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Ok, here's my problem.... I've had my 95 900SE 5-door for a few years now and it's usually operated flawlessly. Recently, it's started having this strange startup problem. It stutters and sputters and stalls when you start up the car. It's not the battery (that's fine and it's not having trouble turning over) but I can't figure out what the problem is! I had the car looked at, and they couldn't find it either. They suggested maybe changing the spark plugs to something better but then even when I authorized that change they didn't do it because they really felt that wasn't the problem. They cleaned some fuel line filter or something, and that didn't help.
What it does is--as you start it, it starts right up, but then the idle falls way down and it shudders like it's about to stall. Then the computer kicks in and revs it up and lets it go, and it either falls back down or stays WAY up for a few seconds (like 4000 rpm). If it goes back down again, the computer kicks in and then it goes back and forth for a few seconds, either balancing out and letting me drive it, or then just stalling. If it stalls, it's likely to do it again. I tried taking the auto climate control A/C off as it starts but that doesn't seem to help.
And even as I'm driving it in lower gears, sometimes I feel it buck a little, like I'm getting those uneven RPMS again. It FEELS like maybe a fuel pump issue?
And then there's the what I THINK is an unrelated problem.... There seems to be a leak in my cooling system. I know this wasn't the best idea, but I've basically taken to topping it off as it starts to drop down low, which has gotten me through quite a bit (honestly, it's a slow leak, three top offs got me through a year and a half).
but then two days ago, the "coolant level low" warning came on the dash, which I usually just clear out and deal with in a few days (I know, I know.... but I watch the engine heat level) and last night, the warning came back on, and the engine temp light SHOT up. I mean we were at H. I stopped the car, and had it towed. The tow truck guy said that the coolant was ALL OVER the inside of the engine--something exploded.
Now this isn't likely to have been the case a few days ago when I brought it in to have it checked on the seemingly-unrelated starting issue, but I can't be certain they just didn't notice it.
So now the car is back at the garage (not Saab, will take it there if necessary) and I would love to hear some insight from other NG900 experts if they've had similar problems so I can give the garage something to go on. They're usually wonderful about finding and fixing problems and this one really has them stumped.
posted by 66.167.16...
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