Solved - Runs for 15 miles then dies - Fuel Issue?
I think the issue has been solved with my 1998 900SE Conv – 150,000 miles. I haven’t been on a long jaunt yet, but I’ve been on several short trips with no issues. Here’s the summary:
Symptom 1 – The car died one day without warning while I was out to lunch. I had the car towed to the local non-dealer Saab shop who diagnosed the issue as a fuel pump. They also identified a laundry list of other things that were $$$, like replacing the fuel tank, the DI Cassette, Crank Sensor, etc…the cost being a lot more than the car is worth. I purchased this car new and hope to keep it a few more years so I decided to tow it home and attempt the repair myself. The curious thing is the car ran after the Tow Truck dropped it off. I didn’t try to drive it so I don’t know if the symptoms I will describe later were present.
1. I replaced the fuel pump by removing the gas tank. (BTW, removing the fuel tank isn’t that bad of a task. I preferred this over cutting an access hole. During the process, I broke the return check valve and had to replace that as well. When I installed the new fuel pump, I wasn’t sure how to manage the hard black plastic fuel lines. I cut the existing one from the fuel pump and replaced it with a regular reinforced rubber fuel line.
Symptom 2 – The car ran fine and I drove it to the Airport, but it died as I was pulling into the parking lot. Luckily, I was able to coax it into an open spot after restarting it several times. On my return, I decided to try to drive the car home, with my wife following. It died again about a mile from my house. Over the past few days, I learned that I drive it about 15-20 minutes and it would die but would restart if it set for a few hours. At this point, I was not sure if my old fuel pump was really bad or if I had another issue. No codes were showing.
2. After reading some posts, I replaced the Crank sensor because the symptoms were very similar. Also, the auto shop that initially diagnosed the car mentioned this as an issue based on the codes that were present.
No change – still the same symptom as above
3. I tied unscrewing the gas cap – no effect.
4. I removed the fuel pump again and replaced the rubber gas line with a piece for hard black plastic line I cut from the old return line I had to replace. I wish someone would post how to work with these lines, because I had a very hard time fitting it to the fuel pump and T-connector. I tried heating with a torch – as expected, I could not heat it evenly and it would blister. I boiled the end in water for 10 minutes but could not get it pliable enough to go onto the fitting. Then I used a heat gun and very slowly heated it. I know when it was ready because the plastic will start getting shiny. After several attempts with the heat gun, I finally got it fitted.
5. I replaced the purge valve based on a recommendation above. This was actually real easy to do and in hindsight would have been an easy part to check – just disconnect it.
So far, I have made several back-to-back trips, albeit short distance but have gone much farther that I could go before. I still need take the car on an extended trip to thoroughly test. But, when the car was not functioning properly, I could not go on back-to-back trips. The car would not start after the first trip. So, I am left wondering…was it the $50 purge valve all along?