What do you want for a response? You have already said that sending the RCM to DJ is not really practical, agreed. You KNOW the RCM is bad, therefore, the practical move is to just buy a new one. Once you do this, if the car goes back to normal, you have final confirmation that the entire issue is the RCM.

If you buy a new RCM and still have issues, you NOW have a direction to go.

Knowing how to solder is fine, but knowing how to solder and doing electrical diagnostics (which you obviously have some skill in) are separate skills. The RCM is a simply collection of relays with a few diodes. A new RCM is not expensive, and man of us (myself included) carry a spare.

When my RCM's Engine Control relay failed, I sent it to DJ and ordered a new RCM. Got the car running on the new RCM and DJ fixed mine and now I have a spare, which we all should have. The way I see it, it is time to order a NEW RCM and then deal with the old one after that. Once you put the new RCM in and verify ALL is OK, you know that the old RCM really is the problem and that means: bad relay, open diode. open solder junction/path, etc; fixing ANY of that involves only soldering or changing a relay. I was not going to mess with it, after 20 years in bench repairs, then almost 20 more in systems, my eyes are not suitable for such work anymore.

Again, I think you are making this WAY harder than it should be. I will leave you to other contributors on here who see it your way and not mine. You asked for my time and help, I offered it and you found it insulting - fine, others will step in, you do not need me and I need not spend time with someone who gets his 'feelings' hurt when someone offers their time and experience free of charge.

 

I’m with pizzaguy: the RCM’s aren’t that much new and is always good to have a spare! Get the new one and sent yours to Dj for $50 bucks and you won’t be sorry!!as for shipping just through it in a padded envelope and send n in the mail.

 

It's been years since a RCM has been lost in the mail. I'd say you're pretty safe to send it. Issue from the UK is the additional shipping costs. $93USD ($50 for repairs, $43 for return shipping).
The most recent RCM from the UK took 8 days to get to me. 5 days to get back to the UK.
You can email me tighed1@hotmail.com for the details if interested.

 

This RCM is in Amazon.

 

IT would be more helpful if you included the URL for him to find and order it. I found them for $129 at AutohausAZ, I didn't think an ever lower price was possible.

https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/139915...xoCCe4QAvD_BwE

 

Looks like Amazon.

 

I tried to add the URL but it would not work. It went to an incorrect site.
It is on Amazon as I advised in my initial post.
This site awesome and has helped me so much in my first month owning an XF. And the 6 speed is fun!

 

I think this one works: That's as low a price as I've seen in awhile.

 

BE ON NOTICE, the one I linked is for the SLK230. Do not freak out, the only difference is that one fuse is 20 amp in ours and all are 15 amp in the '230. Just transplant that one yellow fuse are you are good.
Im running that exact one right now, I have my DJ-fixed spare in the trunk.


And REMEMBER, it is fine to drive the car without a spare tire. It is nuts to drive the car without a KNOWN GOOD spare RCM !

 

SPORTS CARS have clutches. Just like REAL motorcycles.

(I can't go five posts without offending someone. But you all know that about me, don't you?)

 

Likewise for me. I have the new RCM I bought from RockAuto.com in the 2007 Coupe. My spare RCM is the one DJ fixed for me. And on that one, he's installed the 'me so horny' mod and he replaced a couple of relays that he found degraded. Took all of 4-5 days & I had it back. Way to go DJ!

 

Thanks, shipping to the UK is $62 for that one, will shop around or send to DJ. Although I think I may have narrowed it down to a faulty Engine Control Relay, so will be replacing it this weekend.

 

There MUST be enough SLK230s and 320s in the UK that someone is stocking RCMs. We heard from a guy in TURKEY some years ago and he found a new RCM at a parts store or dealer in the city he lived.

 

Very good information. Do you still offer this service, and if so are there any changes to the instructions.
Thank You,
Jerry Callen

 

FIxed two RCMs yesterday, my original one i discovered had been butchered by the previous owner or his mechanic and there was a short between two pins, resoldered and the engine light has gone!! The second RCM I replaced the ECR and the car started but had a traction control error. Replaced the TCR and I now have a spare RCM to add to the spares case in the boot! Result! Now back to the other issues...

 

Email me at tighed1@hotmail.com for the latest details on getting the RCM refurbished.

 

I just need to post here, I know this is a ancient thread started many, many years ago, but thanks to this, I just fixed my no start issue by replacing my RCM in about 10 min. If anyone is having this problem.
Here you go. My old RCM looked fine, the solder joints were clean so visibly you couldn't' t tell there was an issue, but all symptoms pointed towards this.
Good battery charge, all lights, rear wing went up, etc.
Ordered the new RCM from link above last night, showed up at 9:30am and by 9:45am I had the car running.

Thank you to all of you who added comments and information here. This is by far the best and most informative car forum on the web, and I have been part of dozens of them.

JPT

 

I suggest sending the old one to tighed1 for rebuild , for a spare. He charges under 100 bucks.

 

Thats a good suggestion. I think we may be selling the car shortly, but I still may send it to him and include it for the next owner.

I had a 07 Sky Redline we sold a few months ago, and found my dream car last week, so getting down to one convertible for space reasons and just practicality at this point.

JPT

 

Hello everyone from Lithuania! I'm new here, but have read fully other RCM related threads and ~800 messages in this thread (a bit more than half ) and still would like to ask for some advise.

What happened: Classical No Start issue with fan going crazy, so it is RCM related.
How tried to fix: Saw quite bad joints and tried to resolder them - didn't help. Also Air Pump relay was "black" as for lots of people here, cleaned it. Saw that the problem is in Engine Control Relay, which was not closing when is on "ON".
Workaround: when closed Engine Control Relay with rubber - XF did start. Yeeey.
Some questions:

• I checked the resistance of some elements where resoldered parts are involved - 0 Ohm, so quite strange that didn't help, or that's not enough? (my solder work wasn't ideal, but looks like connection is everywhere needed). If you say "0 Ohm" doesn't say anything - will go to buy a better soldering device (currently have cheap 40W) and a "sucker" to remove old soldering leftovers before that and try AGAIN to solder.
• Are there chances relay is bad? How to test it? I see 12V on relay in question, but DJ ( @tighed1 ) wrote in thread "power is present but the circuit is not complete because, due to the bad connections you have lost the path to GROUND.", so maybe this is still connection issues. How can i find where is the GROUND connection from relay?

Edit: ok, found the ground of the relay (0 Ohms between those relay pins and connector B5 GROUND) but still everything looks fine speaking of connectivity, so not sure what to do further or how to localize the problem better. Except of course buying a spare RCM which i probably need to do.

Thanks, Andrejus