Can I have #1 for $100 please..

 

What new switch specifically? I have done two of these and never needed parts.

The ring is the antenna for the SKREEM module. It must be able to "read" the chip inside thew FOB. If not, no start. Or more precisely probably 2-3 almost starts or runs then dies right away.

 

This is great how-to! Thanks so much for your effort. Just a quick question, does the Mercedes part # that is in your article match up to my 2005 Crossfire? I am having trouble matching the numbers. Thanks

Kelly

 

With over 880 posts in this thread I guess you mean the PDF?
It would be simpler if you gave the part number to us.

 

Hi Kelly,

If you click the quote button in the post you are referring to it will also display the original text just like I did here.

What article?

 

Thank you for the huge help and it looks a bit daunting to try to do but I am up to the challenge of Giving it my best . I am going to ask a friend who is a certified mechanic to help oversee my work and that way I can do it right and gain more confidence working on other issues as they pop up. Is this a 2-3 hour job assuming all goes well? I love the car so it is an indefinite keeper and heirloom. Thanks from a newbee to the forum members helping us all out.

 

Re-soldering the 3 connections on the RCM is about a 20 minute job.
HINT: Disconnect the negative battery cable, then pull the RCM from the box with the wires still attached.
They are much easier to disconnect that way, don't worry about which connector goes where, they are all different.
Most of your time will be spent getting that darn plastic cover off the RCM.
I personally believe in removing all the old solder from the 3 points with a sucker or solder wick before re-soldering.
Make sure you use a big enough soldering iron ( 100-150 watt ) and good electronics grade rosin core solder.

Ignore the above, I was thinking RCM, not Sticky Key.

 

Nar, took my guy half an hour. I just printed off the instructions and away he went.

 

Thanks and will be hitting it hard this weekend with hope that the sticky ignition issue is fixed and all goes well. Now was that really only 30 minutes!!! Thx for help.

 

The sticky key issue is alive and well. After a couple hours of rotating through cycles of drilling and trying the key, I lost patience and switched to a dynamic duo of metal-hungry bits for the drill and the dremel. Thirty seconds later, there is a smoking crater reaching to the far side of the shaft with the diameter of a dime.

Still unable to turn the key, I re-read the instructions and noticed the sage advice on the last page: "How do you know when you've removed enough material from the pin? When you can slide the assembly left and right past the locking hole, you're done."

Suffice it to say I think I've screwed this up by not reading ALL the instructions prior to attacking. So, I'm going to carve this assembly into pieces if I have to in order to get it out. Hope I can still retrieve the tumbler!

Merry Christmas to all! And thanks for imparting lessons learned.

 

Hello,


I was wondering was there anyone in the Greensboro N.C area to help me with the sticky key fix?

 

I am in Greensboro. Does the key still turn? That makes it much easier.

 

It is stuck now but, it did turn not to long ago, I may can get it back to the 1 position ?

 

I am sure we could handle it.

 

This afternoon I finally broke down and tackled the sticky key mod. (YAY FOR ME!)
Took me 4 hours, but I go at it slow and methodical. The above pdf is an excellent
road map to get you there. Much thanks to the author, Rekcah, and contributors drhrsh, BobG and onehundred80.

I have 4 observations/comments from the experience.

1. The first page on revision 5 of the Sticky Ignition Key Fix item 5 "Remove the air vent above the headlight switch. It just pops out, you can push it from the back side." The photo on the right showing the vent partly out has the headlight **** off. If you have a car with fog lights you know that the **** pulls out to turn them on. This means that **** is pretty dang secure and you'll pull your arm out of the socket trying to get it off. It doesn't have to come off. The air vent unit comes off around it with the **** in place. Just pry carefully around the edges of the air vent unit and it pops off with the headlight **** still in place.

2. On the 5th page we're taking the transponder ring off. Once off item 9 says, "It has a wire connected to it and can safely hang out of the way." This is true but if you let it hang out of the way you are likely to reinstall the switch assembly with the transponder wire hanging behind the switch. It won't go back on the switch unless the wire is on top of the switch assembly. (Ask me how I know.) HINT: Once you get the transponder loose masking tape it up toward the instrument panel so it stays there until after you've reinstalled the switch assembly. That way the wire stays on top like it was when you took it off.

3. Pay special attention to the orientation of your key and fob when you insert it to start the removal process in item 10 on page 5. If you insert the key in position 0 with the Chrysler logo facing up you'll be better able to re-orient the key and tumbler when you go to put it back in. The key/tumbler goes back in with the key in position 1 - vertical with the Chrysler logo facing right. DO NOT REMOVE THE KEY FROM THE TUMBLER. Just set them both aside until you're putting it back together. Getting that back together was one of the trickier parts of the job.

4. Just an observation and question. Everything I've seen and read about opening the ignition switch hatch said to beware of the spring flying out. My hatch lifted off peacefully and the spring just sat there waiting for me to pull it out. It was not under any load at all. It wasn't stuck and neither was the pin. Both came out without a whimper. Was this unusual?

I'll be sore now for a week. Some of the positions I had to contort into are not possible even on Cirque du Soleil.

Again, I can think you people enough for putting this together. I'm now in a position to help out any Crossfire owner in my neck of the woods with this mod.
I'll gladly pay it forward.

 

Edit - Never mind. Problem solved

 

My spring just sat there as well. The **** is still on the switch, if you look closely you can see the symbol on the ****.
I did this last year and I am older than you, I have just got over the pains.

 

Thanks. That's comforting. I had even put on a pair of safety glasses and when it
didn't shoot out I thought, uh oh.

 

If the spring was actually needed it would be designed to go into orbit as soon as the cover was off and a replacement would be needed at an exorbitant cost from the dealer.

 

Hello Mackel,


Could you turn to position 1 or was yours stuck at postion 1? Thanks!