New Saab 9000 and Problems

[ksowden1]

Just purchased a Saab '96 9K full spec and all original. Had to replace both doors on the Drivers side and afterwards I'm having problems with central locking......it's not working at all! Fuse is intact, I;'ve tried removing it and refitting it thinking it may reset it that way but to no avail. It will not work off the fob, from any of the doors or from the centre switch.

Another problem is the ACC, it is never hot or even warm......now I know the stepper motor flap for the heat mixer may have failed but how do you complete a calibration? I thought it was press auto button then bottom ventiliation button at the same time...now when I do this 0 comes up but rather than go through the testing 3 seconds later it goes back to showing the temperature selection! Am I doing something wrong?

Reversing light do not work, now I've read this and the central locking issue could be linked but where do I start to find out?

Occasionally the seat belt fasten light illuminates whilc driving (even though all belts are buckled tight!).

[Pug205GRD]

First thing to do would be to unplug the 2 actuators in the replaced doors and see if this brings the CL back to life. It was getting dark when the doors went on so I may well have connected one up wrongly? If the actuators arent to blame then it can only really be the Central Locking control module that has failed.

If teh ACC panel comes up with a 0 then that means it ahs nbo faults and i would assume that it doesnt feel the need to re-calibrate itself? What is the temperature gauge reading? If the thermostat has stuck open (and they do quite often) then you will struggle to get any heat in the car until you have stationary for a ages and allowed the heat to build up. A cold engine will also mean the ECU will overfuel all the time in an attempt to get the engine up to temperature.

Seat belt light probably means dirt and debris in the buckle on the drivers side, upsetting the switch or the load sensor switch in the passenger seat is acting up.

Ive got various spare bits kicking about and would be happy to send you some bits to try out if you want me too


Paul (aka 9000Parts)

[ksowden1]

Interesting what you mentioned about the seat belt buckles, will get the carb cleaner out on them.

As for central locking think I'll take a look at the wiring, if that fails I'm thinking that by coincidence the locking ECU is up the swanny (possibly associated with poor battery charge technique by previous owner as mentioned me before).

ACC wise I've noticed that when you first turn it to HI the air is hot but then after about 5 seconds goes cold/barely warm again. I'm wondering if the ACC unit hasn't again taken a battering from poor battery charging. Remember another ACC 9000 I had watched get used to jump another car and the terminals were put on incorrectly....all illumination of the ACC then failed!

As for reversing lights whereabouts is the actual reversing lightn switches on the automatics? I've changed one on a manual but never an auto (had the fuse blowing for the rear windows on a CSE manual once, proved to a be a knackered reversing light switch).

[ksowden1]

Right, after a holiday I managed to get the locking working again but I suspect the passenger side actuator is on the way out as it's a bit temperamental. I'll replace the two defective actuator motors and then if it's still temperamental I'll take the locking ECU out and attempt to re-solder it.

The more pressing issue is the heater which is barely luke warm at best. I've calibrated, checked the stepper motor mixer flap....all OK. Now having spoken to the previous owner he's sent me the receipt for the head gasket he had replaced last November and claims that the heater stopped being hot after returning from this work. He took it back to the specialist and asked them to flush the coolant through as there was still some oil in mixed with in with it but it still blew cold.

I'm contemplating flushing the system again as the coolant is still a little contaminated (nothing too bad but still noticable in the header tank), if this produces no results where do I go next?

[ksowden1]

Done some more research tonight and it seems if I probably need to take the dash top off to check for sure if the mixer servo is working or not.

[ksowden1]

Think I'll change the ACC relay just to rule that out.

[Mark B]

Mr Scrappy,

the reversing light switch is down at the bottom of the gear selector. There are two switches, one either side, and I presume one prevents you starting in gear and the other's the resersing light, although both seem to have many wires. If I recall, they are also expensive.

You could flush/back flush the heater by removing the hoses from the engine end and getting a hose pipe going, just in case there's enough crud gone around to nearly block up the entrances to the tubes in the heater matrix.

I think you can see whether the hot/cold flap is working by looking in the aquarium, so no need to remove the dash top.

[ksowden1]

I think you can see whether the hot/cold flap is working by looking in the aquarium, so no need to remove the dash top.[/b]

Mark,

Thanks for replying, I've had the plastic vent cover off beneath the wipers but the mixer flap was working fine. I've been reading that they sometimes they can still do that but the flap on the other end can sometimes fail and this can only be seen with the dash top off.

[Mark B]

What exactly do you mean when you say the flap is working fine? The other end is a metal arm attached to the motor which is unlikely to fail (but not impossible of course). With the aquarium open, move the setting from Lo to HI and the arm should move from one extreme to the other. Do it a few times to be sure, and then try a few settings in between and you should see it move in between. The motor that drives the flap does fail and can give intermittent problems before it fails totally.

[ksowden1]

What exactly do you mean when you say the flap is working fine? The other end is a metal arm attached to the motor which is unlikely to fail (but not impossible of course). With the aquarium open, move the setting from Lo to HI and the arm should move from one extreme to the other. Do it a few times to be sure, and then try a few settings in between and you should see it move in between. The motor that drives the flap does fail and can give intermittent problems before it fails totally.[/b]

No it's moving fine, one thing that is noticable is that when first moving the ACC to HI you get some what I would call "hot" air for about 2 seconds and then it's back to cold/barely luke warm.

[Mark B]

Which would suggest that you have insufficient flow through the heater matrix, hence my suggestion to flush it in case oily gunge from the blown head gasket is blocking the little tubes.

[ksowden1]

Which would suggest that you have insufficient flow through the heater matrix, hence my suggestion to flush it in case oily gunge from the blown head gasket is blocking the little tubes.[/b]

As mentioned the previous owner took it back the the Indy and asked them to flush it but it seems to have made no difference.

[Mark B]

Yes but when you mention flushing to most people/garages, they assume the radiator, rather than the heater matrix.

[ksowden1]

Yes but when you mention flushing to most people/garages, they assume the radiator, rather than the heater matrix.[/b]

Well I believe he'd mentioned the symptons to them before dropping it back. Has anyone used Holts Radflush with good results?

[ksowden1]

Checked the ACC relay today and noticed they aren't the same as the Fuel pump relay (