MillionMileSprinter
Millionmilesprinter.com
Saturday morning I woke bright and early to wash the Sprinter before heading off to SprinterFest East. I guess I didn't wake early enough because by the time we took off from the house, we were running late. I flew the 2 hour drive most of the way doing 75-80mph, but even though we had tripple digit temps, the van was doing fine. My LOD was little high at times, but I felt comfortable with everything else. About 3/4 of the way there, my mileage dropped a bit. I noticed it, but didn't think much of it. Then when I got off the expressway, I noticed a stumble or a shudder that felt like it was coming from the tranny. It would only happen once in a while, but I could tell that something wasn't right. By the time I got to SprinterFest, it seemed to be gone and I was happy to arrive. I mentioned it to the Sprinter Tech and he said the van was probably just reacting to the unusually high heat and to just take it easy on the drive home.
He was wrong (he was a great guy, and had been working on Sprinters since '02, but his suggestion/diagnosis was off this time)
When it was time to head home, I got in my van. She started right up and as I was driving out of the parking lot, I felt the shudder again. I drove around the complex a bit and figured that SprinterFest would be one of the best places to get some help with my Sprinter! So I turned back around and got Roger (Sailquik) to take the van for a spin. He didn't notice anything at first, and then, all of a sudden, he felt it, too. We couldn't pinpoint it. So then we went back to the parking lot and I asked Seans if I could use his DAD. He was kind enough to hook it up and we got some codes, but nothing that looked current or questionable.
Another Sprinter owner was there who suggested I clean my EGR valve and we figured I could probably get home without any major trouble. He also put my van in Park, pressed on the accelerator and checked out the MAF on the Scanguage. It stoped at 29.9. He said this was too low, but I don't remember if he said why it was too low. So off I went.
On the drive home, I figured out that that the problem is in the engine, and it happens between 1000 and 2000 rpms. At idle, the engine is fine. No surging, no rough running, nothing. But as I accelerate, wham, there it is. The engine is REALLY weak, and has trouble accelerating in those rpms, but once I get over 2000 rpms, it feels fine. So last night and then again today, I took to manually shifting to keep the rpms over 2000 when I upshifted. This worked fine until I had to climb an unusually long and steep hill. I had the van in 1st and had the rpms at 3000 because I knew that I couldn't upshift without getting the rpms down in that danger zone. All of a sudden, I felt the van shift into 2nd! I had the indicator and the shifter on 1. It seemed to not be able to make up it's mind because it went back into first and then back into second and then stayed there. Limp Home Mode. I got to the top of the hill, turned the key off, turned it back on and erased LHM. I then drove the 10 minutes home manually shifting to avoid that 1000-2000rpm range and the van was fine. Not fine as in "no more problems", but fine as in "no more LHM".
I'm going out to throw the DAD on her right now.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking it might be an injector, but I just checked them all and replaced one a few weeks ago. Oil is good, tranny fluid is also good. Mass Air Flow Sensor was replaced within the last 6 months, new fuel filter, new cam sensor and I cleaned the snot out of my EGR and it works well, but no change in engine performance.
He was wrong (he was a great guy, and had been working on Sprinters since '02, but his suggestion/diagnosis was off this time)
When it was time to head home, I got in my van. She started right up and as I was driving out of the parking lot, I felt the shudder again. I drove around the complex a bit and figured that SprinterFest would be one of the best places to get some help with my Sprinter! So I turned back around and got Roger (Sailquik) to take the van for a spin. He didn't notice anything at first, and then, all of a sudden, he felt it, too. We couldn't pinpoint it. So then we went back to the parking lot and I asked Seans if I could use his DAD. He was kind enough to hook it up and we got some codes, but nothing that looked current or questionable.
Another Sprinter owner was there who suggested I clean my EGR valve and we figured I could probably get home without any major trouble. He also put my van in Park, pressed on the accelerator and checked out the MAF on the Scanguage. It stoped at 29.9. He said this was too low, but I don't remember if he said why it was too low. So off I went.
On the drive home, I figured out that that the problem is in the engine, and it happens between 1000 and 2000 rpms. At idle, the engine is fine. No surging, no rough running, nothing. But as I accelerate, wham, there it is. The engine is REALLY weak, and has trouble accelerating in those rpms, but once I get over 2000 rpms, it feels fine. So last night and then again today, I took to manually shifting to keep the rpms over 2000 when I upshifted. This worked fine until I had to climb an unusually long and steep hill. I had the van in 1st and had the rpms at 3000 because I knew that I couldn't upshift without getting the rpms down in that danger zone. All of a sudden, I felt the van shift into 2nd! I had the indicator and the shifter on 1. It seemed to not be able to make up it's mind because it went back into first and then back into second and then stayed there. Limp Home Mode. I got to the top of the hill, turned the key off, turned it back on and erased LHM. I then drove the 10 minutes home manually shifting to avoid that 1000-2000rpm range and the van was fine. Not fine as in "no more problems", but fine as in "no more LHM".
I'm going out to throw the DAD on her right now.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking it might be an injector, but I just checked them all and replaced one a few weeks ago. Oil is good, tranny fluid is also good. Mass Air Flow Sensor was replaced within the last 6 months, new fuel filter, new cam sensor and I cleaned the snot out of my EGR and it works well, but no change in engine performance.
Last edited: