Another Dead Van Thread

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
Hey guys.
Bad news. Sprinter stopped running today. Out of nowhere, just up and stopped on us while we were cruising down the highway. My wife had been driving it all over this morning and we were on our way out of town. I had been driving around 50mph for a few minutes when I heard a "clunk" and the engine shut off. Engine light came on AFTER the engine shut off and we cruised to the side of the road. I called AAA and a friend to come pick up my wife and kids. While we were waiting, I tried restarting the van. Revrevrevrevrev but no start. I checked my scangauge and it said I had one error, but just listed it as 0000. I had the option to erase it, so I did. Tried starting the van again, and finally, after cranking for about 15 long seconds, she roared to life! I made everyone buckle up and we took off for home. Got about 5 minutes down the road, and I was feeling OK, but then I gave it some pedal to change lanes when "clunk", the engine shut off again. I coasted into a mall parking lot. Tried to erase the code and get it started again, but no luck this time. Called AAA back and changed my location. After way too long waiting for the tow truck to show, I'm home now, with the Sprinter.
I've only put about 1500 miles on it since I got it. I got it in non-running condition, and replaced:
cam sensor
crank sensor
MAF sensor
high pressure fuel pump
fuel lines
fuel filter (2x)
fuel rail sensor
You might be saying "just plug in the DAD and see what it says". Well... shortly after I got it running a few months ago, the DAD stopped talking to the Engine Control Module. It would talk to all the other modules, but it and the ECM have not been on speaking terms. I knew it would bite me in the butt sooner or later, but didn't expect it to be this soon (isn't that Murphy's law?). On top of that, my DAD computer crashed two weeks ago and I had to get a new one. I just got the exact same one (Dell Lattitude D610) because it had the correct plug on the back, but the DAD software didn't want to install on the new one. I still have to trouble shoot that.
So my plans now are to do the injector leak off test. The previous owner ran homebrew biodiesel for a few years, which I suspect ruined the High Pressure pump (which I replaced). I don't know how the injectors are doing, but after seeing Maconsult's injectors, I wonder what mine might look like.
After that, there are lots of suggestions from my first big post (Stuck in Auburn), and Mac's post (Van Died) for me to start chasing without the DAD.
I'll keep you guys posted and please feel free to shoot any ideas my way.
Thanks!:thumbup:
 

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
:yell:
Of course, it just started right up a second ago and is idling happily now.
:yell:

... so the problem is intermittent. Maybe a chafing wire...:hmmm:

Gotta get that DAD up and running.
Anything I can check without the DAD that the engine should be running for?
 

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
Pulled the injector cover off and found.... water. :hmmm:
Water was down in the depressions where the injectors thread in. It got deeper as I went from 1 to 5, dry in #1 and probably 1/2" to 3/4" in #5. Took a sponge, cut it into strips and soaked the water out. Yes, it was water. I know the difference in smell and feel between water and diesel fuel. Everything else was fine. Aside from a leaking cover (which I doubt), I seem to remember last having that cover off while it was snowing, and snow had fallen inside the cover. Maybe I figured it would just evaporate off... but it didn't. Which tells me that the temps inside that cover on top of the head never went above 212F. OR (way cooler theory), the seal on that cover is so good that when the water reached the boiling point and it evaporated, it just stayed inside the space, waiting to condense once the engine was shut off and had time to cool. Wow. The water cycle happening in my engine bay! OK, so here's another thought I had- what if that moisture rich environment was causing the cam sensor to malfunction? Or MAYBE because we had such a WAY hot day here (about 99F), water actually DID boil for the first time since I owned the Sprinter and created that moisture rich environment, and when the van had about 10 minutes to cool down, it started right back up again, and is why it runs just fine now (I took it for a drive)... :thinking:
Is it OK to drive without that injector cover on? It appears so, as long as I don't do it too long and let anything get inside there... like water!
I wasn't able to do the injector leak off test because I didn't have enough clear tubing to fit over the return line fittings. I plan on being at Home Depot at 6 tomorrow morning to get a few feet of tubing and run home to do the test. A leaky injector might explain the sudden difficulty in starting we have experienced over the last 3 or 4 days. It might also explain the surging idle that I sometimes notice...:hmmm:
On a happy note- while I was typing up this post the DAD software successfully installed!
WooHoo! Time to head out and see if the DAD will start talking to the ECM again... Is there a smilie for crossing fingers?
I'll keep you updated.
 

WAYNERODD

Member
Wow. The water cycle happening in my engine bay!
Just wait and see what the power of rust can do to making injectors very tought to get out.
Worse than black death!

It's best if you take a air gun and blow it all out. Put some type of oil around the injector bores to help stop any rust damage.

Water from the snow should have been long gone. You need to look for another way it got in there!
 

WAYNERODD

Member
A leaky injector might explain the sudden difficulty in starting we have experienced over the last 3 or 4 days. It might also explain the surging idle that I sometimes notice...:hmmm:
Very possible, proving it can be tough.

If you have a rough idle it should be easy to find.
 

autostaretx

Erratic Member
Even if the Quick Tests won't talk to the ECM, try the Special Function/Data Stream/CDI Diesel Engine anyhoo...
On mine, the Quick Test was very iffy (until i got my PCMCIA serial port), but the Special Function could work.

good luck
--dick
 

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
Even if the Quick Tests won't talk to the ECM, try the Special Function/Data Stream/CDI Diesel Engine anyhoo...
On mine, the Quick Test was very iffy (until i got my PCMCIA serial port), but the Special Function could work.
good luck
--dick
Yeah, that's exactly how mine would work on my original computer. Then it crashed (for other reasons yet unknown to me). So I bought another laptop just like it, assuming it would work just like the first one did... but it won't.
There's a great PDF in the DAD threads about connection issues and COM port settings. Unfortunately, I followed all of it and it still won't communicate. Not with the quick scan, not with the individual specific scan and not with the live data stream, either.
I'm going to swap the new hard drive into the old machine and see what happens.
Man, the DAD is awesome when it works, but when it doesn't, it's an expensive paperweight. :bash:
Didn't wake up in time to head to HD to get the hose before work, so I'll run over on my lunch and perform the leak off test this afternoon.
Oh, and the Sprinter drives just fine now... I'll be using it to run my errands and get to work. I have my bike in the back of it, just in case.
Oh, wait- Anyone in the Philadelphia area with a DAD? Lemme check the map... Dangit. Just ME!
 

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
Just got back from errands... driving the Sprinter. No suddent shut-offs.
But there still was the hard start issue that's been getting worse and worse over the last few days. Also, when I shut the van off this last time, it "ran-on" for a half second or so. Not the usual immediate cutoff. That reminded me of a month or so ago I had an issue two times where the van just wouldn't shut off for a few seconds after I pulled the key out. It ran roughly for about 5 seconds. The MIL came on next time I drove it, but with my DAD not talking to my Engine Control Module, I could never read the code. After two or three good starts, the MIL went away and I hoped it wouldn't happen again.
Fast forward to a few minutes ago- I was talking with the AutoShop teacher here at the school where I work, and he doubted that one bad injector would shut the whole engine down, and I said that he didn't know Sprinters. But that got me thinking-
Would one bad injector shut down the whole engine? I'm thinking yes.
Anyone know? :idunno:
I've got enough tubing to do the injector test this afternoon and I'm working on getting the DAD up and running in some spare time I have here at work.
School District requires final grades to be in 2 weeks before the last day of school... once the kids figure out their grades are already in, they stop coming. Attendance is getting mighty light these days... some classes are completely empty... what a waste of taxpayer's money.
 

MillionMileSprinter

Millionmilesprinter.com
Do you have a link that explains the tube test in more detail? I'm glad you tracked the problem down.
1. Purchase 3/8" ID clear tube from home depot- 2ft
2. Cut it in 4" lengths.
3. Take injector cover off
4. Pull clips off of each of the return fittings on top of the injectors
5. DON'T LOOSE THEM
6. Carefully pull the return line plastic fittings up and off the injectors (they can break)
7. Unplug the Cam sensor (next to injector #5)
8. Fit one tube over each injector head
9. Crank engine over for 10 seconds
10. See if one or more tubes are overly full.
(for a visual, go up 6 posts towards the top of this page- I posted the picture there)
You might be able to see that all the other tubes do indeed have fuel in them. Only a few drops in each tube, but still a little bit. Obviously, injector #2 is not shooting fuel into the cylinder and shooting it out to the return line. That's why that tube is so full. And that's the problem. I need to replace it. Over the last few days it's caused hard starts and yesterday it cut out twice on me while I was driving. Scary stuff.
The test is really very easy and obviously works well.
All the while I'm still struggling to get my DAD working...:yell:
 
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