[Peeter]

Would appreciate any pointers as to why my 9000 lpt my96 has recently become next to impossible to start after being left for more than 3 days. Engine turns over normally but does not fire up. So far a squirt of easy start into the throttle housing has coaxed it into life cylinder by cylinder. Once running on all 4, no problem, pulls well and ticks over fine. Starting it the next morning is no problem but leave it for more than 3 days and the nightmare begins again . So far I have tried the following: new plugs and air filter, new ignition cartridge, cleaning the crank sensor, new battery, WD 40 over all the electrical connectors I can see. Saab have put it on their test equipment and no reported fault codes, compression is between 160 and 175 on all cylinders, no odd noises from the engine, no air leaks and dealer confirmed runs as it should on road test. The car has done 156K miles and all items I have changed have been done one at a time to try to identify the problem but so far nothing. Dealer says if the fuel has drained back into the tank it may take a few seconds to start but it would then start on all cylinders and if fuel pump was faulty it would affect performance more than cold starting. Sorry about all the detail but I wanted to cover everything as it does not seem to be related to the normal culprit of the ignition cartridge.

 

[NUGZAR]

HI
i would try to change the bleed valve,its called also non return valve,sits on the top of the pump not so easy to deal with,so try to do it in agarge
second thing i would do is try the fuel presure regul that one sits on the fuel rail easy to do by yout self
good luck
nugzar

 

[Stephen Brown]

Non-starting ... Is it lack of battery power to turn the engine or does the engine turn but not 'catch'? (ie. no spark/detonation in the cylinders?)

 

[Mark R]

I've just had the same problem - turns over but will not fire. Ggarage have carried out diagnostics and suggest might be ECU.

 

[Peeter]

It's not a battery problem as engine turns over fine, just does not catch. Have been starting it every morning with no probs, will see what happens next week when it will be left for a few days. I hope it's not the ECU. Does anyone know if there is a battery anywhere in the electrics like in a computer? Seems like it "forgets how to start" when left for several days thats why I was thinking about a small battery somewhere loosing charge.