I was on my way home the other night when my CEL came on. [...]
So my questions are has anyone else had a similar experience?
TP
I have had 2 CELs on my 2017 van; one at about 400 miles, the other at about 6,000 miles. Both times I took my van in to the dealer.
The first time I brought the van to a large metro area dealership about 2 hours away from my home, because I was passing through and knew that a) they were large, b) they sold a lot of Sprinter vans. The service folks checked the code, ran diagnostics, and sent the results to the factory as per a tech bulletin they had. They explained everything to me and gave me a printout describing the codes, their diagnostics, and the results.
The second time I brought the van to a smaller metro area dealership about 1 hour from my house, because they are more convenient to me (and that is where I bought the van in the first place). The service folks checked it out, told me they had to replace a part that had to be ordered, and sent me on my way. After the part came in I returned, they installed the part, and give me a printout describing what they had done, but it was no where near the level of detail that I received from the first dealer.
I paid nothing either time because my van is under warranty. However, the part that the second dealer replaced is part of the DPF regeneration system. They gave me a history of regens that they thought proved I was short cycling the system (making lots of short trips, never making long trips, and never letting the van finish a regeneration). This made me unhappy, because that is the exact opposite of the way I drive my van, and they never asked me how I drove it, they just assumed that I was "doing it wrong." So... I've put enough (long distance) mileage on the van to have at least one more regeneration on the history, and I'll be bringing my van to the first dealership where I think I'll get a more informed result and find out why the history shows many interrupted regenerations (ignition off) even when my driving log shows me driving straight through on 1,300 mile runs.
So... I agree with the folks who suggest that since you have a full warranty on the van, take it to the dealer and let them sort it out. Don't try to tell them what it is - just tell them you have the Check Engine light. It is their job to diagnose it, which should include asking you questions if they need clarification on behavior or circumstances surrounding the illumination of the light. But, if you have a choice of dealers, head for the one that has more Sprinter van business.
I don't think it hurts to have a code reader and pull the codes yourself before heading in, though. If nothing else, it might help you determine the sense of urgency with which you respond to the CEL.