2000 9-3 rough idle at start

Hi,

My wife's car, a 2000 9-3 convertable 2.0l, idles extremely rough at start for about 60 seconds and then it smooths out. I know nothing about Saab, but do my own maintenance on my vehicles.

This problem sounds to me like it could be a partially clogged air or fuel filter. Before I spend the money on them, does this sound correct to the Saab owners out here, or is it some wierd thing like the DI (?) cassette. (What is that thing anyway?)

BTW, email is broken, so please respond here.

Craig C.

If the rough idle goes away after 60 seconds, it's probably not a clogged air or fuel filter. If you have not changed them recently, it would not hurt. Anyone can do the air filter in a couple of minutes. You can do the fuel filter but you have to release the pressure in the system first - don't do it w/o doing that.

I doubt that it's your DI cassette. The DI is a set of four coils that provide the high voltage to the spark plugs. The installation of individual coils is done to allow the engine (ECU) to control spark to each cylinder individually and to eliminate the secondary ignition wires.

The DI usually causes run time problems (misses, check engine lights) when it goes bad. It might change after heating up a little but it usually gets worse, not better, when you apply heat (run the engine).

If the timing of the problem is very similar each time, I'd guess that you have a "pollution" valve open and then closing (or vise versa), or a manifold leak, or perhaps a bad cold start injector (although I don't think that problem would go on for 60 seconds.).

How does it run otherwise ? How is the "power" when you drive ?

Craig,

My wife has a 2001 9-3 convertible with the same problem. Dealer says it is the gasoline in our area (Austin, Texas). Because of air quality issues, more alcohol is being mixed with the gasoline. SAAB doesn't like it. He says they see the same problem in the Pittsburgh area.

He installed a software update, but she still says it idles rough on cold start.

If you find another explanation, I'd like to hear about it.

Larry Silvey

I have a 2002 9-3 and I have experienced the same rough idle at start and I too live in Austin, TX.

Curt

One more observation on this subject...For the first few months we had the car, we always used premium gas (92 Octane). Always had the rough idle problem when the engine was cold.

The last two fill-ups, we have used regular gas (87 Octane). Guess what? Much smoother idle with little or no "chugging" on a cold start.

I'm not sure what that means, but I'm liking the savings. I've noticed a difference in fast acceleration where the turbo is working hard. Maybe a compromise is in order with the mid grade gas.

Larry Silvey

Can you explain to me wear the cold start injector is located in a 2000 9-3