2009 315 MWB w High Roof

Ozziedave

New member
Hi all,

Have been looking to convert an ex ambo to camper however I'd prefer a high roof since I'm 6'1

I came across a 2009 315 MWB HRoof with 150k on the clock...all good so far, comes with nudge bar etc, looks to be an ex service vehicle.... however the big problem is the truckyard is askin $25 000 on road

This seems a bit pricey to me but I haven't seen many about....


Could anyone give some advice, much appreciated
 

Ozziedave

New member
Thx owner

Just finish reading that thead, well well...did the problem get fixed by the '09 or did people just stop buying them?

That still leaves me on the hunt for a MWB high roof...

Any leads?
 

owner

Oz '03 316CDI LWB ex-Ambo Patient Transport
We have no evidence either way on the '09 being any different. Its a pretty major design flaw. I think they just got pulled from the market early rather than fixing them, 2 years is a very short production run for MB.

It was replaced by the 316 in '10, so look for one of those instead. The OM651 engine has much bigger main bearing journals and has proven to be very reliable over its 8 year production run in the Sprinter.

Look at Manheims auctions for ones straight out of the ambo service for the best deals. Luckily for you there are a few high roof MWB models that were used by the ambos so they come up fairly regularly, just not as often as the low roof ones. Keep a watch on our auction watch thread... https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70031
 

Eric Experience

Well-known member
Dave.
Just before you shoot the 315 Consider the history, I wrote the post on the 315 exploding engines and have had lots of PM's and phone calls about it. As yet no one has had an 09 fail, The 07's that failed were around 200k So even if it was the same engine it would be good for at least 50k. There are 09 advertised with 350k on them. The high roof is a big plus for you and the price is not outrages for the low K's. If you buy it fit an oil pressure gauge and be confident to drive it while the pressure is good. Eric.
 

owner

Oz '03 316CDI LWB ex-Ambo Patient Transport
Eric I think we should investigate this '09 theory a bit more before recommending 315's to people. If we look at the EPC with a '09 VIN for a 315 we should be able to see a revised part number for the main bearing caps. In fact any year 315 VIN should have a revised part number available. The EPC that we have installed on your PC is 2011, so if they fixed it during '09 production like you suggest, it should already be in that 2011 EPC. We can look at it tomorrow when I'm there.
 

owner

Oz '03 316CDI LWB ex-Ambo Patient Transport
First I would like to apologise to Eric, as this second-guessing can come across as rude on a forum. He is just dealing with the facts that he has before him, and I'm happy to admit that everything I'm saying is purely conjecture.

My earlier suggestion of looking at the EPC was just to at least try to see if there was any hard evidence of a change in '09. Neither of us want anyone to buy a 315 without knowing what they are potentially buying into.

So today Eric and I looked at the EPC, but you can't buy the block (and caps) separately. You need to buy the whole complete engine - which only has the one part number option. The crank is listed separately, but still only the one option. So there is no way of proving any physical changes without eyeballing the actual parts.

Eric's sub-theory is that it may be some kind of software change that fixed it for '09. I'm not sure how to prove this conclusively.

So Erics '09 theory is based solely on the fact that he has not heard about any '09 315s blowing up. vs. plenty of '07s. He has seen a few '09s with high km, but he acknowledged that he doesn't know any of the history of the engines in these examples.

It would be nice to be able to prove this either way, but we would need more data points. Does anyone have any ideas on how this could be tested? Does anyone know of an '09 that has suffered the bearing issue?

My thoughts about the '09 theory are:
1. If they changed something inside the engine in '09, then any '07s that had official MB rebuilt engines after 2 years should also have the fix.
2. If it was a software change then the difference should be able to be felt in a road test, or definitely on a dyno, but why wouldn't MB just do that SW change to the '07s as well? It is conceivable that MB could reduce the low-down torque output in the ECU mapping while still maintaining the maximum output at high revs, but then this would nullify any torque figures they published at the time eg "330Nm from 1800rpm". I'm not sure how they could sell '09s with lower than published figures.
3. If MB changed something in '09 that fixed this, why was the ambo service still having "systemic fault in ambulance engines amid a spate of engine failures and fires through late 2011 and 2012" and MB allowed themselves to be dragged before an inquiry over it? - it would have made sense for them to just apply this '09 fix and not have the bad publicity.
4. If it was fixed in '09, why was the OM646EVO production run so short in the Sprinter, compared to all the other Sprinter engines? It was only 2 years, the next shortest is 6 years (OM611/2), and longest is the OM642 at 12 years and counting. Even the OM651 (replacement for the OM646EVO) had an 8 year run.

:2cents:
 

chris02

Member
Similar to this thread.. I have a 2009 315 ex NSW Ambo campervan, which had an engine replacement (not sure if recon or new) at 100k (apparently due to a blown piston) and now 90K into the replacement engine.

So, I'm most interested in the future whilst accelerating/driving conservatively mostly on the open roads, and hoping never to be a case study on blown engines, but rather a story on 315 longevity !! Great to read of the work so far and 07 / 09 theory.

And I'm on the lookout for a recommendation in Melb or Syd who can install the oil press I have purchased as suggested.
 

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