First, as to the oil bypass filter, I'm not sure about the 07 and 08 Sprinters, but on the other ones there is simply no place to put the bypass filter. It's been looked at many times by many people, and there's just no way to do it properly.
Dave, as far as dealers go, that's not a bad price for that type of service. It's maybe a little high. Sprinter dealers vary greatly on what they charge for stuff. Dallas Dodge in Garland, TX is by far the highest priced Sprinter dealer I have dealt with. They quoted me a price for something, I laughed and told them it was cheaper for me to have it towed to Ft Worth and mail order the parts in, and they reduced the price considerably. Not down to what it should have been, but to the point where it was cheaper to go ahead and let them do it rather than tow it 50 miles to Ft Worth.
My dealer at home (Parkway Dodge in Benton, KY) is relatively cheap as far as Sprinter dealers go. Might be because I know them, tho. My Sprinter tech also gave me a ton of hints and tricks on how to change filters, what to do and why for other things. He knows I'm on the road all the time and I'll have to do some of it myself. I've heard people complain once or twice about Crestwood Dodge in Garden City, MI (Detroit), but I've had to deal with them twice and I have found them to be reasonable and easy to deal with. Both times they went out of their way because I was out of state. (Dallas Dodge went out of their way to make me wait an extra day.)
I don't think the oil is yet available at AutoZone. As far as I know, the only place you're gonna get that oil is at Sprinter and Mercedes dealers. I'd check Mercedes dealers, and maybe stop off at different Sprinter dealers as you pass by them, and check on their oil prices if you buy it by the case or something. My transmission fluid, for example, is $20 a quart from my dealer. It's $15 a quart from a regular Dodge dealer (the Crossfire uses the same fluid), and it's like $10 or $12 mail order. I recently got 6 quarts for $6 a quart on eBay.
Do get your own oil, fuel and air filters, including the cabin air filter, and change them yourself. $41.85 includes a sweet dealer markup. You can get those for $19.50 from
www.europarts.com. By 2 or 3 at a time. Change it yourself and save the $24 labor cost. $66 a pop for a dealer to do it, versus about $20 for you to do it.
Fuel filters at Europarts are $29.50, versus the ridiculous markup of $75 at that dealer, plus the $48 labor cost. $123 versus $30 and you can see why you'll want to learn how to change a fuel filter. It's real easy.
I just checked, and it turns out Europarts now carries your oil, too, and it's $7.63 a quart ($6.38 a quart (liter) when bought in 5 liter jugs). It's not Mobile brand, it's Total (large brand in Europe), but it's on the list, which is the main thing. It meets 229.51 specs.
You won't save a ton of money doing your own oil changes because dealers don't overcharge all that much for an oil change. But it's so easy to do you might as well.
But the other routing maintenance stuff, fuel, air and cabin air (HVAC) filters, you save a ton by not paying for the dealer markups and the dealer labor.
I'm not comfortable changing my own transmission fluid, but I'm very comfortable handing my Sprinter technician fluid that I got elsewhere. Just make sure that any fluid you get elsewhere are on the list. Always stick to the list.
My fuel filter, I changed the first one at 10,000, by the book, then started going longer between changes. I had it clog up on me when I had 30,000 miles on it, probably due to mom-n-pop diesel fuel I got someplace. Since then I've been changing it somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 miles.
My air filter, I change that out pretty often. Regular air filters I'll go 30,000 miles or so, but normally I use the heavy duty filters and go about 50,000 miles. They could probably go at least twice that, but since they are easy to change, and relatively cheap, and since clean air is uber critical to a turbo diesel, I'd rather change it out a little too soon than a little too late.
I change my oil filter every 7000 miles or so, then add oil as needed to top it off. I'll get between 15,000 and 17,500 (once got 20,000) miles between oil changes. These fully synthetic oils are long interval oils, just keep the filter changed every 7000 miles or so and then add any oil that gets tossed with the filter change to make sure it's topped off. Even half a quart low can make a huge difference in how long that oil will last. In the summer I'll change the filter every 5000 miles or so, usually using 3 filters between oil changes.
About every 3rd oil change, 50,000 miles or so, change the cabin air filter. It's one filter that people ignore, but Mercedes is all about airflow in that cabin. The AC and heater fan always sucks in fresh air through that filter. It's gets dirty fast, and when it's dirty you might not notice much of a difference, not until the hottest part of the summer and it seems like the AC fan just isn't putting out what it should. Change the filter and the air will blow you back. Don't want until it gets to the point of being noticeable, though. as it gets dirty, clogged, it puts more stress on the fan blower motor, which means it'll fail sooner than it should. Change it every 40,000 to 60,000 miles. If you idle, change it on the low end of that.
You can almost certainly much longer than 10,000 miles between tire rotations, unless you see noticeable abnormal tread wear. The reason for rotating tires is to even out tread wear. If you don't see any abnormal tread wear, no need to rotate them that soon. The key is to rotate them consistently, be it 30,000, 50,000, whatever. I rotate mine every 30,000, and so far, haven't seen any difference in tread wear from front to back or side to side. All 4 tires are wearing evenly.
One thing that will also help with reduced uneven tread wear is putting nitrogen in those tires. It's cheap, quick and easy, and it'll more than pay for itself in reduced treadwear and increased fuel mileage.
Get ahold of the Sprinter Service Manual for your model Sprinter. I've got the manual for the 04 model, even though I have an 05 Sprinter, but there are very few differences. There's a huge difference between it and the 07/08 models, tho.
Check out
sprintervan : Sprinter Van Mercedes Freightliner Dodge
and sign up there, read tons, especially the DIY section, as there are some good step-by-steps there. Not that many yet for the newer Sprinters, but it's just a matter of time. Lots of good technical information, headsup for potential problems, and a great place to ask questions.
