My 2004 Saab won't start. When I turn the key it
Methodical fault finding is required...not haphazard guestimation and changing out of components on a suck it and see basis.
The first place to start is to ask the car computer what it thinks is going on. You do that by plugging in a diagnostic tool into the OBD2 port (at knee height under the driver side dash, right above the brake pedal).
you don't need to have the Tech2 diagnostic to do that, as you aren't going to be doing any programming, it's just a look-see exercise and pretty much most plug in tools will be able to read off the fault codes.
Take a note of the codes (they'll be formatted along the lines of P0335 or P0337, for example) Then just google those codes as e.g. DTC P0335 or try P0335 fault code.
The info that you get from doing this will point you towards the problem.
say, for example, you do get a P0335 code ...that means there's something wrong with your CPS (Crankshaft Position Sensor) and the computer doesn't like that kinda thing, so it spits its dummy out and causes things to happen, like stalling etc all the way through to not starting. The car is 2004, right ? That's getting on in years and sensors etc do start to fail with age.
but that doesn't mean it's the sensor itself that's gone pear shaped, it could wiring or connector, so you can carry out simple tests using nothing more than a multimeter.
You can look at the sensor resistance which should read 860 Ohms +/- 90 Ohms across pins 1 & 2 (at a temperature of 20 deg Celsius.
you can check to see that the sensor is securely fitted.
you can check resistance of the sensor wiring, wiggle the wires and see if the resistances fluctuates wildly or whatever .
Im not saying that the CPS is your fault, I'm just giving this as an example of how you can methodically home in on the problem area then try to isolate the specific problem by carrying out simple testing. Google is you friend in this....
id suggest you do this yourself or get a friend to help you out with it if you're not confident at using a multimeter.
I certainly wouldn't be asking this so-called Saab mechanic to do it as he clearly hasn't got the faintest idea of what he's doing, (not just about Saabs, he hasn't got a clue about the most basic of fault finding techniques....but I bet his wallet is heavier than yours though)
Good luck - it's not rocket science or black magic , so just take it slowly and methodically.
2/3/2019 1:31:05 AM •
2004 Saab 9-3
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Answered
on Feb 03, 2019
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312 views