Hello Everyone,

I was driving my crossfire yesterday to the supermarket which is about 7 miles from my house. When I was done shopping I started the car to drive home and about 2 minutes later the battery light came on, I didn't think anything of it but when I got on my street I saw the temp needle rising fast to overheat. I was right at my driveway so I quickly pulled in and stopped the car. The whole time the car felt like it had no power.

This morning I had my father come over and when he open the hood the is when I became really really nervous. He said the belt was completely off and he saw 2 black rings at the bottom of the engine pan. Now I am really scared.

My question is does anyone know what could of happened and is this covered under the 7 year 70,000 mile warranty that the dealer told me it had.

Ohh sorry by the way my car is an 04 with 41K miles.

Thanks everyone

 

Sounds like you just need a fan belt. When the fan belt comes off your alternator stops working which will cause the battery light and the overheating was caused because the fan belt also runs the water pump. you should have also noticed that it got harder to steer since the power steering pump is also run off the belt.

 

Agreed.

Have it towed to the dealer. Hopefully you shut it down before any heat damage.
What were the two black rings? Maybe parts of the tension idler? If so most definetly warranty.

Warranty? Might depend on the dealer and what caused the failure. But, I would suggest it ought to be a warranty item.


roadster with a stick

 

Sounds like maybe the lower (balancer/crank) pulley came apart....they do have a recall on them on the Mercedes car line. Should be cover by Chrysler.......
New pulley and belt, everything will be fine.

 

Sooooo WE 04 owners should be checking out belts before the 41K mark????

Deb

 

Terrific Avatar, Deb!

Sounds like the lower pulley failed, not the belt. I didn't replaces my belts and hoses on my truck till I got to around 100,000 miles!

 

:d:d:d:d:d:d:d

 

This happened to randy with his srt. I hope this doesn't become a common problem.

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news........but how close to overheating did it get to.

The reason I ask is because the hottest a engine will get is after the engine is turned off, and there's no more coolant flow (heatsoak). If it was right at the point of overheating, it probably got REALLY hot after you turned it off.

It should be a dealer repair under warranty, and I'd insist that they checked the engine over really good for any further damage.

 

The more I read about things going wrong with this car, the more I begin to wonder WHY. Why so many. I am having trouble with my Limited with 36k. Didn't with my M3. Didn't with a 400 hp custom 91 Miata. And the list goes on for a dozen more cars I have owned. I have recently listed my cars problems lately on this forum. My Limited is being towed 2 hours away to LDG Auto Specialist in Maryland. Jeff owns the shop and a highly modified SRT6. My Limited is not going to a Chrysler dealer. I have an extended warranty good for another 2000 miles only.

 

i AM HAVING A BIT OF OIL LEAKING AT THE REAR OF THE ENGINE. I am not sure when it began, but may be due to the overhaeting when my belt came off when the pully bearing siezed. Hard to say if that is the cause. I am taking it to the dealer today. It will probably take a week for them to find out where the problem is coming from, a month to get the parts and a week to fix.

It might be ready by February.

 

Sooo....???

 

cars break, especially cars that are driven hard...these little dudes were thrown together with left over parts by two companies, as it turns out didn't cooperate with each other very well. Had they survived, I am sure there would have several recall items, just like other cars. But that didn't happen, so we are on our own...no help from either side...and I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but the MB shops around here are now not wanting to work on them. They were willing before, but now are balking. My email stated "although we know the similarities, we don't service Chrysler vehicles"...

 

You should threaten them with a parternity suit. A DNA test would force Mercedes to provide child support. Left over parts from two companies?? I still haven't found anything Chrysler on my car.

 

The only thing Chrysler, or even American, made in you Crossfire was the paperwork you signed when you bought it.


roadster with a stick

 

After 2 years (35K miles of driving like a lunatic)....the only warranty issue with Fred was the original alignment. Truly the most trouble free new car I've ever owned!! Wilma has had zero warranty issues...(3.5K miles)

 

I know there isn't any Chrysler parts in the cars, but you can't tell that to a MB service writer...or I quess I could...bottom line, I was wondering if anyone knows if this is an MB order to their stores not to work on them, of just a local problem...I don't need any work, but I don't want to take it to Chrysler either. I will fix most things myself, but I dropped in to look at a car on their lot and that was their response. My response, well why would I buy a car here? It was the quality of the XF that lead me here. Just curious.

 

It seems like MB and Chrysler tried to put some distance between their dealers. One issue I can tell you is that the dealers rely on the factory Scan tools to work on cars and MB dealers do not have Crossfire in the Star Diagnostic system. A MB dealer can service a Crossfire by selecting SLK320, but most shops don't even enter the system this way. They enter the STAR system by inputting the VIN and it will not take a Chrysler VIN. On the other hand, Chrysler was not given the STAR Diagnostic system and Chrysler dealers have to use the DRBIII with a special memory card and multiplexer cable to work on a Crossfire.

I think the best bet for future service is independent MB shops. They will usuall have the STAR system as well as many other systems such as those sold by Snap On which include Crossfire diagnostics. If you have an extended warrenty many independant shops can honor it and I would much rather have my car being serviced by someone that works on Mercedes all day versus a Chrysler dealer. If you go to an independant MB shop and they tell you they don't work on Crossfires, rasing the hood on them will usually get them to change their mind. Sometimes you may have to educate the shop. When I first drove into Krause's automotive two years ago to talk about a V8, he said he didn't know anything about Crossfires. I asked him to come out and take a look. He was very suprised and called all his mechanics over to take a look. they all said "shoot this is just a SLK320, we can work on that".

 

Post 18 may be one of the most helpful technical posts on this forum - and even more so as time goes by.

(I was gonna quote the most important part of the post... but it's all important.)

 

My first "Sooo...??" was a question...wondering what the final out come of his failure/repair was.
I wish people would always post the final solutions after they ask the group for help or advice.