jlmccarthy
New member
My wife posed this question in a slightly different way earlier today on the general Sprinter-talk forum.
We are considering purchasing a used 2004 Sprinter 2500 (140 wheelbase, high roof passenger van) for about $20,000. But we (particularly my wife) are concerned that this vehicle has 118,000 miles on the odometer, and only has maintenance records from the second owner, who purchased it a little over a year ago when it had about 105,000 miles on the odometer. We are taking it to get checked out by a local Dodge/Sprinter dealer who services fleets for FedEx, etc. and seem to know what they are doing. And I'm planning to give
them an extended version of Vic's good checklist of things to look for I found elsewhere on this forum
(https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5174)
But the more basic question remains....
Would we have less frequent and less severe problems if we hold out for a lower mileage sprinter
(still T1N 2500 140 high roof passenger model)? which may be hard to find! (especially one close to home)
I'm getting more comfortable with being able to find a Dodge/Sprinter dealer that can work on the van
wherever we may be.
Even though the axe is removing 25% of the Dodge dealers, my suspicion is that the percentage
of Sprinter dealers who get cut will be smaller. And even if the local Dodge service dept isn't very
savy about Sprinters, I now have an excellent local service dept here in the SF Bay Area
that they can call for help and guidance -- in addition to this forum.
Is this thinking naive?
We would particularly appreciate hearing from any of you who have experience
with T1N Sprinters with over 100,000 miles on them.
Thanks!
~John & Kathy
We are considering purchasing a used 2004 Sprinter 2500 (140 wheelbase, high roof passenger van) for about $20,000. But we (particularly my wife) are concerned that this vehicle has 118,000 miles on the odometer, and only has maintenance records from the second owner, who purchased it a little over a year ago when it had about 105,000 miles on the odometer. We are taking it to get checked out by a local Dodge/Sprinter dealer who services fleets for FedEx, etc. and seem to know what they are doing. And I'm planning to give
them an extended version of Vic's good checklist of things to look for I found elsewhere on this forum
(https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5174)
But the more basic question remains....
Would we have less frequent and less severe problems if we hold out for a lower mileage sprinter
(still T1N 2500 140 high roof passenger model)? which may be hard to find! (especially one close to home)
I'm getting more comfortable with being able to find a Dodge/Sprinter dealer that can work on the van
wherever we may be.
Even though the axe is removing 25% of the Dodge dealers, my suspicion is that the percentage
of Sprinter dealers who get cut will be smaller. And even if the local Dodge service dept isn't very
savy about Sprinters, I now have an excellent local service dept here in the SF Bay Area
that they can call for help and guidance -- in addition to this forum.
Is this thinking naive?
We would particularly appreciate hearing from any of you who have experience
with T1N Sprinters with over 100,000 miles on them.
Thanks!
~John & Kathy