Another Benz Sprinter Site? in OZ starting up.

As stated in the heading, another Benz Sprinter site has started up in Australia. I do not know how I got onto this site, I think from the US Sprinter site. I joined the European Benz site and thats how I was invited to join the new Australian Benz site.

The point I am getting around to making is that each forum needs someone who actively finds/looks for answers to questions raised as well as the general forum members. On this site I believe that is Altered Sprinter and I thank him for his follow up. But I also believe it is up to us when we have a problem with our Sprinters to let the Forum know the problem and the fix whether we fixed the job or paid someone to do it. In this way we will all learn from each others experience. This is especially true in a Landcruiser Forum that I am in. I know of similar forums for Patrols and probably the most helpfully Forum I know is Ausfish if you are into fishing.

On the Benz European Forum I have asked questions that I believe any number of members could answer (and have'nt) and along with a number of other members /questions/non answers. I know in my case I could also ask my son who has a big mechanical workshop and every so often fixes up Sprinters, or I could talk to the Benz Service Manager in Adelaide in lieu of putting questions on the Forum.

Should we be actively looking for new members so we get more items and answers.

The reason why I have joined Sprinter Forums is that I believe that MB has kept the Vehicle details mainly to Benz Authorised repair shops and I want to know enough to be able to get my Sprinter going if I have problems out in the outback and to be able to prevent problems before they occur, because I know known potential problem areas of my vehicle.

I can also appreciate, if I was a Benz mechanic the last thing that I would want to do after coming home from work is answer questions on a forum. And if any such person is on this forum I thank him/her also.

Peter.

G'day Peter.
Welcome to Aus;Long white Sprinters from the land down under,and we are a unique breed as you are aware of, mostly fault free, except when they have been traded off a few times Non Maintained.

We have three category ratios for Sprinters in AUS.
One: Is Fleet vehicles this consumes 90% of the Mercedes Sprinters most are serviced under the Benz programs or a designated maintenance period over five years fixed price.
These vehicles are mostly leased.

Two: Camper conversions;up until the introduction of the NCV units it was contentious with Benz many owners were turned away as to being modified to a non compliance of partnerships of tolerance of acceptance, with Benz.

This has now been fixed with the DOT including ASSIC as to ADR/NZ regs the RV converters are now on the Benz list of who is accepted, and those who may not be.it wasn't a easy one as to other parties forcing the issues of compliance .
You can split this section into two 70% Hire and drive 30% privately owned.

Others are tourist and Government units or under Com fleet operations.

Private ownership: This is from New; not secondhand, you can count them on your hands far and few in between.
The prominent vans sold are Mercedes Vito's.
MB service outlets don't give anything away for nothing unless you have a repore with the service manager.

PDF's for aus almost non existent you cant' even buy the oil wrench although it can be purchased. elsewhere.

Out back operations Fine but who can fix them the mechanics are far and few in between since the mining boom took over , those guys were on one hundred to 160 K per annum.

As the sprinters become more affordable on the secondhand market, we are just starting to see a little more activity from the new comers.

I can run anything up on the Aus side that may be of interest for any member from aux battery systems what ever fridges tents you name it.

None of these units interfere with the Mercedes Electronics as they are stand alone units.
However unless an Aus/NZ member asks There is little I can do
You can place thoughts on a subject or even start a new topic on either the US side of the pond or down under where it should be.

Bare in mind the Aus section is limited as to the international section as it does not have the same formula as the Main US site with options.

Many of the land cruiser forums are dead brilliant, fair dinkum they are absolute crackers. but they are equally family oriented we are not on this forum on either side , pity because this is where many options for camping comes into play with the bits and pieces one uses on trips.


VW forum down under has a section to the Krafty Crafter, same as the Brother Sprinter it's gone no where either lack of interest maybe.

New sprinter forum down under well is it just sprinters! or MB connected with other makes?

If you ask for a schematic from Benz they will provide it the problem is most of the lads don't know what to look for unless they have a Chassis number to work off.

Even I have had to ask Chris from the UK on some items as they are not on the Benz Aus computer system unless you provide the part numbers.

If you can get a Benz Mechanic that's qualified, then do it and run up what ever you can.

Lately I just prefer to do my own thing out of town when ever I can, which is rare for me.but this is when My Mercedes is tops for comfort, leaves the Toyota and Bugs for dead.

Good comments, appreciated! It's the first we have had.
Richard

richard
that looks like a welsh beach just come out with it your home sick

chris

Pinched a few pebbles, before I flew back to the Devils playground
That's south Arm by the way.
Richard

Richard, I purchased our 313CDI 2003 Sprinter Motorhome from Sydney RV and am very pleased with our purchase and their warranty support even thou we are in SA. My understanding that the MH conversion was carried out my Millard and do not know if this is an improved Organistaion of MB or not. This did not effect the Sydney RV warranty when MB in Adelaide had to repair the Sprinter A/conditioner ,a cable had shorted out by rubbing on a radiator mount. Apparently the A/c in the 313's are installed in Australia by a third party similar to an option. The vehicle are not landed in OZ with A/c.

In Adelaide there only appears to be one authorised MB Sprinter repair facility and in our case its on the other side of the city about 50kms away.

I am not wary of the motorhome conversion, I just do not want to treat the electronics and mechanicals of the Sprinter as a black box but want to have a good understanding even thou our vehicle has only done 60,000Kms. Compared to the Cruiser sites the MB European Sprinter members seem to have many problems that cannot be answered.

There appear to be many members of the CMCA who own Sprinters whether it be 313's, 413, 516 or 207's etc.

Peter

Hi Peter yes the ac/s are Australian retro-fits This was to cut to the chase, get rid of the Original system and put in a compressor that was rated over 50F for our climate. and take the stress of the pulley's. but the main reason was for the ambo low tops they needed the headroom.

Our electronics are easier to work with, in fact for any other electrical conversion by pass the entire rats nest and go direct from starter battery or Aux depending on needs, loop one ign wire from the column back to the frame above the mains battery to a separate junction box, still working on which one and or type for multiple ign cutoff appliances, that are either connected to the mains or aux.

Servicing basic you can do yourself ! but strongly advice to have engine flush done by the pro every second oil change, you'd be surprised how much contamination is caught up in the block.
consider a more appropriate oil for engine longevity 15-40 W, with guaranteed normal operating temps up to 40 C ambient temps your gauge will stay consistent at 80C, with slight increase if caught up in traffic grid lock say 5 c extra tops Transmission oil change out every three years irrespective of mileage it has a use by date, same as diff oil if dark Grey and dirty change it.
Part Number for Manual trans oil A00 1 989 28 03 10

When brakes are replaced always have the system flushed through the entire line and check as to the required BFV adjustment valve is correct, those lever springs underneath can jam up with rust and dirt. and cause mischief especially in wet sand areas such running for a period in bull dust.if it can get through it even

my van in almost 4 continuous years of operation has never failed once the van is 100% original apart from filter changes, I use MB when required we have great mechanics down home but prefere to outsource to an approved ACCI MB repairer it's 20% cheaper.

I'm too old to do these things myself any more but used to work on the older Mercedes back in the 70 through to the eighty's .

Where the problem with RV conversions came in was the weight factors many were without the optioned camper suspension kits thus front end tire wear due to lower ball joint wear mostly on the passenger side and at the time no shims available to reset the alignment MB blank right refused to service these and the warranty was thrown back to the RV supplier as no certificate of compliance was ever issued from MB in Australia on some of these models.
your local MB rep has a book on who is compliant.

but your out of warranty now, so it's a customers owners problem to be aware of.

If you like I could find who else services the Sprinters in Adelaide.

Can you post a pic of your van .and some of your trips and adventures
PS found another Gas detector today from Waeco.
added a wireless-temp gauge for fridge and cooler {Hate Wires} now I can see what the fridge temp is on the dash at any time
Have a Fantastic day
Richard

Peter.
Please post a link to the new site. Eric

http://www.benzworld.com.au/index.php

See above

Peter

Richard.
Our Sprinter looks like yours but a 313 in white with the maroon swirls, Have a photo do not know where, intended to get Business cards (to give to new friends with our contact number)made up for the CMCA rally in Whyalla, but that may not happen maybe end up giving card with our Caravan. Not the same of course.

Re motor homes we looked at a 413 with double bed over the cabin where later told about the problems with suspension with this set up. From memory the weight causes no travel in the shocks.

Cannot recall whether I have mentioned this before , but a friend had problems with the inside wheel of his dual rear wheels on his bus. The locking mechanism of the inside wheel came loose and ruined the studs, elongated the bolt holes in the wheel and could have caused a major problem, luckly he found it in time and it was just a big expense and lost time. Does this sort of thing happen to the 413 dual wheel Sprinter. Note he has fitted some plastic discs to indicate if the ourside lock nut turns, if so investigate is in order.

Peter

Peter

Hi Peter quite long time ago I wrote up a thread on the suspension issue with the cab over chassis models and as in part to the reasons the US boys had this problem on some of Winnebago and those were the most troublesome out of them all, well appeared to be so with front end problems But this has since been resolved as mentioned on a thread yesterday I think.
Dual wheels that one came up on the US side too overloaded I think didn't really bother with it but will look at it again as it's current on the last two days. with US side.
best way to see a front end failure is the outer edge of the tire and how low the suspension is from the bump stop the proper campers have a heavier bar most that I have seen are bog standard and all have leaking power steering units hire and drive they drive them to they stop very little maintenance done on them

Bearings maybe, overheating or brakes? cause usually a mis adjusted BFV


so you have a smaller camper in the van version with maroon stripes must be away of getting a photo of it,
Eric might be of use too as he fiddles with 4x4 units so extra input goes a long way.
Richard

Hello PeterinSA,

Please feel free to ask as many questions as yoiu like, I agree that there are many people on this and other websites that like to think that they have all the answers to every question, however that is obvioulsy not the case. As per any manufacture there are concerns that the MB dealer will be aware of simple because they are experienced in working on this type of vehicle (As you would expect from an Authorised dealer)

The Guru

Altered Sprinter, if you are going to quote figures ensure they are correct, not everyone on this website is outside the know

Proven it works.
Richard

i have to say richard your mostly nuts but you are a valuable member of this forum and we are lucky to have you here

max........

ps no ive not been drinking.

another ps that site mentioned above as far as sprinters go its dead.

That's a sober thought I thinks
Richard

PeterInSa said:

Cannot recall whether I have mentioned this before , but a friend had problems with the inside wheel of his dual rear wheels on his bus. The locking mechanism of the inside wheel came loose and ruined the studs, elongated the bolt holes in the wheel and could have caused a major problem, luckly he found it in time and it was just a big expense and lost time. Does this sort of thing happen to the 413 dual wheel Sprinter.

Peter

Click to expand...

Peter, the six wheeler has spring collets as well as wheel nuts. What you've described there is classic "someone forgot to retorque the wheel nuts" fifty miles after the wheels went back on - imperative with collets.

Simon