Will not shift...

Potteryman

Steve the Potter
We bought a 2003 140 WB T1N passenger van back in April. It had one owner, 145000 miles, immaculate condition (stored indoors 6 months of the year). It has not been moved other than I have occasionally gone out and started it and let it run for 15 minutes. We are about to sell our other Sprinter and started this one today and drove it around the block. It does not shift out of first gear and using the shift lever I am unable to shift down out of "D" through the gears like you should be able to. Any ideas..? When we bought it and drove it home all this was working fine 6 months ago. Would sitting around not being driven cause this..? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Steve
 

NelsonSprinter

Former Nelson BC Sprinter
Many possibilities I can't narrow down for you:
Low transmission fluid,
Transmission Control module has oil wicked up into it from Transmission wires,
Dirty iron sludge on transmission solenoids.
Mice eaten thru wires
A simple free suggestion is to disconnect the battery wires for 30 min and re-connect and see if the TCM resets , keeping in mind the radio will be dead if you don't know the code to activate.

Sitting idle has caused gremlins to appear for some.
Luckily you have a mechanic in Bend that knows Sprinters and could pinpoint diagnose it http://gmtbend.com/
 
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autostaretx

Erratic Member
Is it really stuck in first... or second?
If second, you're in "Limp Home Mode" (LHM) because the engine computer thinks there's something wrong.

To determine "first" versus "second", the RPM for (say) 10 mph or 20 mph would let us tell you
(we'd also need to know if it was a 2500 (single rear wheels) or 3500 (duals), and the tire size (15 or 16 inch).

Example: for a 2500 with 15 inch tires (the original 225/70R15 in the usa) and 3.73 rear end ratio, you'd see:
First gear: 20 mph is 3400 rpm (10 mph is 1700 rpm)
Second gear: 20 mph is 2075 rpm (10 mph is 1037 rpm)
... assuming the US/Canada 5-speed automatic NAG1 transmission

There are thousands of posts in the forum concerning LHM.
The fastest way to find out "why?" is to have it scanned by a dealer-level scanner
(a DAD, an AutoEnginuity, a DRB-III or a dealer's StarScan)

--dick
 
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jmoller99

Own a DAD ODB2 Unit.
Be aware that if your battery voltage is low (under 11 volts), your Sprinter may start, but the Transmission Control Module (TCM - its under the drivers seat), will be confused, and as such, it will be in LHM until you get a better battery that has a normal charge on it. Often, restarting after 10 minutes of idling will have recharged the battery enough to start it with a higher voltage (and no longer be confused at start up). I would suspect the battery at this point.

Transmission LHM = 2nd gear, Neutral and Reverse only.

The Sprinter, in general, does not like low voltages - it's onboard computers will try to protect themselves in that case.

What ever you do, don't casually tap into existing wiring - as the Sprinters fuses tend to be sized exactly for expected loads and you will have untold odd problems if you add power hungry devices to existing circuits. The fuses have a history of poor contacts over time - I ended up pulling each fuse (one at a time) and cleaning up the contacts on the fuse holder and the fuse itself (220 grit sandpaper), and then doing the same for the relays under the drivers seat. There are fuses under the stearing column and under the plastic cover, under the drivers seat.
 

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