Sprinter 412D life expectancy?

[motovelo]

My 1996 412 Sprinter self built camper van has proved to be a very reliable van to date despite the inter galactic starship mileage of 460,000 plus KM! My question is what is the typical life expactancy of these engines? I know that's a bit of "how long is a piece of string" type of question but I'm hoping somebody has experince of owning one of these with high milage. I change the oil every 2000 miles and also replace all filters etc. and apart from having just replaced the turbo for an exchange unit after the oil seals gave up, I have had no problems. Now the axle is whining to the point of needing to wear ear defenders and the fan belt tensioners need replacing but before throwing good money after bad I was trying to guage if it's worth fixing these faults? I don't want to fix the diff and then face an engine rebuild! I've been told these motors will do 500,000 miles easily, is this true? The bodywork and interior are all in good order for it's age so I'm optimistically hoping it will last another 200,000 miles or so !

 

[IAN MAC]

Fix it.. No point looking for problems that might not happen.

 

[Mole2000]

Diff bearings, seals and all other bits required available from Dealer, job takes maybe half a day, when doing Fan belt tensioner best to do all pulleys while your there! maybe leave alternator pulley tho as thats the most expensive and requires special tool to remove.

 

[motovelo]

Diff bearings, seals and all other bits required available from Dealer, job takes maybe half a day

I've been told it's not a DIY job and that it's some kind of "black magic" or special skill that only skilled engineers can do with special tools, hence the expensive quotes! If it can be done DIY style what bits do I need to buy and what's involved? Any special tools needed??

 

[motovelo]

Diff bearings, seals and all other bits required available from Dealer, job takes maybe half a day

I've been told it's not a DIY job and that it's some kind of "black magic" or special skill that only skilled engineers can do with special tools, hence the expensive quotes! If it can be done DIY style what bits do I need to buy and what's involved? Any special tools needed??

 

[Mole2000]

Rear Diff bearing went on my 313cdi at about 180,000 miles, ordered bits from my local commercial dealer as VOR and they were delivered next day, 4 bearings, 1 oil seal, 1 gasket and a crush washer (cylinder about 2 ins long) and new flange nut. No special tools used. Remove prop shaft, undo flange nut, pull half shafts, remove back plate from diff housing. Remove diff unit, replace all 4 bearings. the crush washer goes between the 2 input bearings and you tighten the flange nut to compress it. Maybe sounds more complicated than the job was, took no more than 4 hours. Good luck

 

[motovelo]

How expensive!!

Have just been quoted £1468.75 for the bearings, seals, crush washer etc. from dronsfield Mercedes!! Can't be right can it? it's not looking hopeful, no seconhand axles anywhere, new one costs nearly £2000 and to get the diff rebuilt varies between £800 and a £1000, got really excited by the previous post when I thought I might be able to sort it myself, now I'm still driving about waiting for the axle to collapse! Anybody know where I can get these parts at a realistic price please!

 

[Mole2000]

I got my bits from Mercedes Commercial Dealer (Rygor) and the price was nowhere near that, can't check price at moment as all paperwork at accountants. You sure they're not quoting for a new diff too! The diff I repaired was whining caused by an input bearing breaking up.

 

[motovelo]

Yes I think or hope they were quoting for a diff and not just bearings! I'll try Rygor even though they are nowhere near me. I guess it does not matter as they can post them. I've no idea what's shot in my diff it juns whines once up to around 40MPH and stops if you take your foot of the gas. As the speed increases the noise gets a little louder but then settles to an even whine but it starts to rumble a bit once over 60MPH or so? It's been like it for ages but it would be nice to sort it. It did occur to me that maybe it's the gearbox and not the axle as I've never changed the gearbox oil in the last two years, just a thought? Van drives fine otherwise and I figured it would eventually just self destruct requiring a new axle and any other parts that it took out with it! I'm assuming I need the same bits as you used as that's what I asked Dronsfield to quote on, the only difference is my van is a twin wheel axle. As a side issue I have noticed a smear of axle fluid on one of the rear wheels suggesting it's being forced along the axle where the half shaft goes in to the diff? Sorry if this a really dumb question but once you've undone all the little nuts on the wheel hub does the shaft literally just pull out or do you need to disconnect something in the diff itself??

 

[daz 585]

the half shafts will just pull out "with a little help"
the sprinters can be bad for h/gaskets but with the milage you have on her i would think it may have been changed could be wrong but had a few sprinters and around the 200k mark seems to blow the h/gasket or worse do a piston,,

 

[johnkyte]

Dont try to pull halfshaft out---hit it IN with large hammer--it will bounce out!!

 

[dava]

Replace timing chain and tensioners, common fault on high milers, you've done the best you could by maintaining it, oil's and filters makes the difference, oh and not hammering it all day, keep the revs sensible and they'll last for ever, seen 460k miles on them before.

 

[rich599]

i do european courier work,and buy my vans new keep them until they are three years old,and every one that i have owned has done over 500,000 miles without any problems and i have usually sold them on to people that i know,i would have thought that second hand axles should be everywhere as i have never had any problems with any of mine, and i know a lot of other poeple that do the same job/miles as me and have never known of anyone having any major problems