I haven't posted on here in quite a bit, but my crossfire is falling apart and I need help! As posted in the past, I'm sick of the headache of this car! I long ago intended to be the first to twin turbo this car and would have been almost a year ago had the car not been such a headache! The twin turbo system has been finished and waiting for install for almost six months but problem after problem has prevented it! I haven't modified the car yet to any extent that would cause these problems! So here's my list, please help!

- Car stereo randomly turns on when car is off, locked and no one around!

- Oil light flashes on and off, dealer believes it might be a fault pressure sensor!

- Engine idles extremely rough, shakes the entire car - several mechanics believe it sounds like its misfiring slightly!

- Car backfires when in reverse, occasionally in first!

- Car bogs down badly in low rpm range in first and second gear.

- Transmission does not want to engage when downshifting into second gear for several seconds!

- Can feel the transmission moving a great deal through the shifter in first and second gear, can feel it also "grind" occasionally.

- Car produces a "sucking" noise when gas is applied, sounds to me like something somewhere in the intake or engine or exhaust is stuck, creating a negative air space behind it!

Ahhhh... the car also rattles when I turn it off, but I've already found the threads on here dealing with that. Diagnostic tests only turned up the crank sensor, which controls the timing of the engine - but replacement of that has not cured the problem. Further diagnostics have not turned up anything! The dealerships around here can't get it in for another two weeks, and after having driven it they basically told me (since it's my only car to get around with) "Well, drive it and nothing should happen I doubt the transmission or engine will blow - but if they do they're covered." Arghhh!!! What the hell? And ya know what's funny? The car was running just fine... till I took it to them for an oil change... and started doing all of this immediately after leaving the dealer!!! Only problems are in first and second gear, all other gears are fine! And I know it's not the clutch or flywheel cause I've gone through that before and this is different...

 

gee thanks for the **** ton of help guys.

 

Take a deep breath...

With so many odd things going on, it sounds to me like an electrical problem. If it all started just after the service by the dealer, maybe they disconnected something or plugged it in wrong.

Too many issues to just suddenly start on their own.

 

have you made any of your own progress in three weeks, or do you just check the forum everyday to see if someone else can solve your problems? been back to the dealer, popped the hood yourself, etc? have you done any test-fitting for this 'twin turbo setup' and maybe disconnected something or did something else you would have overlooked?

 

First, I don't appreciate the way you've worded this. It's possible no one knows how to fix your problems, or where to start. You could have also posted this on a busy day and this was just overlooked by something more popular. Or since I don't have a solution I could have posted a smart *** comment, which wouldn't have been any help either.

2nd, Have you tried to take it to another dealer? but be warned some dealer service managers do talk to one another, so be polite and don't bash the other dealers. Also if you bought this new it comes with the rental car agreement, so use it.

 

You really need to supply more information for anyone to start diagnosing anything. Things like:

Did all the faults suddenly start occurring at the same time?
Did it coincide with other work being carried out?
What diagnostic processes have been performed already?
Are any OBD codes being stored?
Are the problems completely random or is there some correlation between them and/or other events eg only during warm up, only when it rains, only on a full tank etc.?...


Such randomly strange behavior is usually a result of an earth fault. Even the sucking sound could electrically related if one of the many air valves/solenoids is being operated inappropriately. Or it could be a completely unrelated induction leak. The manual is full of diagnostic procedures for each of the many systems. You really need to work through each system logically in turn.
As an example I was speaking to a fellow owner on Saturday and his car had been in the garage for months while they tried to track down random stalling/cutting out problem. It was finally traced to a faulty relay in the ECU compartment that was being moved fractionally during cornering. This was only after individually checking the relays with a voltmeter and they saw the voltage dip when the really was touched.
If you are going to get your twin turbo system running, which I really hope you will, then you are really going to need to know every system on this car inside out. Good Luck.

 

Got any pix of your twin turbo setup even though nothing is installed yet?

Just out of curiosity, are you using the forged crank, rods, and pistons from an srt6? will you be using srt6 camshafts and timing gears?

 

"Former NXMX5" - All testing for the twin turbo setup was professionally done and it was done on a secondary, wrecked Crossfire I picked up in northern Utah. I haven't tinkered with my Crossfire without knowing what I, or the company is doing.

"Thirteendog" - I have been polite, and do realize they communicate. I've taken it to five dealerships and eight Mercedes shops. As for you not appreciating how I worded it - gee, my apologies. I posted it on the third and still hadn't gotten any responses by the twenty first. And obviously someone did have a response as you can see below your statements. Their response, however, didn't include what yours did. I don't particularly feel like arguing, I'm done with you on that one.

"Woody" - Yes, they all occurred beginning at the same time but no they don't seem to be related - they all began just after an oil change but don't seem related to that either, and I watched them closely the entire time they were changing the oil anyway. It's spitting out codes (I'd have to get the exact number for you) that don't really give us much information... The techs at the dealer even showed me the books definition for the code and it basically says "Fuel lines / O2 Sensor / MAF Sensor / Unknown Engine Problem." All these problems are occurring regardless of weather, outside temperature, engine temperature, gas levels etc.

Anyway, I have solved some of them myself out of frustration with the dealers... (After one service manager was fired and Chrysler had to send a field tech all the way to Utah to meet with me and they had to give me a brand new fully loaded Grand Cherokee with a HEMI to drive around for a month hee hee hee)... So here is what I found...

- Car stereo turning on at random, no clue but it hasn't done it lately.

- Oil light flashing on is just a faulty oil sensor, replaced myself.

- Rough engine idle got worse - one day the car would start just fine but would not stay running - revving it up immediately would only make it idle itself at 2,000 rpm and rev ITSELF continually between 2,000 and 2,500 while the entire car shook! Turns out all cylinders were misfiring due to a combination of... crank shaft sensor going out, camshaft sensor going out, and MAF sensor going out... The first two being between $100 and $150 weren't bad, but turns out the MAF was close to $2,000... WOW!

- Car backfiring noise was not a true backfire - wasn't loud enough and nothing was coming out of the exhaust. Having someone drive the car in front of me one day so I could observe it I noticed when they hit the gas or a bump the exhaust tips would twist in the rear - found several loose mounts for the exhaust which when it turned were causing a slight gap to open in the exhaust allowing air to escape and produce a slight backfire like noise.

- The bog down in first and second and the transmission not feeling like they wanted to engage were just power related issues tied into the previously mentioned sensors. The transmission also had a worn out mount.

- The car still once in a while doesn't want to stay running once you turn it on but will be fine once you kick the rpm's up for a second and my check engine light is still on. Otherwise, seems to be running at full power, no codes being produced. Still scratching my head...

- The "sucking" noise is still occurring as well, and I can get it to become a steady noise when in sixth gear - only when the gas is slightly applied, when the pedal is pushed in any further it stops, any ideas?

 

There is a long, thin, grey vacuum hose under the dash on the passenger side that is associated with the HVAC unit. When I first gutted my car I left the hose dangling and was surprised to hear a VERY loud "sucking" sound when the car was running. Stick your head under the dash on the passenger side and see if that is the origination of the sound ?

 

Good call! Thank you!