Looking for guidance / opinions before purchasing a 2006 Sprinter in Bay Area.

Hello all,

I'm new to the sprinter world but have done a lot of research on this forum and the internet in general.

I've found a 2006 Sprinter locally from someone I do business with. It has 98,000 miles on it. They are asking a fair price for it.

I live in the Bay Area and have made an appointment for Collie Auto-works in San Rafael to take a look at it this upcoming week.



A few questions I have:

1.There is some major rust on near / around the windshield. How much of a burden is this? I'm attaching some pictures. Does anyone specifically have experience getting this scraped/repaired/painted?

https://imgur.com/a/ptOLRU5

2. Does anyone have experience having a tall roof 148'' Sprinter painted in or around the bay area / California? If so any recommendations? Aprox cost? I've seen lots of threads about painting it myself and that's an option as well but I wanted to research the alternative as well.

3. The owner told me he once accidentally put regular gasoline in it and drove it for a mile, then called a tow and got Mercedes to take care of it. It doesn't seem to have any issues, but wanted to know from anyone with lots of experience if that can cause problems way down the road? I'll also ask the mechanic this upcoming week.

4. The owner said they added a filter to allow it to have Biodiesel put into it, I'm unsure if they've ever actually ran biodiesel in it. But if they didn't is just the filter something I should look out for? Any hesitations with that? He didn't sound too confident that he knew anything about the specifics just said that it was no capable of taking Biodiesel. Also if they did use biodiesel a little bit does anyone know anything about how that can impact long term longevity? It sounds like they barely used it if at all.

5. I know (thanks to this forum) things to ask the mechanic to check (Glow Plugs, Black Death, etc) for this year sprinter specifically. Is there anything else I should mention to them to check?

6. Does anyone know of any Bay Area sprinter mechanics besides this person? I live in Marin but am willing to travel as well. I've read the threads that mention Collie Autoworks on here also.


Thank you very much for your help, I'm excited!

Travis

Is this a California Sprinter?

How long ago was the windshield replaced?

The second question would tell us how easily salvageable the metal underneath is.

Yes California Sprinter.

I will ask about the timeframe of the windshield replacement.

User Vanski is in the Bay area. I would suggest seeing if he can do a PPI for you. His rates are reasonable, and he knows his stuff.

Thats awesome, thank you Midwestdrifter.

IF You need to pass California emissions I would be concerned about open monitors (see t21 recall thread) . California is the most stringent, and with their criteria I would be concerned about not passing, as closing the monitors does not appear to be a straight forward process.

I bought a 05 or 06 with 120,000. Motor had been over heated and I spent $$ on fixes. Enden up needing a new motor or new head and gasket. Both quoted at $10,000. Traded it in on a new one. More money but i have been very happy with my decision. I say keep searching for a newer and better van.

Tupelosprinter said:

I bought a 05 or 06 with 120,000. Motor had been over heated and I spent $$ on fixes. Enden up needing a new motor or new head and gasket. Both quoted at $10,000. Traded it in on a new one. More money but i have been very happy with my decision. I say keep searching for a newer and better van.

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Well that proves the age old adage of not buying a none running vehicle (for more than scrap value). The OP’s vehicle is operational so a different can of worms.

My van was operational and i drove it for probably 10,000 miles before it started to push water out of the radiator expansion tank. I won’t go into the details of the fixes we tried. It finally got to the point where I couldn’t trust the vehicle. This is just a cautionary tale about older used Sprinters and the potentially high cost of repairs.