Sluggish acceleration

[Sockeye.]

I just looked at a 2006 with 270k. When I took it for a test drive, I noticed it was a little sluggish when trying to accelerate. It seemed ok when taking off from a stop, but while driving when I had to speed up briefly to maneuver in traffic, but there wasn’t much response when giving more gas and even when pushing it to the floor. This is the 6th one of test driven and all other drove nice, even one that failed the oil cap rattle test. Was told by the owner that the gas might be a little old and they weren’t exactly sure when the last time the fuel filter was changed. Also was told the van had a governor, but don’t feel that would have much effect.

Would fuel issues be the cause in the big lack in power and how easy is it to remove a governor in these vans?

 

[Zundfolge]

It's not the speed limiter (not so much a "governor," just part of the programming) unless you're into the 80's.

It could be a few things, but to me that's classic clogged fuel filter behavior, esp. given what the owner is saying. It can also be a boost leak. And a handful of other things as well, is there any smoke on acceleration? Is the check engine light on? Clogged fuel filter wouldn't always trip a code, but sometimes...

 

[Sockeye.]

Was told that the a new turbo was installed a couple years ago. Check engine light was on but told it’s always been on due to some typical glow plug code that happens on many sprinter. Didn’t notice smoke, but wasn’t looking for it.

Think I also heard the famous rumble strip sound from the transmission. Is it like .5sec of noise followed by .5sec of nothing? This was only really apparent when first starting, then it seemed to go away.

Also what’s the typical cost for a certified rebuilt transmission? Figure I should factor that cost into the budget.

 

[Zundfolge]

There's no "typical glow plug code" per se. Glow plug modules, if the old internally fused, non self-resetting type is still present it *can* trip a code, or a glow plug could be out, or a wire could be damaged. And you don't get to know why that little light is on without using a code reader. I wouldn't trust anyone's word on that! Especially with a van having acceleration issues!

Were I in your shoes I'd invest in a sprinter capable scanner (check the scanner subforum in the general section for recommendations, but generally speaking the Autel AP200 or MD808 is a good option for T1N owners). Take it with you to your tire kickings, and it will unlock information that you may need to make a decision in such situations. These things are almost a sweet spot of being mechanically fairly easy to work on and troubleshoot, while also having a fair amount of computer control and diagnostics. Not having a code reader though is like flying half-blind.

I'd figure in a financial buffer for mechanical failures yes, in fact you almost certainly WILL have some kind of failure early on in your ownership (in my years of purchasing good used vehicles I've never had one not have some kind of issue in the first week). However, some RSN is completely normal for the NAG1 transmission. My guess is that the fluid has not been changed in a long time, if ever. Old fluid, or improper level is the cause of many of the reported transmission issues seen here in my opinion. In the first 6 months of owning mine I had erratic noise around 45mph and a lot of droning. New fluid and cleaning the speed sensors/conductor plate completely fixed it. Trans has almost 300K on it. They're pretty robust. Always start with the simple things, again, back to that likely clogged fuel filter...