[SAABYRITE]

Arrived home yesterday from a week in sunny Cornwall to a dead Saab. How we laughed having just watched no.1 daughter drive away in the wife's car and urgent need to go and buy food. I jumped in the Saab, turned the key - not even a click!. I called the A.A. and 'a very nice man' rolled up 25 minutes later and jump started it. After running it for a few minutes he checked the charging rate (which was fine) then the 'cranking' ability (with ignition disconnected) which was not. Sh*t, new battery needed, more wallet emptying today. Eventually, we arrive at the point of this post - after starting the car he detected a constant 'drain' of 0.3 amps., we couldn't find any likely cause and I am left wondering if it may have anything to do with the cd/tuner. I put a unit in (original missing) using all the right harness couplers and it works fine except for the ariel's habit of raising and lowering itself when the ignition is switched on/off whether the unit itself is turned on or not! If anyone out there still has the will to live after reading this far I would welcome their thoughts.

 

[sgould]

Have you checked the boot light? If the switch is badly adjusted it will stay on all the time. In my 9-5 the switch is part of the lock. Not sure if it's the same on a 9000.

Is there an underbonnet light on your car as well?

 

[SAABYRITE]

Yes, checked bootlight to no avail, but grateful for suggestion anyway.

 

[StephenA]

0.3 of an amp is not a lot (4 watts). The clock will eat some as will all the ECU stuff. Hace you checked the internal light (the one that comes on and off when the doors open)?

Steve

 

[mark e]

The other suspect could be the boot light- drop the seats forward to check this with the boot closed

[edit] 0.3A is a significant current. Most batteries are about 60Ah, so at 0.3A you would drain even a new, healthy, battery in about 200 hours or 8.3 days...

 

[WindyH]

There will be a slight current draw but not as much as this, from clock, alarm (if fitted), radio memeory, ECU memory connection, but this should only total fractions of an amp. The way to investigate is to fit an ammeter is series with the battery connection, then remove fuses until the current drops, that will at least head you towards the right circuit. There are also items that are permanently connected to the battery without fusing, starter motor, alternator. May be worth trying to disconnect these in turn in case a current path has formed due to component breakdown.

 

[SAABYRITE]

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, I will carry on checking (WindyH route sounds good way to go). Anybody got any ideas why the aerial is playing silly buggers ?

 

[WindyH]

What's the aerial doing? This has two live feeds, one for control via the sets on/off switch, and a permanent feed that operates the aerial motor. This sounds like a good place to start if its playing silly buggers!

 

[SAABYRITE]

The problem is that the aerial goes through the raising/lowering sequence every time I turn the ignition on or off. The set doesn't need to be on for it to do this, although it behaves normally the rest of the time.

 

[WindyH]

First thing is to determine weather the aerial is the original saab one, it will have the saab logo on the rectangular boss on top of the wing. If so, then the aerial should only go up and down with set going on and off, either by the sets power switch or radio postion on the ingnition switch. If the set is off, aerial shoudn't operate at all. I've a feeling that this could be related to your battery drain problems. Could be that the aerial live feeds are connected the wrong way round, so that when the set and/or ignition is off, the control relay within the aerial is still energised. What I would do: access the aerial by pulling aside the trim in the boot. There should be three wires going into the aerial motor housing (forget the thick black cable going to the mast). Disconnect these wires.
Now see if you still have the same amount of current draw from the battery, with all doors and boot shut of course.

I've currently run two 9000's and owned one previously. When you buy cars seconhand, electrical problems can be found caused by previous fitment of phone kits, after market alarms, after market audio or towbars for example.
I bought my Aero at 3 years old, only one leasing company owner. The phone kit that I removed was simply twisted and taped to the back of the stereo connectors, the tape having fallen off with the heat over time. The tow bar electrics were done to a similar standard, the cables actually cut by the sharp hole edges drilled through the boot floor, no grommets. My experience of saab electrical systems is that they are very reliable. This is why I think someone could have 'been there before' with your aerial!

Let us know how you get on.