sprinter to ford/chevy

desdes · Mar 13, 2009

hey guys,been reading for a year,first post.07 sprinter owner,15 months old,160,000 miles(a good year i guess),runs and handles great.maintenance and repairs and the mortgage on it are heavy.i am considering getting a ford/chevy gasser,some input on you owners please(mileage,maintanance,repairs,mpg).thanks

BillChaffey · Mar 13, 2009

2002 Ford Extended E 350, Diesel, Auto, Air with separate Air unit for rear. 22 MPG & up @ 60 MPH. 20 MPG or less @ 65 or above. Only major maintenance was upper & lower Ball joints at about 220,000 miles.

guido4475 · Mar 13, 2009

good evening, mr. bearcat.i was wondering,what are the best tires to get for the e-350 i just purchased? i hear 10-ply are the way to go.who has the best deals on tires for these? the van i got has LT/225/75r16 tire size on it.any info you can give me would be greatly appreciatted.it has a 7.3 diesel in it. do these engines have any ongoing problems that i should be made aware of? thanks in advance for your help.

BillChaffey · Mar 15, 2009

Good morning,
I live off a Gravel road & ten ply tires are a must. A GOOD tire shop & Ford can best tell you what size to use. Plus make sure it's a TRUCK tire not a passenger tire of the same size. I would ask the former owner about the "Cam Shaft Sensor" Ford has a recall on them & will replace it at no cost to the owner. Ford sent me two letters one for my F 250 Diesel (which was a year & 55,000 miles too late) and a second for my Van. When I called Ford they were very pleasant. Said if I still have the receipt for the F 250 sensor they would reimburse me. When the Sensor starts to go the Vehicle will stall out. It's one thing when you have just started, and another when your doing highway speed.( like turning off the key for a second) Other then the Sensor I have had no major problems so far. The Van has 235,000 miles & the 1999 F 250 281,000.

fastman_1 · Mar 15, 2009

2003 GMC Savanna 2500,5.3 Engine,21 MPG, Weak Link is the Transmission, Mines been rebuilt twice now and starting to show signs of Number 3, I have 367,000 + miles on it, have down not much to it other rhan the Trans.

Jack_Berry · Mar 15, 2009

guido i have goodyears on the truck. they work well. good confidence in wet slick conditions. handling improved when i installed hellwig rear sway bar.

desdes my truck had the engine replaced at 265K miles due to thrust bearing wear. with the valve covers off the old engine looked great afa wear and cleanliness. no deposits anywhere. helps that all the miles are hwy and the oil is synthetic and changed regularly.

mileage varies from 14 to 18 depending on all the influences. make sure you get something with a towing pkg for the tranny cooler and larger sway bars, shocks and springs.

maranatha7 · Mar 15, 2009

I have a 2000 E350 extended body 7.3 powerstroke with 499,000 miles.My van was recently inspected by a local Diesel Shop and they felt that I had about 300K left. Best tires I have ever bought were BF Goodrich Commercial TA's from Sams Club. I replaced at 150,000 miles with about 25% left, just to be cautious.
I really believe that keeping correct pressure and front end aligned are the key. BTW, these BF Goodrich outlasted Michelin and Firestones by 25-35%. I also agree with 10 ply or E rated truck tires.

Hope this helps,
Big Al
ex Con-Way Now & Roberts Express

BillChaffey · Mar 16, 2009

Tire wise, I will not purchase "Good Year" again. when I'm home I do a lot of driving on County=gravel roads. I have had about every tire made from China or South America. At least five different tire dealers. Never got more then 18,000 miles before the tire starts shedding chunks of rubber. So last year thought I will buy Brand name tires, went to Wal Mart. Bought 4, 10 ply Good Years. Rotated them once at 7000 miles. At 17,565 miles the rubber started to leave the rear tires in chunks. Still had good tread, but when there is canvas? the size of a quarter showing off they came. Back to China @ $89.00 per tire.
P.S. The best tires were the General's that came with the truck. Only no dealers anywhere around, other then the Ford dealer. $145.00 each was out of my range at this time.

Marty · Mar 17, 2009

You said you have a heavy mortgage on your Sprinter. In that case you probably owe a lot of money on it after only making around 15 payments. I can't see how you could sell your Sprinter at anything close to what you owe on it in order buy a new van. Not being a year and a half old with 160,000 miles on it.

guido4475 · Mar 17, 2009

thanks so much, everyone! i really appreciatte the help you gave me on the ford van.anyone ever have transmission problems with them? i heard that they did not hold up too well to the torque of a diesel.it does have the towing package on it.thanks again.

ds1450 · Mar 17, 2009

Ford Transmissions are good for 250K and that's about it. Good news, used $500. Easy in and out. The engines last forever. I sold my e-350 with 550K and it's still going strong.

Sprinters are nothing but headaches. There's a few on here who apparently own stock in Mercedes but for all of the money you end up paying and putting out... the small fuel savings is a wash. And with good old fashioned American Iron your down time will be cut in half. Those things were never meant for expediting. That's why Fed Ex ground is getting rid of all of theirs. Waay too much downtime and repairs... and 2 - 3 times more expensive to service and repair. Hope this helps.

aristotle · Mar 17, 2009

guido4475 said:
thanks so much, everyone! i really appreciatte the help you gave me on the ford van.anyone ever have transmission problems with them? i heard that they did not hold up too well to the torque of a diesel.it does have the towing package on it.thanks again.

Guido... my two E350's have a combined mileage over one million miles. Never have had a single transmission problem. However, with the older one, I did replace the rear axle ($1200).

RLENT · Mar 18, 2009

ds1450 said:
Sprinters are nothing but headaches. There's a few on here who apparently own stock in Mercedes .... snip

And there are some on here that repeatedly post inaccurate information .......

Those things were never meant for expediting. That's why Fed Ex ground is getting rid of all of theirs.

Really ..... ?

How alarming !

I didn't know Fedex Ground was actually in the expedite business ... I'll have to let my son know about this ..... he's Fedex Home Delivery Contractor (a Division of Ground) - with 6 or 7 routes - and four Sprinters ('04, '06, '07, and an '08) .... maybe I can pick them up cheap .....

FWIW, Fedex Ground is almost all IC's (independent contractors) - as such Fedex Ground doesn't "have" Sprinters - their IC's do though (...... Federal "Express" is another matter however)

Turtle · Mar 18, 2009

In the past year, FedEx Express has added 75 Sprinter diesel hybrids, 48 of them in New York state, the rest in Los Angeles.

ds1450 · Mar 18, 2009

Like I mentioned.. a handful love their little German junk trucks.. no problem. just when someone who is just getting started expects us to give advice, I can't understand why anyone would reccomend that truck. Ford or Chevy run circles around that van in every single reliability and maintenance test. Check any source.. Fed Ex Ground here is dumping the Sprinters they have and you should be able to get them cheap... they have a maintenance shop not far from here where 2 of my friends work... but you do not want them... they are junk.

And last

I have a 2005 sprinter 2500. My problems started early with a transmission fluid leak. Then one of five turbo resonators went, a mass air sensor caused me to get towed in again, the doors won't close right, all the cargo lights fell off and kept blowing fuses , the temp. hot and cold dial just spins all around (stuck on hot all the time) 3 lumbar seat hand pump replaced, can't turn dash fan location (stuck on air to feet), THE WHOLE TURBO BLEW, THE MOTOR FRIED (DUE TO INJECTORS LEAKING INTO ENGINE OIL), AND AS I'M WRITING THIS ITS IN THE SHOP WON'T START (POWER MODULE ORDERED) AND IM SURE IM MISSING SOME OTHER ITEMS!!!!!!!!!!

Guess I have my point... have a nice day.

guido4475 · Mar 18, 2009

once again, thanks for the input on the ford vans.the one i am buying has a 7.3 in it, a 2003 model. the carrier i am leased to does not have an age limit.it was from ryder, with 180,000 miles on it,looking like new inside and out.they want 4,995 for it, well below kelly blue book.they also put a nationwide bumper to bumper warranty on it, and provide all detailed maintanance records since day one for everything that was done to it.i was underneath it, and yes, you are right, i cant believe how easy the trans would be to pull out. i used to rebuild engines in my younger day.i real feel for the guys that are having problems with the sprinters.i have some close freinds that are having trouble also.but everyone has to admit,as well as i, the room,ride,fuel mileage and noise level of a sprinter is hard to beat.i wonder if i could put a ford engine, trans,etc in a sprinter? lol.i wish the best of luck to you all. thanks so much.

Jack_Berry · Mar 18, 2009

guido....goodyear wrangler 245 tires. i have my work done at the local richlonns and get excellant service.

volunteer 1 · Mar 29, 2009

Stay away from the Sprinters. I bought two new ones in 05 and I can not possibly list the problems I had with them. When you do have a problem no one wants to fix them. Do not listen to the dealers promises about first bay available for your repairs. Won't happen. I have by far had the best luck with Chevy's. 450 thousand and no motor or transmission problems, only fuel pump problems about every 125 thousand. I think the newer ones are not having fuel pump problems. My current van has 180 thousand and nothing but new tires.

Best of luck, Volunteer

jjtdrv4u · Mar 29, 2009

On my Sprinter van, it has the electronic oil level guage that sounds a warning and tells you how much oil to add. Well, it has apparently gone haywire because the oil level as per the dipstick is ok. Even the service manual indicates that if this problem occurs, you should go by the dipstick, that is mindboggling. My dealer says this problem is caused by overfilling, again this is shocking, because it was his guys that changed the oil. Meanwhile, I have a guage all lit up nice and bright on my control panel, and it probably means nothing. The dealers input aside, has anyone else had this problem on their Sprinters? and what did it require to fix the problem?
Thanks in advance for all your help.

RLENT · Mar 30, 2009

jjtdrv4u said:
On my Sprinter van, it has the electronic oil level gauge that sounds a warning and tells you how much oil to add. Well, it has apparently gone haywire because the oil level as per the dipstick is ok. Even the service manual indicates that if this problem occurs, you should go by the dipstick, that is mindboggling.

Why is that mind-boggling - that you should use an actual visual observation with your own eyes - as opposed to the relying on an electronic sensor .... that could have a fault ?

Is your oil level showing high - or is it showing low ?

What year Sprinter ? Diesel - or Gas ?

My dealer says this problem is caused by overfilling, again this is shocking, because it was his guys that changed the oil.

Yes - absolutely shocking - I am utterly aghast !!!

What often happens, with at least the older T1N's ('06 and earlier) - and at other service facilities as well as the dealer - is that whoever is doing the oil change chooses to dump in the extra half quart (the sump is only 9.5 quarts, with filter) out of the 10 quarts that the guy in the parts department handed them ....

Meanwhile, I have a gauge all lit up nice and bright on my control panel, and it probably means nothing.

Oh .... I wouldn't say that - it might be that your understanding of how the dipstick is to be read is incorrect - and that the sensor is spot-on correct.

The dealers input aside, has anyone else had this problem on their Sprinters? and what did it require to fix the problem?

Describe the procedure you are using to check the oil via the dipstick, the exact results you are getting, and I'll see what I can do to help.

But first off, is your dipstick handle yellow or red ? (there is a difference in the two - specifically as to how, and when, they are to be read)

I have seen them overfilled, on more than one occasion - the solution is drain off part of the oil.