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, Sat, 26 Mar 2005 13:30:54
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A week ago I purchased a CPO 2001 Aero. In the one week I've driven it, I've grown to like to the car more and more.
However, I have ALREADY experience two check engine conditions in 160 miles of driving. The first one was a stuck thermostat and the second was... you guessed it, the DIC failure: today, with my whole family in the vehicle, on a highway with reserved access - meaning that the Saab roadside assistance could not send the normal tow truck over.
My dealer acted very quickly and responded to my SOS with a loaner car. But still, I was stuck on a highway breakdown lane with my kids in booster seats and worrying whether some distracted driver might not see the emergency triangle I had set up and rear end my vehicle.
I spent over two weeks pouring through this BB before I purchased the Aero so I entered into this purchase with my eyes open. Maybe that is why I am not overly angry as a result of this breakdown.
I did not immediately shut down the engine and pull over so I have a feeling that the catalyst is shot also. I guess I'll have to work with the dealership to have it replaced along with the DIC.
Mike, you have been a very helpful contributing member on this BB and I have read many of your posts with special attention since you work at a dealership and have extensive knowledge and experience (and have personally employed your advice). However, as some of the posters here have suggested, I wonder how you would feel if it happened to you while your loved ones were in the car with you.
Furthermore, I wonder whether the Saabs lack of response to the unignorable critical failure mode (i.e. dead engine) might be partly attributable to other Saab employees having the same attitude to these failures as your post apparantly shows. I will fully acknowledge that I may have my gander up because of what happened today. So I'm venting a little here. Again, I don't mean to make you the target. Really, this isn't a flame. :)
However, I worked in the auto industry over a decade ago as a powertrain engineer and these type of failures are reported back to the engineers. Given the small sample size of Saabnet members, the number of DIC failures reported on this BB point to a significant failure rate. It does cause me to wonder what the engineer is thinking. I would feel a sense of responsibility. I would conjecture that if left to his own devices, the Saab engineer would fix it. The corporate mechanism probably prevents him (cost factors, etc.).
I still have to think about whether I want to carry a spare cartridge in the trunk. People's feeling of safety are not always based on logic. As you pointed out, there are other parts on other vehicles that have the same failure mode and probably even a greater failure rate. But you are telling people to override their psychological impulses and that is not logical. That's probably why you are seeing the responses you are seeing here.
My relationship with my silver Aero has not been an auspicious one. However, I hope these are just starting pains and that I will continue to enjoy driving the Aero. I have some new wheels and Klasse twins to upgrade my vehicle and it's in the shop! I'll throw up some before and after pictures when I get it back from the shop.
Good luck everyone with your DIC.
tincob
posted by 24.44.13...
, Sat, 26 Mar 2005 13:30:54, Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:18:28, Mon, 28 Mar 2005 13:14:10
, Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:13:06, Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:36:29, Sat, 26 Mar 2005 13:33:44
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