I have studied hours and hours of discussion on skreem replacement and the two most common reasons why skreems fail as noted in this forum which is security siren battery fail and water damage to pneumatic pump. I also have contacted what I believe are probably the only two companies which seem to repair skreems........ needswings and ecuteam.com. I guess here is my issue and also some sort of survey of the two mentioned repair companies or more if they are there. I bought the 2004 crossfire in Denver that recently was listed for sale in this forum. The previous owner was very honest. He owned the car for 5 years and lost the original screem soon after purchase. He lost 2 more brand new screems in the next 4 years. One purchased from Chrysler and one from needswings. I checked the security alarm by hitting the panic button and wow does it work. I also took the trunk apart and found no evidence of water ever being there. So here are my questions
1.Are there other issues that might make the skreem go bad and what testing can I do to find that problem before I send the skreem off to get it repaired and reinstall it only to fail
2. What specifically is every ones experience with needswings and ecuteam.com. (or other companies that currently repair skreems) It is interesting that ecuteam.com says they are the only ones who can repair skreems and that they are the source that hundreds of Chrysler dealers use. They are pricier than needswings and their warranty is only one year vs 3 years at needswings .Rob seems to be a great guy on the phone

I am thinking that multiple responses to these questions might help other owners make a better decision as to how to proceed to correct the issue. It seems that through the years, there are multiple methods to repair or replace the skreem, so I am hopeful to get the most up to date info at this point in time

Thanks
old fart

 

Wrong. Neither of these issues are a threat to the SKREEM.

It is reported, by those who claim to know, that the SKREEM "runs out of codes" - that means, they fail due to too many 'starts'. I reject this explanation flatly, but that is what some claim.
I DO know that ALL the modules in the car are threatened by overvoltage. I've lost one seatbelt module and one EBS module to voltage spikes - both times, I had old batteries in the car (this was two different cars).

If you want to protect all modules, including teh SKREEM, keep a new battery in the car - under four years old, that is. Also, do one of these mods to provide a better ground return for the starter, block and alternator:
https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...le-engine.html

See my response above.
Needswings and SOS both have rescued a LOT of Crossfires. ECUteam's claims are obviously false, they are NOT the only ones - as to the rest of their claims, well.......you can believe any outright marketing bullshit you wish to. It is OBVIOUS that "hundreds of Chrysler dealers" DO NOT use them, they use NO ONE. Just ask anyone who has taken their car to a damn dealer.


Those who are repairing (or bypassing) SKREEMS are tight-lipped about the cause of the failures - this is understandable, they are protecting their business interests; do not expect anyone to be very forthcoming. Just be happy we FINALLY have two companies that are supporting our cars. You will find that, if you read Viper's thread on the SKREEMULATOR, you can learn a lot about the 'backstory' of SKREEM failures. Viper is the ONLY one who is talking publicly about what he is doing and finding. Don't expect this to change.

 

Just curious what you mean byLOST three screems? Did he mean they failed? What exactly does the car do / not do when trying to start? Therte are a couple of things that can cause a no start.

 

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Isn't the same SKREEM module in a work truck as well? I can't remember the name off hand but they are also installed in it and have been a problem for them as well. I think the part number is slightly different but it is the same MB part when you get into it. I am sure someone will chime in, the XF isn't the only ones having SKREEM issues, that I do know for sure.


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SOS Diagnostics has said that the main problem they have seen is that the skreem and ECU go out of sync. That it is rare anything happens to the skreem itself. From posts I have seen if it happens once to someone it seems to happen again. It does happen to Sprinter vehicles a lot. It does not seem to happen to Mercedes vehicles a lot but since Mercedes dealerships/parts departments still support it then maybe that is why we do not hear about it as often.

 

The most issues with the skreem are software based, as Ronman wrote.

I don't think that many skreems are affected by the "out of code" but I can see that this exists in my test skreem.
I have found a way to get the skreem back to a saved state. From this state i get about 500 codes before the skreem is dead.
If I reprogram this state it works for exactly the same number of codes before it is dead again.

 

The skreems died with the typical 3 short starts and your out until you unhook the battery for a minute. That is what it is doing now, I have heard that some owners also lose the ability to lock, unlock doors. That has not been the case with this car and I can interchange the ECU between different cars and they will still start and including auto tranny vs 6 speed which I have heard will not work

 

That will definitiv not work, the ECU is married with one skreem so it has to be reprogrammed to work with an other skreem.

 

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As in this case of the SKREEM (and the many more 'different' issues with this model car), there are anecdotal suspicions and associations as to why and how this car's SKREEM fails (and many cases of some who were told it is the SKREEM but later find out it isn't). One point that makes plenty of sense is that since MB is still fixing THEIR branded vehicles, I suspect that number may be higher than reported though. IMHO the only way to correlate how many MB vehicles are affected, is to go in to a MB forum (or more than one MB forum, as I think there is more than one), and search for any SKREEM issues there. BTW, thanks for the refresh on the other vehicle "Sprinter", to just before this read I still hadn't remembered it.


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I have no reason to lie about it . I can interchange the ecu/ pcm between a 2004 6 speed parts car and an 05 automatic car that we drive. I did it when the one in the 05 failed and I did not have time to resolder the bad one at that time. I now carry it for a spare. I don't know how these work, I just know I can interchange the two of them and drive the car

 

I've looked at quite a few Mercedes forums and it does not seem to be mentioned very much. I've suspected there is a design flaw with the Crossfire when it comes to the skreems but SOS says it is the exact same system for Mercedes. There has to be some reason. It is too bad that there isn't a way to fix this issue remotely via the car's OBD port.

 

Sounds more like you are speaking of the RCM.

 

Thats what I was thinking.

 

ECU, PCM, RCM, According to what I can see are the same item with different names as shown in multiple videos on utube and sites showing its location, If that info is wrong, and it would not surprise me, Then could someone correct me with a pic/ Thanks

 

RCM ist this:


And ECU/PCM this:

 

Thank you. I finally figured it out last night after watching another dozen videos, Some of them were just flatly wrong and some were so out of focus that it was hard to tell what was going on. What I could finally see was that there are three modules in the box and the people filming them could make it immediately understandable by saying this unit is closest to the engine. This unit is in the middle of the box and this one is nearest to the battery

Thank you.