"You'll have to take it to Mercedes..."

We finally picked up the Stanton on Saturday (only about six weeks after the delivery date that was first suggested). Having told the salesman twice verbally and once in writing, back in July, that I wanted the weight upgrade and the van to be plated at 3500kg from day one, the registration document and build documents from A-S, which arrived on Friday said 3200kg. Not happy. They are now going to get it re-plated by SV Tech and re-registered with the correct weights, at their expense.

As there is no spare wheel, the A-S handbook says that there is a puncture repair kit in the driver's door. There is a first aid kit there but no tyre repair goo and this does not even get a mention in the 2014 Merc handbook at all, perhaps I should try a sticking plaster.

On the way home, after about three miles I hit a poorly-done recent trench repair across the road and heard a faint clatter from somewhere behind me, the opal shade on the toilet light had fallen out- there should be three little fixing clips but there are only two! Dealer is posting me a replacement.

This morning I sat in the passenger seat and tried to recline the seat back slightly, as it was almost upright; the hand-wheel is completely stuck and will not move at all. Phoned the service department at the dealer and was told that this is an issue for the Mercedes warranty and I should take the van to the nearest Mercedes van dealership; they explained that they could not touch it as Mercedes might say they had damaged the seat! Does this sound right? 
I phoned the Merc van dealer in Manchester and a really nice bloke there said if I could bring the van in tomorrow, he would have a look at it but he had not come across this situation before (where a converter has done work fitting a cover to the seat, which then does not work).

Having shelled out over £60k on Saturday, I had not anticipated myself having to schlep all over the internet on Monday trying to sort out a problem. Let's hope they can fix it tomorrow.

Hi Pete, I must admit Marquis Tewkesbury have been brilliant with all the issues on mine as well as the AS factory service centre so hopefull any issues you have (and there will always be some) try and work with it and all will be well. I did get wound up a few times after spending so much but had no probs at all other than travel getting things done. I would have thought the stealer you bought it from would have had a look for you especially if closer?
The seat on mine had a prob and I did get the merc people to look at it. They did query about the AS input but as the main parts of the seat were standard 'Sprinter'  no issues. Merc are great and do treat you as if you had spent a load of money on one of their products.  (Well Mercedes Commercial in Hull were )
All will be well,

Hi Pete,
Do you think that Spinney are right telling you to go to Mercedes?

Claytaa wrote:Hi Pete,
Do you think that Spinney are right telling you to go to Mercedes?

I was a little surprised. If the seats had been in standard Merc trim, I would think this was a Merc problem, however, as they have been worked on by A-S (and I don't know exactly what they have done but I can't see how they easily fitted the upholstery covers without at least reclining the backrest and probably removing it) then it's perhaps debatable. I don't know if seat operation (recline/swivel, etc) is part of the dealer PDI but as A-S have modified the seat, by adding covers, then I think it should be.

If the Merc man can free it tomorrow, all will be well; if he says it's not his problem, then I'll ring service at Willersley for advice. We are actually spending four days in the Cotswolds next week   so I might have a plan B.

I'd be interested in others opinions on this one.

Cheers,
Pete.

Its classic grey area where someone has altered a basic spec item so who's responsible for what.   Merc will def be happy to sort 'their' seat but I would not have been too impressed with the fob off you got from Spinney. They could at least have 'offered' to look before just sending you to Mercedes.

Is the tyre compressor and "goo" not under the driver's seat, remove the outer edge door. It is on my Merc.

PLOUGHLIN wrote:Is the tyre compressor and "goo" not under the driver's seat, remove the outer edge door. It is on my Merc.

No, that's a fuse box now. Plato confirms that he did not get the goo with his Stanton.

Cheers,
Pete.

Peter Brown wrote:

Pete Taylor wrote:

PLOUGHLIN wrote:Is the tyre compressor and "goo" not under the driver's seat, remove the outer edge door. It is on my Merc.

No, that's a fuse box now. Plato confirms that he did not get the goo with his Stanton.

Cheers,
Pete.

The fuse box is in the driver seat pedestal.  The compressor should be in under a cover below that at the back of the foot well.  The first aid kit should be in the door locker.

Peter

Exactly Peter, just as my Merc. I am afraid late night brain fade occurred. 

Sorry your having teething problems with your new van I am sure you will get things sorted and you will love your new van.It is a pity that your van is not spot on after paying what for most people is a huge amount of money but where human nature is involved we rarely get the perfection we deserve good luck and many happy trips in her.

Hi Pete, Just a thought and probably too late now, as I guess from the timeline above you may have already been to the Merc dealer - but have you considered having front mud flaps and locking wheel bolts fitted - neither of which were on our van when delivered. I think the wheel bolts in particular are worth it when you consider the cost of replacing a Merc alloy wheel and tyre if they were stolen.
Lam

Hi Liam, I did fit OEM mud flaps on the front of mine and excellent they are too. Where did you get the locking wheel nuts from?

Jaytee wrote:Hi Liam, I did fit OEM mud flaps on the front of mine and excellent they are too. Where did you get the locking wheel nuts from?

These may be suitable. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-SPRINTER-06-ON-ALLOY-WHEEL-LOCKING-BOLTS-M14-X-1-5-LOCK-BOLTS-/201078731145 or these http://www.priracing.com/product.php/3583/699/sprinter-evo-mk5-locking-wheel-bolts

Hi Jaytee, 
I got them from my local Merc commercial dealer - I was concerned that other makes might not be correct particularly as they emphasize in the owners manual to be careful with the length of bolt you use. If they are too long they may bind with the brake disc and of course too short will not be safe - so the engineer in me drove me down the safety first route. And the bonus was that they were polished chrome and had the Merc 3 pointed star on the head of each bolt - would you expect less!! 

Liam

Liam wrote:Hi Jaytee, 
I got them from my local Merc commercial dealer - I was concerned that other makes might not be correct particularly as they emphasize in the owners manual to be careful with the length of bolt you use. If they are too long they may bind with the brake disc and of course too short will not be safe - so the engineer in me drove me down the safety first route. And the bonus was that they were polished chrome and had the Merc 3 pointed star on the head of each bolt - would you expect less!! 

Liam

Excellent    I did get original mud flaps and they fitted perfectly. 

Sorry all, off topic 

Thanks chaps... I have ordered the front mud-flaps already, I will get some locking bolts from Merc.
The 2014-spec Sprinter does not come with compressor and goo and there is no hatch in the foot-well, other than the one at the front of the passenger side where the jack and "tool-kit"(!) are stored. What year of vehicles are you talking about?

He had a good look at the seat and could not resolve the jammed mechanism he (and I agree) thinks that A-S must have partially dismantled the seat base/squab in order to fit the fancy upholstery and made a mess of re-assembly. He has willingly made an appointment to dismantle the seat and see what is (not) going on, but not until we get back from a 4-night trip to the Cotswolds next week. I'm going to ring the factory tomorrow and see if I can pop in to let them have a look at it, while we are down there, because I really feel that it is up to A-S to resolve the situation- if Merc do the job and say a new seat, is required it would still have to go to A-S to be re-covered!!!!

Pete Taylor wrote:Thanks chaps... I have ordered the front mud-flaps already, I will get some locking bolts from Merc.
The 2014-spec Sprinter does not come with compressor and goo and there is no hatch in the foot-well, other than the one at the front of the passenger side where the jack and "tool-kit"(!) are stored. What year of vehicles are you talking about?

He had a good look at the seat and could not resolve the jammed mechanism he (and I agree) thinks that A-S must have partially dismantled the seat base/squab in order to fit the fancy upholstery and made a mess of re-assembly. He has willingly made an appointment to dismantle the seat and see what is (not) going on, but not until we get back from a 4-night trip to the Cotswolds next week. I'm going to ring the factory tomorrow and see if I can pop in to let them have a look at it, while we are down there, because I really feel that it is up to A-S to resolve the situation- if Merc do the job and say a new seat, is required it would still have to go to A-S to be re-covered!!!!

Mine is a 2010 (2006-2013) Sprinter, 2011 AS. The compressor and Goo are in a compartment under the floor below the seat accessed from the step area  with door open, not in the footwell. Mercedes may have stopped including the compressor/goo, they have on my 2014 Smart car. I bought some 500 ml Holts Tyreweld aerosols from Halfords, (BOGOF at the time), as well as a jack which was missing from my passenger footwell space, not OE on the 2010 Sprinter Chassis base.

Peter- that seems to be the situation, there is no access hatch!  I wonder what is in that now-vacant space... I hate wasted space!

Incidentally the bloke at Merc today told me that the aftermarket tyre sealants have a definite shelf-life and, whilst they may be just-about OK for cars, they are not too smart   for commercial vehicles.

I do seem to have a rather nice bottle-jack supplied but they might as well have put a chocolate tea-pot in there!

Cheers,
Pete,

Yep, at least you could have eaten the chocolate teapot

Pete Taylor wrote:Peter- that seems to be the situation, there is no access hatch!  I wonder what is in that now-vacant space... I hate wasted space!

Incidentally the bloke at Merc today told me that the aftermarket tyre sealants have a definite shelf-life and, whilst they may be just-about OK for cars, they are not too smart   for commercial vehicles.

I do seem to have a rather nice bottle-jack supplied but they might as well have put a chocolate tea-pot in there!

Cheers,
Pete,

As I said they stopped supplying the Smart tyre kit, no spare as front/rear are different sizes. But they will sell you the kit for £110. AT £4.50 a bottle for the Holts I can replace every year, if necessary. I actually bought the 500ml size then realised it was too big for the Smart, and got 2 x 400ml for it. Using the 2 x 500ml on the van and on my E class.

Pete, Sounds like you are up the proverbial creek without a paddle on the spare wheel front. 
If you have been supplied with a nice bottle jack then it may be worth biting the bullet and getting a spare wheel! But remember that if your choice of spare is steel  - then the wheel bolts used are shorter - difference in thickness between steel and alloy!! You cannot use the bolts as fitted to your alloys! So an additional set of bolts would also be required. 
On the seat front - from my experience of visiting Willersey, I would be surprised if they were not able to find a solution and sort your problem out - they always seem to have an experienced man on hand to sort things out.
Good luck. 
Liam

Liam,
I began researching the spare wheel conundrum back in May, before we ordered the van and started a thread here: https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t10681-new-stanton-no-spare-wheel and a really useful discussion has ensued, some pretty daft ideas along the way (from me) have been discussed and discarded but hopefully we are millimeters way from a solution, which might be of use to other who chose to follow the path of minimum-size coachbuilt for those roads in the Highlands, Dolomites, Alps or Malverns(!) when larger units would be a problem. We previously had a Topaz, which we loved, but wanted just a bit more space for "stuff".

I actually asked the Service Manager at Merc today if different bolts were required for a steel wheel and he said he did not think so I will check this again- often the locating angle is different on alloys, from that on steel wheels, it's not just the length.

I'm sure we'll get fixed up with the seat; at least it's not on the driver's side.


EDIT: the solution to carrying a spare wheel on the back was complicated by the requirement to also carry bikes above it.

Pete,
I seem to recall that I gleaned the steel wheel versus alloy and their required bolts data from the Merc Owners Manual - its too wet and windy to go out to the van at the moment to confirm. 
When we picked up our van I was sure that the spare would be steel (without bothering to look under the van!) so several days later and having read all of the books and made all of the necessary enquirers - only to be told to look underneath the van and low and behold a shiny alloy!! 
The only issue then was to quickly fit a lock and chain to the spare!

Liam

Pete Taylor wrote:Liam,

I actually asked the Service Manager at Merc today if different bolts were required for a steel wheel and he said he did not think so I will check this again- often the locating angle is different on alloys, from that on steel wheels, it's not just the length.

In the manual (page 264) for my 2010 Sprinter it shows short wheel bolts for steel wheels and long bolts for Alloys. The champher angle is illustrated as the same for both.may be different for the 2014 on Sprinter.

Just been out and checked mine; steel spare  cheapskates.

So, looks like I will have to get a set of bolts for the steel wheel. Strooth, so if I had had a puncture I would have been stuffed so to speak .