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Mercedes Sprinter "start error"

97K views 65 replies 21 participants last post by  raynipper 
#1 ·
Not only the other day I was singing the praises of Mercedes Sprinters Reliability.

Went to start the engine today and "start error" came up in the dash LED.

We had this problem before, a certain someone is always dropping her copy of the keys and had lost the immobiliser chip out of the key.

Chip is still intact this time!

Tried spare set and same fault "start error"

I have contacted my Nephew who works for Mercedes, he spoke to the van mechanic who said it could be anything from keys, spikes, wsp, ECU, burnt out wire.

He suggested I contact my insurers (safeguard) and call breakdown. However, it is Friday and I don't fancy having it stuck on their forecourt all weekend.

So it is stuck on the drive for now, unless someone can help me out?
Need to check what I am covered for on SafeGaurd too!

Trev.
 
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#28 ·
Update

Well,

The ECU & WSP arrived back today. Mercedes fitted them back in for me as the MH was at the garage. After an initial hickup with the other key, drove out from the garage and the gearbox is not changing gear correctly.

The vehicle pulls away, then after a long lag/delay, coasting and some very high revs, it will eventualy change gear and do the same up thrugh the gearbox.

I managed to get home, just and park it on the drive. Not spoken with Mercedes yet but have emailed Revtronic with the symptoms as they were closed.

Update to follow........

Trev.
 
#29 ·
Arrgh!

I maybe talking a load of rubbish:-

but now that it is starting but with problems with your sprintshift, sounds like it could be a bug in the software that Revtronic have inserted

Could MB re-flash your ECU/WSP with the latest version of the software code ??

I think I would also remove & reconnect all the connections to these boxes and check anything in their vacinity maybe something is not connecting properly or something else has been disturbed?
 
#30 ·
Rubbish

Thanks Trek,

I will look at it again next week when I get a reply from Revtronic or MB.

Stuck on drive for now. Glad we did not take it back to MB as we are going to use it as a living room while we finish laying a ne floor in th lounge/dinning room/hall & bathroom.

Trev
 
#31 ·
Sync

Hello,

Here goes the update.

I rang Revtronic. They advised me that the gearbox has gone out of snyc with the ECU (probably due to a low/flat battery). They said it needs to be re-set on an MB Star machine.

So back off to Mercedes for a plug-in.

Back soon,
Trev.
 
#34 ·
MB Test

trek said:
did MB dealer take it for a road test before giving it back to you ?
Yes, so they tell me. The vehicle is near impossible to drive, I have to use the Sprintshift in Manual and take my foot of the accelerator and wait for the gearchange.

When I looked behind me, you could see the drivers behind moving away from the lights, then nearly nudging the back of me as they dont expect the slow take off and lag.

I am waiting to hear from Mercedes at the moment..../....\..../....\....

Trev. :(
 
#35 ·
Slip

Hello,

I have spoken with the MB Garage today. They have suggested that the clutch could be slipping. However, they cannot do it at their garage so it will have to go to a Van & Truck dealer for further investigation.

What I cannot understand is that we came back from Paris last month with no problems. Parked up on the drive and the next thing I get is the dreaded "Start Error". The engine will now start but have the gearchange problem.
If we had problems coming back from Paris I could get my head around it.

Anyway, I shall ring the Van/Truck/Bus dealer this week.

Still stranded,
Trev.
 
#37 ·
If it pulls away from the lights and pulls ok once it eventually changes up, how can the clutch be slipping? i should be in no hurry to part with a grand plus without being one hundred percent certain it will cure it. You know what will come next, they will do the clutch,it will be exactly the same, and they will say oh but it now needs this as the clutch has caused so and so to fail.
 
#38 ·
Hi Trev

just been looking back in the forum at your earlier sprintshift problem, when you first had the vehicle (you didnt say how that was resolved)

There was this post :-

"I have a workshop in the Bolton area and we look after over 100 Mercedes Sprinter's, 50% of them with SprintShift gearbox's we have come accross problems with them and also invested in equipment to help diagnose problems.
We can be more helpfull than dealers, if you require any more information please contact me.
Autostyle Total Vehicle Managment
01204 701077 "


did you ever contact them & would it be worth calling them to chat about this new problem ?
 
#39 ·
F

trek said:
Hi Trev

just been looking back in the forum at your earlier sprintshift problem, when you first had the vehicle (you didnt say how that was resolved)

There was this post :-

"I have a workshop in the Bolton area and we look after over 100 Mercedes Sprinter's, 50% of them with SprintShift gearbox's we have come accross problems with them and also invested in equipment to help diagnose problems.
We can be more helpfull than dealers, if you require any more information please contact me.
Autostyle Total Vehicle Managment
01204 701077 "


did you ever contact them & would it be worth calling them to chat about this new problem ?
Hello Trek,

I was just looking for that post!.

How was it resolved. We decided not to go along the trial and error route suggested by the dealers with no offer of assistance from MB UK or Germany. The "F1" only occasionaly apears and usualy when cold. We have travelled 30,000 miles since then, the only problem we have had was climbing the new Motorway out of Grenoble to Gap this summer. Thats when we found out we had an F in gearbox. The box refused to change down and locked in top gear and Simply Displayed "F" in the dashboard. We managed to get to the next refuge (no hard shoulder). Turned the engine off, waited 5 minutes and hey presto off we were again.

I have had a problem getting the habitation door sorted by Eura Mobil, along with problems with the step and CBE/Eura wiring. I have had the ECU WSP Problems and now back to the gearbox again.

I am now considering getting the current problems sorted so I can trade it. What will I buy? Without hesitation another Mercedes Base, thinking of a Fleetwood Pulse or Frankia Mercedes- Alko chassis.

I would have a Sun Voyager but have an access problem and can only drive up-to 7.5T.

Trev.
 
#40 ·
It's funny you should mention the Fleetwood Pulse - I have just been looking at them with a view to to swapping my CI Cipro 55 - looks quite impressive! I like the slide out for the extra room!
Richard
 
#41 ·
Pulse

richardjames said:
It's funny you should mention the Fleetwood Pulse - I have just been looking at them with a view to to swapping my CI Cipro 55 - looks quite impressive! I like the slide out for the extra room!
Richard
Yes, impressive and expensive.

Not sure about the layout. Prefer the end bathroom and would probably keep the pullman made up to a bed when just the two of us.

I note the US Dodge version is 154bhp and the EuroSprinter tuned to 184bhp!

Trev.
 
#44 ·
Hi Trev

Sorry to read all your problems but very pleased to hear that you will buy another Merc.
Having dealt with used Mercedes-Benz sprinters for the last 10 years, my one advice I would give to anyone: If you have to jumpstart the vehicle because of a flat battery, before removal of jumpleads, once the vehicle is running, turn the headlights on main beam. This will stop the alternator from overcharging and zapping the ECU. This was very good advice given to me from a Mercedes mechanic and it has probably saved me an awful of money over the years. It applies to all modern vehicles with ECUs.
Good luck and I definitively would recommend the Frankia on the Merc chassis.

Ken
 
#45 ·
Van

Thanks Trek and Ken,

Autostyle did ring me this afternoon, but missed the call.

Yes skiiing, was hoping to go to Andorra or Alps in January maybe Aviemore in February as there is no longer a Ship to my favorite ski country, Norway.

Thanks for the jump start tip.

Oddly enough just before all this happened I had given a jump start to someone else!.

Trev.
 
#46 ·
Thanks for all the information Trev. I'm watching with great trepidation.

We have a 316 2.7 Sprintshift, which has done about 31K - so far so good, although it is now getting sluggish at starting. I'll send it for a service in the spring and hope it's just something simple. It's done about 32K miles.

We also have a 2.2 Sprintshift that we keep in sunnier climes and did have a problem with that after I managed to spin the wheels on a gravel road. It was cured by simply turning it off and on again. That's done 170K kilometers !

Your having given someone a jump start would make me cautious of doing that - again thanks for the warning.

Goodness - what if they both go wrong on the scale of yours. Eeek! I'm crossing everything for both of us now.

Regards
Broadlady
 
#47 ·
Convinced

Yes,

I have pretty much convinced myself that the jump start I gave had something to do with the start of the problems.

However, I have had problems with "F1" flashing from the day I bought the van second hand with just 8,000 miles on the clock. The F1 refers to a gearbox error. if you look back at my inital post...

One of my original posts< Click

However, we did manage some 29,000 miles since then with just one problem earlier this year, when we found out we had an F in gearbox. As mentioned before, we were heading out of Grenoble on the new motorway when climbing the gearbox locked into top (6th) gear. It would not kick down or allow me to change manualy and simply displayed "F" in the instrument cluster. We managed to get to an emergency refuge point, turned off the engine, waited 5 minutes and re-started and everything has been okay for a further 3,000 miles.

I am still considering getting it fixed and then changing to something else. Shame as we have done so much to it since we bought it.

Trev.
 
#48 ·
i would say the jumpstart was without doubt the cause of your problem ,when i worked for renault trucks we had a half day training course on jumpstarting vehicles and it should be done exactly as mentioned earlier in this forum ,the problem is when you connect your vehicle to another vehicle with a flat battery your alternator is charging at maximum amperes but your battery don't want all them lovely amperes so as soon as you remove your jump leads all that lovely amperes goes straight to your electronic control units as your battery is not interested in them.it is usually the vehicle with the flat battery that gets damaged but i have also seen the vehicle used to jump start get damaged to.
Last year after christmas break we had a customer jump start 12 of his vehicles and fried the ecus on 9 of them ,the bill came in at over £10,000.
The correct procedure we were taught for jump starting is this
connect both vehicle batterys and leave connected for 5 mins
start your vehicle and leave running for 10 mins
start second vehicle and leave both vehicles running for a further 10 mins with heater fan on max and wipers on or anything that has a motor in it left on in both vehicles
you can then disconnect your vehicle
Despite the fact i am a qualified auto electrician i do not carry jump leads in my vehicle if a customer wants to jump start his vehicle that his choice but i will not do it for them .i had one £1200 pound bill 7 years ago for frying some ones ECU jump starting there vehicle and i don't want another ,
Make sure you tell garage about jump start as it will help them out a lot.
 
#49 ·
Jump

Thanks Mazz321.

Tracing back, we returned from France and the MH was parked outside the house. A few days later, we jumped started a visitors car who had a flat battery. On the odd occasion after that, we had moved the motorhome around on the drive, just carrying out a few maintenance and cleaning jobs. It was about a week after moving the van around we found the dreaded "start error".

Have now been without the motorhome for over five weeks, had to cancel the trip back to France and missed a couple of weekends away.

I will update tommorow when I have spoken with Autostyle.

Trev.
 
#50 ·
Hi mazz321
Many thanks for your advice on jump starts, we too own a 316cdi, admitedly a manual box, so the faults described earlier should not manifest themselves.
I had occasion to jump start an ambulance in Italy! but now having this information I will not do it again and will pass this advice on to all in our family

regards
Dave
 
#51 ·
Im guessing that the Merc is on the original battery ?
Mine is getting on for 6 years old now so i think a trip to MB to have a new battery is now high on my list.
I have had a few F1 errors, when MB read em out with the diag box its usually related to me doing something daft, shifting from rev to 1st and back again quick when all is very cold seems to pee the sprintshift right off.
Luckily my local MB services all the local ambulances that are 416 too .
I also took out a warrantee direct extended cover warrantee 300 quid for peace of mind , already justified itself covering some hand brake issues i had :)
 
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