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broke down, looking for suggestions?

701 views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Jeff325 
#1 ·
The other week my 9000 aero broke down and I was hoping someone could make a suggestion of the cause of my problem.

When it broke down I was sitting at an intersection. It started idling roughly and stalled. The starter cranked but didn't catch, and trying to jump it did no good. I flat towed it to my garage where it has been sitting since. I recently checked and the battery was almost completely dead.

My first ideas pointed to the alternator? Maybe fuel pump? I just don't know enough about auto mechanics and I was hoping for suggestions.
 
#2 ·
It sounds like the DI pack failed, these can overheat when in traffic if failing then stop all together. You should be able to test this if you have a friend that also has a saab to change the item. it is easy and only held on by 6 screws.


Hope this helps
 
#3 ·
sab said:
It sounds like the DI pack failed, these can overheat when in traffic if failing then stop all together. You should be able to test this if you have a friend that also has a saab to change the item. it is easy and only held on by 6 screws.


Hope this helps
I completely agree however have that battery checked FIRST. It's alot cheaper to replace.

Your car did EXACTLY what mine did when the DI cassette on mine died.

Have yourself or someone hook up a known good battery first and try to start the car. If it starts check the dash display (after a press or 2 of the info button to see the voltage) and see if it is over 13 volts. If it is then the alt is providing some juice.

Hope this helps as well.
 
#6 ·
So I swapped in an ignition cassette that I know is good, and hooked up the battery to jump it. Once the battery got up to about 12v of charge I proceeded to try to start it. The engine compartment made a loud click and all the ****pit lights dimmed.

I repeated this a couple times and decided to check fuses(something I should have done in the first place). Sure enough, the fuel pump fuse was blown. I replaced this and the engine cranked and fired up, but only for a few seconds. Now I cannot get it to fire up again.

At this point I decided to call it enough for the night. The 9000's battery was fully charged but as soon as I unhookd it from the 95's, all of the charge drained right out. It seems like I have two differant problems: my battery cannot sustain charge and (maybe?) there is no fuel reaching my engine. Any suggestions? Could the two be related?

Thanks a lot
 
#7 ·
My bet is the fuel pump is dying or it's dead.

Your fuel pump is more than likely toast. The blown fuse for the pump might indicate the pump motor brushes are excessively worn casing it to pull more current.

Before you start it the next time, pound hard on the hatchback floor near the front left corner a few times, or use your fist to hit the bottom of the fuel tank a few times. This might move the pump motor slightly to get it off the bad spots.

Then try and start it again, if it catches and runs but dies shortly after that the pump motor is going bad. If it won't catch at all and just cranks and cranks the pump motor is dead.

The fuel pumps either die slowly and work intermittently or experience sudden death. I have had both ways happen to me in my 92 9000. The first pump failure was intermittent. I replaced it with a used unit that made it over a year before it gave up. That one just totally died. I then replaced the pump motor with a brand new one.
 
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