Denver, CO area Sprinter Mechanic

Colorado_Al

Well-known member
If you need anything other than warranty service, you owe it to yourself and your Sprinter to go see Dennis at Linden in Golden, CO.
 

cahaak

New member
Completely agree that seeing Dennis is a smart move. Very easy to get to his place too, it is right off of I70 and 6th. Very helpful and knowledgable and if you want to do some learning, you could certainly watch.

Chris
 

MOBILESPRNT

New member
There is a new Mercedes dealer in Loveland/Fort Collins area. The same owner as the Westminister store. They are a bit green, but will be full service. I just hope thy are versed in these vans by the time I need service.

Darin
Darin,

We will come to you, we are Sprinter Of Littleton and we can do all you services on site. No need to take time out of your day, when we can make it easy and convenient.
 

fkkruse

New member
Big shout out to Linden Engineering!

My wife and I were driving through Denver yesterday while returning from the East coast with our new 2003 cargo van. We began experiencing acceleration problems and could not maintain speed while driving up small hills. We pulled off the road and began looking up Sprinter repair shops. My wife found this shop on Google while I was still looking for local dealers on this forum. While limping over to the shop which was only 2 miles away, I realized that I had seen many posts from them over the last couple of months. I had been looking for Sprinter information while trying to find a van to buy.

Long story short, they diagnosed our problem and got us back on the road in about an hour even though they were very busy. We had a boost problem that required a new hose and a used solenoid. I was expecting a multi-day delay. Devlin was our technician and was very knowledgeable and helpful. We got to talk to Dennis for a while as well. He kept us entertained and laughing for the entire time.

I would highly recommend LE to anyone living in the Denver area or passing through. My brother lives locally and plans to look them up for any problems with his new Sprinter RV. I will certainly use Dennis as an important Sprinter resource in the future based on this experience and his demonstrated level of knowledge on this forum. I travel often to Colorado and will travel out of my way to his shop if I experience future problems. Thanks again Devlin, Dennis and the Linden Engineering team!
 

Njclimber

Active member
Cross post from: https://www.sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74081

I feel I need to write about my experience with Linden. I am quite upset at the moment but will try to keep this as factual and objective as possible. Just to be clear Linden has not done any work to my van so this is more about our initial interaction and what I feel is very unprofessional behavior.

To start from the beginning, I have approaching 15 years diesel mechanic experience under my belt, mostly during my time in the US Army but also a few years of tech school and achieved multiple ASE certifications. I have built and repaired engines in the past and have a popular build thread over in the VW TDI world (http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=392822) Just trying to say that I am not just your everyday backyard DIYer. I live full time in my van and I try to do most repairs myself but I am getting to the point where it’s just not fun anymore and quite difficult to perform the more major jobs on the road.

Back in March I noticed a head gasket leak and broken exhaust stud on my van. My background leads me to being very diligent about any issues that need to be repaired. I decided that this was just not something I was willing to tackle on the road in someone’s driveway and would prefer to pay a Sprinter expert who has done the repair before to do it; that would be well worth the money to me. I spend most of the year in Golden, Colorado (home to Linden as well) but I just so happened just started my 2.5 month stay is Las Vegas. I was recommended through this board to go see Franks European service. I can’t speak highly enough of those guys. They are EXTREMELY professional, with a spotless, clean, organized shop. The service writer greets you and is super friendly and walks you through the whole process. They even take pictures of everything they are doing along the way and will even give you a loner car while your vehicle is being repaired. This was the kind of place where I thought I would be paying premium prices just because the service is so top notch. Anyway the quote I get from them is $2800 if everything goes according to plan but they added a $1000 buffer just in case they run into any issues. Ok I get that, totally understandable. I don’t really have $3800 to drop on my van right now for a slow head gasket leak but I have an idea of what I’m looking at.

Earlier in this thread you can see Linden replied to my question if $1500 is still an accurate quote as I have read in other threads him quote $1500 for the head gasket job. He said it is depending on “parts consumption.” Great! I’m thinking in my head what another $500-$1000 at most? Still way lower than Franks quote and closer to my budget. So I call Linden to set up an appointment. I ask the receptionist to verify that $1500 is an accurate quote for the job and she says yes the last one they just did a few months ago ran $1500. Awesome I’m in! I’ll limp the van for the next 2 months until I get back to Colorado.

Fast forward to yesterday: I arranged an Airbnb to stay at for a couple days as I have nowhere else to stay and luckily was able to borrow a car from a friend for the time. I drop my van off in the morning to get the job done. The receptionist says they will call in a few hours to let me know exactly what they are looking at and to confirm the repairs. 2 hours later I receive a call from either the mechanic or service writer letting me know that I am looking at a $4000 job if the head is good and $6500 if they need to replace the head….WTF!? I proceed to tell him that both Dennis and the receptionist quoted me $1500 so how does it jump to 4k? He said the labor alone was over $1500. To his benefit this guy was very professional in answering my questions. I asked to speak to Dennis. I asked Dennis the same thing and I was very unimpressed with his response to me. He proceeded to tell me that the when he said $1500 he meant just the labor. Since when does asking for a quote simply mean just the labor? When a customer asks for a quote that means what am I going to pay out the door. He proceeds to tell me “This isn’t Africa where you can pay a mechanic in beans; this is the United States. I wouldn’t make a living if I charged you $1500” I was appalled by that answer and decided right then and there that this guy is never getting a dime of my money or touching my van. Needless to say I promptly went to go pick up my van.

So now here I am wishing I would have just went ahead with the work with Frank which in hindsight would have been a much better value (Frank also offered a country wide 1 year - 25,000mile warranty on their work). I am pretty bitter about this experience and will not be recommending Linden to anyone. I now have to figure out if I am going to try this repair in someone’s driveway or just let it ride. Maybe I will wait until I am back in Las Vegas this fall and let a professional handle it.
 
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lindenengineering

Well-known member
Oh We were expecting a dis- satisfied non customer who wanted free or very cut price job.
Firstly we DO NOT WORK FOR FREE nor give deep discounts to walk in customers.

You were quoted 12 hours std labor charge to R n R the cylinder head on numerous occasions. Parts and Materiel is consumption is extra. Labor to do this job is $1500 which you were quoted.

Not knowing what we would find with heavy deposits running out of the head joint is anyone's guess (even you) as to what the root issues might be.

Since you said you were a diesel mechanic by trade and the quote didn't meet your expectations my suggestion was to DIY it.
I have done this many times as a factory field support tech in places liker Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan in the past to name just a few places.

I offered to refer you to the best guy in town who would look at your cylinder head once removed and direct you to parts sources locally so that you could meet your budget .
You turned at the lunchtime break with the same belligerent nasty attitude while i was on the phone to get you a referral. (he too was at lunch)

This does not garner a friendly disposition in any way whatsoever.

Please note Linden Engineering is NOT A BOY'S CLUB but rather a business that works for profit.

I am sorry we couldn't meet your budgetary expectations and we appreciate you not recommending us for the same cut price services which we don't do.
Please note from an opening discussion with a nasty attitude you will provoke an appropriate response, some manners might help in your case .

. Budgetary challenged customers we can find any day! Rather we give good service at a fair price and many will attest to that.

Please remember the world does NOT owe YOU SIR free or cut priced car repairs.
Respectfully Dennis
 
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Marshall

New member
I am writing to give a Thumbs Up to LinDen Engineering in Golden, CO. We had a check engine light come on as well as a loss of turbo. We drive to Golden and they immediately helped us out. Check engine was just a glow plug, but he spent about an hour driving the van and monitoring his fancy computer to diagnose the turbo issue. Turned out just to be a dirty air filter (I'm a little embarrassed). ? I bought a new filter from him and paid $50 total. They were friendly and quick. Nice to know that there is such a great mechanic in the Colorado area.
Marshall
 
Looking for recommendations in Denver area. Throwing a trans code and Linden is booked for a month. Another place I called is booked for a week. Currently driving cross country to PA so anyone who is trusted and might be able to get to it this week would be a plus

Mercedes of Littleton is booked until nov.
Mbclinic is booked until sept.
 
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