I have only ever experienced this problem once - my dad's '02 9-3 wouldn't crank when hot, and it was easy enough to diagnose as running the shifter up and down once or twice, or trying from N instead of P and it would start. It seemed obvious, and after bypassing the range sensor with a switch it was easy to validate the original problem.
My current '02 9-3 wouldn't start yesterday. It was not hot - it's 50F out and it had been sitting for hours. Battery was fine, key was fine, everything was fine. Just no start. BUT, when turning the key to Start, I could clearly hear a relay under the dash clicking. I'm assuming that's the starter relay, and I'm pretty darned sure I wouldn't hear that click if the range sensor was the issue since the range sensor is what grounds the coil on the relay. Also, maybe worthless information, but the range indicator on the dash was working just fine as well.
It was easy enough to get the car started by leaving the key in Run and using jumper cables to connect the battery positive to the starter solenoid, so I wasn't stranded, just annoyed.
Truly diagnosing this is gonna be a pain, since it means driving around with a multimeter and the relay panel exposed. So, I'm hoping to collect some info from those that have suffered this problem and narrow it to the relay, the sensor, or some input/output supply problem.
Did your starter relay work properly when the range sensor failed?
My current '02 9-3 wouldn't start yesterday. It was not hot - it's 50F out and it had been sitting for hours. Battery was fine, key was fine, everything was fine. Just no start. BUT, when turning the key to Start, I could clearly hear a relay under the dash clicking. I'm assuming that's the starter relay, and I'm pretty darned sure I wouldn't hear that click if the range sensor was the issue since the range sensor is what grounds the coil on the relay. Also, maybe worthless information, but the range indicator on the dash was working just fine as well.
It was easy enough to get the car started by leaving the key in Run and using jumper cables to connect the battery positive to the starter solenoid, so I wasn't stranded, just annoyed.
Truly diagnosing this is gonna be a pain, since it means driving around with a multimeter and the relay panel exposed. So, I'm hoping to collect some info from those that have suffered this problem and narrow it to the relay, the sensor, or some input/output supply problem.
Did your starter relay work properly when the range sensor failed?