2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500: check engine light

Filed Jul 16, 2021 · Driver assistance · 23,580 miles · TX

The contact owns a 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 21V042000 (Electronic Stability Control) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that while driving over a railroad track at a slow speed, the vehicle independently accelerated with the ABS, check engine, and traction control warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to safely stop the vehicle and shut-off the vehicle. Due to the failure, the contact had the vehicle towed to the dealer. Due to the parts for the repair not being available, the dealer decided to place a new, yet defective, speed sensor on the vehicle as a temporary repair and the contact drove the vehicle back home. The manufacturer was informed of the failure but offered no assistance. The contact had called three separate dealers and it was confirmed that the part would not be available until the fourth quarter of 2021. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 23,580. Vin tool confirms parts not available.

Filed Jan 31, 2021 · Acceleration, Electrical · 18,000 miles · FL

Wheel speed sensors keep failing. I have had eight sensors fail in three years of ownership. Transmission shifts erratically, speed surges, ABS, check engine light and braking is impaired. This happens when vehicle is in motion.

Filed Jan 8, 2021 · Acceleration, Engine · 43,000 miles · FL

I own an rv on a mercedes 3500 sprinter chasis. I have experienced numerous failures that cause the rv to speed up rapidly and I have to take emergency action to avoid an accident. Usually, I shift into neutral to disengage the transmission. I have ~43,000 miles on my rv and I have experienced this issue and mercedes has replaced the wheel sensors 6 different times. All maintenance performed on the vehicle has been provided by a mercedes dealer service center. Doesn't seem to matter if I am driving on the freeway or city streets, when the failure happens, the vehicle starts to accelerate rapidly, rpms skyrocket, the dashboard gets three trouble indicator lights that come on, the check engine light comes on. I am picking up the vehicle from the local mercedes dealer today after just having another sensor failure. I was driving on I-10 when the most recent failure occurred. The vehicle began to accelerate, rpms went very high. Very scary situation. The "when did this happen" date I've entered is for the most recent failure. I have experienced this issue numerous times.

Filed Jan 4, 2021 · Electrical, Engine · 13,200 miles · FL

Driving on a dry day, smooth road, with cruise control on 65mph at 7:45pm. This vehicle is converted with a thor 24hl camper on the chassis. Five hours into the days drive the vehicle flashed asr/esp triangle - and jerked abruptly but instantaneously but remained on cruise control. 2 seconds later: ABS light on, asr/bas light on, esp light on cruise control stopped functioning (fyi - a very heavy accelerator pedal spring makes driving difficult, for hours on end, without cruise working - especially for the older drivers likely to be driving this rig.) pulled off the side of the road, set flashers, and turned off engine for one min hoping to reset the fault. Turned back on - no change off then back on and the yellow check engine came on steady along with three previous auction lights (above) vehicle had experienced (with the previous owner) a previous 'wheel speed sensor failure' and it was repaired. . 'wheel speed sensor failure' appear at epidemic levels on the two rv facebook groups associated with this vehicle. The 5th key turn after initial fault and failure of cruise control the three lights went out but the check engine light remained on. On approximately the tenth key turn the check engine light went out. Vehicle returned for service at mercedes dealership 'under warranty'. My issue lays in the potential for the vehicle to enter into the limp mode if another censor shows a fault and I'm on the alaska highway 200 miles from the nearest possible service. Dealer refuses to share tech data concerning reset of fault condition or a mercedes fix for this now well known and documented vehicle shortcoming. This issue can and will get people killed as they 'limp' down the highway to get serviced or are forced to pull over in heavy traffic to check out what mercedes should be warning is all about proactively.

Filed Nov 9, 2020 · Acceleration, Brakes · 3,000 miles · FL

When I went to try the 4 wheel drive the following things happened: a clunking sound in the rear of the vehicle. Numerous warning lights came on . Abs, collision avoidance, cruise control, check engine, ESC or esp. Over time the lights cleared but came back on weeks apart. I am a retired nasa safety/reliably engineer. In my opinion all of these lights come on as a result of failures of one or more wheel speed sensors. This is a major safety problem as when there is a failed or intermittent operation of a failed speed sensor. All of these safety systems fail when the one sensor fails. This failure could occur unexpectedly at any time. Leading to loss of lives and vehicle. I have not received any warning letters on this major safety failure. According to the dealer mercedes is aware of this issue. After the vehicle is out of warranty mercedes says they will charge the owner to fix it. At the very least the issue clearly necessitates that this issue be elevated, to consumers, and that the issue be fixed . A warning that describes the issue and mercedes status on a fix should go out to all the appropriate parties immediately. The vehicle was stopped put in neutral then 4 wheel drive was engaged, immediately when moving there was a big clunk and the warning lights came on. They went out then came back on intermittently for months. One time they came on just sitting at the light. Failure of multiple safety systems due to a sensor failure is unacceptable. I believe a design fix is urgently needed and should be pressed for hard by the government. Currently there is no fix. And mercedes is not adequately warning the public of the issue. Until I pressed mercedes hard on this intermittent problem I was not made aware of what exactly the problem was. The failure of one sensor speed causes multiple safety systems to not work.

Filed Jun 29, 2020 · Acceleration, Brakes · 22,700 miles · CA

Abs/esp/ceck engine warning lights all came on at once. Mercedes dealer diagnosed problem as left rear RPM sensor. Made repair. Understand from owner forums sensor failure is very common on these vehicles. Only had 22,700 miles. Mercedes needs to work on improving these parts or make repairs at no charge.

Filed May 25, 2020 · Driver assistance, Transmission · 14,000 miles · GA

This mb sprinter 3500 3.0 diesel is the chassis for a 2018 thor chateau 24fs rv. 2018-07-06 - 8485 miles: left rear speed sensor replaced. 2018-09-14 - 9488 miles: right rear speed sensor replaced. 2020-05-22 - 14127 miles: left rear speed sensor replaced. In all cases the traction, skid, and ABS lights come on along with the check engine light intermittently. When this occurs, the transmission can shift many times per sec when turning a sharp corner (and cause the rv to "buck"). Also the transmission can drop out of drive multiple times and rev the engine rpms at highway speeds, also causing the rv to "buck". A startled driver might try to turn off the engine at highway speeds and lock the steering wheel. Mb service agent on 5-22-2020 told me that they see this with rv's "all the time, but never seem to see it when the sprinter is just a van. Unclear why this is happening". This is a safety issue that could cause an accident!!! It almost did for me driving 55 MPH on I-515 in ga near woodstock and other times. Also caused me to have the rv towed to the mb dealer in atlanta from tybee island ga at an expense of $600. At minimum, mb should update their esp computer to sanity check the date being given by the wheel speed sensors. If they don't make sense, then disable ABS, traction and skid, but don't start shifting the transmission multiple times per second, or take it out of gear and rev the engine. *dt*jb*dt

Filed Aug 29, 2019 · Brakes · 18,763 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 mercedes-benz sprinter 3500. While driving 65 MPH, the vehicle accelerated and the ABS, esp, traction control, and check engine warning indicators illuminated. In addition, when the brake pedal was depressed, the vehicle continued to accelerate. The contact shifted into neutral, pulled off the road, and powered off the engine. The vehicle was restarted, but the failure recurred three times down the road. The vehicle was towed to mercedes-benz of the woodlands (16917 I-45, conroe, tx 77385, (936) 206-7500) where it was diagnosed that the rear driver and passenger side speed sensors had sporadic readings. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failures. The approximate failure mileage was 18,763.

Filed Sep 3, 2018 · Transmission · 9,000 miles · GA

7-9-2018: pulling out of my driveway with a 2018 thor chateau 24fs (with a 2016 sprinter 3500 diesel chassis) with less than 9k miles, I had a "bang" from the transmission. In hindsight, this was just after a right turn. About 300 miles later after a stop light and 90 degree right turn, the transmission started trying to shift back and forth between 2 and and 3 (or maybe 1st and 2nd) in somewhat violent rapid alternation. I stopped and restarted the rv. Ran fine. About 75 miles later after a right turn, same thing. Stopped & restarted. Odbii (scangauge) gave c0037 "left rear wheel sensor" code and the dash lights showed: check engine, ABS, tire rotation and traction lights...and they wouldn't go off after restarting engine. Mb dealer replaced left rear wheel speed sensor. 9/2/2018: did a left turn and started having same problem. Same dash lights came on. Odbii code was c003a ('right rear wheel sensor'). I was able to nurse the unit home, but it did have the same problem after left turns a couple of times. Safety issue: if you make 90 degree left/right turn (depending which sensor went out), the sprinter starts shifting between gears rapidly with great noise. No choice but to manually put the transmission into neutral. At that point, until you stop the vehicle and turn off/on the engine, the transmission will not engage and you are stuck coasting to stop. If you just pulled onto a busy intersection and have this problem, you would stop traffic and may get rear-ended. The sprinter's computer obviously doesn't take into consideration that changing gears multiple times per second is not good and thus the speed sensor must be bad. There should be a threshold limit that if exceeded, the computer would ignore the sensor'.go ahead and turn on the dash lights, but don't try to destroy the transmission...and don't leave the poor drive a 'sitting duck'.