Used FedEx 2011 Mercedes Sprinter 2500 Diesel govenor & keys

[harry hornsley]

A friend of mine bought a used FedEx 2011 Mercedes Sprinter 2500 turbo diesel which he asked me about but I know nothing about German vehicles.

He wants to remove the 67 mph engine speed governor and he asked me if it also is the reason the acceleration from stop is so slow.

Also he went to Home Depot & Ace to make the ignition & back door keys but they don't have the blanks.

One last thing is it uses a quart or two of oil a week but it's not leaking when he pulls into his driveway - is that normal?

He's not mechanically inclined where I am a bit but I don't know anything about diesels nor about commercial vehicles nor about German vehicles.

Do you?

[Dean Hoffman]

How many miles does he drive in a week? Has he checked the radiator and transmission fluid levels? There was a time long ago when it was considered more or less normal for an engine to burn oil. A quart per thousand miles wasn't all that bad. Does this buggy smoke noticeably?

[Ralph Mowery]

An 11 year old Fedex is probably worn out. That is usually why they and UPS usually get rid of their equipment. The motor is seldem shut off for the full shift.

[Ed Pawlowski]

No, it is probably just under powered. Diesel trucks are not know for acceleration.

Yes, it is a feature. You never need an oil change, it is automatic! When I was a teenager I had a couple of cars like that.

Yes, I know enough not to buy one. It is designed to haul packages for deliveries, not to cruise at highway speeds though FedEx may have called for the governor. It is utilitarian, far from being a family vehicle. It may be a good buy if he owns a grocery store that delivers. If he wants to us it to take the family camping, not the right choice.

[harry hornsley]

He has a 17 mile commute to the job site currently. He says that's about average five days a week.

Radiator yes. Transmission is automatic, so no.

From what you said on the loss of oil, that may be normal for a diesel with

250K miles on the engine.

Not at all.

His main questions are where to look to find & remove the governor. And where to get the Mercedes ignition and back door key blanks.

[harry hornsley]

That may be so with the engine having 250K miles on it but the miles would have nothing to do with the governor where his main question is where to look for the governor and how to remove it.

Also where to look for ignition & back door key blanks.

[harry hornsley]

Makes sense that it's underpowered. Sometimes it has pickup and sometimes it doesn't. It's intermittent. He doesn't know why.

He just goes to and fro from the job site which is currently 17 miles, half on highway and half on wide roads which he says is pretty average.

But all of this has nothing to do with the governor where his main question is where to look for the governor and how to remove it.

Also where to look for ignition & back door key blanks since the normal key shops don't have it (he hasn't checked with a locksmith yet as he asked me and I said I'd ask you).

[Dean Hoffman]

Well, YouTube has quite a few how to videos. That might be worth a look.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Possibly a turbo not spinning up.

Dealer may be best source but if you know any codes or the like, possibly on line somewhere.

[micky]

The governor is either mechanical or electronic. If it's mechanical, it's probably at the end or near of the accelerator cable. He should be able to find that.

When I was teaching a girlfriend to drive, I put a piece of 1" wood under the funny shaped piece on the carburetor that rotated when one accelerated. It kept her speed down to 25. (And I hooked an L-shaped piece of conduit under the left kick panel, over the brake pedal, and to the passenger seat. When I was yelling Slow Down, I found out later she didn't know that meant to lift her foot from the acclerator, so I was glad I had my own brake lever.)

I suppose in theory there could be some sort of governor under the dashboard next to the gas pedal, and I suppose it could be electronic. If electronic, there woudl be a way to adjust it or turn it off, but only google knows for sure.

I was going to say to go to a locksmith. Where else.

As to smoke, aiui recent year cars that burn oil (which actually means they don't burn it) oxidize the oil in the catalytic converter, so they no longer have the telltale black smoke. No first hand experience.

[danny burstein]

[snip]

I realize this suggestion might annoy some folk, but Walmart has a key shop where they can duplicate many of the specialized keys at prices far less than dealer shops. Worth a try.

Ditto for the larger "Ace Harware" affiliated locations.

Probably others, too.

(I used a completely independent, privately owned, shop for my extra dupes. They were far less for a basic, coded, key. But they had bad experience with third party ones for remote control/start ones, so used OEM blanks, and the prices for those were just about the same as at the dealer).

[rbowman]

Yeah, but oil was cheap back then...

Not a fan.

[rbowman]

Being the 21st century the 'governor' is most likely programmed into the ECU.