Looking for info on good NW Washington Dealer Repair or independent mechanic

Simon

Member
I'm coming down from Alaska to Bellingham, WA with a sick 2004 Passenger Sprinter, and am wondering if anyone has repair shop/dealer recommendations?
 

motobueno

New member
The place to go is Upscale in Oregon.Do a search in the forum for feedback!
They are the best in my book!
Tom
 

jdcaples

Not Suitable w/220v Gen
I'm not sure I'd gamble with anyone other than John at Upscale. Dick (autostaretx) has written about having had positive service experiences with Lynnwood Dodge, a dozen or so miles north of Seattle, near the border of Lynnwood and Everett; but lildevildee posted some pretty tragic service experiences there, too.

I haven't read about consistently positive experiences in the Pacific Northwest outside of Upscale Auto. Lynnwood Dodge would be my second choice. I've not read anything anywhere indicating any experiences of Sprinter service - positive or negative - north of Lynnwood.

-Jon
 

icarus

Well-known member
Wilson Motors in Bellingham is a MB dealer, and they sell and service new sprinters. Don't have any idea if they are any good, nor if they have any experience with older sprinters. The Dodge dealer in B'ham sold a bunch of them over the years, and it has done service work.


Additionally there are a couple of folks in Suburban Vancouver BC that deal with sprinters, including a new dealer that has poster here somewhere.

Good luck,

Icarus

PS, Harmony Motorworks in Bellingham, 5 minutes from the ferry is beginning to work on Sprinters. They are very good, very honest european shop. They don't advertise that they do Sprinter work as they are moving into it gradually, but they do work on them. At worst, call Mark at Harmony and perhaps he can send you in the right direction. When you describe it as sick, what are you describing?
 
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autostaretx

Erratic Member
Dick (autostaretx) has written about having had positive service experiences with Lynnwood Dodge, a dozen or so miles north of Seattle,
The bad news is that Jack Carrol's Lynnwood Dodge no longer exists under that name (due to the Dodge dealer shrinkage).
Service was delegated to Town and Country Chrysler/Jeep/(dodge) near 140th on Aurora in North Seattle.
I have not sought service since the Dodge meltdown, so i can't speak from personal experience
(well, i tried to buy some of the "power distribution block" fuses from T&C's parts department.. They had one of the 3 sizes i sought)

But... directly across the street from the old Lynnwood Dodge is this area's MB Sprinter Dealer!
Mercedes-Benz of Lynnwood
20515 Highway 99
Lynnwood, WA 98046
Phone:1-888-867-8704
FAX:1-425-673-5959
Phone:(425) 673-0505

Up in Mt. Vernon is "Valley Freightliner" .. which used to be a Spinter dealer until mid-2005.
Their parts-running vans are Sprinters, and i've just never had a loose minute to drop in to find out where -they- get them serviced...

--dick
 

icarus

Well-known member
The bad news is that Jack Carrol's Lynnwood Dodge no longer exists under that name (due to the Dodge dealer shrinkage).
Service was delegated to Town and Country Chrysler/Jeep/(dodge) near 140th on Aurora in North Seattle.
I have not sought service since the Dodge meltdown, so i can't speak from personal experience
(well, i tried to buy some of the "power distribution block" fuses from T&C's parts department.. They had one of the 3 sizes i sought)

But... directly across the street from the old Lynnwood Dodge is this area's MB Sprinter Dealer!
Mercedes-Benz of Lynnwood
20515 Highway 99
Lynnwood, WA 98046
Phone:1-888-867-8704
FAX:1-425-673-5959
Phone:(425) 673-0505

Up in Mt. Vernon is "Valley Freightliner" .. which used to be a Spinter dealer until mid-2005.
Their parts-running vans are Sprinters, and i've just never had a loose minute to drop in to find out where -they- get them serviced...

--dick

Even though Valley Freightliner runs all over WA in Sprinter service and parts vans, they don't sell Sprinters and I don't believe they service them either. A call to Freightliner today on another matter referred me to McCoy Freightliner in Portland. (A write up elsewhere in this forum does not speak too highly about McCoy however).
 

mawsea

sprinter guru
There seems to be a lot of sprinters driving around Washington. So who is a good mechanic in the area? .....besides the dealerships. Oregon is too far......
 

jdcaples

Not Suitable w/220v Gen
Forum member Andrew85 tells us about Kollmar Craft

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showpost.php?p=178264&postcount=10

www.kollmarcraft.com

Considering your posting

Re: Lynnwood, Lynnwood, WA (Dealership)

I took the van in to have them look at my shuddering tranny, black death, and coolant leak at passenger rear of engine. They wanted $6,800 to do the job. Forget that! They seemed just as incompetent as all the other dealers I have dealt with.
I don't know if Kollmar craft is cheap, is too far or if they're competent.

I can tell you I've heard horror stories about Lake City Autoworks, Geman Auto Center (Lake City) and Elite Auto Care in Ballard.

Strictly Mercedes Benz is at the corner of 14th and N Lake City Way; you can test them for the forum if you want and let us know how it works out for you.

Good luck

-Jon
 

mawsea

sprinter guru
I stopped by Kollmar craft today and had a good talk about injector bolt removal. They seem to have good knowledge and experience dealing with the black death. In comparison to the Mercedes dealership the ambiance is not as swank, they lack the alpine lodge fireplaces and the highbrow bathroom granite sink. I think I can live with that since their quote came out $6000 less then Lynwood Mercedes. Its not that I'm cheap, it's the fact that Lynwood Mercedes was trying to sell me a $800 injector when it is only a $2 bolt and washer that needs to be replaced, or trying to talk me into pulling the motor out to fix a minuscule leak that could easily be fixed with a $3 bottle of stop leak. I can live with out the floor to ceiling glass. In fact with all the money I save, I think I will take a trip to Mexico...... after all kollmar craft is right next door to the airport.
 

mawsea

sprinter guru
I scheduled an appointment for next week. They are going to change the glow plugs and leaking injector. Two straight forward jobs with a lot of room for error, I'm hoping for the best.
 
D

detore344

Guest
I scheduled an appointment for next week. They are going to change the glow plugs and leaking injector. Two straight forward jobs with a lot of room for error, I'm hoping for the best.
I definitely remember that rig. I hope your experience with us was positive. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to help!

Bruce Detore
Service Manager
Kollmar Sprinter and Fleet Solutions.
 

mawsea

sprinter guru
It's almost been a year now since I had Kollmar Craft repair the leaky injector and replace the glow plugs. I recently inspected the injector and see no sign of the black death coming back to haunt me. I would say they did an excellent job and appreciate that they took the time to go thru everything with me assuring me they knew what they were doing. I felt like they went out of there way to offer a top quality service. That said, one of the glow plugs broke while being removed. I don't blame them because I know they made every effort to not have it happen, including getting the engine hot. They suggested the dealer take care of it while doing the intake recall. Now a year later I took it to Town and Country Dodge and they say the head needs to come out at a tune of $3000. I get on the phone w/ Kollmar to see if this is really the case and they inform me that they have since invested in the tooling to extract the broken glow plug and can do it with the head on and no removal of the intake. Two or three hour job they say and it leaves the original threads intact.
I'm done with greedy Dodge and Mercedes dealers for good. What I can't repair myself I will take to Kollmar because at least they make an effort to do as best job as possible in order to get that word of mouth and repeat business.
 

NelsonSprinter

Former Nelson BC Sprinter
I've heard of a recommendation of an independent MB trained Sprinter mechanic near Seattle area , Mike @ (206) 227-7870 who owns a Westy, anybody use him ?
 

Marshall

New member
Just called Mike to talk about my sprinter randomly going into Limp Home Mode with no codes being thrown. He thinks it is the transmission conductor plate. Having him replace tomorrow. I will update after the job.
Thanks for the number. I'd much rather work with an independent mechanic than the dealer.
 

cody

Member
Re: Looking for independent mechanic in Washington and advice on T1N maintenance

Hi guys,
I live on the Olympic peninsula and just bought a 2004 2500 SHC with 95k miles. It seems to be running really good but has no maintenance history and it has a some RSN. Also every now and then the radio doesn't turn off when the ignition turns off (if I turn ignition on then off again it seems to shut off like it's supposed to). Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on a mechanic in case any major work needs done. I'm thinking about calling DoctorA to see if I'm a good canadate for buying his RSN fix. Another thing would be to pick someone's brain on what fluids and filters to buy. I've read the forum, but would do my brain best if someone just told me what I should run for fluids and filters. Since the van has no maintenance history (was a trade in as a dealer) I want to change all fluids out etc.
Any thoughts, suggestions, opinions as much appreciated.
Cheers

Cody
 

Forjoey

New member
Hi all
I am new to the Sprinter world with a PW with a 2015 chassis. Any thoughts or updates to good service shops in the greater Seattle area?

Also, how often to you change your oil and with what kind of oil? Every 20k seems a bit much to me.
 

AMDin93103

Member
Hay gang. I relocated to Ballard about a year ago with my 2008 2500. I'm looking to get in with an independent specialist for a handful of nags and general status check after it only rolled 800 miles this year. I'll be setting out on 3000mi in a few weeks.

Whats the latest and greatest on this topic? My instincts tell me to drop 'er off at Kollmar. My range for service is about an hour due to time restraints. Thanks in advance!
 

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