LOOKING AT TRANSITS

Purchased a new 2013 Sprinter crew van in July of 2013. Only use it for vacation trips and transporting r/c airplanes to fly-ins. 17,000 miles. in six years. First "A" service, May 2015, 6,000 miles. No problems, $218. Second "A" service, May 2017, 13,000 miles. They found an oil leak from turbo outlet housing. Replaced oil leak seal ring at turbocharger, $244. Cost covered by my seven year extended warranty.
First "B" service and airbag recall, different dealership from last "A" service. May 2019, 17,000 miles. Found (leak?") during service the oil cooler and the intake seal from the turbo to the air filter box. Removed and replaced the seal on the turbo that was leaking. 18.7 hours. $3,212. Again covered by extended warranty. Also had fuel injection service. Diesel injector flush kit with filter $285 (my wallet).
Parts for the oil leak: Compensating ring, three O rings, elastomer-molded seal, flange gasket and another unnamed gasket.
My warranty runs out in July 2020. There is no way I am going to keep this van past this date. It will be traded in on a 2020 Transit
before the next service is due and more problems are discovered. I really like the Sprinter but I've found out maintaining a Mercedes is above my pay grade.

Re: lOOKING AT TRANSITS

17,000 miles in six years is the main source of your problems. I would not recommend a Sprinter or any diesel for such low mileage use. I have 115,000 miles on my Sprinter, drive about 20,000 a year traveling. When home I make an effort to drive it at least once a week at highway speeds. The only engine problem I've had was a DEF heater failure last year.

A gas Transit may better serve your needs.

Re: lOOKING AT TRANSITS

Yes these vans like to be running and working and highways thats why you had all these problems i barely had any problems with mine but i did 310,000 milles in 3 years?

So, o-rings and gaskets won't fail if you put alot of miles on them?

Re: lOOKING AT TRANSITS

srt4ny said:

Yes these vans like to be running and working and highways thats why you had all these problems i barely had any problems with mine but i did 310,000 milles in 3 years?

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My man!!
310k in 3 yrs

I bought a 2019 Sprinter 12-Passenger 4x4 a week ago. One of my main drivers for the past 4 years is my Ford Transit 350 XLT Ecoboost 15-Passenger Low-Roof Wagon. I live in a rural part of Colorado, and I still own both vehicles. I have a few observations to share after the first week of Sprinter ownership and about 500 miles of driving:

- Sprinter is more substantial, industrial, and has a much better interior fit-and-finish. Everything about it seems to be heavier duty than the Ford Transit. The Transit's interior is more...fragile and "plasticy"
- The Transit has much easier egress than the very tall Sprinter
- Transit is quicker off the line than the Diesel if you are into that sort of thing.
- Both vans have no trouble with Colorado hills and passes...thus far. We'll see what I70, Monarch, and Hoosier passes are like later this winter. None of these roads posed a challenge to the Transit's Ecoboost motor
- The Sprinter is MUCH quieter and settled on the highway, a huge plus for my family of nine going on twelve. Lots of chatter
- The Sprinter NAV is far superior to the admittedly old and outdated Ford SYNC (I) system
- The Sprinter Cruise Control is amazingly better on hills than the Transit. The Transit's twin-turbo gas motor simply does not have the torque-breaking effect that the Sprinter's mighty diesel does. This may not sound important, but it makes my life much easier daily. I commute over a large hill that drops down into a school zone. Speed control is key, and I hate riding the brakes all the time.
- The Sprinter's blind-spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control systems (sorry MB guys, I just cannot recall what Daimler calls those, "Techtronic" or something) are great, and make the van safer than the Ford, which will only offer this in 2020...a bit late?
- The Sprinter's sound system is vastly inferior compared with the Ford Transit's...I was very surprised and disappointed by this.
- The Sprinter's passenger seats have much more legroom in the 3rd and 4th rows than the Ford. This matters a lot to my teenagers.
- My kids prefer the Transit's squishy cloth seats to the "leatherette" in the Sprinter. Dad prefers wiping gum and, well, other "fluids" off of the Sprinter seats and floor rather than fighting to tease such substances out of the highly-absorbent materials that line the Ford's seats and floor.
- I like that the Sprinter did not slide down uncle David's driveway today, as the Transit does when there is ice. I also like NOT calling a towtruck for the Sprinter when I drive it in snow. The Transit needed some help earlier this month when it got stuck...in my snowy driveway. I lost half a day of work due to this - no more with Sprinter 4x4!
- I like parking my Transit in my regular garage. Forget that with the 10.5' tall Sprinter.
- Drive-throughs are OUT now, whereas the Transit was able to pass through them 95% of the time (low roof)
- The Sprinter's heater is so superior to the Ford's that its embarrassing. My wife is very thankful for the new car. I do have the fuel-fired pre-heater.
- Heated seats on the Sprinter, wonderful...Not a factory option on the Ford (until 2020)

I will keep you posted...

jjmretired said:

Removed and replaced the seal on the turbo that was leaking. 18.7 hours. $3,212. Again covered by extended warranty.

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lol - that's an awesome story. So many similar stories here on this forum.

Someone knowledgeable help me better understand this warranty thing - isn't there someone employed there to call out completely BS rip-off repairs, like the insurance companies do to keep the body shops in-check - or do they just pass that off to the customers as the cost of business - ie, how much does a Sprinter extended warranty cost?

Regarding extended warranty, the 2019 that I bought, MB offered a 5 yr/100K for 850$.
That is 2 additional years. Reasonable I think.

aviatordoc said:

Regarding extended warranty, the 2019 that I bought, MB offered a 5 yr/100K for 850$.
That is 2 additional years. Reasonable I think.

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If it's factory and costs little, I then have to question what actual payment gets made in the background - if it's not like medical invoicing. The OP's story stinks so very badly, there has to be more going on. My medical insurance company was invoiced $250k for 2 hours of an anesthesiologist - he actually gets paid like $1200.

NBB said:

lol - that's an awesome story. So many similar stories here on this forum.

Someone knowledgeable help me better understand this warranty thing - isn't there someone employed there to call out completely BS rip-off repairs, like the insurance companies do to keep the body shops in-check - or do they just pass that off to the customers as the cost of business - ie, how much does a Sprinter extended warranty cost?

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Mr NBB
Clearly even from your own post submissions you know NOTHING about this auto industry in the USA.
For starters this YANKELAND works to a different drummer than most of the rest of the world.
So to understand what drives the business including what's called FLAT RATE in the USA you need to know more about it than you appear to clearly demonstrate by your posts.

A few helpful suggestions, instead of continual ranting about something you have scant knowledge about might be helpful you know.

So far as collision repairs and compensation rates are concerned is useful to read AND INWARDLY DIGEST this article:-
https://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/the-sad-truth-about-collision-repair-labor-rates/

Now to extended warranties .
They fall into several categories.
Ask the question:-
Is this extended warranty supported/provided by MB USA to be used EXCLUSIVELY within the dealer chain system in the USA only and NOT NA territories ?--By that I mean not Canada nor Mexico.

All other extended warranties are ostensibly for this perspective provided by 3rd parties, and as such are transportable for the indemnified to obtain repairs under the extended warranty agreement PROVIDING nature of the repair falls into the caveats of the TERMS AND CONDITIONS to satisfy the claim.

Compensation therefore depends upon what plans you have signed up to.

https://www.edmunds.com/auto-warranty/understanding-extended-warranties.html

Now I am not qualified to answer your statements on medical practitioners compensation, but my daughter is being a pediatric surgeon for a prestigious University hospital in Houston.
(Grad from UMTB in Galveston).

If you would like some further info on how what drives MED industry IN THE USA--which again is quite unique just by itself , you can ask!
I will pass the questions to my eldest offspring who can answer that for a better understanding on compensation details in the medical field pertaining to the USA.

Hope this post is helpful to you (and others) and provide you with a better understanding.
Now all you need to know is grasp a better understanding of a Sprinter and its repairs to obtain a much better perspective.
All the best
Dennis

lol - classic Dennis. Translation: shop hand-waves to customer then milks policy for all it's worth. I'm quite familiar with the consumer level warranty shtick.

Let's get to the point Dennis - post your estimate on the # hours to perform the OP's described repair. Thanks.

I not only looked at a Transit I bought one. Had 08 Sprinter for 5 years and now have had the Transit for 5 years. Prefer a gas engine instead of a diesel.

Have no regrets making the change. Overall the Transit is a much better vehicle IMO with less maintenance and service available everywhere. Both the Sprinter and the Transit have advantages and disadvantages.

Sprinter's claim to fame is the higher mpg. That is only a part of the ownership.

Would never go back to a Sprinter after having the Transit.

NBB said:

lol - classic Dennis. Translation: shop hand-waves to customer then milks policy for all it's worth. I'm quite familiar with the consumer level warranty shtick.

Let's get to the point Dennis - post your estimate on the # hours to perform the OP's described repair. Thanks.

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Its MB book time prevailing which mirrors what was quoted and NOT Alldata a.k. a NoData times those stated by you are really published factory warranty compensation times.

Since I have never seen the vehicle, nor inspected it, I can only speculate based upon what was posted --LIKE YOU!
Nuff stated!

BUT what I will state is that I do nothing for a loss, and I do make a profit everything we do to ensure business investment and growth.

Clearly you are an employee (I gathered that from your posting posture) which begs the question do you as an employee call up or inform your employer's/ clients that they are being overcharged or under served?
Keep up the crusade old friend it will get you no-where !
Its good old shameless Yankee business at work in all sectors of US Commerce & Industry. Indeed I would state that your salary/ wage packet & well being depends upon it!

If you want a change vote for Communism and then you really will have something to gripe about!
Then you can be paid the same as a janitor sweeping floors in the Politburo!
Dennis

When I'm looking at transits, I find that this helps:

lindenengineering said:

Its MB book time prevailing which mirrors what was quoted and NOT Alldata a.k. a NoData times those stated by you are really published factory warranty compensation times.

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lol - you just made that up.

Facts: MB book time is about 4 hours for a turbo seal. AllData is about 7.5. Warranty is less in both cases. All are considerably less than what the OP is saying.

lindenengineering said:

BUT what I will state is that I do nothing for a loss, and I do make a profit everything we do to ensure business investment and growth.

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Of course - you and everyone else - which can get pretty expensive for the customer when the shop is a bunch of greedy retards.

lindenengineering said:

So far as collision repairs and compensation rates are concerned is useful to read AND INWARDLY DIGEST this article:-
https://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/the-sad-truth-about-collision-repair-labor-rates/

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Dennis, great article on body-shop rates history. I have a lot of stories I could tell, but there have been many times I've dispensed with the insurance coverage to have the work done the way I wanted it done. The free enterprise still lives in the auto body industry, and I am glad to pay more for superior work. For example: Plymouth Prowler + deer = repairs I want to be managed by a master body man with OEM parts only.

Then again, the mundane repairs on a workaday car, like my Ford Transit, can be done by the contracted shop. I will just let the insurance and the shop that it is contracted with, figure it out.

OrioN said:

When I'm looking at transits, I find that this helps:


View attachment 121846

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My wife would agree! She is so glad I bought the Sprinter. I don't think she'll agree to ride in the poor Transit ever again!

I think the new 2020 Ford Transit Chassis (https://www.ford.com/commercial-trucks/transit-chassis/) and XLT van (https://www.ford.com/trucks/transit-passenger-van-wagon/models/transit-xlt/) with the 3.5L Twin Turbocharged ECO Boost V6 (310hp/400lb-ft torque/11,000lbGVWR) gas engine may turn a lot of heads from the diesel platforms. I have a 2014 Leisure Travel Van Unity on a 2014 (45,000 miles) Sprinter chassis and like the OP I believe I have had to many visits to the MB Service center. I have been stranded roadside and/or had many trips derailed to unfamiliar cities in order to find MB service center that could get to my emergency, sometimes for days. I will definitely look at the 2020+ Ford Transit platform for my next RV. If the 3.5L ECO Boost comes through with the projected gas mileage Ford claims (15 city/19 hwy/16 combined) I definitely would select the gas engine! I'm guessing the Ford Transit Forum isn't as good as this one though (https://www.fordtransitusaforum.com/). I can seriously say I wouldn't have kept my Sprinter for this long if it wasn't for all the help I get from this Forum!

SSTraveler said:

I think the new 2020 Ford Transit Chassis (https://www.ford.com/commercial-trucks/transit-chassis/) and XLT van (https://www.ford.com/trucks/transit-passenger-van-wagon/models/transit-xlt/) with the 3.5L Twin Turbocharged ECO Boost V6 (310hp/400lb-ft torque) gas engine may turn a lot of heads from the diesel platforms. I have a 2014 Leisure Travel Van Unity on a 2014 Sprinter chassis and like the OP I believe I have had to many visits to the MB Service center. I have been stranded roadside and/or had many trips derailed to unfamiliar cities in order to find MB service center that could get to my emergency, sometimes for days. I will definitely look at the 2020+ Ford Transit platform for my next RV. If the 3.5L ECO Boost comes through with the projected gas mileage Ford claims (15 city/19 hwy/16 combined) I definitely would select the gas engine!

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Ecoboost is fun. You can have performance or fuel economy but not both. My gas mileage with a 2000 lb payload is closer to 15 mpg than 16 mpg. I find it interesting that people can pay $100,000 for a vehicle but are concerned about a few mpg. I was the same with the Sprinter, always telling people the mpg which was excellent for such a large vehicle.

Having had one tow and a LHM in the first 20,000 miles with the Sprinter ruined my trust in the vehicle. Lost confidence in the Sprinter which destroys trips. Now have 30,000 miles on Transit without any visits to a dealer other than normal oil changes. I buy the 6 quarts of Mobile 1 at Costco on sale for less that $30 and have dealer use that. Prefer full synthetic.

A gas engine makes more sense for a conversion. You can idle the engine for charging. I have a vehicle 12 volt system powered 1000 watt pure sine inverter powered by the Transit. Can use it for charging or heating shower water or heating air with 750 watt electric heater in back of van.

Certainly no prestige with a Transit. Miss Piggy does have a smile on her face as we roll down the road without stops for repairs.