Need more mechanical advice, Sprinter losing power

[joderek77]

I must be cursed cause this **** Sprinter keeps breaking down. So did a run to South Carolina, started losing power on the way. Nothing really bad, I had it on cruise control and all of a sudden the cruise shut itself off. Got it back up to speed and tested cruise, it worked again. But every time I went uphill I could put gas pedal almost to the floor before it would get up to speed.

Got to South Carolina, unloaded and looked under hood and saw oil running down side of engine. Took it to Freightliner in Columbia and after a week of waiting they said it was Turbo (I did hear the wooshing noise of air so thought that might be problem) so had that replaced, and knew I was overdue for fuel filter so changed that too, since that caused me to have low power a year ago.

$2200 later Freightliner tells me Sprinter has really low power now. I come by to test it and it is 10 times worse than it was when I dropped it off, so no way I can drive it home to my mechanic. Any ideas what this may be? Fuel pump was already replaced 11 months ago and I'm at wit's end

 

[danthewolf00]

There is a leak in the pipeing of the turbo system somewhere. How ever you need to supply what year your sprinter is because there are 3 different motors now. 03-06 is a 5 cycle/ 07-11 i think is the non bluetec then 12-15 is bluetec. Any sprinter build after 2007 is a v-6.

 

[joderek77]

Thank you Dan, it's a 2003.

 

[joderek77]

By the way they just replaced the turbo, so there still would be a leak?

 

[greasytshirt]

By the way they just replaced the turbo, so there still would be a leak?

Yes, there's a resonator in the intake piping (I forget which years had it) that can split at the seams.
There's a host of other things that can cause low power. Did the check engine light come on? What codes did they pull?

 

[joderek77]

Yes, there's a resonator in the intake piping (I forget which years had it) that can split at the seams.
There's a host of other things that can cause low power. Did the check engine light come on? What codes did they pull?

That's the weird thing, the check engine light never came on and the only codes were stored codes from previous issues.

 

[greasytshirt]

That's the weird thing, the check engine light never came on and the only codes were stored codes from previous issues.

I've seen mass airflow sensors cause dumb stuff like that.

 

[joderek77]

I've seen mass airflow sensors cause dumb stuff like that.

The mass air flow sensor was actually replaced about a year ago. It didn't go into limp mode, I've had that happen before. It's similar to when a fuel filter gets clogged but that was replaced.

 

[danthewolf00]

There are rubber rings that break so **** easy on the 2007 that i kept 2 or 3 on the van. Have you taken it to wayne rodd here in toledo yet? Because i know he can work on that year almost in his sleep.

 

[Turtle]

In addition to Wayne, I'd call Andy Bittenbinder. He's getting ready to move to, or already has moved to North Carolina, Greenville-Spartanburg I think.
412-366-6165
[email protected]

 

[xiggi]

Dan is always suggesting Wayne but you have about as much chance dating the playmate of the year as you do getting ahold of him.

 

[joderek77]

It's a 2003 by the way. Unfortunately I can't take it anywhere else at this point as it's still at the Freightliner in South Carolina. I'm gonna call them and mention the resonator in the piping and see if they considered that. I know I'm far from an expert, but it amazes me that a Freightliner dealership can't figure out the problem

 

[Steady Eddie]

Have them do a check on the EGR value and the inter cooler. If you drop to 35 mph then it's on the turbo system. If you can not get over 65 mph it's the EGR value. Or 10,000 other things.

Had my inter cooler tested and it leaked.