I just picked up a nice, black 2005 Crossfire Coupe on Monday! Wow, what a car! How lucky can a guy get! The next day I couldn't turn the key to unlock the steering wheel. What a bummer. So, I took it to the local Chrysler dealer for repair. Parts are on order, and there it sits.

I Googled the problem, and that's how I found this forum. Looks like you guys have a lot of knowledge on the Crossfire. I'm glad to be here.

 

welcome aboard and read away...you will know how to fix her yourself when through...

 

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum!

It is a shame you had to find this place with the dreaded ignition lock failure.
Like all cars, these cars have their own little quirks.
The many present and past members have found the answers for most of the bugs.
You will just love the car.

 

6000, welcome to the club... too bad you got stuck with a BLACK one..... you will love it anyway though...



Doc,
Whats with the new avatar? You look as big as a horse....

 

MikeR,

I don't mind black; kind of reminds me of the Batmobile. But I sure like your blue one!

 

Welcome 6000rpm, congrats on the ride. Lots of good people and info here, enjoy the read.

 

Way to go on the acquisition! You'll find out pretty quicky just how much infomormation is on this forum - how knowledgable the members are - how willing to help they are - and apparently, that they are alot of fun! I'm sure you'll have your wheel lock problem sorted out quickly. Remember, photos can save alot of words in a story and lend a better understanding of any issues that you are describing. You'll find lots of help here.

What I think is that there should be a librarian familiar with indexing on this forum, or a "records managment" student - who could take all of the pertinent information, categorize and assemble it in some meaningful way to facilitate research. A mechanical turq so to speak, of Crossfire information. The search facility here goes a long way to achieve that.

Enjoy your time here!

John

 

Just curious... what are the details of your purchase? Did you get it from a dealership? How many miles? And if you don't have a problem letting us know the price that would be great. I have a 2005 coupe and I love keeping track of what they are going for.

By the way, just a few quirks with your car. Check the headliner around front pillars and sun visor. Check to see if it is peeling. A common problem with these cars but a cheap fix. Had mine done for 140 (that includes the 20 dollar tip I gave the guy). Take my advice... Too much hassle to do it yourself so let the pros do it.

If you want to upgrade your radio for ipod, consider a Blaupunkt. Blaupunkt has the same plug as our black base coupe so no wire harness needed. Plug and play installation you can do yourself. It will take 10 minutes to slide the old radio out, plug the new one in and slide it back. The 10 minutes is mostly for the time it takes to disconnect the battery! I have a London MP48 and the front is the same silver as our interior. A perfect match and looks great.

Good luck and enjoy the car.

 

Welcome to the forum and congrats. You picked the best color of all the Crossfires, good eye.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.
I bought my '05 from a used car dealer. Three months, 5000 mile warranty on drive train parts. So, I didn't even give him a chance. Instead, I went to a Toyota, Ford, and Chrysler dealer that I have been going to for a long time. Maybe I'll try to give the guy the bill when it's finally repaired. Anyhow, the price was $10,999. Got $1000 off for an old VW beater trade-in. The Crossfire has 56,123 miles on it. When I get the car back, I'm sure it will be more than $1000. Oh well, I really like it. Can't wait to get it on the road again.
Blackcrossfire07, thanks for the tip about the headliner and iPod. And I hope your '05 is purring like a cat.

Tom

 

Ok, let's show the newbie how its done, in your sigline we want to see:

year
coupe or roadster
6 speed or auto
mileage
purchase price
base or SE or Limited
any mods
one picture of it (not too large of a pic)


Maybe next time you'll get a RED one.

 

My car is doing great! It has the life! I bought it new in August 2005. Daily driver for 4 years and put a total of 56K miles on it. The past year it has been sitting in the garage as a weekend car but I hardly drive it. Once it a while I will take it out for a spin and enjoy it. I spend more time waxing it and cleaning it because it is a great stress reliever. I now baby the car.

In the first 4 years I worked out all the bugs and it is 100% perfect with the exception of the front bumper. No paint chips or fading but up close you can tell it took a small beating with all the miles. Still looks great but I have considered getting it repainted. I have a great bodyshop that will make it look even better than the day I bought it. Other than that all the typical mechanical problems were worked out. Sticky ignition lock, replaced foggy headlights, replaced the door handle because they split open, replaced the crappy original battery, even replaced the roof strips because the paint was peeling off. My AC electronics broke a couple times... I even had the recirc flap replaced which seems to break in some of the cars. That was a major fix! Sounded like something was rattling around in the dashboard. All covered under warranty. My car wasn't in the dealership that much but I found the dealership kept breaking things in the car so I had to keep bringing it back so they could fix what they broke. You will find most dealerships have no idea how to fix our cars Just be careful! I am very picky so I notice things. In my experience you bring your car in to have something fixed and you get the car back fixed but with 2 more problems.

By the way, I paid 25K for it new. Back then I thought it was a great deal. I was looking at 350Z's but Nissan would not drop their prices or deal with me. Went to look at the new model Mustang and they wouldn't give discounts either. I went next door to the chrysler dealership and fell it love with the crossfire at first sight. Loved the car inside and out... and loved the mercedes story behind it. I also loved the base coupe more than the limited so I went on a mission to buy the car.

What you have in my opinion is a special car! A unique car! Drive it and enjoy it! Take good care of it! All the effort I put into fixing my car was all worth it in the end. My wife kept telling me to dump the car... but then again she can't drive a stick so she never drove my crossfire. If she did drive it she would understand why I have trouble selling it!

 

My latest HP mod....you notice, she has black on her too.....lol

 

Welcome to the forum 6000rpm !!

 

OK pizzaguy, I changed my sig a little. But my '98 Olds is still leaking.


Blackcrossfire07 --- Nice feeling to have all the bugs worked out!

 

Thanks, VALKRYDERGUY!

 

Welcome 6K, Try this until you get the key fixed... You have the car in park turn the steering wheel hard all the way to left, or right whatever but on mine doing that seemed to let the tension off the cylinder. Now do the key jiggle while reefing on the steering wheel. That worked quite well for me until I could bring it into the shop.

 

Welcome to this Forum. Great bunch of owners and always willing to lend a hand. I'm of the opinion that any color you get is a great color for a XFire!

Stay in touch,

 

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your Crossfire.