Originally Posted by
pizzaguy
None of the SKREEM-fixers talk very openly about what they are doing to 'bypass' the SKREEM. I think the only thing you can do it to contact them individually and ask.
As to this being something OTHER than the SKREEM, well, the "three starts and nothing" is the built-in sequence that is designed to tell you that the SKREEM is not giving the ECU what it expects. This means teh SKREEM is bad, the key fob's RFID chip is bad (not possible if multiple keys fail), the ECU is bad (not likely) OR the SKREEM is not powered up due to a blown fuse.
I'd download the service manual and check the fuse(s) that power the SKREEM. If they are OK, I think its time for a SKREEM bypass.
Where are you getting the "$1548.95" number for a SKREEM?
Thank you - I did not even think to check the fuse as I decided not to even touch it today; I was working on another project, but I'll give that a check - and unless I get lotto-winner lucky, the inevitable SKREEM gone kaput seems likely.
As for the cost from Needswings, I was adding in the "extra" back-up SKREEM they offer if you buy it at the time of getting the primary fix procured; so it's $699.95 for the primary (yikes!) and then another $849.00 for the additional SKREEM if you want a back-up - thereby a total of $1548.95 (yikes too!).
I'm lucky it died in my garage, but I would have hated for this to have gone out while mid-trip somewhere without a back-up to swap in short order, or if I needed the car and couldn't wait some 3-weeks for a replacement; so the extra cost of back-up purchase, seems to be an attractive offer.
Pending the SKREEM fuse is not blown, I'll likely set time to extract it out of the car next Saturday. I would have dove into it today, just had another project to complete (I was swapping the tumblers/float pins from a donor set of door-locks on a '69 Cougar, which the original door-lock bodies had cracked/crane retainers crumbled, and doing the swap to get working door locks to also match the ignition key - and worked very well, I must say.)
There is a bit of irony there to the similarity of these two jobs; each serves in different ways to "lock up" the vehicle (just that one doesn't turn the car into a 3200lb paperweight.)
.