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Re: Five questions on my '96 SAAB 9000 CSE Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:57:54
In Reply to: Five questions on my '96 SAAB 9000 CSE, Mary in Maine, Wed, 29 Nov 2006 10:41:41 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
1. Burning sugar, or as my wife likes to characterize it, baking bread. That's the smell of hot coolant. The most likely source is the heater core. The heater core in the 9000 is a weak spot, and they tend to leak slightly as they age. Replacing one isn't fun. In the early stages, the leaks aren't a flow, but slight weeping of coolant through almost microscopic cracks. Get it warm and blow air over it and into your nose, and a little coolant goes a long way. My recommendation is to use a bottle of Bars Leaks, commonly available at most autoparts stores. Stick with the liquid version. It won't fix big leaks, and it's not recommended for cars with a cooling system in poor condition. But it will add years to a minor heater core leak. Note that it'll take a couple of weeks to work - there will be coolant sitting around on the surface that has to evaporate.
2. I assume the problem is that you go to close the door, and it bounces open again. The problem is that when you open the door, the "C" shaped latch on the door jamb releases the pin on the door frame. The latch should then snap back down into place. It doesn't, so the door won't latch. The problem is due to water buildup. The water turns to ice and freezes it. It doesn't take much. The best solution is to lubricate the latch mechanism with something that excludes water, like WD-40. It's really nice if you can get into the door by removing the panel, but liberal application of lubricant to the latch a few times helps. Do it whent he car is above freezing, so it can help drive off the water. I also recommend keeping a lighter in the car, because even with the best efforts, the problem does occasionally come back. You can warm the latch portion (metal block on the door jamb) with the lighter.
3. Grinding noise. Is it when the car is moving, or also when it is stopped? Are you sure it's from the rear of the car? Anything else associated with it, like the antenna going up? How about the climate control settings? As you've mentioned Maine and below freezing, I wonder if it might be one of the fans in the rear doors. These come on during defrost. This might help isolate the sound.
4. High beam relay. The high beam relay sits in the relay box in the engine compartment, a nasty place for anything electronic. Temperature swings and vibration cause micro-cracks in the larger solder pads inside the relay itself. This causes intermittent operation, and it can actually fool itself into thinking you've just pulled the high beam switch. The easy solution, although not cheap, is to replace the relay. The cheap solution is to remove the relay, pull off the cover, and use a soldering iron to re-flow the Large solder pads. It's only the large ones that are an issue.
5. Not quite sure of the description here. It seems from your description that when you press the LOCK button on the center console, the doors don't lock or unlock. Do you hear the locks try to move? That would be a click that lasts about 1 second from the doors. Can you lock and unlock the doors with the remote? You say the trunk works OK - I assume you're using the release in the door for that. The trunk works on a different system than the door locks.
Here's a question - does the dome light go on when you open the door? If not, replace the fuse (#16, I believe). The door locks will now work.
So - can you unlock the doors with the remote?
posted by 192.249....
, Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:57:54 <-- Viewing This Message, Mon, 4 Dec 2006 05:59:45
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