Saab 89 won't Start starting problem

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gandl2123@comcast.net - 03 Feb 2007 15:07 GMT

I have a 1989 Saab 900 that I just purchased for 300 dollars that has
been sitting for 8 months. The sun roof is open and won't work after
installing a battery. The ignition switch has been re routed as old
key was broken in old one. The accessories (red) wires are attatched
to generic ignition switch as is the IGN (grey) and BAT (blue) wires.

I can get the car to roll over but won't fire. I do notice that when
I turn the key to the first position the oil light comes on. Then
when I turn to crank that light goes out until I release the key.
This seems weird to me as I thought this key should stay on until
start or when oil pump reaches PSI minimums.

I was able to just put the key in the first position and then short
out the wires to crank her with red oil light on and still no go.

I can hear the fuel pump running in the rear and I have sprayed carb
cleaner into air filter box to make sure that something should ignite
and still she doesn't fire.

The old lady I bought it from said she purrs like a kitten and just
quit at a local gas station and parked it and didn't touch it again.
She seems to think it is air filter related as it happed just after a
new air filter installation and she was told that that was probably
the problem.

I checked and the wires to the MAF are connected and everything seems
in order but the connection from the air box to the outer MAF seems
like it may be missing a gromett or something. But I don't think this
is the problem because it is on the filter side of the MAF.

I plan to pull the coil wire off and place it near the block to see if
I'm getting spark there. If weak or none I plan to run a positive
wire to the pos side of the coil and try again. If no spark then
guess I would have to replace coil or the ignition amplifier (where is
that). Also the crank sensor (Oh, my God I hope I don't have to pull
that pulley).

Have I missed anything here? I also may try to unhook the ECM and re-
connect in case that is a problem. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated. Any of you out there that have free cell phones on Sat I
would love to hear from you. My free cell number is 7 0 6 8 2 5 7 1 8
0
0

Thanks.

Mr. Tripp
Augusta, GA

1989 Saab 900 (s) I think.
w/automatic trans

PS I also can't get the trans out of park. Is there a switch or
something?

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Mauricio Tavares - 03 Feb 2007 19:57 GMT

> I have a 1989 Saab 900 that I just purchased for 300 dollars that has
> been sitting for 8 months. The sun roof is open and won't work after
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
> that). Also the crank sensor (Oh, my God I hope I don't have to pull
> that pulley).

    Here are my thoughts, but since I have never done major work on a saab,
they are a bit generic and based on my volvo and other cars I've played
with.

o Check if you have fuel and spark first. Fuel: fuel pump and injectors.
Spark: well you know what to do. Is this LH 2.4 or LH 2.2 fuel injection
system? Both fuel and ignition get the timing info from the same place.
In a volvo that would be either crank angle sensor (2.4) or distributor
Hall sensor (2.2). Crank sensor is usually checked by measuring
resistance across its connector (I assume the sensor is wherever it
wants and then has a wire that then is connected to the rest of the car).

o A volvo will start even if its airflow meter is boink. I dunno if a
saab will but since the fuel system is the same...

o Check all hoses to see if there is nothing funny.

o Both ignition coil and fuel injectors work by grounding its ground
wire. The ECU does that for the fuel injectors while the amplphier does
it for the coil. You can kinda test them with a test light or multimeter:
    o When power is on (engine not cranking), you should get 12v using the
engine as ground.
    o When the engine is being cranked, if you connect the pair of wires
that go to the coil's primary/injector, it will pulse. In my volvo it
seems to be pulsing around 9V but I attribute that to the reaction speed
of my cheapo multimeter.

> Have I missed anything here? I also may try to unhook the ECM and re-
> connect in case that is a problem. Any suggestions would be greatly
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> PS I also can't get the trans out of park. Is there a switch or
> something?

I've seen many cars that have a normally open switch on the brake
pedal. When pedal is pressed, switch is closed, and you can then move
the shifter lever. What about switches on the lever itself?

Once again, do understand that there are people here who are orders of
magnitude more knowledgeable than me in saabs.

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Mauricio raub-kudria-com
(if you need to email me, use this address =)

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