Sometimes van just turn off

Hello,

my 2001. 313 sprinter sometimes just turn off. When driving everything is normal but sometimes when I stop on traffic light or something just dies. What can I look for, any suggestions?

Thanks

Dumig.
What country are you in, How many K's/ Miles has it done, Is it manual or auto? Eric

There have been reports where a flaky crank position sensor has caused this type of problem. The crank position sensor (on my 2002 NAFTA Sprinter) is on the transmission casing behind the engine (it reads the moving teeth on a metal plate as the enging rotates).

Eric,

I'm in Croatia, Europe. Van has done 540000 km, its about 335000 miles and it is auto.

jmoller99,

will crank position sensor show on ECU as an error code if faulty? That sensor reads teeths on flywheel/flexplate?

Thanks

I don't think it throws an error.

There is also a place on the wiring harness that is know to develop shorts (its easy to fix) - this is an area down below where the fuel filter is (and the harness is held on with very tight black plastic wire ties). The harness is wire tied to a metal bar that is attached to the engine - if this bar rusts, it tends to get sharp spikes in it that work their way into the harness. If you cut the wire ties, and wrap the wiring harness (about 4 inches / 10 cm) with rubber (for example, using part of an old radiator hose, covering the harness completely for the area that it contacts the metal bar), then wire tying that back to the metal bar (securing the wire harness), it may cure the problem.

There are pictures of this fix on this forum (somewhere in the T1N section), but once you find the location where the metal bar is that the harness is attached, its a pretty easy alteration to make.

Here it is:

Will try that. Thanks a lot!

I checked the rod and it doesn't look rusted at all. Well I hope that is the right one, where mass is connected from chassis to engine block?

I don't have the same model you have, so I can't be sure exactly what you are looking at on yours (or how its different from my NAFTA 2002 Sprinter). However, one known problem area is the bundle of wires (wiring harness) that goes to the engine from the Sprinter body. You should not be able to see the metal part unless you have removed the wire ties holding it onto the metal bar. When I removed my harness, there was rust on the bar and I re-did it with rubber and re-wire tied it. My Sprinter has had problems when its wet out - I have gone thru problem areas (like this one) and did the preventative maintenence on it.

If you have cut the wire ties, please wrap the harness with rubber before re-attaching the harness (with another wire tie). It may fix the problem.

But hey!! you are giving us so Little information. is it electric or is like fuel problem, maybe you have air inside your fuel lines, so does it crank when it is stopped, or no sound at all, does it try to run but cant, or it is a completely dead sprinter, no dashboard lights when the fail happens?

jmoller99

I will cut plastic ties and do what you said, it can't hurt

312d

I don't know is it electric or fuel problem. I think is electric because most of the time van is running normal and when it turns off you can start it again. There is no dashboard light when fails...

then it is something electric, i would try to move the wiring loom when it is failing, somewhere there is a bad connection for sure. It could be something as simple as a loose fuse or relay. If the fail happens when you stop,might be something that is moving above the brake pedal.

Changed the ECM relay, left gray one under fuse box and it seems to be fine now.