Back-up lights!

[brewtide]

Hello all, '92 9000S here...5speed.

Well, I have an issue with ALL my backup-lights. THe front & rears do not work -- I just noticed this today, and have no idea when it may have happened... but I think recently.

The fuse (shared w/ the moonroof) is okay and I checked ONE bulb... Tomorrow I will check the others -- Are these lights in a series? If one buld blows out, do they all go out? Or is something messed in the car?

Obviously there has to be a switch of some sort related to the stick shift to turn them on -- Could this switch be faulty? How hard to fix?

PLease get back when you can, kinda fretting about this one (electrical problems in cars == pain in the ****)

Peace,
Ben

[benji9k]

Switch could be faulty, or just a loose connection. Not sure how to get to it, most likely remove the shift boot, that's how i've seen it on other cars. Check all the wires for corrosion and snug on connections. If that doesn't work, try jumping the wires, if jumping doesn't work, there's another wiring problem dug in deep and I wouldn't know where to start. Maybe a relay...is that relayed?

[Rod'899kT]

I had the same problem on my '89 5 speed. I assume the tranny is the same as yours. My problem was the switch that's in the topside of the tranny casing, way under where the battery is on my car. If you stand in front of your car and look at the transmission at a point under the battery, you should see a switch with two wires. After unplugging the connector, it is possible to get a wrench on the thing and r/r it. I hope you have long arms, though.

Rod.

[brewtide]

Hey, thanks for the reply guys,

Yeah, I busted out the 'search' feature of this here forum, and I also looked in the Haynes manual after posting -- I jumped to conclusions and should have done research first!

IN any event, I found that switch easily & I tested it by jumpering the connector -- And what do you know, the reverse lights came on. I didn't bother take the switch out yet, I went to the local saab dealer to get a new one (yes, I could clean it, but if I have to do it, I may as well spend the $20 for a new one..) and they didn't have it in stock.

Looks like I will be ordering one off thesaabsite tonight, along with the poly transmission mount -- I figure that when I'm replacing that mount, I can replace that switch too & avoid the needing the long arms :lol:

When you replaced that switch, was the issue fixed right up? I sure hope so.

Oh, and for people that read my earlier posts about the cat BYpass pipe -- I went ahead and made one. It cost me $30 in parts & a little bit of time welding -- Presto, a str8 pipe.

Works wonders BTW, much faster pickup & we'll see on the gas milage, I'm still on tank ONE.

Oh, one more question on that note: I thought I had a faulty DI cassette because at HARD acceleration (onto highways/etc) my car would tend to 'kangaaroo' and lerch hard.

After replacing the CAT with the straight pipe, it hasn't happened since -- Think the CAT was the cause of that problem? I'm going to be buying a new one come inspection time (they can put it on, I'll get my sticker, leave it on for the remain' of the winter, and switch to straight on the summers!)

Any suggestions of CAT brand? Just stock 2 1/4 exhaust.

Thanks a lot for your replies,
Ben