Another Problem

I'm becoming very frustrated. Old thread from 4/30/17 "Stuck at cabin 140 miles away with leaking transmission" https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55866
I limped home 140 miles at 30 mph and took 2005 Sprinter to the dealer. Long story short, they replaced Control Unit 032-545-48-32 ($881), Electrics Kit 140-270-11-61 ($341.10) and a few nickle - dime parts plus labor & tax for $2244.96 total.
Drove home & next day it would not start. Engine heater symbol on instrument panel would not go off and outside temp in Arizona was 116 degrees so not much need for the pre-heat. Called dealer & left message. Tried starting again and it worked. Dealer called back & said it was because I left key in ignition & anti-theft kicked in. Used the van a couple of times & all was well so I went to Home Depot & loaded up to head back to the cabin. Outside temp now a "cool" 114 degrees and pre-heat instrument light won't go off and vehicle won't start and will not go out of park. Waited 3.5 hours for tow truck and managed to transfer most of the load into our SUV while waiting. IT WAS HOT and not fun. Sprinter was towed to the dealer.

I am now at the cabin where the temp is cooler but I'm not as I believe the problem is related to the service for which I paid $2246.96. I can think of a lot of illogical & illegal things I would like to do at this time but would appreciate any logical an legal suggestions which could discuss with the dealer tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Frustrated Wally

First you have got to give them a chance to fix it after paying all that money.
It happens and I get it!

BUT of late i have seen some really bad diagnostic and appalling repair work conducted by MB & Dodge dealers on these old T1N model vans.

The issue in one case for me is that having put one "job right" after having been into an MB dealer, I made a frosty customer unhappy with his repair experiences. Nothing I or my staff did but showing the customer after they missed some glaring issues but he wasn't entirely convinced..
After all how could a dealer miss these problems & overlook others ? Even when i showed in on the scanner what the MB spec was and what it took to fix and get same figures.
Really its a perception issue and all the glitz and pomp/MB dealer ceremony doesn't always guarantee a successful fix!
All the best and I hope it gets fixed for you.
Dennis

mrwallysprinter said:

I'm becoming very frustrated. Old thread from 4/30/17 "Stuck at cabin 140 miles away with leaking transmission" https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55866
I limped home 140 miles at 30 mph and took 2005 Sprinter to the dealer. Long story short, they replaced Control Unit 032-545-48-32 ($881), Electrics Kit 140-270-11-61 ($341.10) and a few nickle - dime parts plus labor & tax for $2244.96 total.
Drove home & next day it would not start. Engine heater symbol on instrument panel would not go off and outside temp in Arizona was 116 degrees so not much need for the pre-heat. Called dealer & left message. Tried starting again and it worked. Dealer called back & said it was because I left key in ignition & anti-theft kicked in. Used the van a couple of times & all was well so I went to Home Depot & loaded up to head back to the cabin. Outside temp now a "cool" 114 degrees and pre-heat instrument light won't go off and vehicle won't start and will not go out of park. Waited 3.5 hours for tow truck and managed to transfer most of the load into our SUV while waiting. IT WAS HOT and not fun. Sprinter was towed to the dealer.

I am now at the cabin where the temp is cooler but I'm not as I believe the problem is related to the service for which I paid $2246.96. I can think of a lot of illogical & illegal things I would like to do at this time but would appreciate any logical an legal suggestions which could discuss with the dealer tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Frustrated Wally

Click to expand...

Sure would be nice if you had a scanner. It would help if you post the codes the shop comes up with when they scan it.
Clean battery to chassis ground?
Inspect/replace transmission harness/ground?
Remove and inspect glow plug relay and glow plugs, ohm out glow plug wires?
Remove and inspect 13 pin connector?

Just now heard back from the dealer and they have informed me that my 2005 Dodge Sprinter has a faulty CDI and my cost for this fix would be $2500. Still trying to get over the the shock. It seems like a very odd coincidence that all these issues keep showing up after the dealer does service. See also https://sprinter-source.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=55866
I purchased this vehicle new in 2005 and converted it to a camper van. It has about 122,000 miles on it. Over a short time frame I have spent over $23,000 in repairs and that does not include any of the previous upgrades to turn it into a camper van. I am at the point where it might be in my best interest to part company with this love / hate relationship.
Anyone interested?
Wally

wally, you have been dealt a **** hand. the hell of it is, the right tech could sort it out quickly. its bull**** when under trained techs "shotgun" parts at it until it works.....or not. anyway, i hope you sort this out quickly. cheers

Wally.
You have been done over big time. It is unlikely that any of the parts replaced were faulty. If you read the Bosch automotive hand book you would learn that the most common fault is electrical connectors, multiple sensor failures are very rare. When an untrained person reads a fault they do not realize that the component is not broken but the connection to it is possibly faulty, by replacing the component all they are doing is cleaning the oxide of the pins of the plug so it works again. Much better to unplug the supposedly faulty part and spray the plug pins with contact cleaner. The same applies to your ECU just clean the pins. Eric.

eric has a good point. before retirement i worked as a pilot of heavy aircraft. think fly by wire. i can tell you that about 90% of maintenance writeups end with a logbook entry such as........" re-racked,cleaned cannon plugs, ground check ok."

UPDATE! I apologize for not responding with this update sooner but with traveling to various places I kind of lost track of several things on the never ending TO-DO list.

My Sprinter was at the dealer from 6/14/17 to 8/11/17 where they had just tried a 2nd new CDI unit on 8/9/17. The dealer was in contact with Mercedes Service Support and they advised the 1st new CDI was probably defective. They said it solved one problem but not the one that was causing the not starting issue. I told them to put my old CDI unit back in and if it started I would pick it up. It did start & I drove it home where the next day it would not start. In another thread I saw where electrical problems were associated with the fuse block under the steering column so I looked and found two identical relays at the bottom of the block P/N 004 545 29 05. One is Diesel engine Control Unit and the other is for the Turn Signals. I taped on the Diesel Engine Control and the Fan in front of the radiator turned off and the glow plug dash light also went off. Then I turned the key in the ignition and there was a click whereas the fan and glow plug dash light both came back on and the van would not start. I swapped the two relays and turned the ignition key again whereas the fan did not come on and the dash glow plug light came on and turned off right away as normal. The van started so I checked my solution by repeating the problem by swapping the relays and it was obvious IT WAS THE RELAY! They cost $8.97 at Europarts.

The reminder of this item on my TO-DO list is a result of something some of you will probably find humorous - I was on my way to the cabin (See "Stuck at Cabin" thread) and I lost power on every hill (P0299 low turbo boost). Since the dealer had replaced the entire Turbo system on the engine swap BUT since they made so many mistakes (not tightening battery ground, turbo hose clamps, air filter, over filling transmission causing the $2500 transmission repair, NOT TO MENTION, not being able to find the "not starting problem" I have mixed emotions about letting them even look at my van..... but it is covered under warranty and I have other things to do on the Never Ending TO-DO list.

Well, my Mercedes Dealer repair story here in New Mexico is that although they did replace my crankcase key that holds the Harmonic Balancer and lower timing chain to the crank, they left my T1N with not one - but two coolant leaks - one from a pinched hose/clamp combination and the other by not putting back the hose clamp! They left off a nut near the oil dipstick, they used a wrong injector bolt that "popped loose" soon after, and they topped it all off by not installing the valve cover gasket correctly and I thus had an oil leak! The Freightliner dealer in Albuquerque doesn't have a good Sprinter mechanic, but the Dodge Dealer still has good T1N service as they fixed the valve cover gasket oil leak and injector bolt after I previously fixed the two coolant leaks and replaced the missing nut! So T1N owners be aware and beware! Being able to do my own routine maintenance for my first 70k miles (the vehicle is now at 145,000 miles) still makes the T1N great and I remain impressed with the van in spite of "Mercedes Service" disasters!