1950-1966 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
I am the proud owner and rebuilder of my grandfather's old 1978 99L. In the spring of 1997 my car died right in front of me. I rebuilt the engine in the summer of 1997. Other than a few minor fix it jobs, I have since enjoyed three great years of driving.
Recently on New Year's Eve day I was driving from Chicago to Minneapolis. The car had run great for the first three hours of the trip. I stopped for gas in Portage Wisconsin (exactly half way). I went in paid for the gas and came out to find that the car would not start nor would it even begin to crank. I was bewildered and was upset to think I would be spending New Years Eve in either the gas station or the strip club next door. This was not what I thought would be a good time since all my friends were throwing a large party back at home in Minneapolis.
I could not imagine that my starter had just gone out on me because I had never had any problems or hints of a problem with the starter. The starter had been replaced just three years ago. Anyway I ended up having a good old boy push me down a small grade, I popped the clutch and I was on my way. When I got to Minneapolis, I parked the car in a friends garage and turned it off. I tried to start it imediately and it would not start. I ordered a new starter ($150) and was going to put it in the car the next weekend. When I came over to my friend's garage, I wanted to show my friend what happened when I trurned the key. The car started up right away.
Again I was bewildered but happy not to do anything because the temerature was about 15 degrees in his garage. I have driven the car for two or three weeks now with no problems until this past weekend.
The same thing happen when I went to run an errand. Car would not start, got a push start and came home. I turned the car off, would not start then three hours later, came out to the car and it started right up. I think the propblem is either with the solenoid, or the starter relay or something of that nature. Can anyone give me any clues as to why the car will not start and then a few hours later after sitting it will start like there is no problem. I have ruled out vapor lock because the car will not even crank. It is very frustrting and scary to drive anywhere that I could be stranded in the middle of nowhere. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!
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.