Hi guys
I wonder if any of you super SAAB guys can lend me a hand!!
My 9000 CDE 1995 Auto refused to start this afternoon.
She has been running fine with no problems, but this afternoon stopped on a slight slope, facing up, for about an hour and when I came back she flatley refused to start.
She cranks over, plenty of petrol, checked the fuses which seems fine, but she just won't start.
Could it be the DI unit? The fuel pump? Spark plugs? She had a full service in June and they were changed tehn so I don't think it could be.
Any ideas?? I would appreciate any suggestions!
Many thanks in advance
Andrew

Sorry to hear that

Three main possibilities:

a) crankshaft position sensor- does the tacho needle move at all when cranking? If not then this is the likely cause

B) DI cartridge- substitute for a known good one to check

c) fuel supply failure- can you smell petrol fumes at the exhaust?

what about the immobiliser on the key fob if this doesnt disarm the car still turns over but doesnt start worth a try!

[ QUOTE ]
a) crankshaft position sensor- does the tacho needle move at all when cranking? If not then this is the likely cause

B) DI cartridge- substitute for a known good one to check

c) fuel supply failure- can you smell petrol fumes at the exhaust?

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[ QUOTE ]
what about the immobiliser on the key fob if this doesnt disarm the car still turns over but doesnt start worth a try!

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Can't check the tacho as I am nowhere near the car. Had to leave her there until tomorrow as everything is closed.

Don't have a spare DI to check. Can I disconnect the immobiliser easily to check if it is that??
Didn't smell any petrol fumes, but I wasn't paying that much attention. Can't say there were, though.So if the rev counter doesn't move at all, then the crankshaft possition sensor is stuffed?? What can I do about that??
Will check all the rest tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

It couldn't be that it is on a slight slope, could it?

Any other ideas, by the way, anyone?

Cheers guys

P.S. I had accelerated hard about 300 metres before stopping, but gave her time to get her breath back!! Shouldn't be that, should it?

My DI cassete went down this week, after parking on a slight slope, I was low on fuel and stucj a gallon in to give the fuel some head but nope.
Fuse 14 (20A) is the fuel pump and if the DI cassette has gone there is no feed to this fuse, I had a new one fitted and everything fine but fisrt letdown on 2 9000's over the years

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Fuse 14 (20A) is the fuel pump and if the DI cassette has gone there is no feed to this fuse.

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So if I check the feed to that fuse then I will know for sure if it is the DI, is that right??

Cheers

Andrew

If it is the alarm system,

Lift/remove the boot floor & if you cannot hear the fuel pump run when you crank the car over, then take a 12v supply from the rear lamp cluster directly to the fuel pump.
( I speak from having my 9000's immobiliser fail on me & this was the only way to get, under my own steam, to an auto electrician!)

2

Andrew,

If you are careful you can do a test on the DI cassette. Take some heavy copper wire ( the earth wire from mains power cable is fine). Take out the cassette and the plugs. Turn it upside down and pop the plugs into it. Now wrap the copper wire round each plug and to earth. One of the cassette hold down bolts is good. Get someone to crank the engine but KEEP YOUR HANDS CLEAR. You should see the spark plugs sparking. Don't forget that the ECU goes through a plug clean cycle after you shut off when it sparks all four plugs together for about a second. Wait till after that before touching anything.

If no sparks then DI cassette is goosed.

Paul @ Kippen.

[ QUOTE ]
If it is the alarm system,

Lift/remove the boot floor & if you cannot hear the fuel pump run when you crank the car over, then take a 12v supply from the rear lamp cluster directly to the fuel pump.
( I speak from having my 9000's immobiliser fail on me & this was the only way to get, under my own steam, to an auto electrician!)

2

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
If you are careful you can do a test on the DI cassette. Take some heavy copper wire ( the earth wire from mains power cable is fine). Take out the cassette and the plugs. Turn it upside down and pop the plugs into it. Now wrap the copper wire round each plug and to earth. One of the cassette hold down bolts is good. Get someone to crank the engine but KEEP YOUR HANDS CLEAR. You should see the spark plugs sparking. Don't forget that the ECU goes through a plug clean cycle after you shut off when it sparks all four plugs together for about a second. Wait till after that before touching anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks guys.
Where so I find the furel pump if there is no noise and I need to run a feed??

Will also try the DI test you mentioned. I hope I don't die in the attempt

Thanks again.

Phoned DCA near Newbury and went down to pick up a DI cassette for £65.
Fitted it and she started without any hesitation.
Glad she's back on the road ready for my long journey down to the south of Spain for the winter.

See you all next summer...

A million thanks to all of you for your help and advice.

Andrew

Andrew,

Looks like you had the easiest of fixes - either they work or they don't. I'm beginning to believe that sudden cut out / no starts are mostly down to the DI cassette. Someone out there could probably do a poll of all the posts to establish the frequency of DI failure being the cause. Mine went quite suddenly after the first two miles of the day journey to work as I approached a roundabout.

Paul @ Kippen.

That's quite right, Paul

It's not like other failures that let you know little by little that they are on their way out. The DI just one day decides not to work and that's that.

I agree that most of the no-goes are due to the DI.
I'll have to get myself another one for spares, just in case Is there such a thing as a DI upgrade? From a more powerful car to a less powerful one? Like an ECU upgrade or a sports exhaust?

Anyway, all the tips given were extremely helpful in order to rule out what it was not, so I thank everyone who hepled and Alan at DCA told to stop messing about and change the DI. He was spot on, though.

Cheers guys.