AdBlue adventures at the Mercedes dealership (2013 Sprinter)

D

Deleted member 50714

Guest
Kind sir, since the purchase of my shining example of German automotive engineering, 2015 0M651, Crew, have spent the years leisurely mining this and other related forums, literally all day, every day, for years and intimately acquainted with, among others, "Stickies" related to the NCV. Check, and you will discover I had posted this this official MB training video in the "Sticky" you mention.

Plan your work, work your plan.
 
ENMeyer

ENMeyer

Well-known member
Any prospective van buyer reading this thread is now at his Ford dealer begging to buy a Transit.

Merc bureaucracy, incompetency, eye-popping expensive parts, poor customer service, complicated emissions systems, etc. Crazy.

I wonder if Mercedes employees read these threads. Van buyers certainly do.
 
H

Hatteras Jim

Member
Amen enmyer. Sitting at my dealership now waiting for my $66 windshield wipers to be installed for state
inspection . Looked fine when I checked them yesterday. If they weren’t 50 miles away with a snow
storm coming in, I would have declined and did it myself; but, I am out of time since my inspection
runs out this month.
 
S

SeattleNewbie

2013 NCV3 2500 170" WB
ENMeyer said:
Any prospective van buyer reading this thread is now at his Ford dealer begging to buy a Transit.

Merc bureaucracy, incompetency, eye-popping expensive parts, poor customer service, complicated emissions systems, etc. Crazy.

I wonder if Mercedes employees read these threads. Van buyers certainly do.
Click to expand...
Aside from Diesel vs Gasoline, are the Ford Transits any better in the long run though?

Much of the bureaucracy and incompetence was caused by the dealerships.

With those two points in mind, I think if Tesla comes out with a long range van tomorrow I'll ditch my beloved custom conversion Sprinter by Friday and start from scratch. :cheers:
 
ENMeyer

ENMeyer

Well-known member
SeattleNewbie said:
Aside from Diesel vs Gasoline, are the Ford Transits any better in the long run though?

Much of the bureaucracy and incompetence was caused by the dealerships.

With those two points in mind, I think if Tesla comes out with a long range van tomorrow I'll ditch my beloved custom conversion Sprinter by Friday and start from scratch. :cheers:
Click to expand...
Well, that's my fear. Is the Ford service department any better? Cheaper, but not better, I assume. Is the vehicle any more reliable? I'm not sure. I don't mind paying a premium for Mercedes or BMW or Porsche, but not when they are incompetent or unscrupulous.

Somebody posted something recently dreaming if Toyota made a tall van.... Now that would sell like hotcakes, assuming we are talking Toyota reliability.
 
Kajtek1

Kajtek1

2015 3500 X long limo RV
I drive Ford Truck as my RV. Bought a new F350 3 years ago. Nice 440HP power and on 30k miles I only had issue with TPMS.
Dealer work on TPMS 3 times and it still doesn't work the way it should. Than the best I can do on tank with my camper is 300-310 miles and I block the freeways at 60 mph as going 70 would cost too much fuel money.
That is why I bought Sprinter to convert it to "travel van" that can be park anywhere, while giving overnight shelter to us and 3 dogs for fast travels.
 
Last edited:
autostaretx

autostaretx

Erratic Member
SeattleNewbie said:
Aside from Diesel vs Gasoline, are the Ford Transits any better in the long run though?

Much of the bureaucracy and incompetence was caused by the dealerships.

With those two points in mind, I think if Tesla comes out with a long range van tomorrow I'll ditch my beloved custom conversion Sprinter by Friday and start from scratch. :cheers:
Click to expand...
Well, it's short range, but MB is now in production with their e-Sprinter:
https://media.daimler.com/marsMediaSite/en/instance/ko.xhtml?oid=45178322

--dick
 
G

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
ENMeyer said:
Well, that's my fear. Is the Ford service department any better? Cheaper, but not better, I assume. Is the vehicle any more reliable? I'm not sure. I don't mind paying a premium for Mercedes or BMW or Porsche, but not when they are incompetent or unscrupulous.

Somebody posted something recently dreaming if Toyota made a tall van.... Now that would sell like hotcakes, assuming we are talking Toyota reliability.
Click to expand...
So far the 2015 Transit is much more reliable than the sold 2008 Sprinter. Only have 30,000 miles on the Transit but no reliability issues. Just routine maintenance. Vehicle is also a better vehicle IMO. Sprinter had to be towed once and had a major LHM in first 20,000 miles.

Paying a premium buys you prestige but not a better van.

Dealers are independent businesses. How they operate is not in full control of the vehicle manufacturer. In my case I have had excellent service on both vehicles by the local dealers. Mercedes routine maintenance was much higher and cost of repairing a faulty optional Espar was very expensive. $2,000 Espar repair cost was not the dealers fault.
 
Ciprian

Ciprian

Spark Plugs not allowed!
Graphite Dave said:
So far the 2015 Transit is much more reliable than the sold 2008 Sprinter. Only have 30,000 miles on the Transit but no reliability issues. Just routine maintenance. Vehicle is also a better vehicle IMO. Sprinter had to be towed once and had a major LHM in first 20,000 miles.



Paying a premium buys you prestige but not a better van.



Dealers are independent businesses. How they operate is not in full control of the vehicle manufacturer. In my case I have had excellent service on both vehicles by the local dealers. Mercedes routine maintenance was much higher and cost of repairing a faulty optional Espar was very expensive. $2,000 Espar repair cost was not the dealers fault.
Click to expand...
Apples and carrots, Dave.

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk
 
L

lindenengineering

Well-known member
ENMeyer said:
Well, that's my fear. Is the Ford service department any better? Cheaper, but not better, I assume. Is the vehicle any more reliable? I'm not sure. I don't mind paying a premium for Mercedes or BMW or Porsche, but not when they are incompetent or unscrupulous.

Somebody posted something recently dreaming if Toyota made a tall van.... Now that would sell like hotcakes, assuming we are talking Toyota reliability.
Click to expand...
Just comparing some eggs to eggs on a diesel OM642 Sprinter versus a Diesel Transit .
Transit fuel filter is $116 (list) labor is $155 @ Larry Miller Ford in Lakewood rated at 0,6 hours labor tariff.
$257,50 plus tax. (Linden price is $209,00 plus tax)

Sprinter filter (using the most expensive version of the three )
Again genuine part ex MB filter is $195 plus dealer labor cost is at $200/hr with 1 hour book time tariff is $395.
Do take into account that Ford revised their parts mark up matrix to be inline with a more competitive marketplace posture .
Dennis
 
BikeJozz

BikeJozz

Member
lindenengineering said:
Just comparing some eggs to eggs on a diesel OM642 Sprinter versus a Diesel Transit .
Transit fuel filter is $116 (list) labor is $155 @ Larry Miller Ford in Lakewood rated at 0,6 hours labor tariff.
$257,50 plus tax. (Linden price is $209,00 plus tax)

Sprinter filter (using the most expensive version of the three )
Again genuine part ex MB filter is $195 plus dealer labor cost is at $200/hr with 1 hour book time tariff is $395.
Do take into account that Ford revised their parts mark up matrix to be inline with a more competitive marketplace posture .
Dennis
Click to expand...
I do miss my Vanagon sometimes. You could basically swap your fuel filter at a stop light, cost: $20, time: 5 minutes. :bounce:
 
Kajtek1

Kajtek1

2015 3500 X long limo RV
On my F450 with 7.3l diesel I replaced fuel filter on the side of the road as well.
I was taking my time, so took about 10 minutes.
But those filters had 30k miles intervals. I made 80k on mine before heavy truck start slowing down on grades.
 
L

lindenengineering

Well-known member
Kajtek1 said:
On my F450 with 7.3l diesel I replaced fuel filter on the side of the road as well.
I was taking my time, so took about 10 minutes.
But those filters had 30k miles intervals. I made 80k on mine before heavy truck start slowing down on grades.
Click to expand...
Do remember you are SUPPOSED to clean out the dead zone under the Ford/International 7,3 filter purging out water & contaminants by opening the petcock first to drain the filter casing so that taking it out "WET" doesn't dump filtered junk into the bowl only to be re-ingested . Then you are supposed to clean out the dead zone with cleaner & shop air before installing the filter.
Furthermore you are then supposed at 80,000 miles to release the regulator on the filter body and clean the gauze screen & check the fisheye check ball. Then not finished completely finally change the chassis filter.
This procedure was to avoid numerous injection and start problems with 7,3's . If you overlooked that as an owner no warranty

Rather More than a 10 minute job, more like 1.5 hours as the shop rocket man working as a Ford flat rate tech
Dennis
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top Bottom