Diesel Engines

[Keith Outten]

The owner of the company I work for just bought one of those sprinter vans. Has a dodge emblem with a Mercedes diesel engine.

Alan,

Mercedes licensed Dodge and Freightliner to sell the Sprinter vans at one time. Today they are only sold under the Mercedes name here in the US. In my area the Sprinter has become very popular for transportation, they are everywhere on the roads now. There is a Sprinter Van forum with lots of information, some say the diesel should last between 700,000 to one million miles. Although I expect this is true I would guess the transmission would have to be rebuilt a couple times

The Sprinters are what you would expect from Mercedes Benz, if you take care of it you might never need to buy another work vehicle. I am very happy with mine with one exception, in a high wind situation it can be a bit scary crossing a bridge, etc. In the two years we have had our Sprinter there have been a couple times that I had to go very slow crossing the Coleman bridge when the cross winds were at 45 mph or higher. If you live in the snow country and have the right tires on the Sprinter it will perform well. When the weather is really bad here I prefer to drive the Sprinter, it feels safer to drive than any of our cars in bad storms and hard rain.
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[Matt Meiser]

When they first came out Daimler (Mercedes parent) OWNED Dodge and still owns Freightliner.

[Jerome Stanek]

What I don't like about vans is the inside noise. I used to work for a drug chain installing new stores and they supplied a van. With all the tools in the back you had to blanket wrap everything so it wouldn't rattle and on long trips it can be very annoying when it starts to rattle and you have to go back and try and find out what is rattling. 400 to 500 miles of rattling will dive you crazy.

[Stephen Cherry]

One thing about the sprinters, and hopefully this is only the older ones, but I have seen a lot of them with rust, particularly around the doors. Hopefully they have solved this problem though because they look like great vans.

[David Weaver]

Personally I prefer this. One day I just might yank out the 383 in mine and replace it with a 4-53T.

Big big fan of the 4-53 - sounds like an old cement mixer.

The other two stick truck I posted probably had a 4-53 or 6-53 also. They are the most noise on the least fuel, but I'm sure those trucks are a bit of a dog compared to the way they run with a 300 horsepower gas engine.

The upside of it, though, is that you can run them wide open with the detroit in them and that's the way they're supposed to be run. "Drive it like you stole it" or "drive it like you hate it" or "drive it like you're trying to break it" were the kinds of things folks from home said about the old trucks at home with DDs, but I've never actually seen one in a pickup in person. Youtube lets us see lots of cool things!!

[Matt Meiser]

One thing about the sprinters, and hopefully this is only the older ones, but I have seen a lot of them with rust, particularly around the doors. Hopefully they have solved this problem though because they look like great vans.

I've seen that too. Rather shocking you really don't see cars rusting out that fast anymore. Then again they probably expect their target market to wear them out mechanically before they see enough winters to rust.

[David Weaver]

The older ones here all have rust around the edges, too.

I would imagine that if there are any in upstate NY, they look a lot worse, though.

[Keith Outten]

It's my understanding that the rust problem with vans normally comes from the inside because people insulate improperly. Most these days are going with the spray on foam which is supposed to seal the inside surface and keep it from sweating. I decided not to insulate mine at least not in the near term because the weather in Virginia is pretty moderate but if I was up North it would be a necessity IMO.

Jerome, I understand the noise issue. A rattle would drive me crazy as well but I don't have that problem because of the things I haul I guess. All of my install tools are in pockets in tool bags and my signs are generally in custom plywood boxes either on the floor or secured to pallets. For odd shaped stuff I use ratchet straps to secure it to the D Rings in the floor. Plumbers, Carpenters and HVAC guys would have a whole different setup than I do.

[Chris Padilla]

How about some pics of your van, Keith? I'd like to see it.

[Jason Roehl]

I have a work van ('03 Ford E250) full of tools and busy-ness. Generally, I don't have to drive more than 20-25 minutes locally, and that's a good thing. Any longer, and there would be a good chance I'd snap. I do have a safety divider behind the front seats (rear is cargo only) that is sheet metal with a plexi window, which helps, but it's only a mild attenuation of the rattling. Hitting a bad pothole sounds like a car crash.

I would love to have a diesel Sprinter (not necessarily the high-topper, as I would need to haul ladders on top), but it's not in the budget.

[David Weaver]

Hitting a bad pothole sounds like a car crash.

Worked for a tile contractor in a former life who liked his van like that. It was like a rolling metal maraca. He always said "go take the van and ____, but don't drive it too fast" (___ could be get gas, go to the warehouse and get portland cement, etc).

Rolled real nice on smooth road given how much of the guy's lifetime assemblage of crap was in it to weigh it down, though!

[Keith Outten]

How about some pics of your van, Keith? I'd like to see it.

Chris, I will take a few pictures later today. There are a few pics of the exterior on my web site, one on the main banner and a couple in my Portfolio.

Jason, they have a really nice ladder rack for the high top Sprinter vans that lowers your ladder while you stand on the ground. The guy who came out to work on my network cable had one on a brand new Sprinter. He also had the best LED lighting system inside his van that I have ever seen, parked his Sprinter right next to the job and opened up all the doors and the area lit up like a ball park. It was midnight and there are no streetlights where I live. You can also carry a pretty long ladder inside strapped along the wall or to the overhead.
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[Keith Outten]

As you can see I have some sheet rock in my van and my temporary plastic trunk we use to store various items so we don't have to tie them down. The plastic trunk is actually one of the yard or garden tool storage boxes I picked up at Ollie's real cheap. Its very lightweight and easy to place in the van when I need it and it can be stored in the yard, we use it mostly when we travel to store luggage, computers, etc.

I have no need for storage racks or bins so my van is open all the time the way you see it in these pictures . I never know what size signs I am going to be installing although 95% of the time they are small door signs that I place in custom plywood boxes about 20 signs in each box. Large signs are transported as required, some are laid flat on the floor and some are strapped to the walls, it depends on the situation. I have a couple short ladders I take with me on some jobs, the tall one is a six foot step ladder.......I rarely get any higher off the ground

I am about to order three of the heavy duty plastic pallets that I intend to fasten my plywood sign boxes to so I can place the pallets in the shop to load them up and them set them in the van with my pallet forks. If I build sign racks on top of each pallet I won't need as many plywood boxes, just four to transport the signs from the van to my install cart.

I am considering building a removable shelf that would be installed half way up the walls that could handle large signs and glass panels. There just has to be enough room above the shelf for my hammock, some days when the weather is nice it pays to take a long break after lunch
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[Chris Padilla]

Very nice van, Keith! Being able to lay sheet stock flat is fantastic. It does look like the perfect vehicle for you.

I'm still kicking around the diesel idea for our next car but I have many months before I need to decide.

[Chris Parks]

Sprinters are a tough vehicle, I have 20 drivers at work whose sole mission in life is to break our sprinters as often as possible and we have very few problems. The Ford Transits we had prior to the Mercs were always off road with problems.