1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
...i'm not sure what the cause of the problem is, but i don't think it's the alarm circuitry... If the car alarm circuit "thought" that the car was being stolen, it would completely disable the starter... and you would have to turn the key in the drivers door THREE TIMES to the UNLOCK position to disarm that "kill starter" function. (this is the procedure on my 1990 9000 turbo anyways)
If it's an intermittent start, then it's a bad ground, or loose wire somewhere, or bad relay...
I don't want to discourage you, but the problem might be so hard to find, that you may never figure out what it is. it could be a fraying wire somewhere DEEP in the wire harness... impossible to locate unless you went over every inch of the wire...
However, there is hope... although it might not be the path you are looking for. Listen up...
My friend just recently purchased a 1987 9000 turbo.
Originally, this car was an automatic... anf the previous owner had converted it to a 5-speed manual.
When the conversion was done, the pervious owner forgot to jump these two wires where the auto shift selector used to be that allow the car to start... these wires would have normally been connected when he shift selector was set to NEUTRAL or DRIVE, only allowing the car to start in those positions...
...so his symptoms would have been very similar if he forgot to jump these wires, if not EXACTLY what you are experiencing intermittently now.
You turn the key to start, and nothing happens, no click, no nothing.
Just now i thought of something, if your car is an automatic... these contacts might be bad, or the wires there might be loose... if it is, let me know and i'll post instructions on how to check them.
however, the solution that the previous owner of this 1987 9000 turbo with a swapped tranny was this:
Drill a hole for a PUSH BUTTON style switch into one of the blank switch spacers on your dash... (like one of the ones around the seat heater switches or around the fog light switch)
Run a fairly decent size diamter wire from your positve battery terminal to the push button switch in your dash. (i suggest 10 gauge, maybe 8 gauge)
Run the same size wire out of the dash switch to the positive terminal on the starter.
This will obviously bypass ALL relays, and ALL ciruitry of the car... and the end result is this...
The starter will turn and try to start the car WHENEVER the button is pushed down... even when the car is off... even when you're going 65mph on the highway... literally WHENEVER you push the button... so this can be a bad thing, if an unsuspecting person pushes it while in transit. sort of like this:
"hey dude! What's that stupid red button you got there? an eject seat?"
and then they push it and then they feel stupid. :)
...anyways... you can do this fix in under an hour, with less than $20, and you're car will start EVERYTIME, GURANTEED.
This is exactly what has been done to my friends 87 9000, and it doesn't even look out of place on his dash.
The procedure for properly starting the car with the button goes like this:
1. Insert key and turn to ON
2. press and hold button until car starts
3. release button
4. DRIVE AWAY! :)
i totally recommend this if you can't figure out the problem, and now that i've seen it done, i know that i would do this TO MY OWN CAR in a heartbeat, if i had the problems that both of you were having.
I NEED my car, thus i NEED it to start. And if i had to i would put in this push button mod.
I'll eventually take pictures of my friends button in his car...
Let me know if this helps... and what you think about it...
-gavin
posted by 69.169.238...
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |