She's dead again
 

05 N/A 3.2 auto trans. 109k miles. turn the key and no crank. the wing is stuck in up position and wing light led is blinking. sounds like a little motor is running somewhere near the firewall. don't think it's the blower.
did the solder joint repair on the RCM last time it wouldn't start and that fixed it. doubt that's what's going on now.
turn the key to on position and every light stays on except the airbag/SRS. did a full code scan with my cheap CR123 and only modules detected were ECM and SRS.
i think there must be a network problem. any ideas?
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cro...37ebf3ae26.jpg
all on except SRS
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cro...517516eb46.jpg
every light in the house is on
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cro...9138d7f4a9.jpg
blinky
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cro...c298b393d5.jpg
blinky
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cro...1c7a6757ea.jpg
wing is up
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cro...bd31953a72.jpg
SRS has a code but don't think it's relevant

Re: She's dead again
 

I still think it's your RCM. CHeck the relays to see if any are burned.

Re: She's dead again
 

Disconnect the negative heavy gauge wire from the battery to the ground at the fender; Clean it and the positive battery post.
If the battery is more than two years old, replace it.
If that's the original RCM, send it to tighed1 to be refurbished CLICK

Re: She's dead again
 

I'll definitely pull the RCM out tomorrow and check it carefully.

would this part being bad make certain modules, like the TCM, unresponsive?

Re: She's dead again
 

Replacing a battery after two years is probably a waste of money, take the charged battery to a auto parts outlet and have it properly tested under load.
Suggesting the replacement of the battery of that age is not constructive, if it does not prove to be the cause of the problem are you willing to reimburse the man for the waste of money.
A battery could fail after one day, never the less get a battery load tested before replacing it.

Re: She's dead again
 

it's a brand new Napa battery, and I put a trickle charge on it overnight to make sure it was fully charged. verified 12.6V resting after pulling off the surface charge.

Re: She's dead again
 

A load test is swell, but the way batteries are made these days I personally wouldn't trust one over two years in my car if I were having starting problems. I think low output on batteries is a major contributing cause to module failures on our cars and Mercedes in general. I just was shopping for a new battery and couldn't find much beyond a three year warranted. I have also seen loaded tested batteries fail shortly after reinstallation. To keep things simple when searching for a repair it makes sense to me to have a good battery.
If the battery was under two years I would load test it.

Re: She's dead again
 

Yes The traction control relay in the RCM powers the TCM.

Re: She's dead again
 

thanks that's good info.
regarding the battery and cranking- it's not the battery. it won't even try to start, no clicking, no slow/dragging starter, nothing. the lights don't even go off on the dash when cranking(like some cars do).

Re: She's dead again
 

I think you are a bit confused, if a two year old battery was having trouble I would suspect the charging system before the battery. Also starter problems.
No crank would indicate to me a problem with the RCM, either poor soldering or a poor EC relay not the TC relay also starter system problems.
A decent code reader may give a hint. Guesses can get expensive and may solve nothing.

Re: She's dead again
 

Turn key to start, if starter wont engage, release key to "ON" .
Wait 30 seconds.
If the engine fan spins up to high speed, REAL high speed, yank the RCM and either resolder it, send it to DJ or replace it.

If the engine fan does NOT warp up to high speed in 30 seconds, we have more work to do.

Re: She's dead again
 

Concur, Per post 4, OP is pulling RCM. I was simply answering his question in said post, and hope he reads Pizza guy advice first.

Re: She's dead again
 

PSD,
I'll add my two cents since I had a similar problem with the starter not turning over the engine. I put the battery (I don't know how old my battery was since it didn't have any date codes on it) on my 8 amp charger until the charger indicated that it was charged. The engine still didn't turn over. I took the battery to AutoZone and they gave it a load test. The battery passed the load test but the test also indicated that the battery had only 50% capacity. AutoZone put the battery on their charger for 45 minutes and load tested it again. The battery passed the load test but the test still indicated that the battery had only 50% capacity. I purchased a new battery with over 700 CCA (cold cranking amps) and my Crossfire turned over and started. It has started fine ever since. So, my two cents is to look at the battery capacity when you have the battery load tested. Crossfires seem to be very battery sensitive.

Re: She's dead again
 

the battery- i understand a battery can show 12V+ on a meter and drop to hardly nothing when loaded. that is not the case here. the battery is fine. i could hook a battery bank from a semi in parallel with mine and the car still would not start.
i tried cranking and waiting with key in run position, no fan.
tried connecting a scan tool, no com on any module.
FWIW, checked the OBD2 port, have power at pin 8 and 16


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cro...3d084c4543.jpg

Re: She's dead again
 

Re: She's dead again
 

PSD The OBD II connection under the dash is powered off the under hood fuse #14. The ground on the connection under the dash is #4.
You can find all this info in the service manual in section 8E. Sorta looks like a ground problem. Did you take the connections apart I mentioned in the 3 post and clean them all well?? The ground for the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) is just forward of the fill for windshield wiper fluid. It is a nut that if I remember it has four brownish wires connected to it. There is a small black box next to it that has major fuses it it. You may what to open that box and check them also.
Have you checked the 6 fuses on top of the RCM?? especially the #3 and large orange one??

Re: She's dead again
 

following up on the OBD port check, basic info says pin 4/5/6 are grounds. on this vehicle pins 4 and 5 are populated, and they both test good with test light.

i see 6 fuses on the RCM, 1-6. F4 is the big orange.
with key off, all have power except 2 and 3.
with key in on position, all have power.
checked battery connections and ground connection on inner fender, all good.

more info i forgot to share- the shifter is stuck in park, will not shift out. i was able to use the skeleton key thing and get it to shift. was thinking about a bad neutral safety switch, but it won't crank in P or N.
also, there is no gear indicator on the dash. i believe it should have something that indicates selected gear?

Re: She's dead again
 

That is a big clue. I've read about the no gear indicator on the instrument panel, but I can't put the pieces together right now. On the automatic the neutral safety switch runs from the console to the ignition switch and is triggered by the brake peddle. What bothers me is nothing on your scanner when looking at modules. That points at the PCM. as you have power to the data connector and good grounds.
You are certain that the RCM and the relays are all Okay? And you know about the three starts and the SKREEM associated problems if you disconnect the battery and then try to start car?
Hopefully someone else can help out. You know anyone nearby with another Xfire? You could try his RCM and even use his help with jumper cables to be certain those associated problems are accounted for.

PS FYI there is a Crossfire owner in Ft. Meyers Fl who is on this forum regularly " Dualsportdad" and he runs his own repair service. If he is not too far away from you. Just a thought.

Re: She's dead again
 

You know what you might try. That black box were the P should be made me think you should try to disconnect the TCU connectors. It is located under the carpet in the passenger foot well. With that off line it just might start. You won't go anywhere, but it just might start.

Re: She's dead again
 

Check the RCM.
It has caused similar problems before.