Introduction; New Sprinter Owner

O

O6sprinter

New member
Hey there,
I'm the proud new owner of a 2006 Sprinter. I understand it is a T1N. I've been lurking on this board during the purchase process to learn as much as I can. I got a pretty good deal on it as it needs a new paint job and some other tweaks.

I'm in construction, thus the big truck. The Sprinter is replacing a 2001 Ford E-250 that I maintained and fixed and brought back to life a few times for 11 years. (Before that was an '86 VW Vanagon)

Now this is my new work vehicle that I will work to keep alive as long as possible. I've heard great things about this engine package here and from friends. I'm eager to learn, and have found forums like this a godsend ever since I had the Vanagon and needed help keeping it purring.

Now to my initial questions. I'm getting a P0715 code: "Turbine/Input Shaft Speed Sensor A Circuit." I got that several times today. I do know what the (lhm) limp home mode is. Pulled over, shut the truck off and restarted it, no problem. It seems when you feather the peddle or back peddle you can feel the clunk in the transmission as the turbo shuts down. I understand this can also be a transmission sensor problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Unimportantly, the other issues are the a/c doesn't work, and I bought the ugliest girl on the lot. :smirk: 137,000 miles. I rolled the dice. It drives and stops beautifully. New brakes and tires. This vehicle feeds our family. It was a little nerve wracking tonight putting the ole Ford up on craigslist. But I did, so I guess I'm all in on this Sprinter now.
 
M

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Speed sensor errors may be due to oil wicking at the trans connector housing. Do a search in the T1N writeups. If the fluid has wicked up into the TCM under the drivers seat, you will need to pull it to clean it out. The conductor plate can also distort causing this code.

Can you get the subcode for P0715? This will give you more details. Such as a short to ground, open circuit etc.
 
SneakyAnarchistVanCamper

SneakyAnarchistVanCamper

Reading till my eyesbleed
Yep as midwestdrifter mentioned first remove and inspect 13 pin connector, any sign of oil on the pins or damaged o rings and replace it, $15 at a dealer, usually in stock. Might want to just replace it preemptively. If ok, drain the trans pan and torque converter and clean the round magnetic N2 and N3 speed sensors on the plastic conductor plate mounted to the valve body or consider replacing the conductor plate. That's what I would do but maybe someone else knows more about this, I'm not sure exactly which speed sensor the code is referring to.


vertigo said:
Well, all is better now. I took the van (in limp-home mode) to my local independent Mercedes mechanic (great guy!) so that he could connect it to his diagnostic computer. It turns out that the problem underlying the generic P0715 error code was low voltage to the transmission - curious!

So, I pulled off the connector plug at the transmission and checked the voltage. Sure enough, the input voltage was reading only 4 volts when it should have been 12v nominal. So I pulled off the driver seat pan to get to the TCM (transmission control module, I assume) so that I could check the input and output voltages there. Input was fine at 12v, but output seemed to be intermittent between 6 and 12 volt. That's when I noticed that the plug at the TCM which connects the wiring harness running down to the transmission connector was wet with ATF. It seems that the slightly leaking connector at the transmission was wicking ATF up the wiring loom, through the floor pan and back to the TCM connectrion.

We took the TCM apart and found it dry inside with no readily visible evidence of any damage. Reassembled the TCM, sprayed the haness connectors liberally with electrical parts cleaner and then reconnected the wiring harnesses to the TCM. A few minutes later we re-checked the transmission input voltage at the lower plug and found it normal at 12 volts.

My mechanic reconnected his diagnostic computer, confirmed the correct voltage at the tranny and reset the ECM to clear the limp-home mode. Almost like magic, the Sprinter was back in business and has been fine since. In order to avoid this inconvenience in the future, I promptly replaced the electrical connector socket at the transmission with a new unit. Upon reinstalling the wiring plug into the socket, a firm and tight fit was evident (as compared with the easy slide-on fit before).

The lesson from this (I think) is: replace the transmission electrical connector socket when doing your transmission service; it will save a lot of grief. I believe that I did not adequately appreciate the importance of this detail previously. If you find the wiring harness between your TCM and transmission damp with ATF, immediately clean it with electrical parts cleaner before it can cause voltage drop (and the dreaded limp-home) and cure that leak!
Click to expand...
https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12233
 
O

O6sprinter

New member
Hey, thanks for the input. I did some research as advised, thank you very much. On a short trip today, it went into LHM after about 5 miles. I restarted and it ran fine for a couple miles before going back to LHM. Now, I believe it's what you guys call Hard LHM where even after restarting is stays in LHM.

I read a lot and sourced some parts. Even watched some youtube vids. A couple were very detailed. I'm going to do this myself.

I'm adding the link to a parts supplier that I found on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-T...m=201254006404&_trksid=p2385738.c100677.m4598 If there's anything wrong with this, please let me know.

I'm hoping to keep this truck for a while, so if I'm taking this stuff apart, I want to replace it with new parts.

Now, I understand that after all this is complete, I still need someone with a sophisticated scanner. I've been researching the scanner threads. I was thinking about the icarsoft mbII, but after reading the threads, I understand that that scanner won't reset the TCM. Until that's done, it will stay in HLHM. Am I understanding that correctly?

From what I'm seeing, the economical choice is the icarsoft mbII, which doesn't give you access to a variety of systems on this Sprinter. Are there any options between that and DAD interfaced to an XP laptop with an annual fee?

Thanks in advance for you help. If it sounds like I'm making mistakes, let me know.

Lee
 
SneakyAnarchistVanCamper

SneakyAnarchistVanCamper

Reading till my eyesbleed
It should be quicker and cheaper to just walk into a mercedes or dodge dealership. My local mb center which services sprinters has them in stock. The autel MD802 is better than the carsoft. Next step up for about $500 is the Xentry star diagnostics chinese clone on ebay.


Edit: You don't need the whole conductor plate, not until we rule out the $15 13 pin connector by replacing it. Careful *do not overtorque*. You will need a scanner to clear transmission codes once you have fixed it, to restore normal power.
 
Nautamaran

Nautamaran

2004 140” HRC 2500 (Crewed)
I’v got an Autel MD802 “All Systems” Got it on Amazon... works fine for what it does, which includes ECM, SRS, and ATM modules, and will listen to the gear shift lever. It will read/clear the ATM codes and get you out of LHM. :2cents:

-dave
 
O

O6sprinter

New member
Thinks I'll hit my local dealer in the morning. If $15 takes care of this I'll be one happy NEW T1N'er.

I have a cheaper autel it did reset the code. But I will order the mb802.
Thanks
Lee
 
O

O6sprinter

New member
Looked at Amazon, is this the autel scanner you recommend?

Autel
Autel Scanner MD802 Maxidiag Elite Full System Diagnoses for ABS, SRS, Engine, Transmission ,EPB, Oil Reset

Lee
 
Y

yuke

Member
I have an Actron CP9670 scanner that I bought for my gas engine cars would this scanner work for my 05 T1N or should I purchase a better one for this vehicle as I do try to do all my own work on my vehicles.
 
Nautamaran

Nautamaran

2004 140” HRC 2500 (Crewed)
yuke said:
I have an Actron CP9670 scanner that I bought for my gas engine cars would this scanner work for my 05 T1N or should I purchase a better one for this vehicle as I do try to do all my own work on my vehicles.
Click to expand...
No idea... but no harm to plug it in and see?

Most scanners will be able to pull the basic OBD-II info from the ECM as mandated by law, but may not be able to read or interpret all of the codes that are stored or pending. The risk then is that you'll misdiagnose the problem based on missing info. Your scanner will also likely be able to issue an erase command to the ECM, but that erases *ALL* the codes, even the ones your scanner couldn't read. That puts a technician at a disadvantage if you take the van in for repair before the problem can repeat itself and duplicate the code.

Your scanner may also not be able to communicate with the many other control modules - like the ABS, SRS, TCM, A/C, IC, shifter, ... The Transmission Control Module in particular is a handy one to have access to as some limp-home modes will have stored fault codes that need to be manually cleared from the TCM after the fault is repaired.

-dave
 
P

Patrick of M

2005 T1N 2500 (NA spec)
Nautamaran said:
There are better diagnostic tools out there, but I’m getting my money’s worth on the MD802.
There are (were?) two versions, so be sure you’re not looking at the 4-system version.

This is the same as mine:
https://www.amazon.com/Autel-Engine-Transmission-Airbag-Service/dp/B06XQFQRJB
Click to expand...
Nautarman, I’m considering getting the MD802, but the link you posted does not appear to be the all systems unit most have recommended. Are you sure this is the one you have? I’m most concerned with being able to clear TCM codes, as I was badly caught out once by this van and do not want to experience that again.
 
Nautamaran

Nautamaran

2004 140” HRC 2500 (Crewed)
:yell: BAH! :yell:

My sincere apologies... and thank you Patrick!

I used my Amazon history to call up my purchase and avoid EXACTLY this mixup, but it appears that I linked to a listing for the 4-system version anyway. Now I’m gun-shy, so I’ll let you search for yourself for the MD-802 All Systems scanner.

Sorry again... that shouldn’t have happened.

-dave

ps: this looks like it’s the right version
https://www.amazon.com/Autel-MD802-Maxidiag-Diagnoses-Transmission/dp/B0090B7M2O
 
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