Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter derating, overheating?

[Colt45ws]

My work van is a 2005 Dodge Sprinter 2500 with 186k miles, and about once a day it will go into derate. The first time I was on flat land and couldnt pinpoint when that happened. I just slowly came to realize I had the pedal on the floor to barely hold 60mph.
The last two times, it was while climbing a hill, and I could tell when it happened. First the trans would upshift, then the turbo whistle would go away, causing my speed to rapidly drop.
I have noticed that it gets quite hot going up those hills, and goes above the notch on the gauge for 215F. Running about 230-240F sometimes. I shut off the AC now when I start up a hill to give it a little more cooling capacity.
My suspicion is that is what is triggering the derate, but I cant tell. I dont have the secret Mercedes technology to read it out, I can only get code numbers, and it just says "No Boost" which is one of those no duh things. I can tell it has no boost quite easily.
I was playing with the fan and I think its a bit on the loose side, so I might try to talk them into letting me put a fan clutch on it. Has anyone run one of these vans before? Im thinking I should hear the fan locking in on hills when it gets real hot like that.

 

[JLTD]

Cooling system degradation is my first thought. At 13 years there is scale buildup inside the radiator, and it no longer has the capacity to keep the engine cool under a load. Seen it many times. Also check thermostat and water pump.

Edit: then when it gets hot the computer shuts down the turbo then reduces power.

 

[Nick1994]

Maybe the catalytic converter is broken inside and blocking flow.

 

[14Accent]

Diesel's will run hot without boost to cool things down.

How is the air filter? Sprinter's are VERY picky about lack of airflow.

If that isn't it, try to find boost leaks. The pipe from the intercooler to the throttle is notorious for tearing.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: 14Accent
Diesel's will run hot without boost to cool things down.

How is the air filter? Sprinter's are VERY picky about lack of airflow.

If that isn't it, try to find boost leaks. The pipe from the intercooler to the throttle is notorious for tearing.


Yeah the AF is new.

Ill give it a good check over as soon as I can. Hopefully its obvious because not much room to stick my head in and look around.

 

[JLTD]

Any update?

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: JLTD
Any update?

I havent been over to the shop to look at it. Im hoping Ill have time tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Colt45ws]

Finally got a chance to look at it today, studied and felt up the hoses pretty throughly. Didnt feel or hear anything.
Jacked it up onto jackstands, and had a coworker stall it against the converter with the brakes to about 2k rpm. Only heard turbo whistle, didnt hear any boost leaks, and felt around as much as I was willing to as quick as I could, not wanting to burn up the trans.

 

[Colt45ws]

I read up on it last night some more, and I found out the fan is supposed to lock in at 210 and its definitely not doing that so I will get one coming. I also read about the oil cooler plugging and causing the oil to overheat. Ill have to see if I can get the oil temp from the OBD port. I might just get another one of those as well for the mileage on it. Looked like RA had it for $45. At the same time Ill flush the cooling system. Probably do the citric acid flush.

 

[Colt45ws]

Status when I left work today.

 

[clinebarger]

I thought all the Inline 5 Sprinter vans were dead by now with the exception of the recreational use ones with low mileage.

When I was subcontracting to MedStar as a technician......It was the ONLY vehicle that broke down more than the 6.0L Powerstroke "cutaway" Ambulance vans.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: clinebarger
I thought all the Inline 5 Sprinter vans were dead by now with the exception of the recreational use ones with low mileage.

When I was subcontracting to MedStar as a technician......It was the ONLY vehicle that broke down more than the 6.0L Powerstroke "cutaway" Ambulance vans.

Not this one. My boss really like them for some reason, and wants to run 3 or 400k onto it. Its got 185k now. Its assigned to me, so Im trying to make the best of it. I already put a sound system into it as well.
At least after this it wont run 240 going up a hill. I did find the boost leak too. It was the plastic "turbo resonator" right on the turbo outlet was split at the seam. So I have the Dorman one coming from Amazon. I'd like to get a Billet "resonator delete" but the Dorman one is significantly cheaper. If (when) it fails Ill see about getting permission to buy one of those.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
I thought all the Inline 5 Sprinter vans were dead by now with the exception of the recreational use ones with low mileage.

When I was subcontracting to MedStar as a technician......It was the ONLY vehicle that broke down more than the 6.0L Powerstroke "cutaway" Ambulance vans.

Not this one. My boss really like them for some reason, and wants to run 3 or 400k onto it. Its got 185k now. Its assigned to me, so Im trying to make the best of it. I already put a sound system into it as well.
At least after this it wont run 240 going up a hill. I did find the boost leak too. It was the plastic "turbo resonator" right on the turbo outlet was split at the seam. So I have the Dorman one coming from Amazon. I'd like to get a Billet "resonator delete" but the Dorman one is significantly cheaper. If (when) it fails Ill see about getting permission to buy one of those.



My son manages a whole fleet of Sprinters.The diesels were breaking down all the time-now switching the fleet over to gas. These vans are absolute garbage and your boss will never see that kind of millage out of them.

 

[Colt45ws]

Yeeeeah. He's a bit eccentric with our vehicles. I could write paragraphs, and thats just what I know from the few months Ive been here.
He told me he had one before of the same gen he ran 250k onto, and there was a internet part of the company he sold so it went with that part, and the owner of the now other company ran like another 100-150k onto it before selling it. So now because of that one van he went and bought this one a few years ago.

For just a bit more background on his thought process, I know recently he went to New York, picked up a old EMS/Rescue on a 4x4 '97 Ford Super Duty chassis intending it to be his service truck, but on the way back decided it was way too noisy, and not fast enough. Probably geared like 5.13 or something. So the Ambulance body came off and a 2012 Ram 3500 4x4 chassis cab was purchased. But of course, the ambulance body came off a Ford so it won't fit. So the ambulance body was sat onto a trailer, the '97 Ford sits without a body, and so does the '12 Ram. In the mean time he purchased a '11 Ram 2500 HEMI Short bed and placed a Utility Cap on it. One of the big ones with the cab overhang that makes it look like a camper.
I suspect even if he got the ambulance body on the Dodge, he would find it too fat and heavy for real use.
He does a lot of buying sight unseen on craigslist or ebay and beings it home only to find it needs work, sometimes a lot of it. Theres a '01 F250 Diesel we have that he bought on craiglist and then found it needed a transmission. Several $k later its now usable.
So hes best described as penny wise, pound foolish I guess you could say. Not intending to bad mouth him here, hes a great boss and I like working for him, but I think everyone has their little oddities, this is his, and thankfully it doesn't affect me really. Though I guess if this Sprinter dies while Im 3 hrs from home I might change my tune a bit. Thats what Im trying to avoid by doing all this work on it.

 

[mk378]

He's not accounting for the true impact of vehicle breakdowns on business -- it's not only the immediate lost business, but more importantly, customers who then call someone else and don't come back.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: mk378
He's not accounting for the true impact of vehicle breakdowns on business -- it's not only the immediate lost business, but more importantly, customers who then call someone else and don't come back.

Yup, and people that have been there much longer than I have tried to talk to him about this aspect, hasnt gotten very far. Part of the problem is there is no one else. We literally have customers with a 3 hour plus one way drive.. Our comp will refuse to service them.
Soo. Ill get this thing back together and running. THinking maybe I should throw a sleeping bag and a MRE into it for if Im two hours from home and it breaks down.

 

[Colt45ws]

Current progress. Stalled waiting on the turbo resonator, which was split and causing the underboost problem. Also the two coolant hoses. The lower and the other little one next to it. Both were swollen from oil being spit on them from the split resonator. I initally ordered a lower from RA, but it was the wrong one. Turned out to be one for a 02-03. Seems to be a common error where that particular hose is listed through '05. I had to order another one for a '06 to get the correct one.

 

[Colt45ws]

Went into work at 5:30 this morning, missing part in hand that I previously picked up from Carquest, and got her the rest of the way together. Had it running and test drove by 6:00. But then I ran into an issue. I had drained some of the transmission when I removed the radiator; what was in the lines and cooler went into a pan. But they dont supply a dipstick. So I spent the next hour finding out how to make a DIY dipstick. It was a good thing we have 4ft long zip ties, it ended up perfect for the job.
Then I discovered issue #2: Only bought one quart of ATF (Used Amsoil MV ATF btw. Carquest stocked it. Not OE, but Im only doing a top up here, not a service, so I suspect it will be fine.)
Had to wait until 7:30 for them to open so I changed the oil right quick (Mann filter and Rotella 5W40 went in)
Went there, got quart #2 and came back, topped it up, then loaded it up real quick. Left the shop shortly after 8:00.
Was heading north 2 1/2 hours. Some people might think it crazy to have such a long drive as a shakedown run, but I was confident.
It didnt let me down. Ran excellent all the way there. The coolant needle was stuck in the middle of the gauge and barely moved except for one point on the way back. No derate. Not once.
That was going up a 15% 5 mile long grade. I was doing 50mph, wrapped out in 3rd gear all the way up. Right at 100% power or just under. Finally like the last mile I was noticing it was getting towards the 235F mark.
The big difference was as soon as it leveled out, the temperature went right down, even though I sped up to about 60mph.
Oh, and I had the A/C on all the way up. In the future Ill probably turn off the A/C on a warm day to save those BTUs, but thats the worst hill Ive encountered on my travels, so if thats the only one I have to do that with, then Im doing great. The other hills I encountered didnt cause hardly any gauge movement.