at all, they'll snap right off more often than not. I guarantee you they didn't let that engine stay hot enough. You might not blame the mechanic, but I certainly would.
 
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LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Wow, that seems insanely high. Looks like there would be a tool and a way to fix that not involving a week or more downtime and insane expense. Makes me even more interested in the new gasoline Transit.
 
RoadTime

RoadTime

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Definitely seek out help from the two people listed above. They are life and cash savers :)
 
Falligator

Falligator

Expert Expediter
And BTW I wouldn't take anything to Stoops anymore! I just dislike Stoops VERY MUCH!! Had a 2012 Sprinter which needed a turbo sensor even tho it was brand new. It took Stoops 2 days to fix the part which they had there on the lot in another Sprinter.
 
paullud

paullud

Veteran Expediter
Turtle said:
Removing and replacing the head, incidentally, is 16 hours book labor. If they say 27, they're incompetent. But, they think you have to remove the head to replace a broken glow plug, so it's a given that they're incompetent.
Click to expand...

Well, it is Stoop's.
 
Turtle

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
paullud said:
Well, it is Stoop's.
Click to expand...

I've never been to Stoops, so I can't really comment on them. I think the history of comments here from others says quite a lot, though. But I've been to three Freightliner dealers with my Sprinter, and all three have left significant negative impressions on me.
 
H

Hightech_Hobo

Expert Expediter
Turtle said:
I've never been to Stoops, so I can't really comment on them. I think the history of comments here from others says quite a lot, though. But I've been to three Freightliner dealers with my Sprinter, and all three have left significant negative impressions on me.
Click to expand...

....About the same # of freightliner dealers and exactly the same impression....My MBenz dealer is extremely qualified but very expensive...They have done me proper on some major issues and I should have updated "My Sad Tale" post to reflect that but have not done so yet...I hope to correct that today...
 
davekc

davekc

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Fleet Owner
I concur. Finding a good quality Freightliner dealership is indeed shrinking. Our finding is most are expensive and slow or we wound up doing the repair several times over.
Big difference between an actual technician and a "parts changer".
 
P

pjjjjj

Veteran Expediter
Hightech_Hobo said:
.... I am truly pi$$ed off and will be on the phone with Daimler 2morr after I have calmed down and can speak like a human again...but I expect little if any result from that conversation..
Click to expand...

Man, now you've got ME really p*ssed off with nowhere to direct it! Thankfully you got some good advice here!
 
Turtle

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
From what I understand, and from my own limited experience with them (MB of Novi), most Mercedes dealers will do you right. They're expensive to be sure, but highly experienced and competent when it comes to Mercedes engines and other issues with Sprinters. I've found Freightliner dealers, and a few former Sprinter Dodge dealers to be both expensive and incompetent, even more expensive than having it properly diagnosed and done right the first time.

You have to seek out and find not just the good dealers, but the good Sprinter technicians at those dealers. Or, those like Andy Bittenbinder in Pittsburgh or Wayne in Toledo who don't work for a dealer at all but who are highly experienced with Sprinters and know how to fix the problem instead of "parts-changing" the symptoms.

Freedom Dodge in Lexington, one of the best Sprinter technicians around.
Sansone Dodge in Avenel, NJ, I'd put that Sprinter technician up against Andy. He's that good. Berry Dodge in Corsicana, TX is excellent. Ed Payne Dodge in Weslaco, TX, very good (which is awesome since you're a bazillion miles from Berry Dodge in Corsicana). Southpoint Dodge in Austin, TX is very good.

If you have a Sprinter you need to know these things.

Oh, and avoid Dallas Dodge like the plague - you're better off towing it to Corsicana, it'll be cheaper even with the tow.
 
beachbum

beachbum

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
How is it not the fault of the shop when they were the ones removing the glow plugs and broke it off.

YES its the mechanics fault when he broke it when removing the glow plug
 
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