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Engine Hesitation & DI Cassette
Posted by Tracy E Dutton (more from Tracy E Dutton) on Fri, 16 Nov 2001 13:49:21
In Reply to: , Kok Chen, Sat, 17 Dec 1988 12:00:00 

I have a 1995SET.  I posted a question this past summer concerning (very)
occasional engine hesitation in hot weather.  At the time, I suspected the
computer or fuel system problems (problem manifested like vapor lock).  I
took it to the dealer; they found nothing (not surprisingly since the
problem happened only infrequently and only for a few seconds at a time).
At the time, the dealer said that it might be the direct ignition (DI)
cassette.   I didn't want to spend $500 for something that seemed like 'a
shot in the dark'.  I had a new fuel pressure regulator installed; the
dealer had recommended against this,  but it sounded like a plausible
problem/solution to me and was inexpensive compared to the DI cassette.
For the following three or four months, the symptoms were even less overt
than usual... just an occasional 'unevenness' of power during
acceleration... but I wasn't sure whether the manifestation was real or
imagined...
But then five days ago, I was driving on the freeway and the car started
behaving like it was running out of gas... serious hesitation, but no
stalling and idle seemed fine.  It behaved anomalously for about 20 minutes
(7 miles during Friday night crush on the 405 freeway), then it was normal
again and remained so.  I was happy to get home, but concerned that the car
was going to fail in a big way very soon.  Failure came yesterday.  It
started and ran normally.  I went on errands to two places (driving between
the two places).  The car barely started when I came out of the second
place... running on ~2 cylinders?  Then I shut down and tried to restart...
starter worked, but no ignition.  There was also a strong acrid smell from
the engine compartment.

Luckily, it broke down only a few miles from Saab of Santa Ana (within
AAA's free towing range!).

It was the DI cassette.  Complete failure occurred at 56,000 miles/6 years.
The nasty smell (smelled like burning electrical lines or overheated
brakes) had come from the cassette.  There was evidence of fluid leakage
visible at the seam of the two main components of the DI cassette.  This
seam is not visible while the cassette is installed on the engine; it must
be pulled to view or scratch&sniff.

Amazingly, it was only two hours from the time that the car wouldn't start
until I was on the road again with a new DI cassette in a smoothly running
car.

But I was $500 lighter.

-Tracy
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