Sprint shift problems

[Nicknshaz]

Hi All,
We bought a 2003 Frankia A class on a Mercedes Sprinter chassis last October. All has been well but have recently been having issues with the sprint shift gearbox which occasionally stops changing up through the gears in auto but can be changed manually all be it with reduced power. On slowing down the auto box changes down on its own as normal. Being an intermittent problem i assume it will be hard to diagnose. However trying to find anywhere that has any experience with this gearbox is proving difficult. We are located in the South east (Surrey) but I would happily travel to get it sorted. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ctc]

Worth checking oil levels as per instructions, try googling Mercedes truck for your area usually very good.

 

[Nicknshaz]

Ok will do. Thanks

 

[EuroTrotters]

Hi,

sorry to hear of your sprint shift troubles.

we had a Eura Mobil with sprintshift troubles. I wrote a long history of it on the Mh facts forum.

Mercedes dealers are pretty much useless on the whole. However, there is one that I used in Cardiff for other Mercedes issues or modifications.

Euro commercials Cardiff. We went to the Bridgend workshop where they work on ambulances. Not sure if they still have that branch. It these people are extremely knowledgeable about sprinters.

there are often issues with :
Relay (recall I think )
Clutch position sensors
Hydrolic pump
Gearbox ECU.

good luck. I would never Buy another. Though they say never say never !

 

[GRUMPY OLD GIT]

Hi
We had the same problem on our 2003 Merc Challenger.
Nothing showed on diagnostic but one of the old Merc mechanics had delt with this problem before.
Just dug out the old invoice(2012)

Replace Pressure Converter - charge
Control pressure switch
Cost £79-50 +vat.
Has been fine since then....
Love this gearbox

Bob.

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[Nicknshaz]

Hi Bob, Thank you very much for the info. That could be very helpful in solving the problem without costing the earth.
many thanks

 

[Gaz n Debz]

Hi Nick,

It sounds like I have a similar problem to you, I posted this earlier on the forum before thinking to search if there was already information available:-

I'm having an issue with my 2004 Mercedes Sprinter based motor home, the engine is the 2.7 litre diesel and the transmission is an automatic manual system.
When I select 'Auto' I'm finding that the system can't decide what gear it wants to be in and is 'Shuttling' up and down the box causing the engine to either race away as it is in too low a gear, or struggle if in too high a gear. When accelerating quite hard, i.e. when joining a major road from a slip road, it seems to take ages to change up a gear meaning that a lot of momentum is lost - especially if going up an incline - and if I'm driving along a flat stretch of motorway/dual carriageway at 60-65mph it can't decide whether it wants to be in 5th or 6th.
If I take manual control and select a gear it will stay there until I change it - as it's in manual obviously this is what you would expect - therefore it's not stopping us from using it, but would be grateful if anyone has had any experience of this happening to them and what steps were taken to remedy it.
I appreciate it will probably mean a visit to the garage but obviously don't want to do this now, unless absolutely necessary, as we have a couple of trips away already planned.

Have you managed to get your problem sorted out yet? And if so what was the problem please.

 

[Nicknshaz]

Hi Gaz n Debz
Our problem doesn’t seem as bad as yours as it’s only intermittent. When it does happen the dash looses the letter A for auto and just shows the gear that it’s in. I can change up manually and the gearbox changes back down to 1st on its own when coming to a junction. However this hasn’t happened at all on our last 200 mile trip. As a result I have left alone and will have it looked at when it goes in for a service and mot in October however I have still to decide where the best garage is locally to me in Surrey that has any knowledge of these gearboxes. Sorry I can’t be of help. I hope you get yours sorted and I will update when it goes in for a service.
Nick

 

[britvic]

Hi sorry to hear about your problems. I had very similar experience with my current van. I used a company in Manchester called Mastertech Assist Ltd. 0161 301 2030 owners ex Mercedes Technicians very very good.This was after trying 4 Mercedes dealers from north to south of UK . They hooked up to diagnostics machine and renewed the shift control under driver’s seat. That was over 2 years ago no problems since. My vehicle is a Mercedes Sprinter 2.7 316 sprintshift 2006 Autotrail Dakota.
Best of luck
Colin
ps great gearbox

 

[CazPaul]

Just read a nightmare story, family broke down in France, cost them €500 to fix(Not gearbox related)then more faults appeared with the sprintshift and cost quoted another €5000, which they are not going ahead with, living out of hotels and taxis for over a week so they have come home and van is still in France and is being relocated home by insurance, wants recommendations for repairers in the UK.

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[Crazylegs]

Usually auto gearbox problems are best repaired by specialists, these kind of skills rarely reside within a main dealer, they may tell you they can do the job but usually it’s subbed out, the main dealer then wacks a percentage on top of the specialists fees.

 

[two]

I had problems that sound similar, many years ago: The box would auto charge down but only go up using manual. If you 're-booted' (switched off, then on again) all was fine. It was intermittent and only seemed to happen when really hot. Solved, somehow, on the following Merc service.

 

[Campervan_man]

It's probably the hydraulic pump that actually moves the gears.
The gearbox is the same as a manual gearbox but with external stuff that changes gears hydraulically.
The hydraulic pump slowly becomes faulty but gets worse over time.
Pump is around £400 + fitting + VAT.
Source of info :- A conversation with a Mercedes Trained Mechanic at The Range near Queensferry.

 

[dabhand]

Campervan_mans post is probably correct, I had a merc Sprintshift on a 2001 Hymer, spent thousands at merctrux who were utter shite and didn’t fix the problem, mine regularly used to go into limp mode as well eventually got it fixed at a fleet operators garage who ran sprintshifts, It was the hydraulic pump on the gearbox, after it was replaced never had another problem with it.

 

[Busman]

I had a similar problem.about 3 years ago got in touch with a mobile Mercedes trained mechanic in Liverpool who had a good idea what it was. Turned up swapped part said he always keeps one in his van charged me £160 parts & labour and it's been great since. Really like the ease you can go from auto to manual if needed.

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[dabhand]

I had a similar problem.about 3 years ago got in touch with a mobile Mercedes trained mechanic in Liverpool who had a good idea what it was. Turned up swapped part said he always keeps one in his van charged me £160 parts & labour and it's been great since. Really like the ease you can go from auto to manual if needed.

Which Ferkin part Dave

 

[Busman]

Which Ferkin part Dave

Hello to you and Marg
I was hoping no one would ask that Simon as sadly no idea. It was black if that helps Was just stating I had a very similar problem and it doesn't have to be an expensive fix.

 

[PeteH]

I have driven Sprint-shift Mercs; commercially, and liked them they are a relaxed drive. Although I now have the 3L Auto which is not a Sprint-shift. The "gaffer", actually my god daughters husband, has several and swears by them far more than at them, and they have done literally hundreds of thousands of miles.

 

[Campervan_man]

I used to tap the sprintshift gearbox hydraulic pump with a hammer and it usually worked if I couldn't change gear..
They wear out.
The pump is circa £400 plus vat and fitting at a Mercedes Garage.
The brake pedal switch can also cause similar issues.
Wiggling the gear stick and turning the engine off and back on can help as an interim measure.
It's the same gearbox as a manual gearbox but has the electro-hydraulic-mechanical aspect to changing gears.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Hi,

mice written long horror story about our Sprintshit issues.

not on this forum but you can google my username.

The 1st motorhome out of 4 was a sprint shift. It’s just come back up fir sale 17 years later.

but for sprintshift, I would of bought it back

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[dabhand]

I used to tap the sprintshift gearbox hydraulic pump with a hammer and it usually worked if I couldn't change gear..
They wear out.
The pump is circa £400 plus vat and fitting at a Mercedes Garage.
The brake pedal switch can also cause similar issues.
Wiggling the gear stick and turning the engine off and back on can help as an interim measure.
It's the same gearbox as a manual gearbox but has the electro-hydraulic-mechanical aspect to changing gears.

Didn’t want to mention this “fix” as it only worked on mine when driving along

 

[dabhand]

Hello to you and Marg
I was hoping no one would ask that Simon as sadly no idea. It was black if that helps Was just stating I had a very similar problem and it doesn't have to be an expensive fix.

No it doesn’t have to be an expensive fix unless it is Dave love to you and Mags btw

 

[Gaz n Debz]

I used to tap the sprintshift gearbox hydraulic pump with a hammer and it usually worked if I couldn't change gear..
They wear out.
The pump is circa £400 plus vat and fitting at a Mercedes Garage.
The brake pedal switch can also cause similar issues.
Wiggling the gear stick and turning the engine off and back on can help as an interim measure.
It's the same gearbox as a manual gearbox but has the electro-hydraulic-mechanical aspect to changing gears.

That's interesting that you mention the brake pedal switch as I noticed the brake lights were on the other day on mine when it was parked up and only the handbrake applied.
I'm actually taking the MH in to be looked at by a friend of mine who runs a commercial vehicle sales and service business, when I outlined my vehicle symptoms the first thing he said was "Ah yeah it'll be the pump, we've done a few of those over the years. Bring it down and we'll sort it out".
I'll definitely mention the brake pedal switch after reading your post.

 

[carlmt]

Interesting that everyone is hitting on a problem with the Sprintshift here - I have had this problem twice now, once just after collecting the van from the dealer 12 years ago and the second time was about 6 years ago whilst touring Europe.

Same symptoms..... dropped out of auto, could only change manually and couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding - no torque at all.

Remedy in the end? The sensor plug on the MAF unit the first time!!!! Played havoc with the computer!! Second time? The MAF unit itself.

Moral of the story? With modern vehicles dont just look at the obvious.......the Sprintshift is very dependent upon external factors that are fed through the (crude, admittedly) computer.

 

[EuroTrotters]

I have seen many motorhomes for sale with the SprintShift gearbox, including my Eura Mobil I sold 12 years ago.

I have been put off ever buying another Sprintshit because of the many issues I had over the years.

The problem is, when looking for a 2001-2006 Sprinter Automatic motorhome, most of them have the Semi Automatic (robotised Manual) Sprintshift gearbox as opposed to the, then 5G-Tronic Torque converter box.

The reason for this, was at the time. Mercedes Van and Motorhome dealers sold the Sprintshift box on the fact it was around £995 as opposed to the True Autos £1500. That and the fact it had 6 gears rather than the Manual or 5G-Tronics 5 gears.

It really is rare to find a Mercedes Motorhome 2001-2005/6 with the 5G-Tronic.

The Good thing about the pre 2000 Mercedes Autos. Is they were the 4G-Tronic with the floor mounted shifter. So no Sprintshift to worry about.

In 2006, Mercedes handed the SprintShift down to VW for their MB Built Crafter. It was renamed "ShiftMatic"

Mercedes never used it again. Selling only True Autos, 5G-Tronic, then 7G-Tronic, 7G-Tronic+ Now With the new Sprinter its 9G-Tronic for Front Wheel Drive Versions.

I have a 7G-Tronic+ Sprinter Van, great gearbox. Usual Mercedes Electronic Glitches. Some days the key opens it, some days it don't. I get regular ESP/ASR, Airbag warnings. MB Cannot trace the faults. I carry a computer and reset anything that flags up.

I hope this helps.

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[Gregors]

Hi All,
We bought a 2003 Frankia A class on a Mercedes Sprinter chassis last October. All has been well but have recently been having issues with the sprint shift gearbox which occasionally stops changing up through the gears in auto but can be changed manually all be it with reduced power. On slowing down the auto box changes down on its own as normal. Being an intermittent problem i assume it will be hard to diagnose. However trying to find anywhere that has any experience with this gearbox is proving difficult. We are located in the South east (Surrey) but I would happily travel to get it sorted. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Nick, Did you find a solution to your gearbox issue as I have a similar one Many thanks Chris

 

[Gaz n Debz]

Hi Nick, Did you find a solution to your gearbox issue as I have a similar one Many thanks Chris

Hi Chris,

I too had a similar issue as Nick, I took mine to a mate who runs a commercial van business whose initial thoughts were that it would be the hydraulic pump - as mentioned in several replies above. However, when he came to drive it into the workshop he noticed that the brake lights were stuck on, this had the effect of 'confusing' the gear change sensing side of the ECU, due to the fact when you are driving along it would be receiving signals saying that the vehicle speed and engine RPM were rising but the brake signal was also there so it didn't know what gear to be in or when to change. He replaced the switch (about £25) and also re-programmed the ECU (not sure I really needed this doing!) so that it changes gear at the correct speed/RPM, all for less than £200!
Maybe worth your while getting this check carried out on yours too, before potentially shelling out on a new hydraulic pump.
Hope this is of some use to you.

Cheers,

Gary

 

[Nicknshaz]

Hi Chris,
Yes I got the problem sorted this week at Master Tech who are a Mercedes commercial specialist based near Reading, Berkshire. It was the turbo transducer valve. £250 + vat inc parts and labour.
Runs perfect now.
Hope you get yours sorted.
Nick

 

[Gaz n Debz]

Hi Chris,
Yes I got the problem sorted this week at Master Tech who are a Mercedes commercial specialist based near Reading, Berkshire. It was the turbo transducer valve. £250 + vat inc parts and labour.
Runs perfect now.
Hope you get yours sorted.
Nick

Hi Nick,
Interesting how many different faults people have had causing similar shifting issues!!
Glad your solution wasn't too expensive either
Gary

 

[Gregors]

Hi Chris,
Yes I got the problem sorted this week at Master Tech who are a Mercedes commercial specialist based near Reading, Berkshire. It was the turbo transducer valve. £250 + vat inc parts and labour.
Runs perfect now.
Hope you get yours sorted.
Nick

Hi Nick - Thanks for replying the other day - I showed your post to the guy working on my MH - He checked this on his computer and guess what same issue He replaced the Turbo transducer valve and All seems to be fixed - drove it for around 30 miles yesterday around town on motorway e.t.c and seems to be all good - fingers cross, The best bit as well it wasn't the gear box and it was cheap in comparison

Thanks Again
Chris

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