cadetdrivr

fabbrisd1

Interesting thread... and the from what I read from the referenced article - that dude has Sprinter extensive Sprinter - and not-so-much on the passenger MB side.

1. Yes - the passenger MB recommended oil change interval is 1yr/10K miles - whichever 1st - the recommended oil change interval for the Sprinter is 20K - the "engines" are basically the same - so the inquiring minds here want to know the reason for the difference ? Short form - the usage profile assume fleet vehicles build mileage faster - last cut on the data shows about 80K miles per yr.... and based on 80K per yr performance reliability tests out fine at 20K intervals... Passenger vehicles have more start/stop/start - lower mileage build at average 10.7K per year - under passenger driving conditions performance/reliability tests fine/best with 10K/1Yr changes (and actually the 10K is really 12.5K.

2. Sludging - higher compression diesel engines have more "blow thru" fuel contamination into the oil - contaminants also breakdown the oil - I personally have not seen sludging become a problem with passenger - but I have seen sludging become a problem with select higher mileage/yr Sprinters - and that gets real cranky since fleet/private owners don't regularly maintain their Sprinter at dealer service - and "always" report - "yeh - maintenance has been done on schedule - I have no idea what went wrong" even if they pull into dealer bay with no oil leaks but 3qts down.

3. Heat has always been a top engineering issue - for ALL vehicles gas or diesel - the "old cast iron" engine blocks from the '70's gas or diesel tech have been replaced by alloy blocks from current tech. Sure - it was exciting passing 100K+200K with the old iron blocks - and frankly passing 200K-300K-400K with the new alloy blocks is done every day - with fleet operators running to 400L+ before R-Or-R (Replacement or Rebuild).

4. DEF/Regeneration - I always LOVE the part where someone lays DEF/EGR on Mercedes shoulders - DEF/EGR is the most effective means to achieve the current pollution standards for ALL diesel engines - and is now Federally mandated on ALL diesel engine applications (vehicles, generators, industrial or consumer application) here in the US over 60hp (I believe that 60hp is correct).

5. DEF fluid - I agree that most owners are not given proper instruction on DEF fluid - (a) that exposure to metal is a major/instant contaminant (2) open/unused DEF is subject to breakdown
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The problems I have seen on fleet vehicles are extreme and in direct proportion to (a) poor maintenance (b) lousy diesel (c) "bad" DEF

The problems I have seen on passenger - yes - turbo's on passenger become a weak link more than they are in fleet vehicles - then the Holy 3 kick in (a) poor maintenance (b) lousy diesel (c) "bad" DEF

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Not to get too worried - here in US diesels for passenger are being phased out by all manufacturers in inverse proportion to the development new-tech passenger hybrids - which in turn will open a whole new kettle of fish
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The beat goes on - on passenger - if you want to change your oil every 5K miles - OK by me - personally - I would buy diesel at a volume diesel station - top off with fuel-station-dispensed DEF every 5K miles too - and get extended warranty where available to you to get past the turbo plateau.

Passenger diesel owners LOVE the driving experience of their diesel power train - LOVE driving something different - added fuel economy helps pay for 20K mile recommended fuel filter replacement - and extedned range adds up in saving more of your time with fewer stops to refuel...

ooklaa65

I'm new to the forum are you a mercedes benz Master tech or something? Cause you stated if we want to change out oil at 5k intervals its "ok by me" which I'm taking as that's wrong.

yk0786

I feel Fab is spot on with his assessment. I have been taking my car to the dealership for the maintenance. Yes, they may charge a bit more especially on the DEF. But at the end of the day, I am probably saving in time/frustration/money in the long run given I plan to keep my GL350 long-term. I always go to gas stations where the diesel is a high turnover. At 110,000 miles, I haven't had any of the issues that a lot of the other owners have discussed on these forums. I just went in for my A service yesterday expecting something major to come up. And was surprised that there was no issues and the cost was reasonable with the Ad Blue treatment. Keeping my fingers cross that this will continue for the next 100K miles.

DaveW68

Based on your mileage, it seems that you do mostly highway miles with your truck. BT's driven like that are the ones that seem to fare much better than the ones that do mostly shorter trips.

DC-BENZ

What mileage equals "short trips"?

DC-BENZ

Is there a way to activate the "regen" mode so we can burn off what clogs the DPF when we have a longer drive scheduled vs randomly, which many times ends up being on short last minute trips? What is a long enough drive and the frequency of those drives to keep the Bluetech healthy?

BTW, I mostly see Sprinters in the city, not cruising the highways. How are they fairing any better?

noyu

Exc information here from all the members.

​​​​​​Does the adblue tank requires flush and refill as part of the maintenance and how often?

I remember reading somewhere MB has a bulletin about this but can't find it now.

ooklaa65

I think you can manually activate a regen by holding your rpms at 2k while in park. I have never done this before but have read about it a lot. Or you can you the software meercedes use I think its called star something, but you gotta buy the software and learn how to use it. I have a something like this for my Volvo called Vida. The manualy regen I def would hook up a bunch of fans and blow them towards the front of your car kinda of what they do when you put your car on a dyno.

ooklaa65

@ fabbrisd1 again I wll ask are you a Mercedes benz Mechanic? You have me confused with your "its ok by me" to change your oil.

ooklaa65

yea you can do a flush on the tank which requires you to remove it and flush it. I think if you just keep it full it wont allow the fluid to crystalize which is why people do a flush..

DC-BENZ

Torque brake to 2k rpms, for how long? Where did you find this method? And why the dyno fan method, so not to overheat DPF? Doubt I'd buy the Star software for $3k now that we are down to 1 Mercedes.

ooklaa65

Not torque brake. Leave the car in park. All the information I'm giving you is from the internet and YouTube. Research manual dpf regen. As far as the software I bought a bootleg version for my volvo for 100 bucks from Ali Baba. So I haven't researched for mercedes one but I will. My volvo is highly modified so having this software was a huge help.

ooklaa65

Just searched alibaba and found tons of stuff. Anyone have experience on this forum with the software we need for our mercedes? Of coarse these these are hacks and will have limitations but it would be awesome to be able to get something like this.

fabbrisd1

Sure - you have no idea about mock-Star systems - much less MB "hacks"..

ooklaa65

Never said I did but thats why we have the internet and forums like these to learn..

Qwikzj

Sorry for the late reply's:
I have no check engine light or hard codes at this time and to the passer by it looks completely stock. A tune is required and readily available. I will leave it at that. All diesels, cars/trucks, whatever are safety inspection only in my state, anyway.
As for the sludge issue:
My GL350 was dealer serviced on 9,000-10,000 intervals prior to my purchase and had very little repair work done other than an oil leak before my purchase. The sludge I saw appeared to be coming through the EGR primarily. Pre EGR cooler (Hot exhaust) was nice and clean, just past the EGR cooler was sludge city only getting worse the closer it traveled toward an intake valve. I believe the 8,000 miles of 8 mile trips each way to work, gym, or grocery store, did more to cause the sludge to build quickly than anything else. I am not aware of the previous owners driving style or history to know if that is true or not.

Jason B

Where are you located???

I just find it crazy that basically you are saying that if you drive this car with diesel engine only for short trips, it's going to self destruct. Didn't Mercedes test this out? I'm not saying you are crazy, I'm saying Mercedes is for designing something that would do this....

DaveW68

The fact that MB no longer offers the option of a diesel engine in the US is very telling.

Jason B

That's not the reason. lol. It's due to the whole VW stuff. I've read just about every topic on this subject, too many to list. But, IF this was super widespread there would be a class action coming and soon. Maybe it's about time.

Qwikzj

Self destruct is more extreme than I would say. Sludge is little more than the combination of oil and moisture, if you only drive very short trips the car never fully warms up enough to burn off all of the moisture that's accumulated overnight. No car manufacturer can really engineer a way around that. As said, the Diesel is dropped for the US market, I believe the engineers were hamstrung by the EPA to comply with certain benchmarks. Meeting those benchmarks is a compromise of performance and longevity for the sake of a clean tailpipe. The emission components will eventually fail at some point if your driving habits are more like a soccer mom than a fedex delivery driver.

KrustyKustom

He is a fellow GL owner and a service advisor (i think...)

ooklaa65

Maybe I'm wrong but seems he has a issue with me. I sent him a pm and he has not answerd it back yet.

Anyways just took my gl out for a nice 40 minute highway ride and got 25 miles to the gallon first decent highway trip from purchase.

andedave

A little late to this tread but, I just had $10,500 in warranty work mostly related to AdBlue injector issues that smoked (literally) the entire exhaust system. Started with a CEL for NOX sensor followed by AdBlue warnings. Mileage was ~47,000.