starting issue with 1983 8V C900 turbo

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Craig's Saab C900 Site - 22 Dec 2005 03:26 GMT

I received the turbo C900 I've mentioned in a few places recently and it's
got a problem starting. The starter works fine to crank the engine, but it
sort of fires but sort of doesn't. I have checked the distributor, coil,
etc. and made sure all the wiring is in place and not broken, etc.

Last night I got thinking that it might be the fuel pump relay because if I
crank for about 10 seconds, let the key go, move back to off, then crank
again, it fires straight away.

Is it possible that the fuel pump relay is not kicking in to start to fuel
pump on the first attempt at starting? Looking at the schematics in my
Bentley manual, the fuel pump should start as soon as the key moves into the
'run' position on the earlier 900's which don't have the fully-pressurised
tank and single-stage fuel pump.

I know that on my 1985 900i the fuel pump runs for a bit then stops when the
key moves to 'start'. On the 1983 900S the pump starts and keeps going. It
could be a peculiarity of being a turbo-equipped C900 that's part of the key
with the newly-acquired car...

I'll try changing the fuel pump relay later on just in case it helps.

Regards,

Craig.

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Craig's Saab C900 Page at | Craig's Classic Saab Workshop - Sydney .au
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Email: c900@lios.apana.org.au | For Saab 99/C900/9000 Enthusiasts World-Wide!
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yaofeng - 22 Dec 2005 04:01 GMT

> I received the turbo C900 I've mentioned in a few places recently and it's
> got a problem starting. The starter works fine to crank the engine, but it
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> Craig.

Or your fuel pump may not be delivering sufficient fuel? I know it is
a different car. When I changed the fuel pump on my 95 9000 cse, the
first thing I noticed was it started on the first crank whereas the old
pump requires 6 or 7 cranks.

Why did I change the fuel pump? It was a wrong diagnosis so I won't
get into that. The old pump has 128k miles in any case but working.

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ma_twain - 22 Dec 2005 16:09 GMT

>>I received the turbo C900 I've mentioned in a few places recently and it's
>>got a problem starting. The starter works fine to crank the engine, but it
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> Why did I change the fuel pump? It was a wrong diagnosis so I won't
> get into that. The old pump has 128k miles in any case but working.

I concur - check the fuel line pressure. I had a 1985 C900 8 valve with
a worn out fuel pump check valve (after 190,000 miles). The fuel in the
fuel line would drain back into the tank, so I would have to crank (let
the fuel pump run) until the fuel line was filled again.

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Craig's Saab C900 Site - 23 Dec 2005 01:01 GMT

>I concur - check the fuel line pressure. I had a 1985 C900 8 valve with
>a worn out fuel pump check valve (after 190,000 miles). The fuel in the
>fuel line would drain back into the tank, so I would have to crank (let
>the fuel pump run) until the fuel line was filled again.

I've got a CIS fuel system test kit here so once I fix a few things under
the car I'll check the fuel-pump relay first, then hook up the CIS test kit
into the fuel system and measure the pressures.

Thanks for the tips so far with this - I'll 'report back' when I've got more
info. 8-)

BTW, I'd like to wish everyone a good Christmas and New Year on behalf of
myself and my family. Unlike you northern hemisphere folks who get to
experience the Coca Cola Season (aka Christmas) just like the man in red and
white describes it, it's summer down here and we're going to have bushfire
conditions today and tomorrow. Very hot! At least the drinks are cold. lol

Craig.

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James Sweet - 23 Dec 2005 05:11 GMT

> BTW, I'd like to wish everyone a good Christmas and New Year on behalf of
> myself and my family. Unlike you northern hemisphere folks who get to
> experience the Coca Cola Season (aka Christmas) just like the man in red and
> white describes it, it's summer down here and we're going to have bushfire
> conditions today and tomorrow. Very hot! At least the drinks are cold. lol

Always weirds me out when I get a Christmas card from a friend down
under, Santa in shorts on a beach just isn't something I associate with
christmas!

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Craig's Saab C900 Site - 23 Dec 2005 11:11 GMT

>> BTW, I'd like to wish everyone a good Christmas and New Year on behalf of
>> myself and my family. Unlike you northern hemisphere folks who get to
>> experience the Coca Cola Season (aka Christmas) just like the man in red and
>> white describes it, it's summer down here and we're going to have bushfire
>> conditions today and tomorrow. Very hot! At least the drinks are cold. lol

>Always weirds me out when I get a Christmas card from a friend down
>under, Santa in shorts on a beach just isn't something I associate with
>christmas!

And for us the reverse is true. Christmas with snow is just such a wacko
idea (!) for us in the southern hemisphere! I get so utterly fed up with all
the 'Christmas' shows on TV at this time of year which are generally almost
all from the UK or USA and they all purport the 'white christmas' image. No
wonder so many expat northern hemispherians seem to revel in the even more
stupid 'christmas in July' which seems to be growing in commercialism with
each passing year much like Easter (yet another useless holiday), etc.

Gasp - Christmas is meant to be a family time with no religious whirlwinding
fed by the flames of Coke's marketting fires.

Craig.

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James Sweet - 23 Dec 2005 19:35 GMT

> And for us the reverse is true. Christmas with snow is just such a wacko
> idea (!) for us in the southern hemisphere! I get so utterly fed up with all
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> stupid 'christmas in July' which seems to be growing in commercialism with
> each passing year much like Easter (yet another useless holiday), etc.

While snow would be nice, I think I can only remember one white
christmas here, usually it's a wet muddy christmas. I don't see any
slowing down of the commercialism, the stores here get filled with
christmas stuff within days of Halloween, there's piles of decorations
being peddled for every holiday anyone can think of these days. Seems
like I spend a lot more time preparing than I do relaxing with friends
and family around this time of year. At least the Saab hasn't needed any
urgent work!

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Everett M. Greene - 23 Dec 2005 18:43 GMT

Craig's Saab C900 Site wrote:

>I received the turbo C900 I've mentioned in a few places recently and it's
>got a problem starting. The starter works fine to crank the engine, but it
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>crank for about 10 seconds, let the key go, move back to off, then crank
>again, it fires straight away.

I thought all Saabs started that way -- my 1985 C900
always has.

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James Sweet - 23 Dec 2005 19:30 GMT

> Craig's Saab C900 Site wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> I thought all Saabs started that way -- my 1985 C900
> always has.

My '88 fires up within 2 or 3 revolutions of the crankshaft, if it's
taking much longer than that then something is wrong.

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