I looked at an 04 Crossfire manual car today. For sale car had some minor body damage, but the concerns I had are based on electrical problems. Car has 69,000 miles and it runs and drives fine. But, the speedometer does not work, the dash has many lights on. and the spoiler is up! Reading some of the fix it posts on here, it appears to be caused by a bad RCM. Would that be the consensus of you experts out there. You all helped me get our current 04 up and running after about 10 years non op. It had an RCM problem with different symptoms than this car.
The car I am looking at has some body damage on left front facia and fender. Facia appears repairable, and fender also likely can be fixed. Seller asking $2700 with the problems. Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.

 

It is almost 100% certainly the RCM. A failed "Traction Control" output from the RCM will give you:

Several warning lights related to traction control/ABS (since the TC and ABS will both be inoperative)
No Speedometer (because there is no data to drive it)
No change in odometer reading (because there is no data to increment it)
Wing permanently up (because the BCM is not hearing from the brake controller, so the wing is raised for safety)

All of these items are driven by the brake controller's data output, with no power to the brake controller, this is what you get.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. This site and it's experts are great. Glad I came back to the right place for info.

 

Just an Idea; If you can borrow or buy an RCM and see if the owner will let you swap it out. Then you can see if your troubles clear. If they don't, walk away from that car and return the RCM to where you got it. Unless you're set on a Crossfire, then keep it because it's good to have a spare.

 

I made the deal. $2300 for an 04 Crossfire with six speed manual.69,000 miles. Some minor damage to driver front bumper/fender, broken cup holder, need headliner, and needs an overall detail. Drives good, stops good. May need to replace tires since they are a mismatched set and the rears are due anyway. I'm gambling on the RCM as the problem at this price. I do have spare RCM for my other crossfire. Will take delivery tomorrow.

 

Good luck, sounds like a deal.

 

Congrats! I hope everything works out!

 

Brought the car home tonight. Drove fine, but WOW, first gear is really low. Only had time to change the RCM and all the dash lights went out, including the check engine light, except the BAS/ESP. Tried steering wheel reset and that didn't turn it off. But I'm real happy that what you guys said was the issue, solved the problems. The car needs a real detail and engine bay cleaning. It only came with one key fob. That is a bummer. Cupholder is jammed about 1/2" down in it's opening. Likely have to remove center console to work on that. Some damage to facia and driver front fender. I think both are repairable. I think it is worth the money I paid, especially after the RCM fixed the issues, including no speedo.. Less than 68K miles. No pictures yet, but will post some in the next few days. Thanks for looking.

 

you shouldn’t have to remove the center console to remove the cup holder. The thing is junk. Just rip it out and put one of the 3D printer change holders in its place

 

Washed the car, cleaned the wheels, applied ceramic wax and cleaned up the under hood some. Checked the tire pressure, lf 40 pounds, rf 23 pounds, right and left rear both 25 pounds, but no light on for low tire pressure? Anyone know if D.J. Tighe is still doing RCM repair? Getting the title tomorrow, got insurance coverage today. I will be checking with a friend to see if he will straighten the fender, otherwise I will likely buy a used one. Pulled the broken cup holder from the center console, it's pretty much toast! I'll try to get some pictures loaded in next day or so.

 

Probably bad tire pressure sensors. DJ still rebuilds the RCM. Replace the cup holder with a replacement bin from E Bay. Looking forward to the pics

 

As far as no low tire pressure light.
1) The wire in the dome light could be disconnected.
2) I believe the Base and SE models did not have the monitoring system.

 

Base definitely doesn't have it and I'm so glad it doesn't! LOL

 

Sorry, no pictures yet. Been working on the bumper cover while the car went to retired body man friend who straightened the damage driver fender and repainted it to a good match. The bumper cover was worse than I first thought with lots of cracked substructure and broken fasteners as well as a few tears in the cover. So, after a lot more hours than I expected, the cover is ready to test fit before fixing the exterior of the cover for paint. I see why the used covers sell for such high prices. Good thing I don't charge for my work! While working on the front fender area, i noticed the tire needing replacement not only has very little tread, but the sidewall is seriously age cracked on the inside . No indication of ageing from the outside. Car has Achilles tires on the rear, same as I have on my free Crossfire, so I was going to replace the fronts with Achilles, but the size apparently is not currently available. Weird. Also noticed the Breather covers are leaking oil so I will be learning a few new skills there.
i promise, i will get some pictures posted soon. Thanks for checking in.

 

I just did my valve covers and breather covers recently. I did a write up with detailed pictures and descriptions. I have a lot of "How to" posts under the thread "My Journey with my 2006 Roadster "Svengoolie".
Because of the 10 picture limit, my post is in 3 parts. I'll post the 3 links. Hopefully it will be helpful to you.

Valve covers and breathers Part 1

Valve covers and breathers Part 2

Valve covers and breathers Part 3

 

Thank you, much appreciated.

 

Trial fitted the front bumper cover today. It fits just OK. Very difficult to get the gaps correct at the upper mounting points under the front edge of the hood. Also the driver side was pretty torn up and the mounting plate at the wheel arch was bent with the impact. Getting the damaged metal fender which has been fixed, lined up to the repaired, torn upper edge of the bumper cover where it meets the metal fender is not easy. I'm going to take it off and give it another try. I have spotted an undamaged fender for sale reasonably but it will need paint since it is red.
What's crazier is that I found another Crossfire needing help! 2005, automatic,77,000 miles, in good aesthetic condition. Body only needs repaint of windshield trim and a PS tail light or light lens. No dents, no rust, and the interior is nice. Needs two front tires. But, it has the two cranks, start and die symptom. Can get two more cranks by disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it. From what I read, it is a SKREEM problem. As I understand it, there are no replacement SKREEM's available. So my options would be an immobilizer delete or a Skreemulator? Any other options or repair solutions?

 

MSS, "Mercedes Swap Shop", repairs them.

 

There are several members who actually make a small side business of "rescuing" crossfires. I know one person who lives near me does it as a passion project. Be careful, you can get suck into these cars and soon have about 4 in your driveway.

 

I emailed DJ Tighe this past Wednesday and asked about current prices to have him repair the RCM from the 04 I'm working on. I have not heard from him. When he repaired the RCM out of my free 04 that I was working on about 4 years ago, he was quick to reply. I'm wondering if he has changed his email address since that time, or has he retired from repairing the RCM? The address I have is tighed1@hotmail.com
Thanks for any info on this situation..
Also, I had purchased a replacement cubby to use in place of the broken cup holder. Well, I was hoping to just slide it in the hole left when I removed the cup holder, but it was too tight a fit. It likely would fit if I removed the center console and then took out the remains of the broken cup holder frame. That is what I was trying to avoid. So I spent an hour modifying the front of the 3d printed tiny box so that it would slide into the console. $34 shipped from Ebay. Think if it were to happen again, i would just build my own.
This car also has a penchant for burned out bulbs. Drivers side marker, passenger rear side marker, drivers parking light, no bulb at all in passenger side fog light, and one of the overhead dome lights is out as well. All are fixed except the dome light which I should get to tomorrow. Then back to fine tuning the bumper repair. Oh, and someone installed a Pioneer radio/etc. which only works out of the passenger side speakers. Checked the balance and fade, etc., but that didn't help. Wiring or internal problem I suppose.