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Re: Newcomer Starting
Posted by John Hudak (more from John Hudak) on Thu, 9 May 2002 12:05:11
In Reply to: , Kok Chen, Sat, 17 Dec 1988 12:00:00

> !) 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).

FYI, you can set the action of the fan to be OFF or ON when the car is
started. I don't remember how exactl but it is spelled out in your owners
manual. I personally found it to be a pain, especially with a marginal
battery - you might have enough capacity in the battery to start the car,
if only all of the 'automatic' accessories did not come on to drain it!!!
I programmed mine to start in the OFF position.

> 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

This could be a starter solenoid problem. The solenoid could be bad, not
allowing the rotating starter motor to actually turn the engine.The click
you hear could be the defective solenoid trying to work (under full load
voltage) but being ineffective because it is damaged.
Well, yes, there is a small drain on the battery - the alarm system for
one, and also the radio. Please define 'small.' 40-50 milliamps is small,
and yes, over a period of 2-3 weeks, a marginal battery will run down.
My guess is 3-4 weeks. This seemed typical with my 93, 9000.

> The starter is new. Mechanics (SAAB 'specialists') have scratched their
hmm guess this blows the defective starter theory above....

> 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.

A bad ground would not cause the problem you are seeing. Cleaning the
gound terminals is probably a good idea, but will not help solve the
problem. A 'high resistance' short circuit could exist and cause the
battery to drain. Therefore looking for chaffed insulation on a wire is
probably a better thing to do.

A very common cause of this sort of problem is the trunk light. The switch
can become loose, causing it to turn on. One would never notice it. Id
check this trunk light and switch.

> 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...

See the above comment....

If you suspect a larger than normal current draw, set an anmeter in the
path from the battery to the main red feed wire. Start disconnecting loads
until you notice the current dropping to zero, or darn close.


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