Sprinter Van fuel filter?

I asked this at www.biodieselnow.com forums
here in this thread earlier today.
Maybe someone here might know. :thinking:

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I have an 06 Dodge Sprinter showing symptoms of finally needing another fuel filter after I filled er up with B100 last week.
A few miles down the road, the check engine light came on and it went into an underpowered "Limp Home Mode"

It has done this before the last time I filled up with B100 from another source a while back, while pulling a trailer full of tires with the Van full of tires too at almost the Van's max load rating.
After the tires were delivered, and the trailer was unhitched and parked, the check engine light turned off a few miles later with the lighter fuel demand then.
It has been about 33,000 miles since the last fuel filter change at $150+ at a Sprinter authorized dealership.

I would really like to find out the options for a bigger fuel filter to put on it next time around and how to do it myself this time.
It just seems silly to pay all that money for the mercedes fuel filter and service that is a wee bit too small for what the van was designed to do.

I mean, a fuel diesel fuel filter is a just that;
A fuel filter right?
There must be some better options that someone might know.
Thank you.

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This is what a Dodge Sprinter is btw.

I'm guessing the issue is more than the stock fuel filter.

A good parts store, for instance a NAPA that has a lot of business with independent mechanics and fleets - not one in a mall that sells primarily consumer items -- will be able to sell you an add-on filter base and much larger filter that you can plumb around the stock filter.

First off, the company I work for sells them and tricks them out for contactors and its our understanding the sprinter has no towing capacity what so ever. You can only haul whats in it that you can fit. One reason it has such supreme fuel economy to the ford and chevy vans as those are basically truck chassies with van bodies on them and they can tow and haul way more.

My mercedes 240d 81 model has two fuel filters I get from advance auto, much like an oil filter. THe first one is a little plastic one with a screen in it that clamps into the line from the tank to the second filter. The second filter looks like a spin on oil filter and is mounted behind the engine oil cooler in front of the brake master cylinder. You use the large bolt to install and remove it, dont screw it on like an oil filter. THen you must leave the smaller screw on the return line loose and push the primer pump til it blows out fuel, then tighten it down and your set.

The oil filter is a tall element that fits inside a metal canasitor behind the engine.

I guess if its a spin on style filter and room exists, you can get a taller one to use. Maybe if you are brave enough, you can splice the line and put in a smaller filter like the little plastic one I have, which I believe is stock.

Other than that, I guess the only other solution is to install two in parallel to the fuel supply.

Are you sure it's related to the fuel filter? A fuel pump could do that too. Unless it didn't do that after you just replaced the filter.

What you could do is borrow someone's code reader and check the codes it's spitting out. If you've got guts you could even bypass the fuel filter, if you do that I'd do that first thing in the morning after a full tank so the (if any) sediments settle to the way bottom, that way you won't have do deal with clogged injectors, although I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Another way, that requires some guts, is to pull the fuel pump, connect it up to where the fuel filter sits. Then you hook up the pump pickup into a nice bucket of pre-filtered fuel. Watch out for sparks.

The former is what I'd do...but of course that's when it's idling at the most, not under load. Under load is when you'll notice problems.

I would try bypassing the filter just as a test.

BIGIRON's got the right idea.

If you're clogging fuel filters, then bypassing the fuel filter is ASKING for expen$ive problems down the road.

Don't do it.

Sprinters reportedly can pull up to 5500 lbs when properly equipped.
With the 1100 lb 12x6' single axle trailer, it's load and the load inside the van, it was about 4500 lbs total the 1st time it happened. :thinking:

I kinda like the idea of parallelling two filters.
Would be no surprise if there are others doing that too.

I'll also swing by Napa and see what they have to offer.
If there are any other fleet style vehicle friendly auto parts stores, that would be cool too.

If anyone else has any ideas, it will still help.

Thanks.

I have been reading the sprinter related forums on edmunds (Thinking about buying one). The symptoms you describe also sound similar to a cracked intake part (cannnot remember which one). I think I saw it also mentioned in the article on the sprinter on wikipedia.com.

I was curious - is B100 known for having a lot of particles in it ?

I was curious - is B100 known for having a lot of particles in it ?

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It's usually quite clean.
What it does though is clean the fuel system quite nicely from tank to filter.
Biodiesel is a good diesel fuel system cleaner.
What happens, is that all this junk that got cleaned out ends up where it's finally supposed to...the fuel filter.

Had I stayed with petroleum diesel on this tankful, all the junk would have stayed in the tank for a while longer with no immediate problems until maybe later on.

I'll check out the other possibilities found too.
Thanks.

I also think you could be dealing with a computer/timing issue.

Biodiesel has a higher cetane (because of oxygen content) meaning you may be getting ignition more quickly than with petrodiesel.

Maybe one of our chemists can fill this in. I'm kinda over my head here.

I use fleet oil from carquest for my benz. 10w40, I get it for the special api rating for diesel engines. They might have some options for you. Maybe they have a prefilter you can splice into the system to catch the larger crap before it cloggs up the finer filter?

NO, I wouldnt run a diesel without a filter. Ive taken an old rotary pump apart. Very tight tollerances. Infact it was difficult to put the whole thing back together as the parts fit so tightly its easy to screw things up by forcing anything.

Try advance auto for the code scanner. Just ask for it, they will hand it to you. RUn out, plug it in, turn the key on, then remove it, bring it back inside and they will print off the list.

Ive heard nothing but good things about the sprinter van, except they cost twice as much as a regular van. THe fuel economy from what most say well maks up for it in the long run. Plus its got a mercedes drive train, more cargo room and the ability to standup in the back part vs squatting around to get to anything inside. The local dealer we work with cant keep them in stock.

If you want a beefier one, you need the Euro model. the US model lacks a center support that is necessarly to stiffen it up to mount a service crane inside. We have had that request and researched it for our customers.

As for bio fuel, I wouldnt run straight bio fuel. I would always mix it with diesel. Ive read a fews stories where folks try it and the car refuses to run, but you can mix it just fine.

What is the filter recommendation? I know on most Light duty diesel trucks ie. Ford Powerstroke, Cummins, Duramax. A 15,000 mile interval is recommended. Also at my old shop we had LOTS of problems with one customer that liked to run B100 in his Sprinter in the winter. I'm assuming in TX there it's not getting too cold yet, but his would gel and stall out at much higher temperatures than other diesel vehicles in the area. 40 deg? IIRC.

I'd put a new filter on it, and run 75/25 B100 or something along those lines.

Ok, I found one for $41 shipped and ordered it.
It is supposedly a genuine mopar part for this vehicle.
There were some aftermarket ones for $19 that I narrowly passed up just this time around.

I'll put it on myself when it gets here and then save the old one to cross match part #'s with a larger one later on.

I'll keep you guys updated on this common Sprinter parts annoyance.

FWIW, Carquest has a very large selection of filters for diesel and even heavy duty applications, a lot of the time they're just rebranded OEM parts too.

Thanks. :thumbsup:
I'll try that when I have the old filter in hand to take over there.

I am having a discussion about the low oil pressure at idle on my benz and a few folks recommend a gernman filter vs the ones at the local auto stores.

I know with the old diesel vws rabbits, if you used a frame filter, it would blow it apart as they did not include a blow off valve in them to by pass the element when pressure gets too high, which it did at start up.