Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500 won't shift problems

Filed Jul 2, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · 9,600 miles · NY

The contact owns a 2023 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH, there was an abnormal metal grinding sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. While driving at various speeds, the vehicle went into LIMP Mode. The transmission was shifted into neutral(N) and the vehicle was restarted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed the vehicle with pinion bearing failure and the LIMP Mode failure causing an Emissions issue. The rear axle, air charger GPS, turbo, and oil sensor were all replaced. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and was diagnosed with the same failure. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and a case was opened to discuss a buy-back offer for the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 9,600.

Filed Jul 2, 2026 · Engine · 33,000 miles · NY

The contact owns a 2023 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35-40 MPH, the vehicle went into LIMP Mode. The contact was able to shift to neutral and restart the vehicle. The failure reoccurred at approximately 40,000. The failure became more frequent and was recurring every 3,000 to 4,000 miles. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed the vehicle with an inoperable air charger for the turbo charger. The failure persisted, and the vehicle was returned to another dealer, Mercedes-Benz of Arrowhead (9260 W Bell Rd, Peoria, AZ 85382) to be diagnosed and the vehicle was diagnosed with engine failure. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The engine was replaced, but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was informed of the failure, and a case was opened to discuss a buy-back offer. The failure mileage was approximately 33,000.

Filed Dec 31, 2024 · Acceleration, Transmission · KY

Vehicle suddenly lost ability to accelerate. After driving narrow mountain roads with a lot of downshifting and upshifting, vehicle was on a long, gradual downgrade, then approached a long, slight (4%?) upgrade. Vehicle would not maintain speed and began to decelerate. Pushing the accelerator to the floor did nothing. Attempted to manually shift gears, but transmission would not downshift, or upshift. This almost resulted in being rear-ended by a semi. The speed limit was 55 and vehicle had decelerated to ~25 mph by the time I found a place to pull over. I stopped and was able to shift into Park. Revved engine and it behaved normally. I shut off engine for 1 minute and then restarted. Transmission and all other systems worked fine and continued to work normally for several hundred miles since then. There was no CEL, or other warning. There was no indication that it entered "Limp Mode." I suspected that something went wrong with the logic in the electronic transmission. Mercedes Benz dealership could NOT find any codes logged in the OBDC. The service manager told me, "It might have been some kind of computer glitch." This was a 2-lane, country road. The semi was behind me, and several cars were behind the semi. For about a mile there was no place to pull over. One impatient driver passed both the semi and my Sprinter in a "no passing" zone. We were all fortunate that there was no collision.

Filed Dec 19, 2024 · Fuel system · 44,000 miles · DE

The contact owns a 2017 Mercedes- Benz Sprinter 350. The contact stated that while driving at various highway speeds the warning message "DEF Is Low" had suddenly displayed and the vehicle went into "Limp Mode" causing the speed to suddenly reduce to 5 MPH. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the DEF tank was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 44,000.

Filed Jun 28, 2023 · Acceleration, Brakes · TX

I'm getting wheel sensor errors and the vehicle goes into limp mode and disables the cruise control, even after replacing the sensors. Very frustrated with this dangerous situation!

Filed Feb 2, 2023 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · NC

THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN SENT TO MERCEDES CORPORATE CUSTOMER SERVICE All of the following has started happening since an exhaust recall was done by Mercedes. In September 2022, we were driving cross country to Denver Colorado and enough codes piled up in the background that we went into limp mode in the middle of 70 MPH highway traffic. This happened without warning and was an extreme safety concern. But I was lucky to be near an exit and already in the right lane. I reset these codes and finished going to Denver the next day. The two Sprinter dealers in Denver were backlogged several weeks; so we spent over $600 trying to troubleshoot the issues with Colorado Fleetworks, a qualified Sprinter specialist. He checked codes too; ran other diagnostics; replaced the fuel filter and air filter even though they had been done only 10,000 miles earlier; and performed a forced DPF regeneration. He also replaced the DPF pressure sensor. This work did not help change the daily multiple code problems. We had to reset them every day coming back from our trip. When we returned home we took it to the dealer. They confirmed the codes, reset them, and test drove it 25 miles. Since codes didn't return, they said, "There is nothing we can do if we don't witness active codes." I said, "How active do they have to be? I will have codes in the next 20 to 30 miles like I do every day I drive it." These never happened in the 6 years prior to the recall wok. Either the programming is confused, some of the new sensors are faulty, or something. A totally separate problem is the faulty factory crimps on the connector of the rail pressure sensor. This is a known defect; and we've had the exact same symptoms and code as noted in Xentry TSB MC-10135520-9999. The engine has actually cut off when turning into traffic a few times. This is an extreme safety concern.

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 Oct 28, 2020 · Driver assistance, Fuel system · 45,692 miles · CA

A thor motor coach on a 2012 mercedes benz sprinter mdb 11k 170 16 0257554 chassis. On 4/17/2019 the def sensor failed on 05/18/2020 the left front wheel speed sensor failed. On 09/14/2020 the battery fault panel blew out. On 10/12/2020 the exhaust gas sensor failed. On 10/22/2020 the left rear wheel speed sensor failed. These failures happened while on trips with no authorized repair facilities within 100 miles leaving the people in the coach in unsafe locations with no cell phone service. This coach has a feature that puts it into a limp mode, that shifts it into low gear with a maximum speed of about 25 MPH which is very unsafe on any highway. This is promoted as a safety feature when in fact it is a hazard feature.*dt

Filed Oct 14, 2020 · Acceleration, Brakes · 32,000 miles · MI

Wheel sensors failure causes loss of ABS braking , cruise control and traction control. When this occurs causes the vehicle to go into limp mode and rapid reduction of speed. All of the above causes a hazardous situation on the freeway. We have had 2 fail and many of our friends have experienced cthe same.

Filed Oct 5, 2020 · Acceleration, Brakes · 25,000 miles · NC

Wheel speed sensor failure caused vehicle to disable cruise control, ABS brake system and put the transmission in limp mode. Cannot accelerate more than 25 MPH on the interstate. Was travelling at 62 MPH when event occured. Frightening experience!