Sprinter turbo intake hose slippage causing limp home mode

[jriordan]

Hello Sprinter chassis owners. Several instances of Sprinter Turbo Resonator failures have occurred in which the vehicle has gone into “Limp Home” mode going up steep hills, which resulted in the vehicle slowing abruptly and almost being hit from behind by a following vehicle. In at least two cases that we are aware of, the following vehicle was an 18 wheeler traveling at highway speeds. In this failure mode, the Sprinter slows to a crawl almost immediately with no visible warning, because the BRAKE LIGHTS DID NOT COME ON. Typically, the driver has his or her foot on the gas pedal.

What we have just learned is that this same situation can occur even if the resonator does not fail. If the intake hose, which is under high boost pressure, suddenly “pops off” the stock resonator (or “pops off” the billet aluminum resonator eliminator), the effect on the vehicle is exactly the same as a resonator failure.

In one instance reported to us, a dealer had just replaced a stock resonator with another stock resonator. The Intake hose “popped off” the turbo resonator not long after leaving the shop and the vehicle was nearly rear-ended. Upon investigation and review we duplicated this problem in our shop. We discovered that as the tightening screw advances along a series of “indented” grooves in the clamp “strap” it is possible when re-using this type of clamp for the screw to deform the indented grooves in a manner that prevents the clamp from tightening fully, while at the same time, providing a false sense of “tightness.” Literally, the clamp can be tightened as hard as you can turn it and it can still be loose enough to allow the intake hose to “pop off”, under boost pressure, which is quickly followed by a “whoosing” sound of rushing air from the passenger side of the engine and then the vehicle immediately slows down into “Limp Home” mode. You may wish to use an “Ideal” brand 1&3/4 inch-to-2&3/4 inch, stainless steel “worm drive” screw clamp available at most automotive or hardware stores. These clamps have actual SLOTS for the screw to grip through, instead of the “indented grooves” found on the stock clamp and they do not give a false sense of tightness. On our own Sprinter we have installed TWO of these clamps, one behind the other. Hope this helps some of you avoid this problem. Best regards, Jim Riordan

[jerrygaylor]

We just got back from a 9300+ mile Alaska and Canada trip with our Pleasureway-TS Motorhome. We replaced the stock resonator with the aluminum one. We climbed mountain passes as high as 8800 feet and drove as fast as 75mph, the motorhome never missed a beat and delivered between 20 to 23 mpg. Mileage on our motorhome at the start of the trip was 2200. At the end it was almost 12000. Would i had problems with the stock resonator, who knows, i surley did not want to find out.

[markopolo]

I received the following from Jim Riordan:

Hi Mark,

Just thought I would let you know . . . Dodge contacted my company with a problem affecting 2007 through 2010 sprinter chassis with the 3.0 liter V6 . . . since we are the designers/patent holders of the turbo resonator eliminators, they asked us to design a fix for the problem. The problem is the ends of the turbo hoses crack and blow out right where they join the metal fitting that goes into the intake. The whole hose assembly must then be replaced at a cost of approximately $133 plus labor (if not under warranty). These hose assemblies then crack again and again , just as the turbo resonators did on the 2.7 liter 5 cyl engines. We have designed a patent pending fix for this problem that allows the owner to simply cut off the hose at the crack, remove the metal tip from the broken hose, slip in our new part , fit the hose over our part and install the hose clamp (included) and be on their way without having to replace the whole hose assembly. Our new part has a specially designed end to prevent further hose cracking. Our part is a lifetime part just like the resonator eliminator.

It will sell for $69.95 and will be available next week. This part can be bought and stored in the vehicle until needed and easily replaced "on the road".

It will be available on our website and through Dodge dealers throughout the US.

Best Regards
James F. Riordan
CEO
The James F. Riordan Company, Inc.
Ph. 530.676.4729
Fax 530.676-0810
Website: www.riordanco.com

[yvonjovi]

This is a serious problem and it begs the question: Why hasn't there been a recall?
We were heading up Canada's Hwy 5 between Hope and Merritt when the power was ABRUPTLY halted. Thankfully, there was a slow semi to follow at 25 km/h so there were two of us with flashers. We 'limped' to Kamloops where both the Five Star Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep Dealerships were unable to even pop the hood to see what the issue was. We had it towed from Kamloops to Kelowna to the Dealership there who was unable to look under the hood for two days. Thankfully, they just happened to have 'the part' to fix it (we don't know what they did as their computers were down at the time we picked it up). I hope they put the re-engineered part in.

To anyone who may be interested, if you have a breakdown in B.C., phone roadside assistance and have them tow you to Kelowna as there is no one else east of Vancouver that will help you. If we had known that, it would have saved wasted time in Kamloops and we could have been towed, depending on cell range from Hwy 5 to Kelowna directly. The tow truck driver told us they are fast to respond to stranded travellers on this Hwy, but cell service is limited. He was by far the nicest and most informed and reliable person we spoke to during this entire ordeal.