From your description, you're losing all the electrical power, which is to say that the battery is becoming disconnected from the rest of the electrical system. There is no relay that handles all the current to the electrical system (any such relay would be too vulnerable to failure). What you're hearing is a bunch of energized relays dropping out when the power disappears. Those relays aren't transferring the battery power, they're depending on it. So they aren't the problem, they're just an audible symptom.

What you want to examine is the big cables that connect the battery to the electrical system. I don't know exactly how Saab does this, so I can't provide specifics. Just carefuly examine all the big cable connections. Start at the battery connections themselves. Trace them out, look at all connections and, preferably, loosen and retighten all that you can see. Best to disconnect the positive cable from the battery before you work on that leg, because if you accidentally contact ground with the wrench while working on a the hot feed wire, it will be very exciting for a moment (shorting the battery to ground produces massive arcs and sparks).

Have a good look at the big ground cable of the battery (the symptom mentioned in note 3 of your write-up suggests a bad ground). Trace it all the way to its connection on the chassis. Loosen and retighten the connections, and look hard at the crimps on all connectors, including the battery connectors. Also, remove the battery connections and scrape both the cable connectors and the battery posts to expose new bare metal.

I really suspect that your problem is a large wire connection. I wish I had more specifics on the Saab electrical system, but I only learn what I need to know, and I haven't had any such massive electrical problems. Beleieve it or not though, a massive electrical intermittent failure such as you describe is much easier to track down than a secondary failure.

• electrical problem, benjamin stalcup, Thu, 14 Dec 2000 18:58:18
  • The relays are a symptom, not the cause, Quasi, Fri, 15 Dec 2000 00:49:27 <-- Viewing This Message
    • Quasi's right..., Aerodutch, Fri, 15 Dec 2000 18:38:38
      • Re: Quasi's right..., John, Fri, 15 Dec 2000 19:39:35
  • The relays are a symptom, not the cause, Quasi, Fri, 15 Dec 2000 00:45:49
  • Re: electrical problem, Craig, Thu, 14 Dec 2000 19:23:39
    • Re: intermittent power, Lu, Thu, 14 Dec 2000 22:07:38
      • Re: intermittent power, benjamin, Fri, 15 Dec 2000 00:57:12
    • Re: electrical problem, benjamin, Thu, 14 Dec 2000 19:45:37

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• Prev by Date: I also have kit and agree, Simon, Fri, 15 Dec 2000 00:47:27
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