Hi everyone.

I haven't had a chance to drive my SRT-6 Roadster for a while because I relocated to Maryland for a new job, and the car was still back in the garage at my original place in St. Louis, Missouri. I took a flight back to St. Louis for the holidays though, and I've been driving the Crossfire back up to Maryland today and tomorrow.

So far, so good *except* a few hours into driving on the interstate, I noticed the car seemed to "surge" slightly, several different times. It felt like I suddenly pressed down harder on the gas, even though I was holding the throttle steady at 70MPH or so.

A couple times, shortly after I stopped for gas, it suddenly lost a lot of power, just momentarily, and then resumed again. Again, this was while I was at highway speeds, and the second time it did it, the car actually lurched a bit and it was rather disturbing.

No check engine lights or anything, however, and the car is otherwise running ok right now. I'm hoping I can make it the rest of the way home tomorrow without incident -- but any ideas what's wrong here?

My car has about 46K miles on it, and I bought it used (apparently its 3rd. owner) with pretty much no known service history. Everything I've seen under the hood looks original though (looks to be the original battery, for example).

Off-hand, I was thinking maybe I've got the intercooler pump starting to fail? But is what I described often the first stage of that happening, or does it tend to stay non-functional for longer periods of time when it's going out?

 

IC pump fail, supercharger is turning on/off intemitenly depending on the temp.

 

Your assumption and SRT's comment are correct - IC Pump failure. Mine did the same thing. Put in a new IC pump and everything was back to normal.

Good luck!!

RL

 

Sounds like another dead pump.

 

Most probably. But could it be fuel delivery; the original fuel filter/pressure regulator or pump going bad or getting clogged?

 

With mileage, I would guess the pump...but nothing wrong with changing filter as well since it is stored, and the mileage thing again....

 

Just thinking out loud.
If he turned on the AC then the fan would be running offering better cooling. Perhaps the SC would remain on at hwy speeds well enough to get him home???

 

I recently changed my pump and found it to be an easy DIY. I purchased a direct replacement shipped for ~ $120. With your mileage if the pump is not the problem it soon will be. You probably should check your coolant level as the pump may be leaking. Pm me if you want a link to the dealer I bought mine from.

 

Picked up my XF with 42k on the clock and had this issue right away. Used the Johnson pump to rectify.

Funny thing how it surges. You might notice that when the car surges ahead, the s/c is disengaged. When the unit engages, the car kind of lurches backward. Seems consistent with the 30 or so horsepower gained in the clutch disengagement. Pretty tricky nonetheless.

 

Ditto on the IC pump. I went with the Johnson as well (hmmm that sounds bad).

BUT, I also has the same symptoms and it turned out I also had a bad accelerator pedal value sensor. Since our cars are "drive by wire" when it comes to the gas pedal, if the potentiometer in the pedal goes bad, it can send bad info to the throttle.

One way I tested mine was to monitor the TPS values with my OBD app on my iphone. Driving on open road with no change in pedal input, I would see the TPS value jump wildly.

Another thing I tried was resetting the throttle. This seemed to fix the problem for short periods. Here are the steps copied from MBWorld.

1. Get in and shut the door
2. Turn key to position 2 (right before the start position) DO NOT START THE CAR
3. Press the gas pedal to the floor... past the kick down point... see why I say DO NOT START THE CAR!??!
4. Hold the pedal there for 15 seconds
5. After 15 seconds while foot still planted, turn the key off but do not remove it
6. Release gas pedal... and get ready to be bored
7. Wait at least 2 minutes while not touching anything in the car, don't open the door even.
8. After the 2 minutes start the car and drive off normally... you should notice a difference in the shift pattern and smoothness.

 

Interesting thread. I'm looking to see if anyone else has experienced a TOTAL loss of power on the highway. I have a 2004 coupe (5-spd automatic) and am the original owner (108K mi). Two weeks ago while in rush hour traffic which had just brought me to a stop, the car totally lost all power as I took my foot off the brake to resume inching forward in traffic. I had no electrical at all...couldn't even put on my emergency flashers (bad because it was dark and I and my dark red car were sitting in the left lane of traffic); the engine did not turn over at all...not even a click when I turned the key. Amazingly, after about 15 minutes and having tried the ignition several times and the tow truck was on it's way, I turned the key one more time and the car started up! I still had it towed in to an ASE certified Chrysler service dept where they spent several hours in diagnostics and tests and couldn't find a thing wrong. Anyone have a similar experience?

 

You have a reply to this post in your thread!

 

So I dealt with an odd power loss/partial power loss issue for several months. In this thread:

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...-no-start.html

a no start issue is described and I figured, well, that's not my issue. But it was. Replaced the relay and this whole problem went away.


FWIW, if you take the casing off the module, you really can see the solder breaks.

Just a thought...


AJ

 

Did Mr Kingtj get home ok?

 

Thanks for asking!
Yes, I made it back in one piece!

I ordered a replacement Bosch IC pump off Amazon ($130 shipped). Bad thing about my new townhouse is I don't have a garage -- just a designated parking space in the lot in front of it. Not even sure we're legally allowed to do car repair in the parking lot here?

I know people are saying the pump replacement is an easy DYI -- but given my situation, is that still the case? I mean, is this feasible to do with just a few select hand tools and outside in the cold?

If nothing else, I may just try to print off any good instructions posted here and take the car to a local shop with the replacement part, and see if they're willing to do the work for me fairly inexpensively.....

 

There should be some 'rent a shop space' facilities in the Washington area, you will just need some basic tools, a new pump and a thermos of coffee .......
( quite a few of these facilities also have tools for rent )

get a set of these http://www.sears.com/lisle-hose-pinchers/p-00914135000P hose pinchers, and you will lose very little fluid ...

 

I used a spare breather hose I had laying around to link between the two hoses. Air lock in the section kept the fluid in both stock hoses from moving around.

The DIY write-up on here is spot-on with the exception of a pesky fastener in the liner that's hidden way up inside the body. All it does it prevent the wheel liner from coming out completely, but you can easily just fold it out of the way. I also recommend you keep the stock hose clamps on there as they have a much more uniform pressure to seal up the completed install. -Would stink to have to tear it back down for a leaky worm gear clamp.

Adjustable pliers make easy work of the stock clamps.

 

One thing to remember is even if the SC is cutting out due to over-heating, your car will still run just fine with the exception of the noticeable loss of power, so you won't be left stranded. When I bought mine in March of 2012, it was still rather cool out when I drove it home from the OK City dealer back to Wichita. I drove highway speeds at night and even though it was cool, the SC kept cutting in and out. Bottom line is when the pump starts to go, there isn't much you can do to salvage the power except replace the pump. The SC generates enough heat under normal use to trigger the "shut down" pretty quickly when the pump is not working.

RL

 

I had the same problem and it was the fuse block. The dealer said another customer had the same problem and they finally figured it out. Before, this dealer fixed it, 2 other dealers gave up trying to fix the problem.

 

Have the same issue, replaced crank position sensor, same problem, I took a video this time, did u ever find a fix?