I have this beautiful car (‘Scarlet’) for 6 years and have babied it. But thanks to some serious medical issues I now have to deal with, plus arthritis which now wreaks havoc with my hands and spine, what used to be fun for me (yes, working in the bowels of my car was fun), has turned into agony.

A few months ago, after years of nothing major, the warning lights for the ABS, etc started acting up, and I stopped driving her. She still ran perfectly, but I decided to err on the side of caution. I changed sensors,etc, using this site for explanations and examples of what could be the issue. I replaced the ECM as well as the RCM (I previously did the solder repair a few years ago as per the famous ‘Mystery No Start’ thread and this worked…) but the car now will not start.

According to my mechanic, it is most likely a simple loose wire between one part of the ECM and the battery, which is really a lovely rope of wires. According to my mechanic, you simply need to match connections to see which wire is loose, which can take a few tries, or you sitthere for a few hours).

Husband spent several overheated Texas afternoons hunched over the engine bay. But now, since she won’t even crank over, my husband read through the entire 2-volumeService Manual, and now realizes that the Crankshaft Sensor is most likely the problem. It’s probably an easy fix, but he’s heading out to sea for the next year in a few days, which means that I’ll have to work on the car, and honestly, I can’t.

When she does run (again, probably a ridiculously easy fix since everyone in the world has better luck than me), she runs great. Shifts smoothly, air conditioning nice and freezing, cruise control, lovely easy ride. She was my daily driver in south TX blistering heat, and even with the a/c cranking, I normally got 28-30mpg with this car. My husband would make sure all the fluids were changed on schedule,same for filters, and he made sure the brakes worked perfect. (note, he never drove this car. He just made sure it worked so I wouldn’t use his.)

There willbe those that will see the 132K and scream oh no! the miles! the miles!....seriously, people, I DRIVE/DROVE this car, almost all highway, year round. According to KBB.org as well as Carfax, 15K a year is average, so this one, at 13K+/-, is low. And when I bought her in 2008, she had 69K, so really, in the past 6 years, I averaged just about 10.5K per mile (thanks, Bill, my math is pretty pathetic).

I know I missed several things with this car since I’m in my office, but the main one sare as follows (I’ll update when I get home, plus post pictures):

Powerwindows, power seats
Leather seats with no cracks, always kept covered.
132K
Synthetic oil
New LED headlights were replaced by me just before the issues with the sensor
Viper Alarm
Custom dash with Pioneer AVIC nav system, can add ipod, Sirius, download lots of CDs (there’s a thread here by one of her prior owners showing the entire custom dash journey) and there is some kind of booster between the front seats; the car practically vibrates when you put the volume to 11
Tires are less than 1 year old, and I bought the entire set at once from Discount tires, have put maybe 500 miles on them.
New battery (the ‘better’ one, not the ‘just to make it start’ cheap one)
New ECM, as well as RCM
Ice cold airconditioning (because south TX heat is surface-of-the-sun heat)
No rust
No leaks
The car does have a front bumper from a Crossfire SRT-6 (which I think looks way better than the generic basic one), and it was on the car when I bought her.

Cons:
Dent on drivers side ‘hip’, not punched through metal. From a parking lot since everyone but me drives those massive pickups. I couldn't find a car shop that didn't give me the ******* so I delayed in getting that dent fixed.

Windows tend to stick since I removed the after-market tint and haven’t really done a good job removing all the glue.

Since the windshield is not part of TX inspection, there are a few dings on the glass,none that have shattered. Also because of TX roads, there are the usual dings and tiny chips on the front, plus the fog lights got pummeled by road pebbles. And the headlights have the typical fog thing going.

The hydraulic lift thing for the hood needs to be recharged (?) or replaced. And because the lower dash was moved when the custom dash was installed, it sometimes gets dicey to pop the hood.

(not really a con, but it is to me) the shifter **** is aftermarket. While it is very pretty, it drives me crazy. To shift into reverse, you have to pull the ****,and this one can pop out. A simple switch to an OEM will fix this (but then I would have nothing to complain about.)

According to KBB, this car (running) would be considered Good, with an average price of $4,900, and Fair with an average price of $4,300. Since I don’t have the time to get her to start, I believe that 4000 is more than fair. Note, battery is brand-new, tires have less than 500 miles on them, a/c is fully charged and the custom dash has lots of perks, new(er) ECM, RCM and hubs replaced the Crankshaft sensor. I never started the Sirius account (I like to drive in silence), though I think you can simply start it straight from the system.

The car will need to be towed from my house on a flatbed at the very least (really low clearance means a regular tow hitch will damage the bumper). I live in southernmost Texas.

In closing,though it doesn’t seem from my rather cool descriptions, I really love this car and hate to see her go. But even before the Crankshaft issue, my health was heading downhill and I had decided that she needed to go. All she needs is someone willing to sit near the fuse cluster to probably see a small problem which we can’t, or change a sensor. A little cosmetic work, and she’s back to being perfect. Prior to this I never had any issues, always starts up, always got me to where I needed to go.

I have had a nightmare of a time trying to add even one picture to my gallery (there are a few there but they're really not pictures of the whole car; please feel free to contact me with any questions. (you stand a better chance of getting hold of me on my email: blaiseshimmer@yahoo.com)

She has a clean Texas title.

One key fob,one Viper Alarm fob.

 

Good deal, good price. The parts may be worth more. However, your math is a little off. If you bought the car in 2008 with 69K miles on it you would have put 63K miles on it in 6 years, which averages 10,500 miles per year since 2008.

 

oops. math was never my strong suit. And yeah, the parts would be worth more, but I really believe someone with more patience (and a working spine) could easily get this car back on the road.

 

Just a thought.. ECM replaced.. if I'm not mistake those have to be coded to the VIN.. any idea if this was done?

 

The mechanic that we used to install the ECM has That Machine, the giant coding-machine-thing that BMW and Mercedes uses, so it was done. And we have a tool that can read and reset BMW stuff (sorry for the non-technical jargon, guys). But we still couldn't figure out why the dash lights stayed on (brakes, abs...), and he suggested a shorted or loose wire. The car was driven home from the shop. When hubs started checkign wires, then the fan went on, lights started to flicker...and nothing. He's been scouring this website, and is in the process of heading to O'Reilleys for a Crankshaft sensor, which, he hopes, doesn't have to be coded (since it's not a special-order piece, it probably doesn't).

 

Is the car still for sale?

 

Yes, I still have the car. I have a bit of a problem posting pictures, but I can try.

 

What is a viper alarm fob?

 

 

Any pictures yet or how to contact? I am interested. Looking at one in SD.

 

maybe this will help

 

the others she sent me. I was going to make it another V8 but to make mit easy i want a auto tranny,, don't miss the dent in the rear quarter jim

 

Mrmiata, thanks for posting the fob. I have been struggling with the pictures for a while. If anyone is still interested, you can contact me directly at blaiseshimmer@yahoo.com

And yeah about the dent. I did mention it under the 'cons'.. I want to be as honest as possible about the car.

 

How much for car. I am in Ohio Paul