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Re: Lamp control relay [saabnow]
Posted by saabnow (more from saabnow) on Fri, 17 Oct 2003 17:30:20
In Reply to: Lamp control relay [saabnow], saabnow, Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:21:30
Message from David Prantl - http://saabnet.com/tsn/forms/e.php3?em=38
Subject: Re: Lamp control relay ================= > The SAAB part # for the relay is 41 09 070... Hella part # 5KG 005 675-01
Yes, a known trouble-maker present in pretty much all 1992 and newer SAABs (except the '92-'94 classic 900 sedans and convertibles). The oldest ones out there are therefore 11+ years old, but they often fail before reaching the age of 10. I've personally seen bad ones on several '93 and '94 9000 CSEs.
It's not actually a relay, but a bulb-check circuit board with no internal moving parts. Besides buying a new unit from the SAAB dealer at an outrageous price, you have several options:
1. Pop the orange cover off, and re-flow the solder joints between the circuit board and the black plastic base with a cheap low-power soldering iron. I have restored three faulty units this way so far. Opening them up is a little frustrating, but worth a $100+ savings IMO.
2. Get a used older (black) version of this bulb-check unit from an '88-'91 9000, part number 95 24 836, Hella part # 5KG 005 675-00. You can't get it new anymore, because it's been functionally superceeded by the orange one that you've got. You might convince a junkyard to give you a price break because technically it's an obsolete part ! I have an '88, a '90, and there has been another '90 and two '91s in my family that never had a problem with their old-style bulb-check unit.
3. Hard-wire the relay board in the car such that the bulb-check unit is no longer necessary to operate the headlights. Of course, this will cause the car to lose it's headlight bulb-checking feature. Looking at the headlight relay box from the front of the car, you'll see three vertical rows of electrical contacts in the bulb-check unit's socket. First row from the left has three contacts, small/large/small. Connect these three together (labelled 56a, 56aL and 56aR). The middle row has three contacts, large/large/large. Connect these three together (labelled 56b, 56bL and 56bR). Leave the two contacts in the right-most row alone. If you connect them together (labelled 31 and C2), the warning for a failed headlight bulb will illuminate on the EDU display in the car.
On a similar note, our '94 CSE had a problem with the main (double-wide) headlight relay. Saab changed it from a black one (95 53 546) to a red one (95 66 647) starting with model-year 1991. 95 66 647 was superceeded again in 1995 by 44 33 801. I put in an old (1990 or older) black one and the problem was solved. I haven't taken the red one apart yet to see if it failed the same way as the orange bulb-check unit.
An easy way to identify a bad orange bulb-check unit or red headlight relay is to turn the headlights on, and wiggle the suspected unit. If wiggling one of them causes the headlight problem to go away intermittently, then you have found the cause. Check all the contacts in the offending unit's socket for mechanical damage, heat damage or corrosion, before condemning the unit itself.
A final note on USA-market CS/CSE/Aero headlights: There are actually three bulbs in each headlight. 1. High-beam halogen type 9005 (65W) bulb. 2. Low-beam halogen type 9006 (55W) bulb. 3. Small tungsten-filament wedge-base parking light (5W) bulb.
The latter is located in the bottom part of the high-beam lens. The owner's manuals make no mention of it, which might explain why most CS/CSE/Aero cars are tooling around out there with both little bulbs blown. The bulbs are the same type as those fitted in the small fender-mounted turn signal lenses. Getting the small bulb socket out of the headlight lens requires a twist, and a small pair of bent-nosed pliers is very handy.
David Prantl david_prantlno39sdcx6spamx782hotmail.com
'84 900S, 5M, 210kMi, RIP as of 2/98 '89 900, 3A, 116kMi, restored and SOLD on 3/24/01 '97 9000CSET, 5M, 63kMi, Speedparts Stage-I, SOLD on 10/11/02 '93 9000CSET, 5M, 84kMi, SOLD on 3/8/03
'86 9000T, 5M, 200kMi '88 9000S, 5M, 142kMi '90 9000S (B202I), 4A, 161kMi '94 9000CSE (B234I), 4A, 164kMi '68 97 Sonett V4, 4M, 76kMi, #000467
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