And things had been going so smoothly... but nothing ever goes smoothly with Chrysler service.

Minor setback to my differential repair. Come out of my office yesterday and find four voicemails on my phone from "Greg" (my service writer from Tysons Chrysler) telling me to give him a call. Upon calling I found out what happened...

...about to begin the repair (putting the new differential in) the mechanic opens the box not to find a differential part but a brand new 320 mercedes engine! They sent an engine instead of a differential. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! Apparently everyone was freaking out at the dealer when they realized what had happened.

I am thanking the lord it wasn't something worse (like my car fell off the lift, saw a picture of a new lotus elise that hadn't been jacked properly). However I had to go get my car again and will have to take it in again on Wednesday.

Geez.

 

I have a question, and I realize this is a pretty old thread but its the best one I've found that sounds like the same issue I'm having. I have a '04 manual, and I've been experiencing the same high pitch humming sound and it seems to slowly be getting worse. I didn't hear/notice it at all when I bought the car in December. It currently has 84K miles on it.

My question is, are there differentials in the front as well? Because the OP's explanation describes my sound perfectly only it seems to come from the front, not the rear. If it is the differentials, is this a major problem that needs to be fixed ASAP or is it merely an annoying noise? I bought my car used so it does not have a warranty, sounds like this is a big/expensive repair?

Thanks for any help

 

I have not been back to this forum in a very long time, but I got an update you posted in this thread and came back to respond! This forum was always good to me and even though I no longer own a Crossfire, I can help.

To answer your questions in order:

1) There is no differential in the front, only the rear (hence why it is called a "rear wheel drive" vehicle)

2) If it sounds like a hum/drone tied to acceleration speed and only occurs in certain speed ranges (you may want to post up at what speeds you notice it), it likely is coming from the rear differential. Difficult to diagnose without hearing it. Because the rear differential is not very far behind the passenger compartment, it could be easy to confuse where the noise is coming from. If the noise is consistent at all speeds, this is likely not your issue.

3) I wouldn't call this a major *problem* but it is certainly a fairly significant repair. But depending on how handy you are, it is certainly doable. You need to swap out the rear axle entirely, preferably with a 2005+ axle since Chrysler fixed the defective clearances in the pumpkin after issues with the early model 2004s. There are tons of junked Crossfires out there - search eBay for pricing.

3.1) You can drive with this as is- likely for a long time. It's just annoying. To be safe, you might want to change your differential fluid since it is easy enough to do and will make sure your fluid is fresh.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer.
Oddly enough in my case, it doesn't only happen at certain speeds. Rather it makes the noise at all speeds BUT only when the engine is engaged. In other words, regardless of speed, it will make the noise if I'm in gear. But if I put the clutch in or put it in neurtral, then it stops, and it doesn't make the noise if I'm just sitting parked, even with the engine on. It makes the sound at low speeds and at high, at high speeds I simply don't hear it as much due to engine and road noise but its still detectable if listened closely with music off.
I don't mind the noise too much, I just want to make sure its not a sign of something bad. I just had the oil leak issue fixed(fairly common apparently) and put new tires on it so I don't want to put more money in it atm.

 

Well the symptom of the humming usually shows itself in certain ranges of speed, but what you are describing certainly sounds like the same issues. It's possible your gears in your differential are just a little "more" out of spec than most, which is why you get the noise all the time. You should be fine driving on it. Think about it this way, to fix the problem the cheapest option is swapping in an axle from another Crossfire. If your differential grenades (I think this is unlikely), you're still in the same spot but you may just get stranded temporarily on the side of the road. Good luck!

 

It'd be nice if Chrysler took responsibility for producing a defective product and replace the differentials on defective models for free or at least at a discount. It didn't make the noise when I first bought the car so it definitely has gotten worse. Guess I'll try to start saving up...

As always thanks for the great help, this forum and its members are awesome!