Drilled some holes in the rear bumper and now the van won't start.

2017 sprinter 4-wheel drive long wheel base, about 1000 miles, I've had it 3 weeks.
Battery seems OK, everything else comes on but it won't turn over.
I tried jumping it also, nothing.
It would be more accurate to say I drilled holes in the rear bumper cover straight down from the top.
Is there anything I could have hit that would cause it not to turn over?
Any ideas on what else it might be?

Thanks,
Mike

A photo (both long shot for establishing location and close-in to show exactly where) of your holes would help.

Do you have a trailer hitch? (which adds to the number of wires you could have hit)

Have you tried a 2nd set of keys?

--dick

I probably won't be able to get pictures till tomorrow. And yes to the trailer hitch. It sounds like there are things I could have hit that would cause the issue. I haven't tried a second key, I'll do it when I get home. Another thing, I can't get it to shift out of park. Should I be able to with the key turned on?

Somehow i get the idea you haven't (yet) checked ALL of the fuses....?

Your owner's manual should tell you how to override the Park shift-lock.
(there's a solenoid involved, so if the van isn't willing to crank/run, it's understandable that it wouldn't unlock by simply turning the key)

Page 145 from the 2015 owner's manual:



--dick (i don't have an NCV3, so my T1N method may (or may not) work for you)

You are correct, I haven't had time to really check anything. I found the issue about 15 min before I had to head out for a training course. So I put what info I could think of up on the forum, hoping I'd get lucky and it was a known issue. I really do appreciate the help

My guess is that your drilling may have hit a wire.
My hope is: If you're lucky, a fuse popped and protected the affected circuits.
If that's what happened, you still have the damaged wires, and it's a matter of luck whether or not they're still in a "shorted" condition (mangled strands may still be in contact with each other).

On the other hand, you may have simply had a coincidental failure (still a problem, but not drill-related)

So, we all await further exploration... (do you have a borescope camera that can look down the drilled hole?)

I don't recall a specific case of "i drilled a hole in the bumper, things broke", but:
The sprinters have a number of weird symptoms when things go amiss with the rear lights (license plate lights and tail light assemblies shorting or simply having the wrong bulbs).

--dick

shaharidan said:

...
Is there anything I could have hit that would cause it not to turn over?
Any ideas on what else it might be?

Thanks,
Mike

Click to expand...

If not the trailer wiring as discussed, possibly something to do with parktronic or lane assist?

FWIW. I agree with Autostaretx Dick that fuse checks first. If a an open (blown) fuse is found then even if a new fuse restores operation further wire harness inspection/repair is needed or the problem can return.

vic

Thanks guys.
It doesn't appear to be that big a deal to pull off the bumper cover, so I'll go ahead and do that once it's light out and see if I hit any wires.
Then fix them if needed.
I did take a good look around underneath before I drilled, but I may have missed something.
I'm thinking Parktronic also.
In case you're wondering why I'd want to drill into the bumper .
I use the van to haul my motorcycles, and I want to run a pin thru the ramp into the bumper.
I use straps also to hold the ramp in place, but wanted some extra safety.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Yup, cut some wires when I drilled one of my holes.
Spliced the wires and the van started.
Everything is good for now, thanks again for the help.

Mike

What color wires? Any fuses blown? (data for the next guy...)

Congrats on the easy fix...

--dick

I cut 3 wires:
Green
Green with a white
Brown
The wires run along and are clipped into the upper back of the bumper cover.
They run out/in of both sides and the center of the bumper.
No fuses blown as far as I know, but I still need to test them.
I am running into an issue where is seems to be taking a couple of turns of the key before it turns over, but I need try it a few more times.

I had to get back to work, so I am limited on how much time I could spend.
And I'm really not supposed to park it in my neighborhood over night, so I can't really work on it in the evening.
It may be the weekend before I can investigate further.
The most important thing today was to get it running, so it wouldn't be here another night.

Mike