our undriveable van.

[petenbruce]

hello people, pete here, we have a problem that even a genuine dealership seems unable to solve,
First of all, thanks to anyone that has any suggestions or info, second a brief history of the van,
a 2001 amb turbo diesel.
it was a patient transfer vehicle,with an complete service history, and for 2 years after we purchased ran flawless and was used as a weekend getaway camper after a light conversion, nothing major.
On a random trip vehicle stuttered then died, after just a few minutes,restarted then ran flawless home and made subsequent problem free trips.
It then started at random times, to repeat this,to the the point that now it is most likely that once started it will run fine for anywhere from 10 minutes to 40, but then for no obvious reason, will stutter and die, . . upon restarting it will run for a few seconds, . . then stutter and die
restart, . .run perfect for a few seconds then, . .stutter and die
but, . it doesn't do it all the time, just often enough to effectively render an otherwise perfect vehicle, useless..computer,sensor, short, help thank you, !!??

 

[V6Matty]

Welcome, so as a start can you give us some additional info on what has been checked or changed so far, also any scans and codes been read to help narrow things down a little?

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome,

The sprinter is a well known vehicle, you need to find a reputable sprinter specialist in your area and get them to go through it.

 

[petenbruce]

yep ok cool, look also i should say<i am asking typing on behalf of a best mate that doesn't do typing well so i`m middleman here,
here is what i know so far,
edc warning light on dash would come on intermittently, then off, then randomly on, sometimes occurring with vehicle stopping but not everytime,
had a conversation with another sprinter owner who had had almost identical problem, he had replaced diesel rail pressure sensor and his van ran fine from then on, we replaced ours it ran fine for months, then started problem again
it has gotten worse,
apparently the dealership, ran diagnostics on their system and could find nothing except to offer that maybe a mouse had chewed thru a wire, ??
i dont have access to their invoice and enclosed work performed statement yet, and it may or may not contain a record of scans and diagnostics performed, but i will post it when i do,
so really, not a lot to say as yet, just wanted to initiate a thread, as it is new to me as well, and see what happens,
other than this frustrating part time problem, the vehicle is awesome, but cant be trusted now, so isnt driven,
thanks, more info if i can get it, pete

 

[sonic]

You need to get the fault codes read, that will tell you where the fault is. Otherwise its an expensive guessing game of changing what you think has failed.

 

[joderest]

This will probably not help.
Our ML270 had a similar issue, driving fine and would just stop, conk out, like ignition turned off. This would happen every few months or so, what we did at first was remove all the rubbish off the key ring to reduce the weight hanging on ignition switch, thought we had cracked it, but happened again, that last time i went to restart, and noticed ignition switch was very slightly loose, there is a threaded ring that holds it in place, tightened this up and two years on never had same issue.

 

[clarkmichigan55b]

Have a look at the videos of Florida Van Man who does videos on sprinter van problems on You Tube. This link may be of help.