Will do. The dealer seemed slightly taken aback when he realized I had a Crossfire telling me, "Oh no you can't take that in the evening if you want it to be seen! You have to bring it in early so our Crossfire specialist will have time to look at it!" (gulp) I hope this works out.

Also my car is a 6 speed manual and doesn't have a park did you mean neutral? And where do I find the tranny codes?

Thanks! Taking it in early Thursday morning will keep you posted.

 

Just want to thank everyone for the help. This site is so helpful and useful. Just found a reputable Chrysler mechanic near me thanks to a fellow forum member. Changed my mechanic will be taking it in Tuesday morning after memorial day. Will fill you all in on how it goes.

 

Well just took my baby in this morning before work. The mechanic working at the check-in was sympathetic and didn't question my judgment of it being the gear whine in the differential as I feared he would. In fact he said he had seen it before and seemed to know exactly how long it would take to special order the parts from MB. Hopefully all goes well. So to anyone interested I will fill you in on the process.

 

Now there is a cracking idea !

 

Heard back from the dealer earlier this afternoon. First thing he said after checking out the car (test driving it) with his technician was "It's normal noise" !!!! HA just as I suspected I thought. I talked to him, telling him I was recommended to the dealership by someone from the xfire forum which is a global community and explained to him I was fully aware of the rear differential problem in the '04 models. Once he realized I was obviously informed and well prepared he put me on hold and came back telling me to fax over my temp. registration (bought it used two weeks ago) and said his boss would take it out first thing tomorrow morning and he said "we will make this happen for you".

Now I know nothings been done yet to the car and I am crossing my fingers hoping everything will pan out and they will make the repair. I even sympathized with him understanding its an expensive and labor intensive job (replacing the rear differential) but explained to him it was under warranty and I wanted it done.

He originally explained to me it was "normal noise" and "nothing to worry about". However I made him admit it was the differential and after explaining to him the humming sound was only going to get worse (which I am sure he already knew) he changed his tune.

Case in point if it wasn't for this forum I would have had no idea what was wrong with my car, gone into the dealer empty handed and clueless and had the wool pulled completely over my eyes as my car continued to get worse!

I will let you know how the repair goes (i.e. time taken, costs (under warranty), and helpfulness).

Thanks!

 

Glad to hear they changed their tune after you set them straight with information from this forum. Did you print
out a copy of my work orders that I posted earlier and show it to them?

I can not believe the BS some dealers try to lay on a customer.

It took my dealer three weeks to get the new parts in. when they came in, I dropped the car off in the morning
and had it back that same afternoon. It was no big deal swapping things out. One thing to check before you leave...
make sure the exhaust is centered properly after they rehang it.

Keep us posted...

 

Ben47 those I did print out those repair orders and took them with me! They were very helpful and I really appreciate you posting those. He looked at them first thing and knew exactly what he was dealing with. I actually referred to you as "my friend who had the same problem with his xfire". Its still a shame they tried to put it off by telling me all is well though. Oh well thats 5-star service I suppose. Thanks again all your info. really saved me time and money!

 

You are correct, we may not all agree with everyone's post and opinions, but the bottom line is we're here to help each
other. In my book, that makes us friends.

You're welcome...

 

Thanks for that tip. I will let you know how it goes. Hopefully they stick to their word and do the repair! (knock on wood)... and your right, this forum is a great community and a "do it yourself" personality's dream!

 

So the head service manager test drove the car and claimed he only heard a slight noise between 50-52 mph!! He claimed from what he could tell it did not warrant and condemnation of the differential despite my claims that it was. I now realize what you all speak when you say "5 star service" with a sarcastic tone. I even told him I was disappointed that I was recommended to you guys from someone on the forum who you did a good job for and now you're giving me the run around. I don't know whether to take it somewhere else or not. Honestly I want my car back for now so I will sit on it. I am sure the humming noise will get worse over time although he claims it won't!!! He stood by his belief that it was "normal noise" "gear ring" and "nothing to worry about"!!! If this thing gets worse blood will be shed.

The dealer I was using is Manassas Chrysler.

If anyone wants to take out their anger and frustration about getting decent service for their XFire do it here!! Because I am PISSED OFF!!

 

Tell the service manager that maybe his hearing is not as acute as yours. Determining the level of the noise is somewhat of a subjective task. Unless he can show a DC tech bulletin showing that he noise must exceed a certain dB level before the part must be replaced, he as no cause to deny your claim. Bottom line is that if it is a problem for you then it should be addressed by the dealer. That's called customer service.

Sad to say it, but my Crossfire is my first & last Chrysler product. I can't buy another vehicle from a company that has such a p!$$ poor corporate culture.

 

Yes I had one other Chrysler product, a classic, my first car... '94 Chrysler town and country (with the digital speedometer and everything!) but the service was horrible and I swore them off. However the Crossfire drew me back in with its alluring good looks and complete packaging.

On the way to work this morning I am driving it for the first time since taking it in to Manassas Chrysler... all of a sudden hummm. I mean the noise is obvious and blatant and does not sound right!

I am taking it in to Tysons Corner Chrysler monday morning to actually test drive the car with a tech. Will post what happens!

 

After my fiasco at Manassas Chrysler last week... AVOID THIS DEALER THEY WILL ONLY WASTE YOUR TIME AND TELL YOU LIES... I took in my XFire early this morning to Koons Tysons Chrysler/Chevrolet.

Immediately I was impressed by the magnitude of the operation, looking in on their large garage it looked clean and orderly.

I waited only 10 minutes and the mechanic assigned to me and I went on a test drive. We chatted about how the supposed "service manager" at Manassas Chrysler blew me off telling me the humming was normal noise and it wasn't the differential. Once the car got to speed Dave (my mechanic) heard the humming sound immediately and knew right then it was "definitely the differential". He told me, "I have driven these cars and it definitely should not be making any noise from the rear at all."

Needless to say we drove back the dealership I dropped him off and he told me he would put in an order for the part immediately.

I was thoroughly impressed as well as relieved! If Koons does a good job with this differential swap I will permanently use them as my go to mechanic.

Thank the lord some Chrysler mechanics are actually good people who don't try to blow off their customers in need.

Hopefully soon I'll have a new differential and no more humming!

 

Message Deleted

 

Its a manufacturing defect. When an automaker produces a car it does tests on the differential (where the drive train gears connect to spin the tires) in order to make sure their is no "gear whine". Gear whine occurs when these gears are slightly offset in production and over time wear away at each other (very slowly, too slow in fact to disable you from driving in the normal life of a car). When they wear away they make a high pitched humming noise usually which changes depending on acceleration or deceleration. Obviously the XFire is rear wheel drive, however usually it is trucks that have differential problems not sports cars. A way to check if your differential is off is having the dealer or mechanic take off the differential cover and check for metal shavings (almost like a powder that you might find in paint) around the differential. As you can see from this post and the link benz47 posted earlier of another post on the same topic, some '04 XFires were built with this defect. However it is was rare enough that Chrysler did not create a TSB on the issue, therefore depending on your dealer (especially clueless ones) its harder to have them fix it or even know what a differential gear whine sounds like. The thing about the problem is, although the differential was built slightly off kilter it can take thousands and thousands of miles of driving for a hum to actually form. My car has 49,000 miles and I just got it used. I don't know how long it has been making that noise but that many miles just goes to show you how long it can go unnoticed. Also, if you have gear whine in the differential it only gets worse with time. Meaning those gears keep grinding against each other and the noise just gets worse. This is how much I have learned just doing research on the forum and talking to several mechanics I think its correct basically. I hope this helps!

 

If they fix it right, the only time you should hear a humming sound is when you have a girl friend in the car.

JK, I just had to say it.

 

You need to go back to that other dealer and let them know that you and anybody you tell won't be doing business with them!!! SCUM!!

 

Glad to hear that it's going to work out for you!!! And yes, I would go back to the old dealer and speak with the
owner/manager and the service manager together. Tell them your story AND you will no longer be buying anymore
vehicles from them.

 

Just dropped her off this morning 7 am at the dealer. I am knocking on every wooden fixture in my office hoping that all ends well. I will make a final post to this thread (hopefully) this evening or tomorrow when I get the car back. I am just hoping the humming noise is gone and nothing else new is wrong with the car.

 

The sound that you're describing (if I'm understanding you correctly) makes me think that it's probably the "pinion bearing", since you only hear it while accelerating or as you're driving normally. But as soon as you let off the gas, it goes away.
For those of you who don't know what a pinion gear is, it sort of looks like a giant drill bit that a dentist might use to grind out tooth decay. This gear meshes with the ring gear and spins the axle.
The pinion gear is set horizontally "beside" the ring gear, and when your accelerating, it actually wants to "drive" itself forward as if it were "drilling" or penetrating ahead, and when you let off of the gas, it "relaxes" and pulls back so to speak. If the pinion bearing is faulty, or worn, it allows the pinion shaft to travel (ever so slightly) but enough to make the gears "whine" or "hum". Since the alignment of the gears is so critical when "setting up" a differential, any movement in this area, would cause this misalignment to occur.
I'm not sure, but I would think this problem pops up more often with manual transmission cars than automatics simply because the shifts of an auto are more "seamless" than those of a stick shift, as are the launches. But that's normal wear and tear. If it's a faulty pinion bearing to start with, then the end result would be the same in both automatic and manual cars.
That's what your complaint sounds like to me, and if in fact that's what it is, then the 7/70 warranty should cover it.