Problems to get german sprinter van fixed

Hi,

I am currently travelling the US in my 2002 Diesel Mercedes Sprinter van. I shipped it over from Germany. Now I am having trouble to find a service center which can read the data from the engine cause every place I asked did not have the right converter to plug my car into their computer. I am in Salt Lake City at the moment but am willing to drive a state or two in order to get it fixed. Any advice on a service center or dealership that can handlee the read out?

many thanks in advance
Kev

I have had my sprinter serviced at Warner Freightliner, who is a certified Sprinter Sales & Service Center as Sprinter are badged as Freightliner in USA too.

http://www.warnertc.com/locations/salt-lake-city-utah

or

http://www.sprinterdealerut.com/


Both links are for same place.

ps... they were the first/original Sprinter Dealer in North America.


.

Orion,
I think the issue here is that his German Sprinter (he imported it on a temporary basis to travel around and will have to ship it back to
Germany when he's done touring the USA) has the round OBD-II plug (EURO/AUS/UK style, and while the authorized MB and Freightliner
Sprinter dealers have the MB SDS machine, they do not have the interface cable for the round OBD-II port.
Diagnostic software/firmware may differ as well.
Mr. Chapati.... you might want to contact Dennis Williams @ LinDen Engineering in Golden, Colorado.
He is very innovative and may be able to diagnose your Sprinter issues with one of his diagnostic machines, plus he has
contacts in UK/EURO that might be able to ship him the interface that's needed to connect your Sprinter to USA spec. diagnostic
test rigs.
http://www.lindenengineering.com/
If, as I suspect here, it's the interface that's the issue, perhaps you could have someone back in Germany Fed Ex you the correct
diagnostics adapter.
It's a good days drive from Salt Lake City to Golden/Denver area, but I'd give Dennis a call as he's the only one I know of that is innovative enough to give you the diagnostic tests (or not) that will clear the issues with your Sprinter.
He may be able to assess and correct your issue without the diagnostics.
LinDen Engineering
1237 Rogers St
Golden, CO
Phone: 720-344-1877
Hope this helps,
Roger

Thx Roger,
you exactly described the issue I have and posted the info I was hoping for. Thx very much. I'll contact Linden...
Kev


PS: Been at Freightliners today and they couldnt help :-(

Adapters readily available on the internet (I bought one to connect my Scangauge II) but delivery time would be a problem. The eBay sellers I've looked at for this product are all in China.

geoffs said:

Adapters readily available on the internet (I bought one to connect my Scangauge II) but delivery time would be a problem. The eBay sellers I've looked at for this product are all in China.

Click to expand...

Hi geoffs,

could you post a link?

Cheers
Kev

Hi Kev,

As the results may be geographically different i.e. you're in the US, I'm in Australia, just enter this search term into eBay:

benz sprinter obd adapter

It brings up at least 10 hits for me, mostly in Hiong Kong (the last one is in Germany but 6 times the price)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/14-to-16...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item486139144d
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MERCEDES...orcycle_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ae3c71923
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Diagnose...55?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item3c97aaa4af

I bought one from good old Fleabay in the UK for £6.50

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-...LE-/250991204203?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:GB:3160

Keith.

Great, many thanks,
do you guys know if the shape of the interface cable is the only differnce between the systems or may the software differ as well?

Cheers
Kev

Hi Kev
you might also get some help at Mercedes-Benz USA, Customer Assistance Center 877-762-8267
good luck

Hi Kev,
Are you travelling the US for up to 12 months on a 'Carnet de Passage' or did you just pay a tax on the value of the Sprinter so as to stay/come and go/longer than a year? Can you leave the US and leave the Sprinter stored? Can you do Canada on a similar arrangement?
Are you still on German registration, and was it difficult to find appropriate US insurance for your vehicle etc.
Did your Sprinter get transported in a container, Roll on Roll off , or on some other type of platform, and were you able to keep all of your contents within the Sprinter when transported?
I only ask as I am very keen to do the same in the future, and will likely start a thread further down the line. Appreciate any info that you can reply with.
Regards

Mr.Chapati said:

Great, many thanks,
do you guys know if the shape of the interface cable is the only difference between the systems or may the software differ as well?

Cheers
Kev

Click to expand...

Hi Kev,

Not a definitive answer but I'm fairly certain it's the same.

I run a Scan Gauge 2 in my 2003 built T1N through the lead I linked to and all seems to be OK. It certainly hasn't thrown any errors up yet!

HTH,
Keith.