Hello

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
This is my first post here, but I've been reading here for a couple of months and I'm not exactly new around forums (as a Google of my user name would quickly prove).

Right now I'm at home, with a breakdown/possible vehicle replacement. I drive a 2005 Dodge Sprinter and I had the bad luck to have to turbocharger go south. Trying to get a new one has been an adventure.

If I replace this vehicle, I have to look at standard cargo vans. There are reasons why a straight truck just won't work for me. Another Sprinter, with the attendant nightmare of finding parts in small towns, is a non-starter. (Note for those looking to buy one-- think about that! Just about any decent mechanic will be able to get parts and get your standard vans going again, but these Sprinters are weird ducks and you can be stuck for some time with expensive problems.)

Well, I don't really want to make my first post a whine fest, so I reckon things will work out. I seem to have chosen a bad time to get into this business but-- is there ever a good time? The American economy as a whole is a crapshoot right now so I guess the best thing to do is try to get by as best we can.

I'll see you in "Newbies" and "Truck Forum" since that seems to be where I've been browsing the most here, and of course I'll drop down here to speak "howdy" to anybody who replies here.
 

EnglishLady

Veteran Expediter
Hi and welcome to EO ..... so sorry to hear about your weird duck
(sorry had to add that .... I like that description LOL)

I do hope all turns out well for you :)
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I suppose a little quickie history is in order. I've driven something commercially now since November of '87. First it was large semi, then I stepped down to package delivery in my vehicles since Sept. of '89. Most of my time up to about four months ago was spent in the Chicago area in everything from a Sable wagon on up to the giant 2500 Sprinter that is presently broken down. I think most of that time was in Ford Econolines now that I think of it, the reason for trading the last one on this Sprinter was because Dispatch was having a cow about how much stuff I was leaving behind every morning (I was running a route, filling up the van first thing in the morning and spending the rest of the day emptying the van out). A standard-length Ford just won't hold as much stuff as a Sprinter will, so-- I bought this thing.

Then they started cutting the prices. It got down to where I was earning about as much with this huge Sprinter as I used to get when I had a Windstar. That wouldn't do, so in late March of this year I started looking, and signed on with an expediter in April. My luck since then has varied, I've had checks of nearly two thousand and had checks of only a couple of hundred with everything in between. The outfit I drive for pays outbound miles, then you deadhead back home for the next trip. That tells you they're not exactly a national expediter. But, on the plus side, if I'm going to sit and do nothing for almost a week I'm at home doing it.

One thing I caught onto fast is that this does pay by mile, and not by piece count or weight (which is the way the last company does it, being a local outfit) so it actually works to your advantage to take stuff that's small rather than holding out for the big loads. A couple of hundred pounds puts far less stress on the vehicle than a nearly three thousand pound order does, but the large vehicle has the capacity in case I need it.
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Hi and welcome to EO ..... so sorry to hear about your weird duck
(sorry had to add that .... I like that description LOL)

I do hope all turns out well for you :)

I got that "Weird duck" phrase from a Texan. He had a lot of sayings like that.
 

xiggi

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I would think long and hard before entering todays expedite scene with a cargo van. Have you checked online for parts like europarts? Personally weight is never a deciding factor on accepting a load for me as long as it is in my acceptable weight it is all about price per mile and where I will be when empty.

Welcome to the posting side of EO.
 

paullud

Veteran Expediter
I would think long and hard before entering todays expedite scene with a cargo van. Have you checked online for parts like europarts? Personally weight is never a deciding factor on accepting a load for me as long as it is in my acceptable weight it is all about price per mile and where I will be when empty.

Welcome to the posting side of EO.

If you are taking a risk you would want to think about it. I wouldn't worry to much about starting with a van today but I would definitely be saving for an HCV or Sprinter in the next couple of years.

Posted with my Droid EO Forum App
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I started with a Sprinter. It's presently in the shop causing me more worries than I need. Monday, I was two hundred miles from home with this thing, watching the mechanic call just about everyplace he could to locate a turbocharger. Good luck. One can be found if you're willing to wait and if you're able to pay maybe twenty-five hundred for installation, plus having to pay motel rates for possibly a couple of weeks. Right now I'm not sure I'd recommend one of these beasts until business improves. At least with a standard Ford or Chevy you stand a chance of getting repairs done reasonably quickly and not having to search the entire country to find a dealer that can even look at it.

Not all Dodge dealers can handle Sprinters. I've found that a lot of Freightliner dealers won't touch them either. When you break down--- these things are machines and sooner or later you will break down-- being able to get help is key. Finding that most of the dealers in your area when you break down aren't authorised to even look for the parts really doesn't make your day.

Finding a local mechanic that will touch these things can be even rougher. The Sprinter appears to be too hard to get parts for, and when you get them they cost only slightly less than the national debt. So, many mechanics who will work on almost anything else will tell you they won't touch Sprinters.
 
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mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Listening to the news: We're in a lot of trouble. It doesn't seem to matter what you do, the Market is falling and they're worried about "another" recession. So, whether you do expedited freight or work in an office, we're all in the same boat. Just keeping a roof over our heads is going to be rough.

About that "another" recession: I wasn't aware we were really out of the first one. The jobless rates haven't looked encouraging for a long time, and these "jobless recoveries" which benefit Wall Street and hardly anybody else are starting to get a bit old.

Hold together as best we can, it's all that can be done.
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Sorry about my previous posts here yesterday, I was having a bad day and I think the negativity kind of shows. I really don't want to open up here that down on everything, sure the economy is bad but there are possibilities.

Maybe somebody here can help with a word of cheer.
 

leezaback

Seasoned Expediter
Owner/Operator
whine?? go ahead-no charge-tomorrow,someone else's life will sux, I'm having one of those days today-I'll get over it .
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
The key to a Sprinter is making an actual commitment to realizing that it's not a Ford or a Chevy, but a Mercedes, and it must be treated and maintained like a Mercedes. It's a European vehicle and you must think European when it comes to maintenance. That means don't think you know better than the manual, 'cause you don't. It means using only the manufacturer-recommended fluids and changing them and their filters on time. It means knowing where to get the parts and service you need, same with any other Mercedes.

There are some Sprinter repairs that actually require a Sprinter technician and a DRB-III tool to perform, but not many. A turbo is a turbo, a belt tensioner is a belt tensioner, and a water pump is a water pump. Same with alternators, wheel bearings, tie rod ends, shocks, struts, lots of stuff that any decent mechanic can do. I have a copy of the Service Manual with me that will tell any competent mechanic anything they need to know to R&R anything on the Sprinter. I also have a DAD diagnostic tool for electronic diagnostics if the mechanic isn't a Sprinter technician. For parts, Autozone carries a lot of the wear parts like water pumps, belts, batteries. For the others there's Large inventory of Sprinter parts Europarts and Genuine OEM Sprinter Parts - SprinterParts.net Berry Dodge. You can get next day and two day shipping from both.

Your turbocharger is $1,256.03 plus about $150 shipping from Berry Dodge in Corsicana, TX. You can get used and Garrett remans off eBay for half that.
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I hope I've finally touched bottom on this one. Today, after another blizzard of phone calls, I found a garage in Palatine, Illinois that can do it and furthermore, according to the lie he told me, he has the part in stock. Will wonders never cease? Installed for just over eighteen hundred, and I should be back on the road by Wednesday if all goes well.

Turtle, you're right about the maintenance. I half suspect some lightweight oil may be partially to blame this time, though I have a suspicion this problem was developing for a while and took until this past weekend to really blow out. I'll try to get a few more miles out of her anyway, right now she's got close to 400,000 on the clock and until this last bit she wasn't using any oil to speak of and, when healthy, pulls like a train. I'll see if I can post a photo here, I may not have "whiskers" enough on this site to do that yet but lets' see.

General%202-8.JPG
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Anything maintenance-wise might not have had anything to do with the turbo. The turbo is a piece of metal and they can sometimes just break. I had a belt tensioner where the little arm that holds the pulley just snapped. OK, the alternator's decoupler pulley locking up may have had something to do with that, but it still shouldn't have just snapped. Most of the heavy metal parts aren't forged per se, but sintered from powdered metal. That's got lots of advantages over traditional forging, purity being among them, but the slightest impurity will waken in and cause it to crack or snap.

Mine's got 192,000 on it, and I recently replaced the transmission. If yours is till the original, start quickly saving your pennies. 350,000 to 450,000 is the standard fare for the transmission failure. It's not a matter of if, but when it'll fail. Some have gone sooner, some go a little longer, but they all fail due to the same flaw (which I understand is fixed in the later models). If you're in the market for one soon, Silver Star Transmission - Mercedes-Benz, Dodge Sprinter Silverstar Transmission is the way to go. About $2500 including shipping, plus the $500 core, but you'll get it in 2 days and any competent mechanic can replace it in about 5 hours labor. Freightliner dealer in Harrisburg, PA quoted me $6400 to replace it. If a Sprinter shop doesn't do the replacement, then ASAP after it's replaced get it to a Sprinter tech (or someone with a DAD) and have them reset the adaptives for the transmission. I mention the transmission just to give you something to look forward to, if you haven't replaced it already. :D

Your biggest problem, I think, is that it's a kind of funky red-maroon color.
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
Nah - your biggest problem is that when it comes to Sprinters, Turtle's advice is worth listening to, but to get it you've got to listen to the wisecracks too. ;)
PS "Google your username"?:confused: [Had no idea Google knows that stuff, lol]
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Turtle, your last post caused me to look up Sprinter transmission troubles. I bought this one used, it had 183,000 on it when I bought it so, unless Carfax might have something on it, I'll just have to guess on the tranny for the moment.

I can report that this one has a "hole" between second and third gear as you're going up through the gears. It's had this "hole" ever since just after I got it. Just about the time you hit the second-to-third upshift it acts as though it's in neutral, then the third gear takes hold and it's OK from there on. That makes jack-rabbit starts not something you want to do, but as long as you know the hole is there you can ease the throttle through that gear change and it works.

Right now, I'm just hoping I can get this one to hold together until I get my finances a bit better, then I'll trade for something else.
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Nah - your biggest problem is that when it comes to Sprinters, Turtle's advice is worth listening to, but to get it you've got to listen to the wisecracks too. ;)
PS "Google your username"?:confused: [Had no idea Google knows that stuff, lol]

I know. I've been lurking here for a couple of months, and his advice does look to be sound. As to the wisecracks--- you don't have to be crazy to be in expediting, it offers on-the-job training.
 

mjmsprt40

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Quickie update here. I've just heard from the mechanic, it should be ready tomorrow. He tells me the shaft broke inside the turbo, and I reckon that fits the way the vehicle felt. I've had the turbocharger go off before when a hose split or came off, so I know what it feels like to have no turbocharging. This was different, I lost power at low speeds as well as high speed and that was unusual. A broken shaft would cause this, since the turbo wheel might partially block the exhaust.
 
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