This is a 2008 Crossfire Limited with ~40,000 miles on it. I purchased this vehicle last Saturday, so I'm fairly new here. I drove from Atlanta Georgia to Austin Texas with no issues at all, and only now are things having issues. I read through the other posts on similar issues, but they seemed different enough that I wanted to verify.

I've noticed the radio (aftermarket, not installed by me so there is a possibility its not grounded correctly or something) over the past day or two flickers on and off, which seems to correlate with increased load on the battery (lights on, phone charger plugged in, etc.). This morning the car stalled at a stoplight and refused to crank for about 3 minutes (though all electronics turned back on). During this stall, the trip odometer showed an oil can + "Hi." Afterwords, it started fine. Checking the oil, I don't think its overfilled but I can try draining it tonight to verify.

I took the RCM out and inspected the solder traces and pads, all of which appear to be fine. I'll attempt to reflow the usual problem pad listed in the sticky tonight, but I wanted to see if anyone else had seen similar symptoms from another area. Could it be the CPS? Is there anything else I should check that would cause these symptoms?

Symptoms list:
1. Slightly flickering headlights (not on and off, but moreso rapid variations in intensity)
2. Radio randomly turns off for a second or two while driving.
3. Electronics turned off while lowering the soft top once.
4. Longer than usual cranks to start.
5. Car stalled and wouldn't crank at a stop light after driving for roughly 10 minutes.
6. During the stall the Hi oil indicator came on.

Battery tested fine, and I currently have no codes. I'll keep my OBD in the car to test in case it occurs again.

Thanks!

 

Check the negative battery cable to ground ( fender well ) connection.
I personally replaced this cable on mine with a longer one from NAPA that would reach the bell housing. It also had a pigtail which I connected to the normal fender point.
Did you use a magnifying glass to check the RCM ?

 

I didn't have a magnifying glass on hand, but I used the wide angle lens on my phone to look closer. I didn't see anything except possibly a crack on one side of one of the connections that I'll inspect more closely tonight.

I did however notice earlier after reconnecting the RCM and just placing the negative terminal clamp back on without tightening it I was unable to crank the engine. Tightening the clamp allowed it to crank as normal, so that may definitely be related.

 

My lights on the instrument panel would brighten an dim at stops. It turned out to be the voltage regulator. Good battery , voltage from alternator was 14.3... drove me crazy.

 

Some new updates:
I've stalled twice since the initial post. This morning I had an extended stall at a light (immediately after I stopped, with the stall longer than putting it in park, waiting a few seconds, then turning the key). Electronics were completely dead (including hazard lights) during this period, not just failed cranks.

The other night I was also unable to unlock the car via the remote, and had to use the physical key to open it. I've resoldered the joints on the RCM, so I don't think its that. I'll check out the voltage regulator, but I'm thinking it may be something else.

 

Well... What you and others who come here looking for help MUST realize is that we are not standing next to you, we don't know what the car is doing. To that end, we (or at least I) take every word you type literally and seriously - it's all I have to go on. When you type your posts, if you do not keep this in mind, you and I are wasting our time.

So, what do we have here (and yes I read your first post):

So the stall lasted longer? How does a stall "last"? What are you getting at? The car stalls and that is it - I KNOW you are trying to tell us something, but I don't know exactly what.

IF this statement is correct, that is, NOTHING worked, no headlights, dash lights, interior lights, no blower, no radio, no NOTHING, then the cause is almost obvious: you have a battery ground cable going open, you have a battery cable terminal that is heavily corroded, or MAYBE the engine block-to-chassis cable is bad. You can't loose EVERYTHING very easily, that goes back to the connections near the battery and in the little square box next ot the battery that holds the 200 amp fuse. That 200 amp fuse feeds the ENTIRE car except for engine fan, ABS pump/module, the starter and alternator. EVERYTHING else goes thru that 200 amp fuse. And ALL CURRENT essentially goes thru the battery ground cable (if the alternator is not charging, that is, the engine is not running, then ALL current goes thru that cable).

I have no clue why you are thinking voltage regulator, and no, that is not your problem. THe information in your first post makes that very clear.

Now let's add your first post:

Symptoms list:
1. Slightly flickering headlights (not on and off, but more so rapid variations in intensity) Gives me the idea you have high resistance between the source of power (Battery/Alternator) and the load (headlights).
2. Radio randomly turns off for a second or two while driving. The fact that it goes off and back on indicates to me system voltage is dropping below the minimum threshold for the watchdog timer in the radio's powerup circuit.
3. Electronics turned off while lowering the soft top once. Well, once again, "electronics" does not really tell me what you mean, how do YOU define "Electronics"? Probably not the way I'd define it, after working in electronics for 35 years.
4. Longer than usual cranks to start. Sounds like either low system voltage, unstable system voltage, or an unrelated problem - like fuel or air intake issues, but we both know that this IS related to the electrical problem, dont' we?
5. Car stalled and wouldn't crank at a stop light after driving for roughly 10 minutes. Sounds like a failure in the RCM, the Engine control relay output went away for ten minutes - bad relay or fractured solder on the RCM. But, given the other symptoms, this becomes illogical - we are back to "unstable or low system voltage".
6. During the stall the Hi oil indicator came on. You can't trust any indicators if system voltage is unstable or low, so thanks for mentioning it, but let's move on.


Oddly enough, all of the above sounds like Carol Ann's car, she lives ten miles from me and her car refused to start or even light up any lights yesterday afternoon. I told her to grab a voltmeter and measure across the battery while turning hte key to "Start". She saw 13.4 volts at all times. So, battery was OK. I then told her to find out where she was losing it, her boyfriend quickly found that the BATTERY had 12.4 on it, but from battery to chassis, he had nothing. The ground cable on the battery itself had corroded all to hell but not such that he could SEE it.

Her car was easy cause it refused to to a damn thing: no headlights, dash lights, no crank, no clicks, nothing. Super easy to find.

Yours is 'coming and going" but I'd put my money on the battery ground cable, the ground from engine block to chassis (bypass it like George suggested) or perhaps bad corrosion on or in the positive battery cable.

James1549 came up with great way to bypass the block-to-chassis ground cable issue, he ran a redundant ground from the battery to a bolt at the back of the engine, his photo shoot is here:
https://www.crossfireforum.org/g/album/8395949

I, on my last car, did something different from James, I did George's trick, I replaced my battery ground cable with this:

The pigtail went to a lug that attached to the existing bolt in the chassis near the battery, the long heavy lead went to an alternator mounting bolt. But today, I'd run that heavy lead to a bolt at the back of the engine (bell housing) like James 1549 did. If your battery ground cable is aftermarket, then James' idea won't work cause there won't be a stud like in the OEM terminal. In that case, you gotta do it my (and George's) way.


But your FIRST step is to use a voltmeter, hoping that it acts up enough you can catch it, to see where the issue is. But failing that, you should yank the battery cables off the battery terminals and look CLOSELY for corrosion, keeping in mind that the cable-to-terminal connection can corroded internally such that you can't see it, and you can try "shotgunning" a new battery ground, etc.