Bum Mechanic?

K

KeyPowell

New member
So I purchased a 2003 Sprinter 2500 last year for my locksmithing business and I have had A LOT of maintenance issues. I am starting to question if my mechanic is capable of working on these vehicles and I want to know if he caused the following problem:

I noticed my fan belt squealing (progressively getting worse) so I brought it to my mechanic. He suggested a new belt and tensioner ($450 installed). After getting my van back from him I started hearing the squealing intermitently within a couple of days. The squealing got worse and worse over the next couple of days. I contacted my mechanic and made an appointment to review the problem. The next day the squealing stopped and was replaced by rattling. I also noticed a few drops of oil whenever I parked dripping off the bottom of the front of the oil pan. I also had trouble starting the van (like the battery was dead) and finally the A/C stopped working. This all happened within a day.

The day of my appointment with the mechanic the belt broke leaving me stranded.

When he reviewed the problem he said the alternator needed to be replaced because the "clutch" broke.

Frankly, the new belt was on about a week and I am not happy about another repair that seems related to his original repair. Is it possible that the alternator broke due to his poor installation? I have not tracked down where the oil is coming from, but is it possible that a fan belt replacement could causse an oil leak?


I want to be fair to my mechanic, but this just seems like bad workmanship. What do you all think.
 
sikwan

sikwan

06 Tin Can
The squealing you're experiencing could be one of the pulleys that the serpentine rides on. It's documented, so do a search.

I don't think the alternator has a clutch, but he may be talking about the A/C compressor that has a clutch.

There are a lot of variables happening and I don't know where to begin. I'm surprised he recommended replacing the tensioner as that is not one of the failure items that I have ever heard of.

One thing he could have done is route the serpentine the wrong way, which is probably why your supposedly new belt didn't last very long.

If I were you, I would peruse this site to learn about your Sprinter as much as you can and then take the appropriate steps to 1) fix it yourself or 2) bring it to a more competent mechanic.
 
C

cincigp

Member
Maybe its just me, but $450 to replace a belt tensioner seems like a lot of money to me. I think I did mine in under an hour and the tensioner itself was ~$100.
 
jdcaples

jdcaples

Not Suitable w/220v Gen
cincigp said:
Maybe its just me, but $450 to replace a belt tensioner seems like a lot of money to me. I think I did mine in under an hour and the tensioner itself was ~$100.
Click to expand...
If a mechanic doesn't do it every week/month/quarter, there may be some learning curve to conquer.

Nearly all learning situations require some form of tuition and - in my experience - tuition fees is passed on to the customer, usually in the form of billable hourly labor.

The original poster is free to fire his mechanic and seek service where the tuition's been paid and the task.... um, words are failing me.... oh, here you go: "where the task isn't yesterday's news."


-Jon
 
seans

seans

Member
I would agree that if Sprinters are not seen regularly in your mechanic's shop, that you should stop other Sprinter owners you see when you drive around and find out who they take their Sprinters to.

Both the air conditioner compressor and the alternator have clutches. That your air conditioner failed, and that the sound was intermittent, and that oil leaked out, would suggest an air conditioning compressor failure. They have oil in them, and the clutch only comes on some of the time. Perhaps the mechanic misspoke and meant "air conditioning compressor" but said "alternator" (I switch terms by accident from time to time.)

On the original repair work. It's possible that the fresh belt gripped the AC clutch pulley a little better and that the new tensioner was a little stronger than the old one, and so the slippage went away briefly. Was the squealing intermittent before you went into the shop? That is, was it constant, or did it come on for a while, go away for a while, come on for a while, or did you have the AC on full so that it was cycling very little or not at all? In other words, perhaps the AC compressor was failing all along, and the new pulley and tensioner masked the problem for a little bit. But then the question would be, why did the mechanic not spot this? This would not be something requiring expert Sprinter knowledge. It would require some diagnosis, such as turning the AC clutch on and off, measuring belt tension, etc. Perhaps the belt really was old and perhaps the tension really was not too good.

It is difficult to second guess the mechanic, and our armchair diagnosis is worth what you paid for it. But again, if yours is the only Sprinter your mechanic works on, well... If your mechanic does not own an SDA or DAD or DRB-III with the Sprinter card and cable, and uses an OBD-II meter to read codes from your Sprinter, that would immediately bring his ability to truly diagnose your van's problems (albeit maybe different problems than this one) into question.
 
K

KeyPowell

New member
So here is an update:

The pully on the alternator sheared off. The squealing did used to go away when I turned off the A/C, but it also went away when I was driving at higher speeds so I was guessing that it was a tension issue.

I brought the Sprinter to the Dodge Dealership and they wanted $975 to replace the belt and tensioner. They also charged me $89 to give me this quote. Needless to say I ran out of their dealership.

I am now waiting on the quote for the new alternator. I still do not have an answer to the leaking oil but I wouldn't be surprised if I have lost a quart over the past week and a half.

I would love to bring my vehicle to a Sprinter mechanic but I have been unable to find one. This is my third mechanic and unless I am confident he did not cause the alternator problem, I will be looking for my fourth.

Unfortunately, I do not have the time to perform these repairs myself. I have a thriving business and frankly don't have time for any of this *expletive*.

Thanks for your help. Send me a message if you know of a good mechanic in Naples, Florida.
 
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