Mercedes Sprinter Tuning and ECU Remapping

A Sprinter is a working vehicle, so the reason to remap one is rarely peak power. It is how the
van pulls when it is loaded, how hard it has to work to hold motorway speed, and how much fuel it
uses doing it. That is where the gains actually show up on a van.

What owners usually want fixed

• Pulling loaded or towing. A Sprinter that feels fine empty can labour badly with
  a tonne in the back or a trailer behind it. Filling in the mid-range is the single biggest change.
• Motorway cruising. Less need to drop a gear on every incline, which is what
  makes a long day less tiring.
• Fuel used per mile. Driven the same way, a van that is not straining tends to
  use less. That matters more when it is doing 30,000 miles a year than on any car.
• Throttle response. The older CDI vans in particular feel slow to react.

Which Sprinter have you got?

The badge on the back tells you very little — we work from the registration, because the engine
and the ECU decide what is possible.

• W902 to W905 (from 2000) – the early vans. 2.1 and 2.7 CDI, Bosch EDC15C6
  and EDC16 era.
• W906 (2006–2014) – by far the most common, and most of what comes
  through our workshop.
• BR907 / BR910 (2018 on) – the current shape, using Delphi rather than
  Bosch on many variants.

Engines we hold data for

• 2.1 CDI – 82PS/200Nm, 88PS/220Nm, 95PS/250Nm, 109PS/270–280Nm,
  129PS/300–305Nm, 150PS/330Nm and 163PS/360Nm
• 2.7 CDI (OM612) – 156PS, 330Nm
• 3.0 V6 CDI (OM642) – 184PS/400Nm and 190PS/440Nm
• 3.5 V6 petrol – 258PS, 340Nm. Rare in the UK, but we hold the data.

The 2.1 in particular was sold at seven different power levels off the same basic engine, which is
why two vans that look identical can respond very differently.

ECUs

Across the Sprinter range we see Bosch EDC15C6, EDC16C2, EDC16CP31, EDC17CP46 and EDC17CP57, and
Delphi CRD2, CRD3, CRD3P.B0 and DCM3.5. Which one you have decides whether the file can be read
through the OBD port or the ECU needs to come out on the bench – we confirm that before you
commit to anything.

Running more than one van

If you run a fleet, the case is straightforward: the saving is per van per year, and it multiplies.
We can work through several vehicles in a visit and keep the files on record so a replacement van
matches the rest of the fleet. See our fleet
tuning page, or just tell us what you run.

How it is done

Every van is mapped and then verified on our own 2000bhp Mustang 4WD linked dyno at our workshop
in Maidstone, Kent, with 30 years’ trade experience and 2,200+ reviews behind us. Send us your
registration and we will tell you exactly which engine and ECU you have, and what we can do with
it.

What Stage 1 typically gives

Typical Stage 1 results, split by generation – because the same badge responds very
differently either side of 2010. Your van’s actual figures are confirmed on our dyno.

2000–2010 vans

2010–2014 vans

Look at the torque rather than the power. A 163PS van going from 360 to 420Nm is
what stops it labouring up a hill with a full load – and that, not the headline PS figure, is
what makes the van easier to drive all day and easier on fuel.

The lowest-output vans gain the most, and that surprises people. An 88PS van going to
180PS, or a 95PS van to 190PS, is not a trick – those vans were sold deliberately detuned on
software, sharing their hardware with the more powerful versions in the range. If you bought the
cheapest Sprinter in the line-up, you probably have the most to gain.