Mercedes Sprinters - long term reliability

fiend

fiend

Caught the Bug
My father, who’s in his mid-70s, is thinking about purchasing a used Sprinter-based RV. One of the small ones that you can park in normal parking spots. If he gets one with less than 100k miles, can he expect to get another 100k miles out of the engine and drivetrain, with normal maintenance? Any idea about costs to maintain the chassis, brakes, major systems (aside from the RV add on stuff, which is a separate issue). I don’t have any experience with Sprinters but hopefully someone here does. Thanks in advance.
 
longarmwj

longarmwj

New member
The drive train warranty on the Sprinters was 5 year/100,000 miles so if he gets a newer model example with under 100k miles, then he has a bit of a safety cushion as far as any immediate failures.

As far as reliability, those use the Mb BlueTec diesel motors, with that unit being the 3.0 Turbo Diesel (OM642). The biggest issue with those was how complicated the emissions systems are in them. They are prone to EGR problems and can result in the entire system being damaged. To replace the entire system is about 6,000 dollars.....yes 6k. Other then the emissions system, there aren't many issues with them, at least, none that are written about. They arent BAD motors, but they aren't as solid as diesel offerings from Ford, Chevy, and Ram.
 
catahoula

catahoula

Caught the Bug
So the Ram version of the Sprinters are better all around in your experience? I have watch a lot of youtubers running both. Majority Mercedes. Thoughts on the 4x4x?
 
longarmwj

longarmwj

New member
catahoula said:
So the Ram version of the Sprinters are better all around in your experience? I have watch a lot of youtubers running both. Majority Mercedes. Thoughts on the 4x4x?
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The old ram sprinters/mercedes sprinters are very solid. Pre BlueTec so anything 2006 and below. Anything 07 and up on the Benz side of the Sprinter is going to be hit or miss emission wise. The older ones are easily half a million mile vehicles. I've never really seen much on the 4x4 ones so I cant comment on those.
 
catahoula

catahoula

Caught the Bug
longarmwj said:
The old ram sprinters/mercedes sprinters are very solid. Pre BlueTec so anything 2006 and below. Anything 07 and up on the Benz side of the Sprinter is going to be hit or miss emission wise. The older ones are easily half a million mile vehicles. I've never really seen much on the 4x4 ones so I cant comment on those.
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Thanks for the info Dawg!
 
JDDK

JDDK

Member
we have an 06 in our work fleet. had a weird vapor lock overheating issue the would boil out coolant overnight every few days .
found a tiny crack in head upon surgery. got a remanufactured head and fixed it. Its a workhorse and runs daily since 06...
 
2nd.gunman

2nd.gunman

Caught the Bug
I just to work as a Mercedes service tech up till 09 and still run sprinters in the Fleet I manage now. Only major failures I’ve seen were due to lack of maintenance or the one time we had a 4 cyl (OM646) break a crank when it hit a kangaroo. They will easily do 500k kms


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