Originally Posted by
pizzaguy
Generally speaking, anyone who replaces the starter on a care with an M112 engine finds out it fixed nothing. I've been on this forum 16 years as of July 10,2025. I know of two starters that were bad, all the rest was RCM/Battery/etc.
In your case, given how it first spins very slowly then speed up, I don't THINK it's the battery after all. I tend to agree, you may have (as rare as it is) a bad starter. An analog voltmeter would tell you what is going on, if you could measure the voltage at the OUTPUT of the solenoid during cranking, if that voltage starts off low then climbs, I'd suspect the battery or solenoid. If not, I'd suspect the starter.
I RARELY say this, but I think replacing your starter and solenoid would be a good guess if the battery is new. With Crossfires, my default is to replace the battery first in any case like this:
Won't crank.
Cranks slowly
Wing has a mind of it's own
Convertible top acts erratically when putting top up or down without engine running (Of course, putting top up or down without the engine running is what fools do...)
Lots of yellow lights on instrument panel (BAS/EAS, etc.)
....... most any other weird electrically-related complaint.
yeah, I’ve had no dash lights… no power issues, battery tested good and is fairly new like 4K miles on it only…. RCM was replaced in 2023 and I have a spare also…
I did get car up today… and the odor from the smoke last night….. is strong below starter… and starter is drenched in what “I think” is power steering fluid or possibly oil. Oil pan is saturated in an oil substance, but I did have a power steering leak from reservoir hose last fall… I fixed the leak and had no more leakage… but since I believe the noise I was having is power steering pump… maybe another leak
somewhere, although steering fluid level has been good… I check it frequently since I did hose repair…. I redid the valve covers & breathers in mid 2023, took to a shop and they did the crappiest job ever… had leaks and smoke burning up from drip so I don’t see oil from heads…. But, I never did get around to redoing the oil pan, I had issues getting car up to get under… but I bought a lift so now I can… I’ll redo pan and clean undercarriage, replace steering pump & starter… see what happens I suppose…. Also, might explain fluid in crankshaft sensor also… could have gotten in from starter? 🤷🏻♂️ wonder how long clean/fresh power steering fluid would keep its color & consistency?? Before realizing where the leak was on reservoir hose… I went through almost 1.5qts of fluid keeping it filled during a 1-2 month span … was quite a bit of lost fluid. I can’t really tell difference between the oil and steering fluid color/consistency to know what fluid it is all over under there