My car is broken.

[Quickening]

So today I was cleaning out my car. Vacuuming, cleaning the leather, etc.

After I was finished, I rolled all the windows down, shut the doors and locked the car while I was back inside. My mom went to go put something in my car so she just reached through the window and somehow triggered the alarm. She didn't touch anything...so we were like whoa intense alarm system.

Fast forward two hours, I'm about to head out for the night and my car will not start. I stick the key and when steering wheel did not click into place. I go to start it only to be welcome to "CLICK CLICK". The headlights flashed on and then turned off. I try again, and this time I get a headlight auto leveling failure. I try again, and I get a Airbag failure. I try again and notice, the speedometer is only half light, the HVAC controls turn on at first and then turn off while the radio unit is still on. The passenger door unlocks itself.

I check the water levels in the battery, fine. There was a little corrosion on the terminals, but on the outside vs. in between the post and the clamp. I go ahead and clean the terminal to see if that will help. I try again and get "inmobolizer failure" at this point I give up. My car has gone off the deep end.

In sight anyone? Its getting increasingly hard to service Saabs in Houston, as we have lost two dealerships in the past six months.

Thanks for any help. I highly doubt I can fix this problem myself, but maybe yall will surprise me. Falls at a bad time, as we are about to go out of town for a week...sigh I'm so frustrated.

[aerojon]

battery dead...

[dizwhoadayjohn]

I've had this problem before too! It sucked. Either your battery really is dead or you have a similar situation i experienced. I Cleaned the corrosion off the battery terminals. Take a 10mm socket or wrench and removed both negative and positive off. Leave off for about 5-10mins Then Make sure the terminals and battery metal is clean and that once you place the two positive and negative terminals back to the battery, make sure it touches metal to metal as much ad possible so try to pound it tight down then tighten back up. That was just me and my unfortunate moment. Good luck on your car though

[mohooba93]

Originally Posted by Quickening

So today I was cleaning out my car. Vacuuming, cleaning the leather, etc.

After I was finished, I rolled all the windows down, shut the doors and locked the car while I was back inside. My mom went to go put something in my car so she just reached through the window and somehow triggered the alarm. She didn't touch anything...so we were like whoa intense alarm system.

Fast forward two hours, I'm about to head out for the night and my car will not start. I stick the key and when steering wheel did not click into place. I go to start it only to be welcome to "CLICK CLICK". The headlights flashed on and then turned off. I try again, and this time I get a headlight auto leveling failure. I try again, and I get a Airbag failure. I try again and notice, the speedometer is only half light, the HVAC controls turn on at first and then turn off while the radio unit is still on. The passenger door unlocks itself.

I check the water levels in the battery, fine. There was a little corrosion on the terminals, but on the outside vs. in between the post and the clamp. I go ahead and clean the terminal to see if that will help. I try again and get "inmobolizer failure" at this point I give up. My car has gone off the deep end.

In sight anyone? Its getting increasingly hard to service Saabs in Houston, as we have lost two dealerships in the past six months.

Thanks for any help. I highly doubt I can fix this problem myself, but maybe yall will surprise me. Falls at a bad time, as we are about to go out of town for a week...sigh I'm so frustrated.

hey quickening its mo from trollhattansaab.net, sorry to hear about this i hope you get everything taken care of easily.

[Quickening]

Ok, well my car is under warranty so I'm sure the dealership would cover the cost of a battery (they are very liberal when it comes to warranty work), but no way to get it to them. Tomorrow I'm going to disconnect the battery, clean the terminals again and let it sit for a while and try again. If that doesn't work I will go buy a new battery.

I guess I thought it was something more serious, cause in my expierence when a battery dies...nothing works. Instead my cars headlights are flashing and just doing crazy stuff.

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

and hey mo

[JMarkert]

Could you buy /borrow a battery charger? Even if you need a new battery, the charge would help you get it out of the driveway.

I've read here and elsewhere that the battery really needs to be up to snuff to keep all the electronics running properly - less power is needed just to get the lights to blink...

[ctrlz]

How old is this battery, and is it a Saab battery?

You can clean the corrosion with a baking soda and water solution. Corrosion like you describe typically means the seal is leaking around the base of the battery terminal. This will get worse, not better.

[jay1680]

I had a similar situation a few months ago and it turned ou to be a bad clutch interlock that prevents the car from starting unless the clutch is fully depressed.

[Quickening]

Well I hope that isn't the case as I just got the clutch, pressure plates and flywheel replaced back in December. There was a seal problem in the transmission, so they were already inside the car so we went ahead and replaced all that.

Right now, I have the battery disconnected. I cleaned the terminals again and then tested the battery. It shows up as Good but when a load was placed on it, it said replace. So I have it on a slow charge to see if that will do anything. Since its a Sunday, I can't get a new battery today anyways.

[Quickening]

Tested the car just 5 minutes ago. And it started up, though I feel like its still not doing the typical steering wheel click when sticking the key in or out.

We also checked the alternator and its fine. So I'm going to go ahead and keep charging it slowly and we are leaving for a week. If it doesn't start when we get back then, its time for a new battery.

For now I'd say "problem solved", thanks for the help. I was really stressing last night with all the weird things it was doing.

Thanks again.

[JMarkert]

It's probably best NOT to leave the charger on while you're away (if that's what you are thinking...
)

[Quickening]

Def not going to leave the charger on while out of town.

[JMarkert]

Cool - i didn't want to lecture, but we all (or at least I) need to be saved from myself now and then

[Diggs]

Originally Posted by Quickening

Tested the car just 5 minutes ago. And it started up, though I feel like its still not doing the typical steering wheel click when sticking the key in or out.

Thanks again.

Supposedly it won't for a few cycles after the battery has been disconnected. Nothing to be concerned about.

[aerojon]

Originally Posted by Quickening

I feel like its still not doing the typical steering wheel click when sticking the key in or out.

it won't do till you take it out for a run,steering lock doesn't re-engage till then..