[Closed] Would you buy a Sprinter with rust?

We had Sprinters of that age at work and while the rust on the doors is easy to sort, they all died when the chassis were found to be in a worse state! Very poor rust protection at that age so get it thoroughly checked out.

I had a good look underneath with a torch and it looks solid, where in particular should I look?

No.

I bought a transit camper in similar condition. Despite my best efforts, the rust spread quickly and now I'm looking at a bill of £2500 to get the welding done to get it through its mot.

Now looking at different vans to swap the conversion over.

Nearly all the Sprinters that I see on the roads have rust of some form or another. I'd avoid and try to find a Transit or VW equivalent.

Funnily enough I passed a Sprinter today, & it was full of rust patches & I thought to myself, it's funny how rust seems to effect sprinters more than other vans... so based on that true & exciting story I would avoid.

I drove a 2013 long wheelbase high top for two years from new. Rust appeared in the middle of the side and door panels . I still have no idea how it can appear there where there are no seams etc. They handle well but the seats kill after a while. I'd avoid.

You'd struggle to buy a sprinter without rust tbh! I wouldn't but people seem to keep buying them.

The front suspension mounts and rear chassis rails were the worst bits on them. Very hard to see from just lying underneath. Every panel seemed to rust from behind by which time it was too late to patch up, it was new panel time.

It's a shame because the van has potential and I like the shape.
Oh well. The alternatives are all sevil (citroen relay, fiat ducato or pug)
vans, they don't seem to rust too badly, any opinions on these vans sort of 2003 to 2004 vintage?

Mercedes in general had real problems when they switched to water based paints due to health and safety legislation. Early Mercs last really well I think post 2004 Mercs had real problems.

Sevel vans are fully galvanised so don't rust. They are the most popular base vans for large motorhome/ camper conversions. As always with these things, how they've been looked after is key and the quality of the conversion. There's quality conversions that haven't been looked after and also plenty of quality vans with very ropey fit outs.

I would say (with no particular experience with vans) that if it genuinely is only replaceable bits like doors that have rust, just replace them. If anything else is rusting, you'll never really keep on top of it tbh.

I wouldn't... With a camper, you need to strip out internal fixings if the floor ever needs welding, also you invest a lot of time into converting it, so it's not as if you can just go out and buy another after it fails it's MOT

Also check the cylinder head for injector seal leakage.

Personally for an older privately owned van especially a camper I'd go French as they don't rust and to me fixing mechanical stuff is less hassle than rust/bodywork related problems. But saying that I bought a Transit which is the worst of both worlds-crap mechanically and also rusting!

i bought an iveco yesterday - i was shocked how clean it was underneath(and on top) for a 12 year old van.

We also went to look at a 12 year old transit for me mate a few miles up the road and it was a rotter.

difference being is that you will always know your in a van with an iveco , the position , the dash , the ride they were always a few steps behind as they were workhorses rather than nice places to be.

As above Mercedes vans of a certain age are rust buckets and to be steered well clear of and Transits are not much better. Like trail rat has said if you are not to worried about the badge on the front of the grill then Iveco is the way forward. You will probably die before it does.

It's flipping hard buying a used converted large camper.
There are tons of 'turd in glitter' vw's, which are a bit on the small side, and usually overpriced.
Autosleepers usually tick the right boxes, but 11k for a 1995 smiley face transit with 90bhp? or 15k for a 2001 citroen?
It's as tricky as buying a house, at least there are no schools to worry about.

We used to have Citroen Relays across the fleet. They never went wrong and didn't rust. Most reliable vans we have had.

I was going to buy a near new pug/Citroen base van and do my own install. As like you say finding middling motors converted is hard most folk keep em till either they are ****ed or sell them at a couple years old.

Middle of the road campers are few and far between.

That's why I jumped on the big red battle bus I bought (see my camper thread) as it provides a cheapish way to see if It really was what we need and not just something that would become a noose which if I wasn't getting use of a van I'd sunk 20k into I'd be loathe to sell it as I'd probably not get the cash back.

A mwb Iveco, well they are like rocking horse sh1t, the lwb is too large. That's the other thing... there are loads of lwb sprinters and ivecos converted for mx with a massive garage and you name it, but they are too large for the drive.
I'll check out your camper thread trail_rat. I do not underestimate the amount of work involved in kitting one out myself, any reccomendations of a company who could do it for me on a reasonable budget?
We've had a caravan, just sold my BMW and folding camper, so on the look for the next expedition vehicle.
I've noticed LDV's MAxxus are quite popular, the badge does not bother me one bit, so long as the van is up to the job.

Trail_rat ; do you know James Ochterloony? He was something todo with the angus bike chain, haven't seen or heard of him for ages.

Random but aye. Lives out in Tenerife on one of the islands.

Still racing over there and still doing well last I heard.

If it's a riot van as in ex police has gear box or clutch ever been changed they tend to go very fast in very low gears.

There is a 4 year old Sprinter at my work which is full of rust- not what you'd expect from a van of that age.

short answer no. i wouldn't buy anything with rust. it screams to me somebody who does not give a damn about care and maintenance. it will only spread and get worse. the more you look the more you'd find.

There is a 4 year old Sprinter at my work which is full of rust- not what you'd expect from a van of that age.

Unless it's a Sprinter, then it's exactly as I'd expect!

I wasn't going to wade in until I saw LDV Maxxus. DON'T DO IT!

We had two new ones at the bike shop I worked in, high spec and we did about 8000 miles a year in them. Bits just fell off them, gearsticks, doors off rails, all sorts. Within two years they were wrecks. I've never seen a worse made vehicle.

Thought about a Renault Master?

I looked at lots of options and finally went for a pre registered Ducato l2h2 from a well known car supermarket for a great price. The Ducatos are all gone but there are still some good options:

[url] https://www.motorpoint.co.uk/vehicleadvert/vauxhall/movano/685671 [/url]

any opinions on these vans sort of 2003 to 2004 vintage

I've got one (a 53 reg Peugeot Boxer) and it's pretty good. Actually, although there is little to wax romantic about, it has been rock solid since I bought it almost four years ago: no body issues; no mechanical problems whatsoever.

The problems it [I]has[/I] had have all be electrical and fairly minor.

Otherwise, there isn't much to say about it. It just works, and has carried my whole family through all of France, Western Germany, Switzerland, and now to Belgium on a fairly frequent basis.

I have a Renault trafic galvanised and actually well made. Ok they have their faults but easy to rectify. looked at the german contingent vans and looked at the forums and also saw the problems my brother in law had with a nearly new California and decided err no!!! My honest opinion is the German manufacturers are surviving on brand perception...

Well I went and bought it anyway, knocked the seller down to 4.5k .. it sailed through an MOT with no real advisories apart form brake discs,and the electrics are good, starts on the button, has rust. Fingers crossed. It looks cool (possibly to me only), and the interior is not 'old man caravan' style.

Pics ! I like the looks of the Sprinters, and there's a place not far from home that always has them for sale but this thread is a bit worrying.

Would you buy a Sprinter with rust?

Depends, is it brand new or pre-registered?

I had a Y reg mwb sprinter campervan for 8 years. I sold it last year because it was a bit too big for what i wanted and it was starting to rust heavily from the inside out. I had quotes to deal with the rust, but it wasnt worth it. My advice is to address the rust as soon as it appears!

Here are some pics of him or it (more like)

https://goo.gl/photos/MVwzJwU2QPx3nSNN8

It's got an eberspacher airtronic diesel heater that is pretty cool but needs a service...

If it's struggling to ignite and blows smoke a few times before locking out - There's a gauze in the Eber that will probably be clogged, I cut a slot with a grinder in a deep reach 13mm (IIRC) socket to remove the glow plug and change the gauze.
Worked fine ever since.
Consider installing the inlet and exhaust silencers as they noisy when running full chat.

Wear glasses when cutting a slot in a socket....I tried it once and the socket exploded....

You can get sensor sockets that will do it.

Anyway. Is that a gaslow or some other heath Robinson refilling of gas canister ?

Yeah those tiny brown marks on the door and the corner of the sills are it rusting from the inside out. Tell tale signs, it will be worse on the inside. Get it sorted quickly, and dont sneeze whilst in the van before you do. 😀

Friend bought a new Sprinter for his business 18 months ago. Already signs of rust.... A few flecks on the coming through on the spot welds on the sides and on the wheel arches.

Another friend had just bought a 2004 Jumper. Body work is solid. Needs a new exhaust, but nothing major.

Trail_rat : The gas fills from auto-gas in the petrol forecourt like a LPG vehicle (not tried it yet as gas is full and it's a massive cannister)

The rust is not too bad, nothing remotely structural , I can do it bit by bit, and was cheap as chips.

[url= http://www.rust.co.uk/default.aspx ]Rust[/url]

[url= https://www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk/Eberspacher_Intro_1.html ]airtronic fault finding compendium[/url]

The size of the van is ideal for us and it was local. Sort of mad-max styled to my eyes.

Aye but is it a legitimate refillable cannister. Doesn't look like one.

It's legitimate to be filled up by the usual caravan gas route, it has a pressure valve on the top, maybe it legitimate for car LPG I dunno? Maybe not but it's full ATM haha.
The extra gas pipe can be used for a barbecue apparently.

I've no idea about the filling regs, but gas connections right next to mains sockets makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Those curtains! 😯

🙂

you wouldn't want a gas/electric fridge then......

I like that - looks a bit more homely than most campers.

And I forgot to add - £4.5k sounds like a good deal, even if it needs a bit of work. The ones I keep seeing are more than that as-is, before any conversion work.

They all rust. Heavy on clutches, injector hoses split for fun and spray a fine mist of diesel over the engine, this rarely causes fire. Engine good for 300k easily.

For 4.5k it is a bargain no doubt.

I remember choking after i bought the red bus after seeing the same style vehicle on here for sale for 4.5k......Then i looked at the interior .....

This sprinters a million times better in the interior than that.

thanks! Yeah I've spotted some renovated LT35 and Sprinters going for 8-10k on ebay, but this'll need a respray to match them, and a dometic fridge would be nice rather than the free standing job you can see in the photos. The van seems to not have many bodges but it needs care and attention.
It'll be at the Big Bike Bash later this year if anybody wants to knock on the door. So far the rust is cosmetic with tiny holes in a few places (P40 over those), though I'm eying up the mig welders at toolstation... Trouble is I'd need time to get the welding technique dun else I'd doubtless blow through the metal. In the meantime I'm going for the 'snow leopard' paint effect hahhaa, with urban industrial / shabby chic I suppose interior.
Trail_Rat : your obviously well versed in van life : can you recommend any good forums and what not ? Spotted a few converted mwb ivecos out today on the mothers day arboretum run.

RE: clutches I heard they were good for serious miles.

Not that well versed spookys yer man. Ive only had the big red bus 5 weeks.

Is it in better condition than [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182501847132 ]THIS ONE[/url], available for about the same price ?

this van is in good overall condition

Gotta be trolling

Sunday jumper. Entirely different car.

The sprinter 4*4s command a silly huge premium.

I feel the need to scream about that gas system...

The cylinder, really doesn't look like a refillable. It looks like a standard cylinder with a dodgy ebay adaptor...you can overfill that by brimming it with liquid LPG, and leave no space for expansion in hot weather/fire. All the legit tanks have an 80% fill cut off valve, and modern ones have four hole fittings (inlet, outlet, level gauge, excess pressure/blow off valve).

(do you disconnect the existing gas pipes when filling the cylinder?)

That gas coolbox/fridge. Not for use inside! Super dodgy, they need ventilation when run on gas, an open window or louvre vent doesn't count, it should be outside in fresh air, or a nice draughty tent (not a sewn in ground sheet unless it has a cooker area with mesh windows etc)

Apart from that, not as rusty as I was imagining!

The CAB40 fridge will be fine inside when run on a hookup, it's rare that we use gas for the fridge anyhow, and if we do the doors will be open a bit at the back plus we have a CO monitor. Anyhow the hob itself produces a fair bit of CO when boiling water, and I have 2 massive noisy police issue extractor fans on the roof if need be.

The gas cylinder itself, yeah it must be disconnected and reconnected to fill via LPG of course. So are you saying that the cylinder cannot be refilled at all, or just not refilled via LPG? There is a ratio 1.6 times the volume of the cylinder or something, mentioned in the 'manual'

As for 4*4 sprinters, yeah they do go for a lot of money and mine is in a lot better condition than that one lol! Especially now I have blitzed it.

We're taking it away on 'hols' this Easter, with halfords pro socket set and multi meter. I'm getting the mains checked out by a mobile 'van tech

Your not supposed to use the hob in the back with it all closed up either.

Difference between hob and fridge is you don't tend to leave the hob on while your sleeping.

One of my jobs when i get back is is to plumb my fridge up correctly - that is to seal the back of the fridge from the living area and fit the correct exterior vents for airflow and exhaust - no mean feat as i need to joggle the edges and sink them into the side panel to let the side door clear.

Be ready for hassle trying to fill that LPG bottle at the regular car garage. I suggest finding a recommended garage that understands them as most will just assume as me and spooky did that it's a non refillable - it certainly doesn't look like one. Don't rely on being able to fill it at any old autogas garage. Seen some right barnys when the traveling community try and fill their cannisters up at local asda autogas point.

Also clean your jets often if burning LPG.

Worth the money for those curtains alone.

😀

I'll bank on refilling it via the usual cylinder refillers then, it's massive and will realistically last us years and years. An underfloor one would be a nice idea but can't be bothered for the moment.

The curtains look OK in reality, certainly when compared to a lot of caravans out there, and it's possible to get the material online I can post a link?

About the rust : well the sliding door bottom is rusted out and that needs replacing sometime, it's not apparent from the outside though. Also the police used the rear step as a sort of reversing anchor so it's dented to hell, can be fixed for nothing though.

I've got to get a towbar on it for a bike rack which I'll leave attached all seasons, probably, (hate messing about with bike racks)

I wasn't being facetious about the curtains, they are awesome.

Today the caravan mane cam round to check it over before we head off for the Easter break, spooky yes you were correct the cylinder is a non-refillable type, apart from to exchange with another using the local business printed on the side of the cylinder. All in all it went pretty well gas is all OK, I need to add a RCD, to the 'leccy but the earth check went fine and she's good to go.

Here's the worst rust I've found : https://goo.gl/photos/EBACHP5pYnMtGQNv5

And after some epoxy-mastic a P40 (fibreglass muck) oh and RIP Bosch niCd drill

https://goo.gl/photos/bC3WawYUhaJqvqto7

The rear step is also good as a reversing aid, who needs a camera?
https://goo.gl/photos/bhLjgnmgC5pryDbg8

The rest of the door looks good, but mr Rust has concentrated on this spot:
https://goo.gl/photos/nt3RG4zUrukWMXL3A

Birds nest after swapping the single passenger for a twin bench seat:

https://goo.gl/photos/WXoksPtwy88XDnN26

Well it looks good. If your planning to keep it any length of time please cut out that rot and let in good metal.

That rust will continue under the fibreglass (of which p40 is only water resistant)

It'll fester under the fibreglass patch and be much worse (and a much harder repair )in 12-18months. We all patched like that first time round and ive learned the hard way.

As it stands neither of those will be hard/long repairs to have done correctly and if your near Montrose at all i can recommend a very reasonable welder looking to expand his vehicle repair portfolio (and it's not me)

Back from holiday : broken ankle precluded any biking in Kielder but I got in some walking / lurching..
The van performed without any dramas it handles pretty well for a van, the front pogo's when hit with a load of bumps like it needs a lot more damping, but it resists under steer pretty well it responds not too bad to the throttle, and doesn't roll to much either. Mpg is 26 to 28 not exactly great.
For that rear seal repair I had ground down the metal and then kurust treated it, then a little p40 over any holes, then epoxy-mastic over the whole lot (which is waterproof). New metal would've been better for sure but I'm hoping this repair will last a good while (more than 18 months) maybe 4 years. Well I can hope. Other similar repairs like small holes etc, I will p40 over the epoxy then epoxy over that again, ie to stop water getting into the sills through the small hole.

I was expecting something far worse.
[img] [/img]
My 03 mwb Sprinter was for ever bubbling up wee rust bleeds, they just seem to pop up unrelentingly. It will I am afraid only get worse.

Sprinter single seat bases are quite sort after as most folk swap the bench for a captain.

You can get refillable gas canisters for not too much money to swap that one out. Speaking of gas are there drop out vents by the bottle, fridge and hob? If not then you need some as it is all too easy to gas yourselves. (/dadmode-)

The electrics under the front seat don't inspire confidence. Do they have any conduit or protection when run round the van?

I like the retro look inside.

Oh and check by the injectors first the chuffing death. When they are on the way out there is a build up of oily debris around the injector. We had an injector die in France and it cost €500 to get fixed bt Mercedes.