2001 Aero on Death watch

i bought my 9-5 Aero in early march its been back to the Saab dealer 4 times already. Heres the scenario after driving say 45 minutes(my morning
commute 38 miles i shut the car off ,it does not CRANK to start i have to wait between 20 minutes and 4 hours the starters been replaced twice the dealer cant find any thing wrong with it. it is an automatic and i will be trying to return it back to the dealer on tuesday after it stranded me for 2 hours friday night after a 3 day businees trip ,Also i bought it used from a non saab dealer but the dealer family has a saabdealership thats been doing the work also the cps has been changed but its a no crank issue So i think i'm going to cut my losses and return it under massachusetts lemon law i see a huge fight brewing on the horizon i love this car , the dealers are adament about giving me a loaner while they try to diagnose this issue i cannot afford a rental we are about to purchase a home

[Black Beauty]

Well, this must be intensely annoying but it has to be something fixable. There are only so many things it could be. It could be as simple as an intermittent short in the ignition switch.

My experience with dealerships is that they diagnose by replacing parts, which gets real expensive real fast if it's not under warranty.

Independent mechanics, who have to back up their repair estimates, spend a lot more time diagnosing problems before throwing parts at them.

[RussB]

Stephen, what are you asking?

Anyways, it seems that taking the loaner while they try to diagnose the problem might be a useful option. Other that the CPS (crank position sensor?) what has been done to the car during its 4 visits to the dealership?
I know of one person who returned a new Lincoln under the "Lemon Law", although I don't know the details

[Kermit]

If you love the car and they are prepared to give you a suitable loaner i'd let them have a go at fixing the problem. Let them know if they can't rectify the fault in say 1 week you will be rejecting the car under the lemon law. Is the car showing a CHECK ENGINE light or is it just failing to crank/start regularly?

the starters been done twice , CPS has been done by me , there is NO cel there is really nothing to diagnose , when i bring it in it never happens when you turn the ignition all dash light light up but , the engine will not crank i'm just frustrated the loaner car is really no big deal i have my 9/3 SE vert or my 92 9K Griffen Ed , i'm just at my wits end tired and aggravated just wondering if any one else had this problem causes,,,,,,, neutral saftey switch ,,,,, twice computer not reconizing the key every time ive talked with the tech i made them look like dufasas becucuse of my saab knowlage 2 of the times at the dealer for the recall of the DI and the re-recall of the DI

[MichaelS]

Try calling Michael Fridmann of Michael's Motorsports in Lexington. www.michaelsmotorsports.com. He is a great Saab mechanic and will help you figure out the problem. It is a bit of a hike from Gloucester but he's very good.

[MrB]

Fuel pump maybe?

when you turn the key "nothing" no crank nothing no click you can hear the pump humm All the dash lights come on as it was going to start, No cel at any time. I think if i didnt love the car so much i would told the dealer to takee the car an shove it but the love for this car has clouded my judgement

[RussB]

perhaps there is an issue with the anti-theft system, or maybe the ignition switch itself is bad? (just guessin')

[Driver]

I'm not not much of an expert on this but since it's an automatic, could it be your "P" gear shift sensor - you know the car wuld not crank if the gear shift is not on "P". Try shifting the lever out of "P" and back again ???

tried all that neutral park , held ignition in start position while running thru the gears all that stuff

[SectorNine50]

I have a 2000 Aero and I had a similiar problem today. It said that it couldn't recognize the key or something like that. What I did to make it start was remove the key, press unlock 5 times, and stuck the key back in and it started right up. I think sometimes the unit just gets confused. Next time it does that, give that a wiz.

Edit: I also had the exact same symptoms when this happend. Everything else came on, everything worked, it just wouldn't crank at all.

[Kermit]

Ask them to swop the TWICE unit, it does sound as if the immobiliser is stopping the car from starting.

Could it be swapped , won't the keys need to be reprogrammed ???????

[SectorNine50]

The new twice unit will be reprogrammed to your keys. They will not have to be re-cut or anything like that. Not that complicated of a precedure, just spendy if you have to do it on your own...