About stephensservice

tochwat@gmail.com - Tad Ochwat (This is the person that helped us set up the account. He still has authority to log in and do whatever he may need to do. He has gotten out of the business & we don't see him as often as we did. If we get in trouble, he is still OK to fix things. The site is owned by Tom Stephens, cell 916.715.0665)

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter OM642 & OM651 BlueTEC Diesel Issues & Problems

December 21, 2022 — The following comments are exclusively my own opinions.  After 50 plus years with Mercedes-Benz as a Mechanic, Shop Foreman, Training Instructor, Service Manager and Shop Owner I retired in 2018.  I have no affiliation with Mercedes-Benz or any of its authorized dealers. Assume Mercedes-Benz vehemently disagrees with […]

BlueTec Diesel Oil

I need to rewrite this article about BlueTec diesel oil.  I get so many calls about what’s the best oil, that I haven’t had time.  I normally have to think about what I’ll say, because everybody and their Mother gets twisted.  For the moment, I’ll be blunt.  Mercedes is using a Gasoline engine oil […]

Breaking-in a new BlueTec diesel

Diesel Particulate Filter and the DPF Monitor operation

DPF operation parameters / 2019 and 2020
DPF operation parameters / Model Years 2007 to 2018

As of model year 2019, Mercedes-Benz began installing a DPF monitor in the BlueTEC Sprinter Instrument Cluster.  The DPF is the “Diesel Particulate Filter”.  It’s a symbol in the Instrument Cluster that looks like a muffler with dots in it.  […]

Battery Advice

If you have a dead battery, you’ll want to use a genuine Mercedes-Benz battery. Aftermarket batteries don’t have enough amperage and cause low voltage fault codes when the system is under peak loads. Low voltage confuses the control modules and causes a host of problems that just end up costing you far more then you could ever […]

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