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Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 21:30:52 -0400
From: Scott I. Remick <scottnopsamuteralt.com>
Subject: More cold-start questions (long)


Having solved my occasional starter problem, I move onto hopefully easier things on my stubborn 1984 SAAB 900S. Today, we talk about rough cold- starts. I've got a lot of questions... any takers? First some background... After starting, even when it was run not too long ago, it will sometimes run for a few seconds then die. We might go through this another couple times, then she'll stay going... barely. The engine sounds awful, as it seems like not all the cylinders are firing. Touch the gas at any point and she'll threaten to stall (if she doesn't actually). It'll take a little while of running like this in neutral before all cylinders catch and it sounds normal. Yet even then, touch the gas, and the RPMs go DOWN and it threatens to stall. You have to play this little game for a bit longer still before RPMs go UP when you press the gas DOWN (novel concept). And YET... even though you get to that point, trying it after the car is in gear and expecting to go forward is interesting. It's as if actually having the engine pull the car now makes it be troublesome all over again.... the RPMs will drop when you touch the gas, it will threaten to stall... release the gas, the RPMs go back up. Play this game for a little bit, until it warms up further, then you start pulling the car forward when you touch the gas. But the hesitation remains for a little bit... you can put the gas down, and it's a moment before the RPMs actually go up. And sometimes they'll go up a little bit, hang there for a few seconds, then go up further, all without changing how far you pushed down the gas. It's a while before all the power that should be there finally appears. After a few minutes of driving, the car is PERFECTLY FINE and peppy. Go figure. Now, it's due to have the plugs removed... I know this. I've normally had it done elsewhere but she's an old car so I've gotten into doing more work myself these days. Turned out the socket I had was the wrong size, so I picked up the only metric one I could find (18mm)... hopefully it's the right one. I'm going to grab some Bosch Platinum plugs (think it's WR7DP?). Probably change the wires too. Distributor and rotor are brand new. However, I'm looking at other stuff too. I'm concerned about the aux. air valve. What's the proper way to test this component? I've got a Haynes manual which is pretty useless on the subject. I took off the hose opposite the electrical contacts and I can see the oval-shaped viewport to what appears to be a metal disc inside. The part of the disc exposed by the oval opening reveals two tiny holes... one centered, and one partially exposed to the right so it could extend further around the disc. On the several times I've taken the hose off to peek, it's always at the same position. How does this part work (I know what it DOES, but not how it operates)? How do I test it? Am I seeing what I should be seeing? The Haynes manual describes an involved procedure of removing the fuel pump relay, jumpering 2 of its terminals, and a few other things. When I jumper the terminal the wire I use (14 gauge I think) gets EXTREMELY hot so I stop that real fast and don't feel good about it. I'm going to try and check the cold start (fuel) valve too.. that seems easy enough. Wondering about the air mass meter too... not sure I'm looking at the right piece. Which is it? There's a box that the air intake feeds into... it then splits off in 2 directions: one to the exhaust manifold, and the other to the air filter. There's a wire from this box that loops up into a probe in the air line right before it reaches the throttle valve. There's another strange box that plugs into the side of the same big rubber tube that goes from the air flow sensor and curves around to the throttle valve... this box has some other smaller air hoses going into it. I'm pretty sure that the AMM is one of these two black boxes... but which? And how do I test? Should I look at the warm-up regulator? Just what does this do and how does it work? Do aftermarket versions of these parts exist? (probably not) Or should I go with new? Used? Rebuilt? From whom? Thanks for all your help! ----------------------- Scott I. Remick scottnopsamuteralt.com Network and Information (802)388-7545 ext. 236 Systems Manager FAX:(802)388-3697 Computer Alternatives, Inc. http://www.computeralt.com

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