The banner above is an advertisment - if it asks you to download software, please ignore.
Site News - 4/9 Saab Owners' Convention Day Pass Raffle | 3/26 M Car Covers (by State of Nine)

The Saab Network Mailing List FAQ
Search:

Main Index
[ Prev by Date ] [ Next by Date ] Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
Newcomer Starting
Posted by Henry Loh (more from Henry Loh) on Tue, 30 Apr 2002 17:19:58
In Reply to: , Kok Chen, Sat, 17 Dec 1988 12:00:00 

Aloha, ladies and gents.  As noted, I'm new to SAABs.. very new.  I know only
the basics about cars in general, and a whole lot less about SAABs.  However,
my mother purchased a used SAAB 1990 9000CD turbo a while back.  It runs
quite nice, and all the options (power windows, roof, radio, AC, etc) seem to
work fine, but its been having an odd time starting.  I'm hoping you can help
me out.  Here are the details:

!) insert key and turn to ON position, all dash lights/indicators flash on (i
assume normal, as a check that all indicators work).  Car clearly has enough
electricity.  Fan turns on (ALWAYS set on 'AUTO,' no matter what it was on
before car was shut off).

2) turn to key to ignition position, non-essential electronics shut off
(normal, i assume, to allow all juice to go to starter) and hear a single
click (cannot remember from what side), but starter does NOT turn all the
time.

Also,  new battery and altenator have been tested.  When battery was tested,
they also found that there may be a small power drain SOMEwhere in the
system.  When the car is left undriven for long periods of time(2+weeks), it
is necessary to disconnect the negative to the battery (or else it is
drained).

The starter is new.  Mechanics (SAAB 'specialists') have scratched their
heads over it... but no solution or answer has been found.

MY guess... from my experience w/ my beatup old bmw, a simple short somewhere
could cause the drain.  As for the car starting only sometimes, since all
mechanicals seem to work flawlessly, i think there is just a bad ground or
loose wiring somewhere.

Solutions: My mother has spent well over 1000 on this already.  She cannot
drive the car as a daily driver due to the uncertain starting.  Because of
this, we have 2 options.

1)  the first is to give it to me to rummage through the engine bay and clean
all wire leads and grounds and check for exposed wires, etc... simple and
safe (i cant really mes anything up), just extremely tasking.  I ask first,
is my hypothesis valid/good?  Any input is EXTREMELY welcome and appreciated.
Will this mini-project be worth my time?

2)  if its not worth my time or if i complete my job and do not arrive at the
solution, how much would this car be worth?  it is only this thing that is
major.  As for other conditions, the cars exterior (black w/ pinstripes) is
tired... random scratches and dings (but not battered or w/ odd pathwork).
Appears to never have been in a major accident (just dings).  Interior is
functional and comfortable.  seats have dry cracking, no tears as far as i
remember.  mechanically, car is smooth, strong and quiet.  Only thing i see
mechanically wrong is it does drip oil when sitting for a long time.  (since
February, it made a 6in radius mark on a cardboard box.)  So how much is it
worth?  Considering its not a 'concours' vehicle, would we get more return on
assets if I parted out the car?  i know this would be true for my car w/ 'S'
options, but i do not know SAAB history and what options on this car are
marketable.

If you have been able to keep reading for so long, i applaud you.  Thanks in
advance for any sort of reply,even if its 'get off this board!'

Happy motoring

Henry
1990 SAAB 9000 CD turbo (mom's)
1980 BMW 320is (mine)
==================
The Saab Network
http://www.saabnet.com/
saabno39sdcx6spamx782saabnet.com

Posts in this Thread:
StateOfNine.com
SaabClub.com
Jak Stoll Performance
M Car Covers
Ad Available

The content on this site may not be republished without permission. Copyright © 1988-2024 - The Saab Network - saabnet.com.
For usage guidelines, see the Mission & Privacy Notice.
[Contact | Site Map | Saabnet.com on Facebook | Saabnet.com on Twitter | Shop Amazon via TSN | Site Donations]

This is a moderated FAQ - Posting is a privilege, not a right. Unsolicited commercial postings are not allowed (no Spam). Please, no For Sale or Wanted postings, SERIOUSLY. Classifieds are to be listed in The Saab Network Classifieds pages. This is a problem solving forum for over 250,000 Saab owners, so expect to see problems discussed here even though our cars are generally very reliable. This is not an anything goes type of forum. TSN has been a moderated forum since 1988. For usage guidelines, see the TSN Mission and Purpose Page. Please remember that you are not anonymous
Your address is: 18.118.120.109 - Using Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com) - Logged.
Site Members do not see red text instructions, green links, and bottom of the page banners.
Click here to see all the Site Membership Benefits!