Sprinter Oil Change

Changing the engine oil is one of the most basic things to do with your Sprinter. The service interval is every 10k miles, and it might be a good idea to change the oil on a newly bought Sprinter if you’re not sure when the last change was or which oil was used. A lot of mechanics don’t use the right spec oil, which may damage your emissions system over time. This should take about 30 minutes and costs about $120 if you do it yourself.

Parts:

• 12.5 quarts of MB 229.52 oil (6 quart pack, single quarts). Always make sure you have the right spec oil – it will state this on the bottle.
• Oil filter. Should come with 2 o-rings and sometimes a copper washer as well

Tools:

• 13mm wrench
• Filter socket tool (generic from auto parts store might work as well, but this makes life easier)
• Small screwdriver
• Bucket for old oil. Needs to hold 13+ quarts. We use the cheap ones from the auto parts store / Walmart.
• Rubber gloves

How to:

There are 3 main steps to doing an oil change. Draining the old oil, replacing the oil filter, and then refilling with new oil. It’s straightforward. Let the engine cool down before doing this, you don’t want hot oil spilling on your hands.

Using the filter socket tool, loosen the oil filter cap. It’s the black cap in the engine compartment. It’s easiest to access the oil filter by first removing a plastic part of the air intake (requires no tools). The reason to loosen the cap before draining the oil is that in case the cap is stuck or you’re unable to remove it for any other reason, you’d still be able to drive somewhere else and get help.

With the filter cap loose, move under the engine. Keep your bucket handy and locate the 13mm bolt at the bottom of the oil pan. Unscrew the bolt and make sure to drain the oil into the bucket. The bolt should have a copper washer.

While the oil is draining, unscrew the filter cap completely and remove the cap and filter. Pull the filter off the cap. The cap has 2 rubber o-rings that you can remove either by hand or using a tool like a small screwdriver.

Use some of the old engine oil to lubricate the new o-rings and place them on the filter cap. Then place the new filter on the filter cap, and screw the filter cap back into place. Be careful to make sure it isn’t cross-threaded – the cap should screw on by hand fairly easily for a few turns. Use the socket tool to tighten (don’t overtighten, it needs about 19 ft-lb). If you took off part of the air intake, put it back on.

By now the oil should be drained from the oil pan, if you got a new copper washer with your filter, put it on the bolt and tighten. You can also reuse the old washer.

Now double check that the filter cap is seated properly, and that the oil pan bolt is back in place.

You need 12.5 quarts of MB spec 229.52 oil for the NCV3 2007+ Sprinter. Start the fill process by using half a quart of the first bottle, then set the first bottle aside (I usually put it in the driver side door, just in case). Then fill the remaining 12 quarts. I usually place some paper towels around the filler, but you can also use a funnel.

Once filled, make sure there are no leaks, then check the oil level (it might look low because the oil is cold). Then start the engine and drive around the block. Check the oil level again and you’re done. Finally, dispose of the oil in the proper place. Any oil change service let’s you dump your old oil if you ask politely; sometimes auto parts stores work as well.

The last thing you should do is reset the Assyst system. Info here.