How to Determine the Correct Year of your Sprinter Chassis on your RV Conversion

There are basically three models of Sprinter on the road in the US at this time. The early year model 2002 to 2006; the mid model from 2007 to 2018 and the the newest model or late model 2019 and up.  Some RV's built in 2007, 2008 and 2009 were built on the early model 2006 chassis. You may also see this with the 2019 model RV's being built on a 2018 Chassis.

To keep things confusing, it appears the 2019 Cab Chassis units with J in the vin are the mid year model Sprinter (2018 style). This does not appear to be the case with the van chassis however - only the 2019 cab chassis.

If you are ordering replacement parts for your coach or RV,  like a faucet part or cabinet part, (not Sprinter parts) then you want to tell them the year of your RV build. For all other parts ordering, tell them the year of your Sprinter chassis. 

The easiest way to tell the correct year of your Sprinter chassis is to count back 8 digits on the dash VIN. That number is your correct Sprinter chassis year. 

If you know which engine you have, you can quickly determine whether you have an early or mid year model Sprinter.  A 2.7 liter inline 5 cyl diesel is always a 2006 or earlier chassis. A 3.0 V-6 diesel or 2.1 inline 4 cyl diesel will always be a 2007 or later chassis. Both the mid year model and 2019 and up late model will utilize the 3.0 V-6 diesel, with 2019 and up offering a 2.0 turbo gas engine as well.

Sometimes you will hear "T1N", "NCV3", or "VS30" to describe a Sprinter van. The T1N (Transporter 1 Neu) is the first generation van 2002 to 2006 in the US, and only came with a 2.7 liter inline 5 cyl diesel. The NCV3 (New Concept Van 3) is the second generation van, 2007 to 2018, and came mostly with a 3.0 V-6 diesel. The wild card here is the gasser; in 2007 they brought in a handful of vans with a 3.5 V-6 gas engine. In the 2014 to 2016 models, there is also a 2.1 liter inline 4 cyl diesel. Also in 2014 to 2018, there were some minor cosmetic updates to the Sprinter, mainly the front end and grill. They are still the NCV3.  VS30 is the 3rd generation, 2019 and up, they are available with the 3.0 V-6 diesel or a 2.0 turbo gas engine. All the diesel engines available are turbo.

If you are trying to determine the year of your Mercedes Sprinter van after 2009, the eighth digit back on the dash VIN will be a letter - A, B, C, etc.  A = 2010 B = 2011 and so forth. 2019 Cab chassis with J in the vin appear to be an NCV3 model or 2018 style. 

The parts that fit early model Sprinters WILL NOT FIT later models, and vice versa. The 2006 and earlier vehicles are completely different vehicles than the 2007 to 2018 vehicles. 2019 and up is also a new model and although some parts may carry over from 2007 to 2018 many or most will not. 

RV manufacturers will purchase multiple chassis in a given year. Those units can take a year or more before they get built out as an RV. They are then released as the model year of the build, usually one year after the actual chassis year. If your RV manufacturer says it's a 2007, you almost certainly own a 2006 or earlier chassis. Please keep an eye on this if you have a 2019 RV as well, you may have the earlier 2018 chassis.

 SprinterUpgrades.com