New Dude New Sprinter!

So... Uh yea been lurking around for a while... I probably read at least 80 or 90 build threads, busses, vans, trucks and cars. Opted for the Sprinter based on size, reliability, availability of parts, sex appeal, and resale value. Im picking this rig up to a sleep in 2-3 times a week instead of commuting home 50 miles from grad school. Basically its going to be my commuter/apartment. Once I got serious (and told my wife) started looking. I picked out the exact van I would order if I were buying from the dealer and then I set to look for it... My starting budget was 20k with less than 150k miles on 144 Crew with a clean slate.

I found a few that met most of my criteria but just didn't do it for me overall. I made a few calls and made a few more offers. Missed a couple great deals by minutes. Then today it happened. I offered a guy $20k on the nose for his van listed for well above that, and he bit.

2011 144 2500 Crew premium package, brilliant metallic silver, OM-642 V6 5g ironic/NAG-1 5 speed, 106k miles with beautifully detailed records confirmed by the local dealer.

I have a good bank of airline points so I dropped 12.5k points and $30 on a flight from Cali to Philly and ill post some pictures Saturday when I get the keys. I have done a few build threads of different vehicles before and they were always handy when I went to sell them later. My intention with this van is to slowly build it into a respectable camper and most likely upgrade to a 170 after grad school is over. For now the 144 is perfect combo between a crash pad for me and a grocery getter for the fam.

Lastly I am about to take a relatively unknown sprinter cross-country 2600 miles... any words of wisdom to start us off with?

Might want to pick up a Scan Gauge II so you can use the 2600 miles from Philly to Cali learning the best ways to drive the new to you Sprinter.
Installs in a few minutes, and takes a couple of fuel fills to get the fuel offset percentage dialed in (suggest you start with a -40% on Diesel A) then the SGII will give you all the info you need to get the best mileage and best performance from the Sprinter.
The Scan Gauge II is NOT an OBD-II diagnostic tool. It only gives generic USA codes which are different than the MB SDS diagnostic codes and subcodes.
It simply a driving aid so you can be more in synch with what your engine management systems are doing for you.
Of particular importance is the % engine load (LOD PID on Scan Gauge II).
It will tell you when you need to manually downshift out of 5th gear (0.83:1 ratio overdrive) and into 4th gear (1:1 ratio thru the transmission.
When the %LOD maxes out at 99%, you are using all the power the OM-642 3.0 liter V6 develop at your current RPM/Speed level.
Tapping the gear lever to the left (-) will drop you down to 4th gear (you can manually downshift while in cruise control) and increase the RPM by ~ 500 RPM. This may serve to reduce the % engine LOD.
When the % LOD is maxed out, the Manifold Pressure (MAP/turbo boost) is also maxed out and your fuel system is forcing in fuel at 2-4x the rate necessary to maintain that speed.
Best performance and fuel mileage will be in the 2700-3200 RPM range when pulling uphill or heading into strong headwinds.
Hope this helps,
Roger

Thanks for that tidbit Sailquick! It did cross my mind to pick up a device to monitor the vehicle during the trip, but I decided not to with no real reason. I drive a ridiculous amount so ill pick one up soon so I can get myself connected to the rig better

Final trip details, 2920 miles in 48 hours. I tag teamed the drive with a buddy and we really only stoppped twice. Cruise was set at between 2800-3000 RPMS for most of the trip, we started off with 18mpgs fighting the wind out of the west coast then after a fill up we ended up getting into a quick moving caravan of truckers and I hid inbetween them for nearly 450 miles before needing to pull off, got 23 mpgs during that segment. The rest of the trip was pretty unremarkable once we passed Denver. I have never been one to track mileage for any reason beyond curiosity. I like to drive and if the drive isn't fun then it isn't worth it.

During the sale I was able to spend some time with the vehicles mechanic which was a huge plus for me. We went through the entire record back to 8k miles recently they had a CEL pop up with what he called a nonspecific code P0208, which through all his and my own research doesn't correspond to anything... I didn't really let it affect my decision on the purchase. Then about 600 miles in boom the same code popped up. Does anyone have any further information about this code? It appeared to have zero effect on drivability or fuel economy.

The Original Owner never ran a fuel additive of any kind took immaculate care of everything. I'm a big believer of a fuel additive being careful to stick to known brands that don't contain any solvents or alcohols. After I ran about 90 gallons of fuel and a full bottom of additive the CEL shut of... I had zero other issues throughout the trip.

I have no idea why these photos are not imbedding?

Sounds like you had a good trip!
I'll be the first to ask....which brand/type fuel additive did you use?

Im a big fan of Stanadyne, they have several different additives, with local sourcing in Philly I just used their performance stuff... With biodiesel Ultra low sulfur blend I have heard an additive isn't necessary but with everything else its a good plan to run some maybe every other fill up.

http://stanadyneadditives.com

Congratulations and welcome to the forum. You will like that color.

nice ride

When you register your vehicle in CA, I believe you can register it as an "auto" as opposed to a "truck". This will save you on the weight fees of $140-$150 each year. You want to research this and save you a few bucks.

Also, I have heard that in some neighborhoods, the neighbors get a bit bent out of shape if you are sleeping inside your vehicle in front of their homes. You may want to try different areas. You may want to check the city muni codes or campus codes to see what is ok and iffy.

I read somewhere that there are employees of Google or Facebook that do the same thing you are doing. They eat on campus, shower in the gym and live out in the box truck/van.

Scampermobile,
OK, I've been waiting for this one for a long time.
It shows to go Ya that generic (USA) Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC's) obtained with
generic OBD-2 code readers often leads you in the wrong direction vs having the Sprinter
correctly diagnosed with the MB SDS diagnostic systems at the dealers or having specialist
shop like Linden Engineering in Colorado do the diagnostics using the latest high tech diagnostic
devices that can read the correct codes and subcodes.
P0208 is a malfunction in the #8 cylinder in your Sprinter.
https://www.engine-codes.com/P0208.html
Small problem here......your Sprinter only has 6 cylinders.
I rest my case.
As far as which "additive" to use, I hope you read the guidance in the
Operator's Manual that cautions against the use of any "additives" beyond a
fuel anti-gel if you are in severe cold temps?
I've never added anything in 375,000 miles in Sprinters, and 450,000 miles in
my Mitsu-Fuso 4x4 box truck.
Some folks seem to like to spend the extra $$ to give themselves the idea that
adding something may prevent a problem, that may never happen.
Roger

I have had the sprinter about 2 months now, and it has quickly became my daily driver. I work from home most of the time but when I need to head out im on the road for a few days. I opted to DD it and learn more about it before getting into a build. From my dozen or so nights a month my priorities have shifted several times and I know whats most important to me now. I would encourage any new owners to 'ruff' it in their van for a few days to see what amenities they begin to miss first.

For me the first thing I miss is a storage solution, for work I'm just one dude in a hammock with a bag but even then I end up losing a sock or having a small mess. When its all said and done its a family of 4 in here and optimal storage solutions are important. Next big ticket item is interior lighting, I like to see what it is that I am doing... Along with that is privacy control, which will come in with window shades.

I have a background in the military and our non tactical vehicles were all outfitted with top dollar items from various sources but the interior LED lighting was something that I always liked, most of the stuff I see from Rigid or outside van is nice but its plastic and is to RV for my taste. Aircraft supply and mil spec items are much more robust, their electrical components are better sourced so my entire electrical system will be much more reliable.

http://www.hoffmanengineering.com/L...-Hoffman-Engineering/Vehicle-Round-Dome-Light
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/el/interiolighting/ledutility.php

So here we are, about 10 months and 30k miles after purchase. I have done some very fun and exciting trips and upgrades to the sprinter and am totally in love with the van.

Now for the rub... I just drove from Seattle back to SoCal and while driving uphill behind a slow group I started losing speed, and noticed I had zero boost, no Turbo spool. Pulled off shut it down, couldn't find anything out of the ordinary under the hood. Fired it back up and everything was back to normal for about 30 miles.... What I have discovered in limping it home was that with the van in drive I have hardly any throttle response and zero turbo. If I manually shift it I can actually get some speed and keep it rolling. I can't get the RPM's over 3000k. Now that I am home in Cali I have done some short drives around town and the turbo will come and go. I didn't even get a check Engine light for several hundred miles of driving like this.

Could this be a DPF issue?

I cleaned the ERG 10k miles ago, and am going to clean it up today as well. I am searching for split hoses and other issues.

Probably not DPF. That's emissions-related and almost always will set the check engine light.

I know charge air leaks (the intake system from the turbo to the intake valves) can cause the computers to shut down the turbo. I'd start there. Looking for a bit of oil on the outside of the charge air hoses or the intercooler is one way to spot leaks.

I suspect charge air leak as well. Had my GL 350 spit the charge air pressure sensor out today on my way back from vacation. Sounded like a whistle of a lot of air. Gave me three attempts with acceleration before threw check engine light.

Exactly the symptoms I experienced with a charge air hose leak. My Ultragauge (similar to Scangauge) told me precisely what was happening. I limped home (300 miles, six mountain passes) and replaced it the next week. Others have effected a roadside repair with gaffer tape and wire, but you need to locate the leak precisely to do this.

So I inspected everything I could get my hands on and eyes on and couldn't find any residue, oil, splits or anything suspicious. I was able to get the dealer to pull the code and its a FAILURE TO CHARGE code in regards to the turbo system. Naturally those clowns think the turbo has failed and want to replace it.

I am going to inspect everything again and see if I can find a crack or leak anywhere. I don't think they actually looked.

find someone with a smoke machune

ptheland said:

Probably not DPF. That's emissions-related and almost always will set the check engine light.

I know charge air leaks (the intake system from the turbo to the intake valves) can cause the computers to shut down the turbo. I'd start there. Looking for a bit of oil on the outside of the charge air hoses or the intercooler is one way to spot leaks.

Click to expand...

I initially thought it may be DPR related because of the presence of a backpressure sensor. I have been Cleanning my EGR every 10k miles but it hasn't completely rid me of my EGR related issues. I guess its time to just replace the EGR since its a known quantity and see what results that gains me.

So, I must say that my local dealership tech did a much better job than the service coordinator gave them credit for. The write up tells me exactly what was wrong... The service coordinator told me "Needs new Tubro, I can order it now if you want?"

The tech notes say:
Code 123900 Charge Pressure to low
Code 123A00 Charge pressure too high
Code 126800 Boost pressure regulator reports a fault
16E100 Charge pressure Faulty

He also smoke tested the system and found no leaks. He states "performed actuation of y77/8 Boost pressure regulator and found the regulator not regulating the boost when actuated" checked all wiring no opens or shorts.

**Boost pressure regulator not available separate from the turbo assembly**

So ill take him at his word that this is the culprit to the problems. So far I haven't found a source for the boost pressure regulator yet but there are some other mercedes Hella modules that are discussed to have been easily disassembled and repaired. Electrical is kinda my thing so that is most likely what I will be doing.

The boost pressure regulator is part of the turbo assy.
They come as a matched pair and are programmed as such.
Yes sometimes you can get lucky if the actuator is defective in isolation by doing a swap!

However in most cases its the variable vane internals that are sticking due to wear.
In these cases its best to simply replace the turbo.

The dealership will most likely want to install a MB reman unit @ about $2200 plus labor of 6,5 hours.
Sundry parts add up to about $50 and an oil change say $175.

I tend to always fit NEW one from Garrett which is a few bucks cheaper.
Job hovers around $3000 by the time you're done & out the door.
Dennis

lindenengineering said:

The boost pressure regulator is part of the turbo assy.
They come as a matched pair and are programmed as such.
Yes sometimes you can get lucky if the actuator is defective in isolation by doing a swap!

However in most cases its the variable vane internals that are sticking due to wear.
In these cases its best to simply replace the turbo.

The dealership will most likely want to install a MB reman unit @ about $2200 plus labor of 6,5 hours.
Sundry parts add up to about $50 and an oil change say $175.

I tend to always fit NEW one from Garrett which is a few bucks cheaper.
Job hovers around $3000 by the time you're done & out the door.
Dennis

Click to expand...

Dennis, Thanks for the input, I have read a ton of your stuff and responses on here so I value what you have to say. I have dug pretty deep into this, while taking things apart I found that the crank case vent sensor was full of some kind of fluid... It wasn't fuel or oil, but it wasn't just water either... so I replaced that. At this point my plan is to remove the boost pressure regulator and test the actual printed circuit board for broken soldier joints. This has been listed as an issue on other hella units similar in style. If I can eliminate the PCB as an issue then I will be as you said much better off getting an entirely new unit.

Thanks! will report and post pictures of what I find.