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sprinter issue, wont start

John_Doe

Active Member
Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
226
Car
C32
Some of you might remember my post from last month about the issue with my sprinter. Well its been running but intermittently and with the odd recovery back home! This van has been nothing but trouble recently.

Ok so basic background on this issue is.

Glow plugs were changed, one glow plug snapped. Fuel pipe on fuel rail removed to get better access. Once the glow plug was replaced the van wouldnt start. My 'friend' ended up messing about with the injector while doing the glow plugs and this turned out to be the cause of the van not starting. A mechanic tested the injectors and found that injector one was leaking off way too much so it was replaced. The van was bled once again and she lived. For about 3 days! Then she cut out while driving. Mechanic back out again and said its leaking air into the system and the filter had gone dry. So he replaced the faulty hoses on the fuel filter, bled again and she lived again. For about 5days! Towed her home myself. (really suprised how well the ML coped with that to be honest). Mechanic sent out a friend was plugged it in and said ok, still showing an issue with a different injector and an issue with a glow plug. he reset the codes and had another little fiddle under the bonnet and noticed that the electrical plug on the fuel pressure sensor at the bulk head end was not fully pressed down. So pushed it on firmly and she lived! Again for about 3days! recovered her home this time and thats where she has sat for the month.

I have checked to mak sure no air is in the system and i have fiddled with that plug but still no joy. If i try to start she will basically start and then cut off like its getting no fuel. I know these fuel sensors are expensive so id rather not just go changing them without getting a bit of advice first. The problem I have is that when diagnosed it is not showing a fault with it.
 
Is the fuel tank low on fuel when the van cuts out?
Sometimes the fuel strainer in the tank becomes blocked with gunge leaving just a small window for fuel to enter the system.


AANDYYStrainer.jpg




If this is the case, the strainer is not expensive to replace and costs nothing to clean, although you would require a 22m hex to remove the strainer from the bottom of the tank.
If the van does cut-out when the tank level is low, it would be an inexpensive exercise to check out the strainer.
 
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Try to start it with easy start, if it starts and stays running you have a fuel pressure fault.

At the end of the fuel rail by the bulkhead is a pressure sensor, it is held on by 2 splined bolts. Take this out and replace the 2 small o rings on the end of the sensor, mercedes sell a kit for this.

I've seen 4 vans with this fault.
 
well sensor and o rings replaced. Not brand new sensor but from ebay company sold as tested and working. AND!!!! still wont start. bloody annoying van. I will try the strainer as mentioned above tomorrow if i get chance but have so much on my plate at the mo. After having the injectors flow tested and we found injector 1 was faulty, we had it reconditioned and it was running. But im wondering if maybe another one has gone now, as it is doing basically what it was doing before. I just dont have the tools to test them myself and ive spent so much money on getting people out to look at this
 
sounds to me like it's pulling air from somewhere.
when the van is running does it run ok ? if so it could be air.
good luck, i had this problem on one of my sprinters and it was a £10 part and two days to find where it was sucking the air.
 
It will start on easy start but as soon as you stop spraying it cuts off. I've tried bleeding and it don't seem to have any air in it
 
Air is not the fault here, the ecu is sensing low fuel presure and not opening the injectors. If it was a leaking seal or o ring, it would try to stay running once started with easy start.

I would say that you have another injector fault, letting the fuel pressure back to the tank.

In your first post you say the van was showing a fault code for a faulty injector, is this still the case?


Edit: I dont know how true it is but depending on the part number of the injector, mercedes recomend replacing all 4 up to a certain part number, and replacing only the faulty one after that number.
 
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She runs! But for how long. It turned out this time to be a bad connection in the 3rd injector. So a little wiggle and it runs :-s. thanks for the help people. I will come back if this was just a fluke and it cuts out again lol
 
Ok well celebrations were a little early. I am posting this on here rather then a new post as its probs something to do with what we have already done. Got her running yesterday, took her for a little drive down a dual carriageway and got up to normal speed. Had a lot of smoke but thought it could be down to cold and where its been sitting for so long. However this morning when it was really cold she would only get up to 40mph tops. she is now running like ****.

When we read the codes yesterday all we had was
P1482-004 Glow output stage Excess current. Current and stored
P1481-002 Glow plug failure - Cylinder 2. Stored
P0203-008 Inject cylinder 3 - Cable has open circuit. Current and stored. (bad connection we assume as it started after a wiggle)
 
It's a 208 cdi. Is that a 2l? I'm not really sure lol
 

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