My 2004 Crossfire was cranking 3 times and not starting (repeat with a disconnected battery reset) and I learned this was an immobilizer issue with the SKREEM system. I had my car towed to the Chrysler dealership where it sat for 12 months waiting for parts from Mercedes that never came. I had enough (and they didn't want to keep my car any longer) so I had my IT guy from work get my car since he likes side car projects. He confirmed that a re-solder was all that my car needed to get back on the road as described in this German video .

This is the end to my very long nightmare so I wanted to share confirmation in English that this does indeed work. I can't promise that it will work for everyone but it is quick and simple to try and much less time (and less expensive) than trying to wait for Mercedes $500-$600 parts that have been out of stock and they probably never want to produce again. The other solution offered by the dealership was to get all new locks and skreem and key and replace everything for $1200+. Sorry if this is bringing up an old issue that has been discussed to death but I did not see anyone confirm this in English and thought it would be worth sharing for those who might be dealing with the same problem.

So I would suggest everyone first try a few simple DIY fixes like battery replacement in your key fob, then immobilizer ring replacement, then resolder the SKREEM unit (A local TV repair shop can do this if you aren't comfortable soldering and aren't lucky like me to have an IT friend to help). If all that fails, try a 3rd party fix like the IMMO Delete/SKREEM Off from precision ECU or NeedsWings SKREEM refurbish/swap. Last you can try the full key/lock/skreem swap but that seems like it would take a lot of work and you would still end up with a used part that might face similar issues down the line. Hope this helps!

 

Thanks for sharing. Always wondered why skreems failed. This may not represent every case , but worth checking out.

 

A hardware defect like rtowne has is really rare. Mostly it's a software problem what can fix by the known companies.

 

Well, I have 3 bad ones that don’t communicate and this makes perfect sense considering how bad we know the factory wave-soldering is. I’ve never put them under a microscope as I was certain the problem was SW related. I’ll test tomorrow and write back when I get a chance.

I’ll bet that SW is a problem on some, but it would be interesting to know if the bad joints cause the SW issues. The reason I say this, is that when you try to read these MCU’s and Microwires they’ll auto-erase if you don’t do it perfectly. So if the joint is bad and it gets an intermittent signal it could cause the data to be corrupted.

 

Welp, didn’t work for these ones. Still waiting on good ones to clone, should be here soon.