As the tittle says, is around town driving as bad as some suggest with the Sprinter? Meaning relatively short duration drives like 5-20 mins. If so, is there an additive you can use to mitigate and negatives? I would imagine that making sure you get some decent distance long drives in helps in some manner, but why? I suspect it has to do with emissions and reaching some sort of threshold temperature to burn something off but I don't know. Anyone care to provide me some education on this topic?
Around town driving as bad as some suggest?
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Lots of previous discussion on and around this topic. Not 4x4 specific.As the tittle says, is around town driving as bad as some suggest with the Sprinter? Meaning relatively short duration drives like 5-20 mins. If so, is there an additive you can use to mitigate and negatives? I would imagine that making sure you get some decent distance long drives in helps in some manner, but why? I suspect it has to do with emissions and reaching some sort of threshold temperature to burn something off but I don't know. Anyone care to provide me some education on this topic?
In short:
Newer sprinters have diesel particulate filters, which capture the soot that is in the exhaust. The soot gets burned off either by mileage or a trigger from a differential pressure sensor, by injecting extra fuel to elevate the exhaust gas temperature.
So, short runs create more soot as the engine temp may not fully warm up. Additionally, the burn off of soot, known as a "regen" can take in the 10-15 minute range and is interrupted by braking.
3 interrupted regens in a row will trigger a CEL and perhaps an unneeded trip to the dealer who can manually trigger a regen with his MB diagnostic equipment.
So, if you mainly drive in city with short trips, then take your vehicle out for an uninterrupted run on the highway for 20-30 minutes every other week. No additives will help.
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Also, the van now tells you when it needs to regen. There is a monitor in the service menu. It shows a percentage, and once it reaches 100%, it will start the regen cycle. You then see fuel consumption go up for 10 minutes and the regen numbers come down. Good idea to drive the van until the regen numbers are low again.
Or if you have an earlier Sprinter model a Scanguage will also allow you to see when regenerations are occurring by monitoring EGT. It's not the end of the world if you interrupt one but probably not a good idea to do so repeatedly so not a bad idea to monitor regen activity when doing primarily in-town driving.
Is the "service" manual navigated to via the controls on the steering wheel? I don't recall seeing anything about the "regen" percentage - but I may just not have known what I was looking at or for.Also, the van now tells you when it needs to regen. There is a monitor in the service menu. It shows a percentage, and once it reaches 100%, it will start the regen cycle. You then see fuel consumption go up for 10 minutes and the regen numbers come down. Good idea to drive the van until the regen numbers are low again.
It's a 2018. I don't have a Scanguage but will consider getting one if this is the only way I can monitor it.Or if you have an earlier Sprinter model a Scanguage will also allow you to see when regenerations are occurring by monitoring EGT. .
Think the 2018 does not have the dash readout for the DPF level. The Scangauge, using an Xgauge setting, will allow you to monitor your exhaust gas temps which will let you know a Regen is occurring. Mine climbs to 1123 F or more during regen, but runs between 500-700 on the flats at highway speeds. There is also an xgauge claimed for Regen off / on, but some (including me) couldn't get it to work.
Find your MY and engine here for Xgauges https://www.scangauge.com/x-gauge-commands/mercedes/
Find your MY and engine here for Xgauges https://www.scangauge.com/x-gauge-commands/mercedes/
The 2017 had def level in the pixel display so I would expect that new vans also have it.Think the 2018 does not have the dash readout for the DPF level. The Scangauge, using an Xgauge setting, will allow you to monitor your exhaust gas temps which will let you know a Regen is occurring. Mine climbs to 1123 F or more during regen, but runs between 500-700 on the flats at highway speeds. There is also an xgauge claimed for Regen off / on, but some (including me) couldn't get it to work.
Find your MY and engine here for Xgauges https://www.scangauge.com/x-gauge-commands/mercedes/
Sorry, believe the display under discussion is not the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) level display, but the diesel particulate filter (DPF) display. Some of the Gen 3 (VS30) Sprinters (2019+) have a DPF display. Once it hits 100 the regen starts.The 2017 had def level in the pixel display so I would expect that new vans also have it.
Sorry, believe the display under discussion is not the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) level display, but the diesel particulate filter (DPF) display. Some of the Gen 3 (VS30) Sprinters (2019+) have a DPF display. Once it hits 100 the regen starts.
Correct, I have a 2019 with Premium Plus. This gives you the advanced menus in the dashboard. It is under Service, Particulate filter.
Wrinkledpants
2017 144WB 4x4
Yes, DPF getting hot a long-term issue if you spend the bulk of your time city driving. The shorter term issue is engine oil not getting hot enough to burn off the fuel dilution and condensation. Do enough short driving, and you may find yourself with a high oil level warning due to the accumulation. I've had it once when doing some electrical testing that required a lot of starting/stoping and idling.As the tittle says, is around town driving as bad as some suggest with the Sprinter? Meaning relatively short duration drives like 5-20 mins. If so, is there an additive you can use to mitigate and negatives? I would imagine that making sure you get some decent distance long drives in helps in some manner, but why? I suspect it has to do with emissions and reaching some sort of threshold temperature to burn something off but I don't know. Anyone care to provide me some education on this topic?
Otherwise, I treat the van like I would any other car. Sometimes I do short trips where the engine doesn't get up to temp, but I don't think anything of it. If you're delivering packages for 30k miles that's one thing. But, if you're doing short trips blended with longer trips (like most people do with normal habits), you're fine.