| BenzWorld Newbie
Date registered: Jan 2008 Vehicle: 2000 Sprinter 313 CDI Motorhome Conversion Location: Adelaide Australia
Posts: 3
|  313 CDI Power Loss (Limp Mode)
My apologies for the length of this post, but I am at the stage of complete frustration with this problem and felt it necessary to relate the complete story about thisproblem in the hope some good sole here may be able to assist me in getting my vehicle back to normal.
2000 MERCEDES SPRINTER 313 CDI LWB HIGH ROOF
VIN WDB9036632R122756
I purchased the vehicle in May 2004 and converted it to a Motorhome. It had approx 232,000 Km on the odometer when I purchased it, and it currently has approx 280,000 Km.
Within a short period after buying the vehicle, I noticed an intermittent fault as follows:
Sometimes when I first started the vehicle and drove it away, it had no power, which I have since learned is the Limp Mode. This lack of power was instantly noticeable when I drove the vehicle, and I also noticed that every time this occurred, the Speedo was not registering any speed. I learned that if I stopped the vehicle and turned the engine off, restarted the engine and drove away, full power was resumed and the Speedo also would register speed.
This same fault happened on numerous occasions, although not frequently. I spoke to my local Mercedes Benz workshop about this, and they put the vehicle on their analyzer, but could not register or observe a fault. The fault had not been registered in the vehicles memory. Their advice was I would have to present the vehicle with the fault present, and they would then be able to identify the cause of this fault.
The vehicle went for a long period of time (more than a year) without the fault occurring, and I thought it must have cleared itself.
My wife and I did a long journey in the vehicle as a holiday in July/August 2007, and it was while we were driving on this holiday, that the vehicle lost power and went into limp mode while we actually underway. We were traveling at speeds of around 110 Km/hr, and the Speedo was functionally normally. This was the first time this had happened. I pulled to the roadside, turned the engine off, restarted it, and the fault cleared and full engine power was restored. This happened exactly the same way on two or three occasions in the period of a few days, so I took the vehicle into the Mercedes Benz dealership in Cairns and explained the situation, and they kindly connected it their analysis machine the try to identify the fault. The fault was not present when they did their system analysis. Their advice was the fault had not been recorded in the vehicles memory, so they could not give me any advice or identify what was causing the fault.
We returned to Adelaide and the same fault occurred on one or two occasions while we were traveling, and the fix was the same, i.e. stop the vehicle on the roadside, turn the engine off, restart and full engine power was resumed.
On my return to Adelaide, I again took the vehicle to Mercedes Benz who again connected it to their analyzer, but again could not find a recorded engine fault.
Some time passed, and the fault did not recur, until one morning I started the vehicle and drove it away and instantly noticed it was in limp mode, and the Speedo was not working. I did not stop the engine but rather kept it running with the fault present and immediately called Mercedes Benz, and arranged to take the vehicle to their workshops while the fault was present, so that they could carry out an analysis, and identify the cause of this recurring fault.
We did this and the Mercedes analysis again could not register and did not record a system fault.
The MB technician suggested the fault may be being caused by a microswitch that is operated by the clutch pedal, so he and I test drove the vehicle and were able to get the vehicle to instantly go from limp mode to full power by depressing the clutch pedal a few times.
We felt the problem causing the fault had been identified and subsequently replaced the microswitch on the clutch pedal.
The fault did not recur again for a few months, and in late December we again had been on a short holiday in the vehicle and on our return journey to Adelaide (during a period where the ambient temperatures were in excess of 40 C), the vehicle again went into limp mode. We had been traveling at about 110 Km/hr, and when I slowed to about 80 Km/hr the vehicle went into limp mode and the revs were limited at about 3000 RPM. I pumped the clutch pedal several time, but this did not clear the fault, so I cleared the fault as I had done on all other occasions, i.e. stop the vehicle on the roadside, turn the engine off, restart and drive away. This happened frequently during this journey to Adelaide, and the exception was that where I had always been able to clear the fault by stopping and restarting the engine, this procedure did not always clear the fault on the first occasion, but rather I found I had to repeat the engine stop/start procedure to clear the fault and get full engine power back again. Also it is perhaps not relevant, but the Speedo was functioning normally every time the fault occurred.
I drove the vehicle on several occasions since returning from our Christmas holiday, and the vehicle is now frequently going in and out of limp mode.
I spoke with my local vehicle servicing workshop, and explained the problem. They have a Bosch analysis system that they felt could identify the system fault, so I took the vehicle to them for analysis and rectification of this persistent and now very frustrating problem.
When they first connected the vehicle to their analysis machine, they found a fault registered in the engine system. The fault was “Code 1470 Pressure Converter Boost Pressure Control – Deviation”. They were able to cancel/reset the fault code, and full power was returned to the engine, however, the fault recurred after driving the vehicle for a few Km’s on the road. This procedure was followed a few times with the same result every time. The technician checked the various electrical/electronic components of the Turbo Boost System, and suggested we replace the “Turbo Boost Pressure Sensor”, (situated on the passenger side intercooler hose) as a possible cause of the fault.
We replaced this part and again road tested the vehicle only to have the vehicle go back into limp mode after traveling less than 10 Km.
When the vehicle was reconnected to the analysis machine, it did not register a system fault, even though the vehicle was still in limp mode.
The technician ran the engine while it was still in limp mode and pumped the clutch pedal in and out several times and this cleared the limp mode and full power was restored to the engine. He subsequently removed the clutch micrsowitch, and bridged the wiring to eliminate the microswitch function.
The vehicle was road tested again, but again went into the limp mode in less then 10 Km.
The vehicle was connected to the analysis machine again, and again no fault was registered even though the vehicle was still in limp mode.
We subsequently replaced the “Turbo Boost Pressure Control Valve” (situated under the air inlet box on the drivers side), and also carried out an inspection of all of the vacuum hose connections looking for splits or other defects, as well as checking the vacuum system was operating.
The Boost Pressure Control Valve we used was on loan from a friend that has an identical vehicle. The vehicle was still in limp mode after the replacement valve was fitted.
Please note the technician was sure to clear the system memory after every change.
Please also note that this stage the vehicle still has this problem and we are unable to use it.
Many thanks in advance. |
Linear Mode
