Mercedes SprinterIssues and Breakdowns: My Experience with the 2017 Mercedes Sprinter

2018-06-25 • SEND FEEDBACK •
Related: Mercedes Sprinter

Photographer and cyclist and Mac expert and software engineer Lloyd Chambers is available for consulting on general Sprinter considerations at his usual consulting rates via phone, or in person in the Palo Alto, CA area. Save yourself hours and mistakes by discussing issues up-front. More about Lloyd....

This page summarizes the issues and breakdowns with my 2017 Mercedes Sprinter.

Service year 1

I purchased the 2017 Mercedes Sprinter on August 8, 2017. I love the Sprinter, it is so useful to me.

I bought the 2017 Mercedes Sprinter because of its excellent feature set, but also its reputation for sterling reliability, a reputation apparently undeserved and erroneous. Less than a year into it, I can sadly say that the 2017 Mercedes Sprinter is not nearly as reliable as I had hoped. Maybe my situation is unusual, but is it relevant when less than one year into service all these issues arose for a design that has been around for a decade. It’s unacceptable.

All of these issues arose this very first year (and the year is not over as I write this):

• Toy-grade spring clamps on steering fluid hoses let hoses pop off. This was a major failure at about 17200 miles and less than 11 months into service that ruined a trip and cost me 4 valuable days.
• Right After Service A: “Engine Oil Level Reduce Oil Level” Red Warning
• Defective Control Module for Heating and AC Fails to Open Internal Baffles
• Parking Lamp Failure at 11 Months Old
• I have a suspicion that something is amiss with the transmission (some herky-jerky shifting).

2017 Mercedes Sprinter