Loss of Engine Thrust (1 Viewer)

Apr 27, 2009
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Hi,

Am in deepest East Germany & after taking the Autotrail with Mercedes 313CD1 out for a spin yesterday, we started experiencing a weird loss of power.

All of a sudden, after about two hours driving, as I depressed the accelerator, revs became limited & the engine was slow to respond. Consequently acceleration is now painfully slow & I cannot go over 55mph.

Had the ADAC man out & he could find no obvious problem, although he could not connect to the ECU as he didn't have an adapter for my old model.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Am going to the Merc garage tomorrow morning but if its a quick fix I'd prefer to do without their labour charges!!!

Cheers

Billkce
 

karl c

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Mar 25, 2014
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sticking EGR Valve, they can stick closed or open.

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JeanLuc

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Nov 17, 2008
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Not sure if yours has the same system - ours is a 2003 2.7 CDI. Having experienced similar (intermittent) problems twice before, ours finally went into permanent limp during a trip to Suffolk a couple of years ago. Went to a Merc truck garage in Ipswich and they diagnosed, and fixed, the fault quickly. As mentioned above the turbo is fitted with an electronically controlled bypass valve. If this control unit fails, the engine management system detects the position of the gate and decides that no more power is needed.

To test, put it in neutral (N if automatic) handbrake on, then floor the throttle. It should rev to around 4000 RPM (you won't break it - there is a rev limiter). If it stops at around 2800 - 3000 RPM the system is shutting down power. Get to a dealer and explain symptoms. If you have the same problem, the control unit is around £100 plus fitting.
 
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movan

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Not sure if yours has the same system - ours is a 2003 2.7 CDI. Having experienced similar (intermittent) problems twice before, ours finally went into permanent limp during a trip to Suffolk a couple of years ago. Went to a Merc truck garage in Ipswich and they diagnosed, and fixed, the fault quickly. As mentioned above the turbo is fitted with an electronically controlled bypass valve. If this control unit fails, the engine management system detects the position of the gate and decides that no more power is needed.

To test, put it in neutral (N if automatic) handbrake on, then floor the throttle. It should rev to around 4000 RPM (you won't break it - there is a rev limiter). If it stops at around 2800 - 3000 RPM the system is shutting down power. Get to a dealer and explain symptoms. If you have the same problem, the control unit is around £100 plus fitting.

Is this only something that happens to turbo engines?
 

JeanLuc

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Is this only something that happens to turbo engines?

All turbo engines have a bypass valve, or 'gate'. My answer regarding the control device was specific to the Mercedes CDI engine range and my particular experience, although I presume other makes have a similar system.

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163phil

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Dec 4, 2012
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Is this only something that happens to turbo engines?

If it's a sticking waste gate valve then yes, as that is specific to turbos.

However, any modern (ECU controlled) engine can go into limp home mode. Electronics are far too clever - they simply shut the engine down (or alter its running) when a potential problem occurs to stop (or reduce the chances of) further damage. Makes diagnosis a pita.:thumb:
 
Aug 6, 2013
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If it's a sticking waste gate valve then yes, as that is specific to turbos.

However, any modern (ECU controlled) engine can go into limp home mode. Electronics are far too clever - they simply shut the engine down (or alter its running) when a potential problem occurs to stop (or reduce the chances of) further damage. Makes diagnosis a pita.:thumb:

No - it's worse than that. They switch to limp mode ONLY when emissions control is compromised. It doesn't matter that the vehicle is perfectly (and safely) driveable - if it is possible that emissions are likely to exceed preset limits it will switch to limp mode. It is there to force the driver to have it repaired ASAP.

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Jan 22, 2013
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That's not quite correct! The IML can come on for many reasons that are not connected with emissions, in my case it was a sticking waist gate that was giving me a turbo over boost, if it was allowed to continue it would eventually blow the engine ,
In my case a simple turbo removal and replacement was all that was needed:Eeek:

I would check the turbo pipe for splits and waist gate for free operation if possible, good luck
 
Aug 6, 2013
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That's not quite correct! The IML can come on for many reasons that are not connected with emissions, in my case it was a sticking waist gate that was giving me a turbo over boost, if it was allowed to continue it would eventually blow the engine ,
In my case a simple turbo removal and replacement was all that was needed:Eeek:

I would check the turbo pipe for splits and waist gate for free operation if possible, good luck

I might have been slightly more cynical than necessary ::bigsmile: although an engine blow-up is the ultimate environmental disaster - think of the oil slick ::bigsmile:
 
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billkce
Apr 27, 2009
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Thanks one & all for helpful advice & suggestions.

Will limp to Merc dealer/garage tomorrow morning which luckily is only 10 kms away.

Hopefully they can fix it pronto.

Now to Google Translate to get this all down in German!:Doh:

Cheers

Billkce

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Wildman

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May 30, 2008
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when that happened to my merc 416, the garage diagnosed and replaced a blown ASR fuse so it appears there are a number of faults that can cause it.
 

jhorsf

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May 15, 2009
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My brother Drives a van they have a fleet of these I have lost count of the times he has told me about them going into limp mode when in the outside lane of the M42 requiring a change of underpants.


see here
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=merc+313+sprinter+power+loss



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZvQkROd4Uw"]2005 Dodge-Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2.7L CDI Engine Looses Power, Bad Turbo Actuator.wmv - YouTube[/ame]



this is my best guess without seeing it
 
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Nov 14, 2009
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normandy
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i had a similar problem last year in my 316 sprinter. on mine it was the turbo control actuator which is located under the airbox on the left side of the engine. small cylindrical thingy with a couple of vacuum pipes to it. cost about £100 for a new one and was easy to fit once i got the airbox and washer bottle out of the way. a couple of vacuum pipes to pull off and reconnect on the new valve and i was as good as new. another issue i had a couple of years ago that caused intermittant power loss was a duff brake light switch. it was shorting out while driving and telling the ecu to shut the throttle off because it thought the brakes were being applied , £10 for a new switch and problem solved . hope this helps, all the best sean

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RS_rob

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Dec 14, 2013
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over a Year Yay................
As its almost identical to the VW baring some mechanicals this sounds like the same problem as found on the T5

They have a habbit of loosing power & going into limp mode
The problem with these T5s is they are tuned finely i.e the wastgate & actuator are set so close to the point of limit that when it should be on song the ecu thinks its over boosting & opens the waste gate.

the solution that has been found to fix these was to actually back off the arm connecting the waste gate by 2 turns

hope this helps.................
 
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billkce
Apr 27, 2009
435
218
Departed Cabopino in Oct 17
Funster No
6,478
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Dakota
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Fulltiming from 2010- 2017
Update on Loss of Power

Hello All,

Thought you might be interested to learn that on the Monday morning, the van was driving as normal.

No loss of power & 4 hour drive completed without incident.

However, next morning, same problem occurred.

I strongly suspect it is a water/condensation issue as experienced by us last Sep when power was lost to the engine when condensation occurred in the nearside indicator housing. When we indicated left - power dropped off. We dried it out & symptoms disappeared.

As the windscreen washer contents have leaked out, I suspect that the washer motor has shorted & same issue of power loss occurs.

Now believe that all will be well again when all dried out. Will not be topping up reservoir.

Thanks again for advice.

Billkce
 

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