Does this sound like a fuel pump to you?

[wisneski7]

My wife took the Saab this morning for a short drive. She only got about 1 mile down the road and the car shut off while at a stop sign. It wouldn't restart after trying quite a few times(killed the battery). About 30min. later I put jumper cables on the car and it started just fine, however it only ran for about 20 sec. at the most and then shut off. It wouldn't restart after this. Again jumped it an hour later and it ran for about 10 sec. and then shut off. Had it towed home where I had a charger on the battery in the garage. Before trying to start it I took a rubber mallet and banged on the fuel cell around the pump area. It started right up and ran fine for about 20-30 seconds. While at 2-3K rpm, the car ran smooth but the rpms would dip down a bit, then recover, back and forth till it suddenly dipped below 1K rpm and then died. I tapped on the fuel tank again and repeated this process about 3 times, however each time after the car would run for a shorter period, the last time being maybe 5 seconds.

I would think the fuel pump went south, but is there any way of testing this? What if I pulled the fuel filter off, and had someone turn the car over, checking to see if fuel was being pumped? Any help/ideas are appreciated!

Aaron

[ski]

since this is in the 9-5 section i am going to assume its a 9-5 :)

Flip up bottom of back seat, open cloth door, remove aluminum cover and you'll see fuel pump. Have someone turn key to on position (not to crank) and listen for slight buzz of fuel pump turning on.

[MacNoob]

Turn on the key, do you hear the pump run for a couple seconds? If not, could be bad.

There is a schraeder valve (like a tire valve) on the fuel rail. Check for pressurized fuel there (don't squirt gas in your eye). Should be pressure there.

[wisneski7]

Sorry its a 2002 9-5 3.0L. I'll go check to see if I can hear anything, along with checking the fuel pressure on the rail.

Aaron

[wisneski7]

Im now thinking it may be a bad battery. It was acting just like a lawn mower running out of gas, how it would pulse back and forth and then quit. I had the battery charging for quite a while. I then popped the hatch to giving access to the fuel pump, turned the key to the on position, and could hear a small humming type of noise. I started the car and it started fine, and I could still hear the same noise, which I assume was the pump. About 10 sec. later the red triangle warning light came up, along with a chime, the battery light also came on. The car then shut off about 5-10 seconds later.

Aaron

[wisneski7]

I went to Autozone and purchased a new battery. They tested the old one, and it only had 12.55 V, with a load on it it dropped to 5 V. Then it recovered to about 11 V, putting a load on it the second time it dropped to 2.5 V. Anyhow, after installing the new battery, the car fired right up, then after about 5-10 seconds it shut off. I tried once to restart it and it didn't fire. :(

Aaron

[wisneski7]

For the 2nd time now I turned the key with my ear next to the pump. This time it was silent. I pounded my fist a few times on top of the pump and suddenly I could hear it start to pump. Although it doesn't sound smooth like any other fuel pump I've ever heard. I then tried to start the car again and it started right up, after about 5 seconds of running the pump went silent, and then the car shut off about 2 seconds later. Guess its time to pony up the cash for the pump. Is there any special tools required for this job? Thanks

Aaron

[saabcog]

I bought a gas tank fuel pump removal tool (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I14PGQ/) off of Amazon.com a few weeks ago when I replaced my pump and it worked great. The SAAB tool seemed to be discontinued, according to eeuroparts, and this was cheaper anyway.

[luv2drinkcoke]

Here is a thread from the FAQ sticky on diy fuel pump replacement.
http://www.newsemantics.com/saab/