I have an 05 SRT6 Roadster… I’m definitely no mechanic, I do all my own work though as long as I know what it is to be replaced/repaired. With my crossfire though I’m just a mess, seem so many issues this car has had over years I can not pin point causes. So my crossfire had this like pump whining from driver side engine bay for a few weeks at start up and maybe a couple times in 1st 30-45 minutes run time. Someone told me possibly power steering pump going bad… 3 days ago now, I noticed the whining wasn’t there, but now when I start car (everytime) it feels weak, like as if battery is dead… but still fires right up. I had an extra crankshaft position sensor laying around so I decided to swap it.. read somewhere could be that… when I removed old crankshaft position sensor it was covered in a fluid (assuming oil?)… installed new one and still same issue. Any advice or others who had had these issues? With cost of parts & finding parts… hoping someone has some better ideas as to where to even start…

 

Have you scanned it for codes? Any sign of leakage around your valve covers?

 

Power steering pumps appear to be failing at a faster rate than ever before. In 2010, I dont think I heard of one going bad, today, I hear about it on Facebook quite often. In any event, keep in mind our cars are at the 20 year mark (or close to it), such items are going to fail.

"like the battery is dead"? If the battery is dead, the starter wont engage. If the battery is weak, the engine will turn over slowly, (if terminal voltage goes below about 10.7, the car wont start anyway). Why would you change the crank sensor in such a case?

Was there evidence of oil in the area of the sensor? Leaky valve-breather covers is common and no big deal.

Your post is ambiguous, is the engine turning over slowly on the starter? Or is it just taking a lot of turns before starting?

 

So, I drove to an advance auto to see if they can and do their battery, alternator, starter test…. Turned car off, went inside… guy came out hooked to battery… he said battery seems good… go ahead & crank it so we can check alternator & now car would not start at all… just smoke started coming up from
passanger side of engine area… not 100% but we are assuming starter all together is toast… was about to call tow truck with AAA to get it back to house & decided I’d attempt to start once more 1st…. And it very weakly turned over and then started up and ran like a champ home…. So again, not 100% but seems it might be starter…

 

i mean, no idiot lights popped up on dash at all so far… i did scan with a generic tool and no codes showed… but idk how much id get with my cheap-o little scanner

 

so, power steering pump (if that’s what I was hearing) is no longer even doing the whining now… never had any power steering issues either, was just assuming based of what i found on here that coming from driver side of bay everyone lead to believe it is the power steering pump (i ordered one anyways that’s on way still).

So the car would crank weak/slow sounding (as if a dying battery) is best I can describe… but it would crank over on its own then and car would run, no issues and as it normally does…. Although now it won’t start at all now and if i turn key to attempt cranking… i get smoke from passenger side bay… guy at advance said he thinks the smoke is from starter… and after searching my service manuals starter is down on that side… so it just might be that…

i dont see any fluids anywhere leaking & smoke wasn’t coming from the block itself… almost thought alternator but that’s up front and fully visible and definitely not where smoke was coming from…

I tried starting once more before calling AAA and it did the weak/slow/delayed crank and then fired up and drove like itself home… but parking and leaving till I figure this out… don’t want to chance keep starting and further damage anything. Guess I’ll have to find a starter and see if that works… and inspect wiring, grounds, etc; advance auto hooked up to battery 1st with vehicle off and he said battery is showing good… but of course it then wouldn’t crank up for him to allow his tool to further check alternator and starter…

Crankshaft position sensor I had ordered & kept one on hand… last year, maybe a year and half ago… it was down pouring and I got a crankshaft sensor or possibly wiring code I forget what code… but I assumed due to the heavy downpour here in Port Saint Lucie, Florida could have just been that… cleared code to see if it
would replicate/come back and orders one just incase and kept tooling in car anyways… but nothing with it in a year/year & half… but again, searching on here I did see possibilities of it being a bad crankshaft or even camshaft sensors keeping it from starting, so for heck of it, since I had it anyways I changed it… but when changing it, it was wet.. with fluid. Idk what fluids it couldn’t have been.. I don’t think it could have been just water since it’s enclosed in bellhousing and higher up on top anyways.. unless it wasn’t seated fully… then possibly since the rain/washer fluid drain holes to drop directly into transmission around there if I remember right when I was clearing drains in the fall…

 

this is a quick clip for how it (was) starting

 

Generally speaking, anyone who replaces the starter on a care with an M112 engine finds out it fixed nothing. I've been on this forum 16 years as of July 10,2025. I know of two starters that were bad, all the rest was RCM/Battery/etc.

In your case, given how it first spins very slowly then speed up, I don't THINK it's the battery after all. I tend to agree, you may have (as rare as it is) a bad starter. An analog voltmeter would tell you what is going on, if you could measure the voltage at the OUTPUT of the solenoid during cranking, if that voltage starts off low then climbs, I'd suspect the battery or solenoid. If not, I'd suspect the starter.

I RARELY say this, but I think replacing your starter and solenoid would be a good guess if the battery is new. With Crossfires, my default is to replace the battery first in any case like this:

Won't crank.
Cranks slowly
Wing has a mind of it's own
Convertible top acts erratically when putting top up or down without engine running (Of course, putting top up or down without the engine running is what fools do...)
Lots of yellow lights on instrument panel (BAS/EAS, etc.)
....... most any other weird electrically-related complaint.

 

yeah, I’ve had no dash lights… no power issues, battery tested good and is fairly new like 4K miles on it only…. RCM was replaced in 2023 and I have a spare also…

I did get car up today… and the odor from the smoke last night….. is strong below starter… and starter is drenched in what “I think” is power steering fluid or possibly oil. Oil pan is saturated in an oil substance, but I did have a power steering leak from reservoir hose last fall… I fixed the leak and had no more leakage… but since I believe the noise I was having is power steering pump… maybe another leak
somewhere, although steering fluid level has been good… I check it frequently since I did hose repair…. I redid the valve covers & breathers in mid 2023, took to a shop and they did the crappiest job ever… had leaks and smoke burning up from drip so I don’t see oil from heads…. But, I never did get around to redoing the oil pan, I had issues getting car up to get under… but I bought a lift so now I can… I’ll redo pan and clean undercarriage, replace steering pump & starter… see what happens I suppose…. Also, might explain fluid in crankshaft sensor also… could have gotten in from starter? 🤷🏻‍♂️ wonder how long clean/fresh power steering fluid would keep its color & consistency?? Before realizing where the leak was on reservoir hose… I went through almost 1.5qts of fluid keeping it filled during a 1-2 month span … was quite a bit of lost fluid. I can’t really tell difference between the oil and steering fluid color/consistency to know what fluid it is all over under there

 

Hi,
I think the smoke is a give away that the starter is going bad. It takes a lot of energy to turn the flywheel so that the car will start.
It's like when you're drilling something and the bit gets stuck. The drill wants to keep turning but it can't. Then it gets hot, then it starts smoking.

Some advice: When you buy a new starter, don't cheap out, buy a good name brand like BOSCH.

 

ordered a used OEM Bosch… if it fixes issue… and I know for sure that’s what was issue… I’ll replace with a newer or remanufactured… whatever I can find. But yes, I found researching to stay Bosch & to not waste time on the aftermarket/off brands with this car is able… same with my 200c 🙄🙄

 

The re-manufactured should be fine.
Best of luck to you

 

You need to fix the leak or you will burn up another starter. Certainly clean up the fluid that is over everything you describe and find that leak. Hopefully it is up topside so you can get to it.

You say the Crankshaft Position Sensor has "fluid" on it. Where is the fluid? Is the fluid on the outside where the electrical connection is and where you place your hand to remove it, or is the fluid just on the inside that is screwed into the bell housing? Have you checked your transmission fluid level; Car running, after a trip so it is warm, and in park.

There are three black plastic inspection pieces that you can remove all on the bell housing. One large one on the front and two smaller rectangular on the bottom. Open them. Do you see engine oil or transmission fluid. It is normal with the age of our cars to see see a little that will wipe with your finger, but if they are dripping wet up inside you may have found your leak. Dry it up the best you can with shop towels then check again in a few days after driving the car. If it is soaking wet again you have a seal leaking. Depending on what fluid you see; Rear main seal (most likely) or transmission if it is up inside the bell housing. If it is on the outside and dripping, the transmission pan is leaking. While your there look closely at the large electrical connection forward side passenger on the transmission. The o-rings go bad and that can leak also.

 

do you know our transmission fluid color by chance? To me it looks like oil or even possibly power steering fluid since I did have a decent leak for a few months… went through almost 2 cans of steering fluid to hold it up till I had time to actually get car into garage… so if transmission fluid is darker than the engine oil or power steering fluid… it wouldn’t be transmission fluid then… I just am not 100% sure on trans fluid color… I will inspect better tomorrow though to see if I can see leaks around trans & into bellhousing… I know previous owner just had in shop before I bought the car in April 2023, they put new valve cover @ oil pan gaskets… they also had transmission serviced (I believe the receipt then gave to me shown they did fluid flush/exchange & filter just as maintenance). A week after I bought car I noticed valve covers were leaking… the shop did a horrible job, so I replaced gasket, new bolts, & also did breathers…. At time I didn’t have a way to get under this low ground car… so I never was able to really inspect oil pan itself… but now that it’s up I see oil all over oil pan and sprayed back to transmission also… so possibility the fluids could just be from oil pan. I do check engine oil like every 2-3 weeks & hasn’t been low… so idk. Again other chance would be power steering fluid. I have the plastic protector shield under the engine bay… so could just be all the power steering fluid that dropped, caught by under shield and then made its way back… 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

Most transmission fluids will be redish; The correct fluid is Pentosin ATF 134 and it is redish product # 1088216. Pentosin also makes a green colored fluid; Don't use it.
The correct steering fluid is Pentosin CHF 11S and it has a greenish/blue tint. I have used AMSOIL steering fluid and that works fine.

Behind the engine on the passenger side is a dip stick tube for the transmission. You could stick a long electrical tie wrap down there to see what color the transmission fluid is in your car if you don't have the correct dipstick (they are available on ebay for under $15 if you need one). If the red cap on the dipstick for the transmission hasn't been used it will have a lock tab on it you can break to open the tube; Reuse just the cap to reseal the top. It will stay in place without the locking tab.

PS The crossfire oil pan is actually two pieces. It has an upper pan and a lower pan. Unusual for the upper pan to leak but it can happen. Much more often the plate on the rear of the engine in which the rear main seal is located will leak. You will see oil in the bell housing as I mention in the other post if that plate is leaking. You would replace both the plate and the rear main crankshaft seal at the same time if the plate is leaking. Hopefully what you are seeing is just residue from the power steering leak that you have already corrected, but while you are under the car you may as well check the other areas . Good luck.

 

Just an out of the box thought, but if your power steering pump had been running low or dry, maybe it's damaged, and is putting a lot of friction into the turning of the engine, e.g., the power steering pulley shaft is sticking, and initially the starter had to overcome that additional friction, thus the slow initial turn. As the steering pulley starts to move, it loosens up, and the engine rotates faster. You may still have leaks, but check to see how easily the steering pump rotates otherwise you may end up burning out another starter motor.
-Jerry

 

So, a local salvage yard had 7 crossfires… so I spent entire week salvaging parts to store away in shed. I replaced the starter with a used one from a 2004 crossfires TYC I think was brand I may be wrong but something of the sort/similarly named. The car fired up like boss. I have started it multiples times this week and driven it a good 200 miles now. I cleaned/degreased entire bottom of engine & transmission. From what I have seen so far after cleaning under… is that could possibly be a small lower pan leak/seep… but definitely the Oil Level Sending Sensor… which I’ll have to drop pay to remove & inspect… probably just a new o-ring seal… but, I salvaged 6 used ones from yard this week regardless… I’ll keep posted if replacing ring & new gasket/seal on lower pan eliminated this fluid leak that’s been wetting everything. But so far car is running great.