Mercedes Benz Sprinter reliability and quality

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Ron J. Moore

I have the Chevy 6.0, and do find these responses interesting. Ron

If you have a Chevy 6.0, this thread validates the wisdom of that choice.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

If you have a Chevy 6.0, this thread validates the wisdom of that choice.

I am not going to question the wisdom of the engine choice, but van is a little more than just an engine. I was seriously considering Chevy van with the Sportsmobile pup-top roof but low height entry nulled that option. I wish we could pick and choose between various manufacturers. My personal experience, a statistical population of one, is No for GM and Yes for Mercedes, my 1987 Chevy Suburban was by far the worse vehicle in my lifetime and the Sprinter up to now is flawless. The 87 Suburban Chevy 5.7l engine was an absolute disaster - had 2 sets of heads, 1 short block, GM direct involvement on the litany of issues; all within 40K miles since new.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by Ron J. Moore

I have the Chevy 6.0, and do find these responses interesting. Ron

That's the engine I have too in my '2012 Airstream Avenue (Chevy 3500). The 6.0L is a beast, and I averaged 15mpg in a recent 4,000 mile round trip from the Texas Coast to Yellowstone. I can't imagine I'd get any better performance from the 3.0L diesel, I get to use slightly cheaper fuel, and only sacrifice 3-4 mpg.

That's not to say the coach part didn't have a few hiccups, but the engine & chassis we're flawless.

[peteco]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

That's the engine I have too in my '2012 Airstream Avenue (Chevy 3500). The 6.0L is a beast, and I averaged 15mpg in a recent 4,000 mile round trip from the Texas Coast to Yellowstone. I can't imagine I'd get any better performance from the 3.0L diesel, I get to use slightly cheaper fuel, and only sacrifice 3-4 mpg.

That's not to say the coach part didn't have a few hiccups, but the engine & chassis we're flawless.

I have the 6.0 in my Roadtrek 210 and I really like it. Great engine but performancewise the MB 3.0 diesel is so much better in the mountains. We were at Glacier NP last year and the shuttles are MB vans. Even loaded with people the van went up the steep mountain road no problem. These were older vans so they might even have had the older engine. Mine struggles up steep grades, though I do have a heavy van at near 9600 lb.

[The Jode]

I don't own a Mercedes Sprinter but seriously researched/looked at them before deciding on a previously-owned Pleasure Way on a Ford E350 chassis. The one MB sprinter I drove was in "limp mode" and had to be taken to the shop by the consignment to reset. I've heard the same problem from a couple of current owners. I also talked to a gentlement who was driving around town in a new MB sprinter--he was not a happy camper. I'm a woman and my first priority is reliability. With these issues I opted for the Ford gas engine. Good luck.

[floydj@me.com]

I’ve owned three MBs over the years and currently own a 2017 Pleasure Way Ascent. We also have had other desiel cars and currently have a VWTourage. The reliability is high. The engine smoothness is there. The torque is there. We’ve enjoyed them.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by floydj@me.com

I’ve owned three MBs over the years and currently own a 2017 Pleasure Way Ascent. We also have had other desiel cars and currently have a VWTourage. The reliability is high. The engine smoothness is there. The torque is there. We’ve enjoyed them.

Good to hear yours have been reliable. Yes, we mostly hear the negative on these forums.

It seems most problems are with emissions systems on the recent DEF equipped models (2013 and up?). It is starting to show up quite frequently here and at airforums.com. We'd probably hear about it more if it weren't for the factory warranty paying for these repairs instead of the owners. But when you start hearing from people that aren't confident to travel in their Sprinter class B's because of problems, then I tend to notice.

[floydj@me.com]

There is a lot of confusion about DEF and the sensors from my take. Those that ignore the sensor light and keep driving until it goes into count down mode are looking for trouble. My unit went 7300 miles before we needed to add DEF. I added 3 gallons and all is well. I've serviced all my desiel cars and trucks regualry and haven't experienced abnormal or out of line expenses. My overall costs of owning the MB's have always been in line with a gas model. Purchase price is a main difference and we like the touque curve, the smoothness, etc. The Ford and other chassis have thier issues that seems to fall into the well, that's the way it is catagory, vs rasiing the flags like the desiels. This is just one mans opinion. Issues with the desiels are mostly when they are super high milegage. I've never owned one for 200,000 miles or greater.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

I am not going to question the wisdom of the engine choice, but van is a little more than just an engine. I was seriously considering Chevy van with the Sportsmobile pup-top roof but low height entry nulled that option. I wish we could pick and choose between various manufacturers. My personal experience, a statistical population of one, is No for GM and Yes for Mercedes, my 1987 Chevy Suburban was by far the worse vehicle in my lifetime and the Sprinter up to now is flawless. The 87 Suburban Chevy 5.7l engine was an absolute disaster - had 2 sets of heads, 1 short block, GM direct involvement on the litany of issues; all within 40K miles since new.

The 1987 engine you are describing has no resemblance (other than 8 cylinders) to the Chevy Vortec 6.0 which began production around 2007.

[604eholston@charter.net]

I have a Winnebago Era on a 2015 Sprinter(MB) 3500 chassis. Only driven it about 10000 miles, across country and back. It is everything Mercedes is famous for. 19 MPG, about 20000 miles on a tank of DEF (estimate). It drives like a dream. I had previously driven Foretravel diesel pushers and this is almost as easy and a LOT easier to keep on the road. I have had to venture a ways to get MB approved service while under warranty. Now that it is 3 years old I plan to have local qualified garage do routine service.
I, too have wondered about all of the poor-mouthing of Mercedes Sprinters. My family car is a VW Passat with a Diesel (the one VW got in all of the trouble over). I love it, had it repaired by VW according to the terms of the lawsuit, received over $7000 bonus and keep on driving it. I think it is maybe the nicest driving car I have owned and that includes a couple of Jaguars. I guess I am a Diesel fan. Too bad the Eco-folks have sabotaged the Diesel auto business, but then I don't grow corn.
Just one Sprinter owners opinion.

[Ron J. Moore]

In addition to the 6.0L in the 210, I have a '98 K2500 with the 5.7, and currently have close to 2500K miles, without any major hiccups. I did the timing chain about 7-8 years ago, and other things, but it has been damned reliable. For a number of years, I pulled a TT, but then went to the RT's.
I said it was interesting to read about the diesels, I have not a clue about the maintenance or upkeep, have not even drove one, so I can't say bad or good, but the write-ups, both good and the rants, glean a lot of insight to a prospective buyer with no mechanical experience or ability to affect the repairs. Ron

[Belzar]

The driving experience of the Sprinter is unsurpassed in the category: responsiveness, ergonomics, safety and drivers's assistance features etc. Availability of 4x4 a big plus. Diesel engine with lots of torque ideal for RV application. Large size, height, payload and towing capacity. That's what drives a lot of people (and upfitters) to the Sprinters.

[booster]

We just got back from a trip that took us through the Colorado Rockies and then west through more of them. There was quite a change from a few years ago in that nearly all the small to medium shuttle buses going up the mountains with tourists were Transits, and it looked like most were Ecoboost engined gas motors. I can tell you from being passed by them at 10,000 feet, they climbed mountains better than most anything else that was on the road.

[pcpowernet]

In the spring of 2015 we traded in our venerable Forest River Forester for a much smaller
Roadtrek CS Adventurous on a Mercedes Sprinter. We had enjoyed our Forester, but parking,
hooking up and unhooking the utilities and the toad started becoming more of a chore than
preludes to enjoying our travel. Since we don’t spend much time at any one place during our
travels the chores were becoming more frequent as our travel days became shorter. A day being
3 or 300, meaning 3:00 pm or 300 miles, whichever came first. The Forester didn’t really lend
itself to that type of travel conveniently, so we started looking at some smaller rigs. The
Class Bs seemed to be an answer and fortunately a lot of information was available on line. Since
we had been traveling in an RV for almost 50 years we kind of knew what we wanted to see in
one for our lifestyle. We don’t hunt, fish, hike, or live our life full time in our RV. Travel is what
we do and the trip is the adventure.
We studied floor plans, owner remarks, reputations, and support before finally settling on a
Roadtrek CS Adventurous as our most likely choice. It had most of what we needed, mainly a
bathroom, beds, storage space, a compressor type fridge, and the ability to boondock
comfortably without a lot of noise. It also had the ability to be parked nearly anywhere except in
a parking garage. To a lot of people it just looked like a standard “plumbers van.”


That fall we took off again for the east, visiting friends and relatives and on to the Roadtrek
factory and then to our son’s in Cincinnati. On the way we had several DEF warnings which
were solved by adding a gallon or two. It would give us the “check DEF” and then in just a few
miles it would go to “5 restarts”, then 16 and then eventually clear. Oh, we also got a rock chip –
grr-grr-HuH!
When we arrived in Minneapolis, I dropped by one of the local Freightliner dealers to see if they
could run a check on why we were getting such frequent DEF warnings. This dealer said that it
would be at least a week before they could look at it. Suggested taking it to the dealer south of
St. Paul. That dealer had an even worse estimate of when they could check anything. This
certainly doesn’t speak well for Mercedes Benz Sprinter service. Here we are miles from home
with an ailing Sprinter that would take up to weeks even before checking on it. What do we do in
the meantime? The warranty specifically said that Mercedes is not responsible for any incidental
or consequential damage due to a failure which is under warranty.

Then in January of 2018 took the RT into the Mercedes dealer to address the DEF faults.
Naturally, they couldn’t find anything wrong as there were no warning or indications on the
“DIC ( Driver Information Center). That might be that the mechanic didn’t do an in-depth scan
on the computer. In April we started out for another long trip, through California, Texas, Ohio,
Minnesota, South Dakota and Montana along with all the states in between, visiting friends and
relatives plus some sightseeing.
Well, got past Roseburg in Oregon and “10 restarts” shows up and then a few
miles down the road it changes to “16 restarts”, then mysteriously clears. By the
time we got to Redding, California the “10 restarts” returns and on every restart
decrements.
Since we were only about 8 hours from home decided that the best thing was to go home and
have the “local” dealer handle the issue.
By the time we got to the dealer in Wilsonville, Oregon, there were 4 restarts available. Took it
in and left it with the same service writer we saw in January who didn’t promise when it would
be ready. She stated that they were backed up by at least a week with only one “Technician”.

And that is where we wait, now two weeks. At least we are at home
with a loaner car, a small Mercedes SUV that enabled us to get home
instead of sitting in a motel somewhere for a week or so.
Maybe the very inauspicious beginning to our trip will work out any bugs that we might have if
we can start our trip over again!
Perhaps if we had known beforehand what problems have been occurring due to the emissions
system we might very well have elected to look at a gas powered class B instead of the Sprinter
diesel. At this point we would NOT recommend a Sprinter diesel to anyone simply because of
the poor dealer’s timely service. The Sprinter when it runs, is a very fine vehicle. Comfortable to
drive, lots of bells and whistles and overall well built. BUT, dealer service --, “Sorry, next
week, maybe, unless we get one of our big fleet customers in.”


Finally got it back in June. Three months to diagnose and replace the NOx sensors.

[Earthsinger]

I had an RV on the Sprinter and got rid of it. My biggest reason was lack of places for service. I travel to many out of the way places like Newfoundland for example. Alaska and Yukon for another. After having an issue in Newfoundland and ONE place for service and a three week wait to even get it looked at, I ditched it when I got home because there was no way I was taking it to Alaska. Another issue was biodiesel. Another is the cost. Another is diesels don't sit well so if you plane on sporadic traveling no diesel is a good idea. It drove like a dream but the negatives far outweighed the positives for ME. I now happily drive something that any mechanic can service in any small town or crossroads in North America for at least half the price.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by floydj@me.com

There is a lot of confusion about DEF and the sensors from my take. Those that ignore the sensor light and keep driving until it goes into count down mode are looking for trouble.

I am not seeing any confusion whatsoever about the Mercedes DEF issues. I have not read ANYBODY who said that they ignored warnings. it is simply not the case that these issues are the result of neglect. The "n starts remaining" thing very often comes completely out of the blue. I take extremely good care of my van, ignoring no hint of an impending problem. Nonetheless, I have had three "spoil the trip" failures. All of them happened without warning. The first of these issues did not occur until well after 20K miles.

Of course there are lots of people with zero failures. It is a statistical curve like everything else, and many people will be below the "zero incidents" point on the curve. If you are one of them, that is genuinely good. And I am well-aware of the "complainer's bias" on groups like this one. But at this stage of the game, there can be no question but that Sprinters have a big problem in this area. Buy your dealer's lead mechanic a beer and ask what they have been seeing.

I am by no means a Sprinter-basher. I love everything about our van except for the two things I mentioned (a) emissions problems; and (b) inadequate dealer network. They are superb vehicles and are otherwise extremely robust. As I said before, I may well buy another Sprinter. But these issues make the choice difficult.

[Bmecalo]

We have a 2017 Coachman Galleria Mercedes Sprinter 3500. My husband has driven it 16,000 miles in a year. It runs great, easy to drive, boondocking is excellent. It uses more DEF than I would have expected, but I'm using it more than I thought I would. I researched Class B's for literally years. I think MB is the way to go. I am retired and taking it for service is just a day trip. I live 60 miles from everywhere so nothing is convent. I bought it new and other than the original "out the door" maintenance after the sale, haven't been back. Hope this helps.

[avanti]

BTW: There are two causes for hope:
1) There is some evidence that if you keep your DEF tank topped off (rather than waiting for the first "Add DEF" message), you may avoid triggering certain apparently software-related issues. I used to wait for the first warning, but I now keep it full.
2) Mercedes has been making concerted efforts to address these issues. For example, there have been at least FIVE revisions of the NoX sensors (which often fail in pairs). It is quite possible that the latest rev may be much more robust than the ones that came with older vans. Hope so.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by avanti

...........................
There is some evidence that if you keep your DEF tank topped off (rather than waiting for the first "Add DEF" message), you may avoid triggering certain apparently software-related issues..........................

I also maintain DEF tank full instead of waiting for the warning. I have the DEF tank located in the engine compartment which is much smaller than the one behind the passenger wheel.

[604eholston@charter.net]

Ron T Moore, Wow! 2500000 miles. That is a long way.