Howdy,
I have five Sprinters, two of which are the newer (NCV3) model. Our oldest vehicle just hit 250,000 miles, and we haven't had any major problems with it. But our 2008, which is at about 140,000 miles, just had major surgery. It will end up costing $4k-$5k. I thought I'd share my experiences so you don't have to experience my recent experience.
All our vehicles run back and forth between Central IL and ORD. They have a nice, easy trip that's mostly interstate miles. Brakes typically last more than 150,000 miles and Michelins tend to last about 100,000 miles. In other words, this is low-stress work.
Unfortunately, they do some idling at both ends - as the vehicles do a pick-up loop through town, and at the Airports and suburban malls we serve. I never really thought much about Sprinter idling, even as I've been pretty aggressive about preventing idling of full-sized buses.
We recently started slicing and dicing our gps data in more useful ways. At the end of every trip, the driver prints out a report that starts like this:
Sprinter 101
Speeding in 1 out of 2045 samples. Max speed = 72.1 mph.
Stopped 421/2045 samples. Time idling: 19:45
5 Idle Events:
10:56 AM (3:15)
11:15 AM (3:30)
11:22 AM (5:45) (Excessive idle time)
01:54 PM (3:15)
04:58 PM (4:00)
HGI Stops:
ar 10:43:48
dp 11:00:18
4.4 mph NW, 40.1432 x -88.1890 at 19:35:10 (2010-05-01) [3 sats] (engine off, t)
0.6 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:34:55 (2010-05-01) [3 sats] (engine on, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:34:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:34:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:34:10 (2010-05-01) [8 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:33:55 (2010-05-01) [8 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:33:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:33:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:33:10 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:32:55 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:32:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:32:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:32:10 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:31:55 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:31:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:31:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
9.9 mph N, 40.1431 x -88.1890 at 19:31:10 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
6.8 mph E, 40.1429 x -88.1895 at 19:30:55 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
14.9 mph N, 40.1423 x -88.1897 at 19:30:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
18.0 mph E, 40.1420 x -88.1905 at 19:30:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
41.0 mph N, 40.1406 x -88.1915 at 19:30:10 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
39.2 mph NE, 40.1383 x -88.1928 at 19:29:55 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
41.0 mph N, 40.1361 x -88.1942 at 19:29:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
and has one line per 30 seconds.
When we started getting these reports, I realized we were wasting mucho $$ on idling. Drivers were typically turning in trip reports with 40-60 minutes of idling. We've gotten most drivers down to almost zero idling, but not everyone is cooperating as well as we'd like.
A couple weeks ago, our '08 got very sick: poor acceleration, check engine light, power surges, etc. We took it to our wonderful dealer, Napleton Dodge of Lansing, IL. They cleaned the particulate trap, thinking that would solve all the problems. It did not. They dug deeper and found that the various sensors in the intakes had been messed up by oil in the intake. They thought that the problem was due to overfilling of oil.
I checked our oil purchase records against our maintenance records, and it looked as if we've using oil at about 12.5 quarts per 5000 miles (crankcase capacity). The engine has not required top-offs between services, and drivers are not allowed to add oil. I was quite baffled by the overfiling theory.
We talked to our dealer a bit more today, and the consensus seems to be that oil builds up in undesirable places when the engine idles excessively. When they heard we were idling nearly an hour a day in 10-15 minute bursts, they were aghast. Yup, they said, that's your problem.
Luckily, our '09 only has about 25k miles on it, and about 10k came after we started clamping down on idling. Hopefully, we won't have a huge repair bill in 100k miles.
If the dealer is right, I think it might be a good idea for everyone to avoid idling their Sprinters unnecessarily...
I have five Sprinters, two of which are the newer (NCV3) model. Our oldest vehicle just hit 250,000 miles, and we haven't had any major problems with it. But our 2008, which is at about 140,000 miles, just had major surgery. It will end up costing $4k-$5k. I thought I'd share my experiences so you don't have to experience my recent experience.
All our vehicles run back and forth between Central IL and ORD. They have a nice, easy trip that's mostly interstate miles. Brakes typically last more than 150,000 miles and Michelins tend to last about 100,000 miles. In other words, this is low-stress work.
Unfortunately, they do some idling at both ends - as the vehicles do a pick-up loop through town, and at the Airports and suburban malls we serve. I never really thought much about Sprinter idling, even as I've been pretty aggressive about preventing idling of full-sized buses.
We recently started slicing and dicing our gps data in more useful ways. At the end of every trip, the driver prints out a report that starts like this:
Sprinter 101
Speeding in 1 out of 2045 samples. Max speed = 72.1 mph.
Stopped 421/2045 samples. Time idling: 19:45
5 Idle Events:
10:56 AM (3:15)
11:15 AM (3:30)
11:22 AM (5:45) (Excessive idle time)
01:54 PM (3:15)
04:58 PM (4:00)
HGI Stops:
ar 10:43:48
dp 11:00:18
4.4 mph NW, 40.1432 x -88.1890 at 19:35:10 (2010-05-01) [3 sats] (engine off, t)
0.6 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:34:55 (2010-05-01) [3 sats] (engine on, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:34:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:34:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:34:10 (2010-05-01) [8 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:33:55 (2010-05-01) [8 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:33:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:33:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:33:10 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:32:55 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:32:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:32:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:32:10 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:31:55 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:31:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
0.0 mph --, 40.1432 x -88.1889 at 19:31:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine off, t)
9.9 mph N, 40.1431 x -88.1890 at 19:31:10 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
6.8 mph E, 40.1429 x -88.1895 at 19:30:55 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
14.9 mph N, 40.1423 x -88.1897 at 19:30:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
18.0 mph E, 40.1420 x -88.1905 at 19:30:25 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
41.0 mph N, 40.1406 x -88.1915 at 19:30:10 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
39.2 mph NE, 40.1383 x -88.1928 at 19:29:55 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
41.0 mph N, 40.1361 x -88.1942 at 19:29:40 (2010-05-01) [9 sats] (engine on, t)
and has one line per 30 seconds.
When we started getting these reports, I realized we were wasting mucho $$ on idling. Drivers were typically turning in trip reports with 40-60 minutes of idling. We've gotten most drivers down to almost zero idling, but not everyone is cooperating as well as we'd like.
A couple weeks ago, our '08 got very sick: poor acceleration, check engine light, power surges, etc. We took it to our wonderful dealer, Napleton Dodge of Lansing, IL. They cleaned the particulate trap, thinking that would solve all the problems. It did not. They dug deeper and found that the various sensors in the intakes had been messed up by oil in the intake. They thought that the problem was due to overfilling of oil.
I checked our oil purchase records against our maintenance records, and it looked as if we've using oil at about 12.5 quarts per 5000 miles (crankcase capacity). The engine has not required top-offs between services, and drivers are not allowed to add oil. I was quite baffled by the overfiling theory.
We talked to our dealer a bit more today, and the consensus seems to be that oil builds up in undesirable places when the engine idles excessively. When they heard we were idling nearly an hour a day in 10-15 minute bursts, they were aghast. Yup, they said, that's your problem.
Luckily, our '09 only has about 25k miles on it, and about 10k came after we started clamping down on idling. Hopefully, we won't have a huge repair bill in 100k miles.
If the dealer is right, I think it might be a good idea for everyone to avoid idling their Sprinters unnecessarily...