Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 15:51:22 GMT From: Pat Noonan <panoonannospamBeGonehotmail.com> Subject: 91 900 wont start
Hi Thanks in advance for any suggestions, I have searched through past messages and havent found anything helpful to my case turn the key and the dash lights come on slowly and dimly, turn to start, nothing, lights go out, will no longer start with a boost turn key to on, turn on headlights and dash lights fade Car : 91 saab 900 2.1 litre battery voltage is 12.75 has been not starting lately ( bought it 3 months ago, always seemed to turn over slowly), every few days would need to take a boost and start I have a 100 amp booster/ battery charger that i used to boost previously and it worked, hasn't now though, although the dash lights get nice and bright Started looking at cables and positive cable to starter solenoid was frayed and corroded a bit, about 2 inches before it joined starter replaced cable with canadian tire 61 inch cable, has not started since Here's the kicker, when replacing the positive cable back to battery, wrench slipped and bounced off sidewall of engine compartment, sparked a bit. - probably fried something there and caused current(pardon the pun ) problem previously to replacing cable, would start with a boost, all dash lights came on fine, just turned slowly when starting, there was no parasitic drain, I remove the neg cable clamp to battery and tested there was .3 amps when nothing was running, apparently acceptable I thought it may be the solenoid, replaced it, while I had the start out, did a bench test with old solenoid and it spun the starter, replaced solenoid any way, as it was out and I had already paid for it! read more stuff on the web ( Haynes book is on order, wont be in for another 2 weeks ) tested terminal 50 on solenoid, connected to terminal 50 spade connector, (not term. 50 itself) got 5 volts when key was turned to start, apparently thats too low I have tested that I have good voltage at solenoid, also tested resistance of new cable, 0 at bracket that pos cable connects to tested resistance of negative cable to bolt on engine, 0, tested resistance of neg cable to rad cross member ground, also 0, but looks like had antifreeze dripping on it, so I removed the bolt and wire brushed all cable ends and re attached. -should mention also that I thought I would double check both pos and neg connections and put a booster cable jump between the battery and the solenoid, no effect, tried same with other pos cable to where it connects, and tried both negative connections, checking if the cables were ok by jumping over them with booster cables, no effect I believe the cables from battery are ok I connected a voltmeter to battery, like I say 12.75 ish volts, when I turn the key to start, it drop to 5 ish volts, returns to 12.75 when I release key Questions, Is there a fusible link somewhere? How do I trouble shoot the ignition system, is there a relay somewhere I could test? or other component? How do I trouble shoot the key setup itself, where and what ( and how) do I test for the voltage drop? I ran out and bought a dig multimeter a while back, has 10 amp unfused capacity, dc volts and resistance I am guessing the drop to 5 volts from battery when turning the key to start is a short or a failed component, any thoughts? I also assume this is not normal, but couldnt find a voltage recommendation when key is turned Previously when the car was running I put voltmeter on when running, no accessories, 13.8, dropped to 13.3 when all accessories where turned on, it seemed to have problems when we ran all, rear defrost, wipers, defrost fan, etc while driving, needed a boost more frequently. Did have a problem when first got it, turned the key and the starter stayed engaged, key did not return, ran engine for a few minutes with starter engaged, SRS light started blinking after that and still does, since then have been careful to ease the key back from start position after it starts. (shutting that off would be nice as well, but not a major concern return) Whew, sorry for telling my entire life story, but want to narrow it down as much as possible Any suggestion what else to test? Please cc my email as well as the newsgroup so I can get it quicker, I check that several times daily panoonanSPAMFILTERnospamail.com remove the spam filter, of course Pat
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