Mercedes Benz will not honor any extended warranty purchased from Dodge. The key word here is purchased. Dodge got the money and it is their warranty. Maybe Dodge will refund money based upon the unused portion of the warranty but I don’t think it likely.

Mercedes Benz will be selling an extended warranty that Dodge Sprinter owners can purchase as long as their Sprinter is still covered under the original warranty. No word on months/miles/cost.

At least one Mercedes dealer will be marking a kit to change your Dodge logo’s to Mercedes. You can find these now on the market but perhaps the dealer will save you some money.

From what I read, the new Sprinter dealers are excited and ready to jump into the game. Yaaahooooo!

My Sprinter, in addition to the normal engine heated coolant heater came with then option, HH2, and electrically powered hot-air auxiliary heater. It is also known as AEHM module and Heater Unit PTC) I would think that many other Sprinters were delivered in the same configuration. There are no controls for this heater and it works automatically based on ambient temperatures. Being in California, the temps have not been low enough (yet) for me to confirm that it works. The owner’s manual (under Sprinter resources) describes it like this:

The vehicle is equipped with an electrically powered heater booster system. The heater booster system ensures that the vehicle interior is heated up as quickly as possible during the engine’s warm-up phase. The heater booster system switches on automatically as required.

By referring to it as a “heater booster system” the OM adds to the confusion.

From the Special Equipment book (under Sprinter resources) which calls the option HB9 (and says it is standard on all models), we have a description of how the heater works:

The heater booster consists of radiator elements (fins) which are fitted with PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) resistors and are held together in a mounting frame by spring clips. When an electric voltage is applied to the heater elements, an electric current flows through the PTC resistors, which heat up. The fins absorb the heat and radiate it to the passing air. As soon as the engine is running, the electric heater booster steadily increases its power from 0 to 100% in the space of 28 seconds. The heater booster is situated in close proximity to the air outlets, to keep heat losses to a minimum. The warmed air is circulated into the interior via the vehicle heater/blower system.

• Switch-on conditions:
  Coolant temperature < 80°C (176°F) and ambient temperature < 10°C (50°F).
• Switch-off conditions:
  Coolant temperature > 80°C (176°F) and ambient temperature > 13°C (55°F).

The heater is located behind the center panel in the middle of the dashboard. (basically below the radio). I do not know yet what AC/Heater switch configeration effects it. Does it only work when the AC compressor is on? Does it work with the AC compressor is off?

Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC announced Tuesday it will take back sales of the Sprinter commercial van in the U.S and Canada starting in January, effectively discontinuing the Dodge Sprinter that is sold by about 400 Dodge dealers.

Mercedes says it will take over sales, marketing, distribution and service of the van, which will be sold as a Mercedes-Benz or a Freightliner  next year as part of a new division: Daimler Vans USA, LLC. The wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler AG will be based in Montvale, N.J., where Mercedes has its North American headquarters. This from Alisa Priddle / The Detroit News

As of January 1, all contracts with Dodge dealers will be over (actually I heard the Freightliner deal was done also) and 120+ Mercedes dealers will have the job. Sure hope that there is one close to me. It seems we may have to go a long way for maintenence in some places.

Word has it that starting January, the Sprinter will be offered with a new 3.0L V6 common-rail diesel option from the M-Class and GL-Class and will be sold in all 50 states.

I guess I can throw away all the Dodge badges. Doesn’t look like I will ever change the bus back to a Dodge now!

Eventually, all the current government spending and promised government spending will come home to roost and many predict when the recession ends, we will see inflation or even hyper-inflation. Inflation means that Sprinter is going to double in price and interest will go from affordable to astronomical.

How much has the government spent so far? Bailoutsleuth.com details:

• $2T Emergency Fed Loans
• $700B TARP (designed to buy bad debt, the fund is transforming to whatever Paulson wants to buy)
• $300B Hope Now (the government’s attempt at mortgage bailouts)
• $200B Fannie/Freddie
• $140B Tax Breaks for Banks
• $110B: AIG ($40B of TARP money, plus $110B in other relief)

That’s close to $4.5 trillion and with the new government coming in January, it will only go up.

So start thinking about that new Sprinter. Good pricing, low interest and fuel costs and a vehicle that you can live in (if need be) and carry you away from all this to Canada or the beaches of Baja.

According to the Wall Street Journal, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler LLC are lobbying the Bush administration to siphon off a portion of the bailout money to help fund their proposed merger. Chrysler, which is majority-owned by hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management, would end up being gobbled up by GM in a complex deal that would require about $10 billion to cover integration expenses.

Who benefits here? The #1 benefactor is Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus is a private equity firm that owns 80.1% of Chrysler and 51% of GMAC Financial Services. In fact, it was Cerberus who first made the proposal of trading Chrysler’s automotive operations to GM. The Journal said Cerberus would receive GM’s remaining 49 percent stake in GMAC.

Cerberus is managed by John William Snow, who was Secretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush, from February 03 through June 06. He resigned and was appointed CEO of Cerberus in October, 2006. He benefits big time from this bailout.

Also to profit will be JPMorgan Chase since they hold a big portion of Chrysler debt. You may note that Morgan was bailed out in June by the Fed allowing them to take over BearStearns for pennies and later in September by the Fed allowing them to take over WaMu. In both these take overs WaMu and BearStearns shareholders and certain bondholders were wiped out. It pays to have friends in high places.

While no money for Main Street has been sighted, money is flowing but the pipeline is well guarded and being siphoned off here and there. We Sprinter owners don’t need to worry about where we will find service. The way things are going we won’t be able to afford it anyway.

I had noticed my wife’s feet did not hit the floor when occupying the navigator’s seat so I ordered a smaller seat base. The part is 68010943AA SOB Riser. It arrives black and normally would need to be painted to match the one under the driver’s seat.

It is 3" shorter than the original. I really only needed 1" shorter but there was only one choice. I may end up taking it out and going back to the taller because at this point I am not sure my wife likes it. It definitely drops her down!

The seat base is very easy to change out with one exception that hopefully you will not have to deal with if you do this.

The seat is fastened to the base with 4 bolts, washers, and one wire (if you have a heated seat from Sportsmobile) that is easily disconnected.

Why it worked on the original and not on the exact patterned replacement can only be answered by the term, just my luck. It took me a couple of hours to get by this problem.

This project is a little costly. Riser $130-$160, paint by body shop $100-$200.

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is built by Daimler AG in Düsseldorf, Germany and Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is sold under its Mercedes-Benz, Dodge, and Freightliner brands. The Sprinter is offered to the American market as a panel van, crewbus and cab-chassis in different variants, in three lengths and three roof heights, and featuring a six-cylinder diesel.

Specifications:

• 3.0L CRD turbo diesel V6 engine
• 2987 cubic centimeter (182 cubic inch) displacement
• Power: 115 kW (154 hp) @ 3400 rpm
• Torque: 380 N·m (280 lb-ft) @ 1200-2400 rpm
• Fuel capacity: 25.0 gallons

The cargo Sprinter is built then disassembled in Germany and reassembled in the DaimlerChrysler plant in Ladson just outside Charleston, South Carolina.

Sprinters are used in the US by freight expeditors, as passenger vans and as van conversions. Many RV makers have adopted the Sprinter as a smaller high-end fuel efficient van-based Class B. The chassis cab model is used in larger Class C RV conversions. Also the current VW Crafter shares the bodyshells with the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter counterparts, but the front grill styling, engine and transmissions remain Volkswagen sourced.

Many owners rebadge their Sprinters to Mercedes as the only difference between the US and European models are the logos.

The show officially started at 10am so I spent the next 2-1/2 hours cleaning, polishing, staging and all the million of other things you can find to do when showing your vehicle.

The visitors were basically non-stop all day even before the start. Everyone wanted to see the Sportsmobile Sprinters and everyone had questions, oohs and ahhhs.

I took a few minutes off and walked around the many Mercedes that were there. Totally cool! Old, new, restored,some in great condition, some not but a great representation of Mercedes over the years.

One of the hot items was the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. This half-million dollar car was beautiful. Painted a Metallic Iridium Silver, there was so much silver in the paint it was hard to photograph. The speedometer went to 220mph which most likely is low for this car when maxed out. Of course you can’t sleep, cook and camp in it so basically what good is it? Well, how about racing and lots of fun!

Of course, I do think it would look good pulled behind the Sprinter. In fact there were several there I would have liked to tow away.

At Alan’s suggestion, I asked the judges for a courtesy judging of the bus and that made my day! The judges said our Sprinter was amazing. “What did you do to get it so clean after your trip to Alaska? How did you get all the dirt off underneath?” Well, basically work on it for a week like some kind of nut – actually being obsessive compulsive helps a lot!I heard I had only two points deducted (I’d like to know what those were for!) so I figure I was the best of the show or at least darn near close.

Starfest 2008, a Mercedes Club of America event will be showing all types of Mercedes, new and old and restored, etc. Saturday 10-4 on the lawn at Treasure Island. It should be a great show for any one interested in cars, especially Mercedes.

Sportsmobile will have a couple of models there and I will have my Sprinter there for show also. Ooooh, so pretty! Now you know what I have been doing the past 3 or 4 days!

Please come by if you have the chance!