Acceleration lag

Courier

New member
Hi there,

I recently purchased a 316 Sprinter with 117,000km on the clock. I used it for courier run when at 120,000 km while cruising on a highway just loss the set speed and declined down to about 40kph even I pressed the pedal down to the floor. Pulled over to the side, tried to rev while in P or neutral, its fine.... only when in gear- no acceleration more than ~40kph. Have to ring tow truck and drop to a mechanic. No news yet after 1 week. Anyone experience this kind of annoying breakdown? Thanks
 

Courier

New member
Thanks 06 Sprinter. The mechanic has no appropriate scanner for this kind of van but suggested it is in limp mode after driving yesterday. I will bring the van to his recommended diesel mech tomorrow. To give me an idea, about how much did you spend for split boost hose. Thanks heaps
 

Courier

New member
Re: Acceleration lag (help)

Hi everyone again.

After I brought my Sprinter to a diesel vehicle specialist, there was no fault detected (system normal), so I drove back home and tried to test drive about 26km with uphill. Unexpectedly, I experienced again, the power loos on uphill, I pull over and stop the engine, restart for 3 attempts. then I decided to booked it in to a MB dealership/service centre. First, no fault code but they detected that there is a leakage in exhaust manifold - and fixed it, afterwards - issue with the turbo charger (failing!!), they said it should be replace which would cost about A$8000 (unbelievable). Anyone, experienced having turbocharger replaced with a new one? how much? with a reconditioned, from a wrecker?
Thanks a lot
 

Courier

New member
Sounds like it's in limp mode, maybe a split boost hose. Happened twice to me on my old '06
Hi 06 Sprinter, did you fix it by yourself or by a mechanic? Mine, the MB mechanic said the turbocharger is failing and should be replaced which would cost around A$8000 (absolutely ridiculous!!). Any suggestion?
 

72chevy4x4

Well-known member
find another dealer. I take it you are overseas? Is the problem occuring when you've got an extended amount of boost occuring? I too would look for a hose. Maybe wrap the hose unions w/ saran wrap or some other ingenious method to see if air is escaping under boost.
 

Courier

New member
find another dealer. I take it you are overseas? Is the problem occuring when you've got an extended amount of boost occuring? I too would look for a hose.
Thanks 72chevy4x4,

I will look for different mechanic because only one dealer in my area. I have a 5 year extended warranty when I bought this 2010 MB Sprinter 316 CDI with 120,000kms. The problem occurring while driving/cruising on uphill, speed down to 40kph only. After restarting the engine, problem fixed until another uphill. I suspected a hose failure too or leakage since I monitor by OBD scanner: MAP was 95 KPA only
 

'06 sprinter

New member
Go to different shop, they should be able to pressure test the entire pressurized side of the turbo system to check for leaks. Went thru two hoses on my '06 and one on my '10. Most of the sprinter dealers don't know what they are doing so I would get second opinion
 

sailquik

Well-known member
Courier,
Might be a whole lot less expensive to purchase a Scan Gauge II (or similar) so you can see what the output of your turbocharger is ....in real time.
You will also be able to see the "failure mode".
Is your turbocharger really "failing" i.e. cannot make the required amount of pressure (boost/MAP) to balance the fueling rate when you go up steep grades.
Or is it capable of making full boost/MAP pressure and when it gets to a certain pressure something "pops" and releases any pressure above that level.
This would be a hose failure, a fitting on the end of a hose, damage or a damaged seam in your Charge Air Cooler.
Or is there a leak in something that's bleeding off the boost/MAP (as the turbo develops it, and the turbo is incapable of making enough pressure to overcome the leak and make the required amount of boost/MAP to match your fueling rate when going up steep grades/hills.
It would also allow you to monitor the % engine LOAD so when you come to a hill you will know when to downshift.
Is yours a manual or 5G-Tronic (shiftable automatic) transmission.
If you have the 5G-Tronic, they are notorious for not wanting to downshift early enough to reduce the % engine LOAD, and actually are the root cause of a lot of
supposedly "turbo" problems.
The fueling rate and boost/MAP rate stay so high for so long, things heat up, and a hose fails.
Running your engine with everything maxed out is not real good for it, and using it in this way will find the weakest point in your system, which is most often one of the turbo hoses, or turbo hose joints.
First....what engine is in your 2006 316 Sprinter? What transmission?
The easy fix is to have a Scan Gauge II (or similar) to tell you when the % engine LOAD gets > 80% so you can manually downshift the 5G-Tronic or manually
downshift your 6 speed manual gearbox.
Roger
 

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