PI Seek?? SAAB Audio

IIRC this is Programme Information on the RDS system. On UK national radio stations they often use different frequencies in different parts of the country, and as you cross a signal boundary it will search for the same station ID and re-tune for your continued listening pleasure. I don't travel cross-country much these days, but in a previous car it would occasionally do 'PI seek' if the signal went down.

Does your friend's do this on all stations? If not, it's probably just a poor signal from her favourite station.

Not sure if you can switch it off though.

Hope this is of some help

D :-)

I'll pass this on. The station in question is supposed to be one of the stronger in the vicinity. I'm not aware of a possible conflict. For whatever reason, the signal fades. She's concerned it may be a car problem vs. a radio station problem. Thanks for the info.

I'll post her results after she has the dealership take a look.

John G

Here's what we found out. Without a trip to the dealer!

I was messing with the radio using the Owners Manual as a guide. I noticed the FM tuner was in European increments (.1 Mhz rather than US .Mhz - most US cars only tune the "odd" FM frequencies..88.5, 88.7, etc. Hers tuned every tenth - 88.5, 88.6, 88.7, etc.)

Then I noticed the radio was preset for Europe. When I switched the radio from the European tuning mode to the US tuning mode, the "PI Seek" message disappeared. (It also dumped my all my friend's presets - oh well, that's the price for good service).

I suspect that Europe must transmit the Programme Information along with the FM signal. Once the tuner was in the US mode it no longer looked for the "PI", thus the problem vanished.

Anyone in Europe confrim my theory??

Thanks,

John G

How'd you manage to switch it? I've never seen a place to set, or even view, the tuning mode.

It was in the Audio section of her owner's manual. One of the menu items. Her Information display is centered on the dashboard next to the windshield. It definitely had a different menu than my 2001 95 wagon. If you'd like, I can track down the exact information, but I'd have to get her owner's manual first.

John G

Do you mean the audio manual or the audio section of the owner's manual? I have the 2004 Aero and I've never seen it. I'll look again though. In the mean time, if you track it down, let me know.

Hi, Sorry to take so long, but I couldn't get hold of the manual.

This is from the "SAAB Infotainment" manual from a 2004 SAAB 93 Linear.

Page 16 - Radio Settings

"Adjusting Frequency Steps

If the car is shipped from Europe to North America, the radio's frequency steps will require adjustment since these differ in these two parts of the world.

When the frequency step setting is changed, any station presets will be erased and replaced by default frequencies.

To activate the new settings: Switch off the audio system, lock the car and wait a couple of seconds. Then unlock the car and turn the audio system back on.

SAAB Audio:

1. (press) SETTINGS (button) (then select) Radio Settings
2. Press and hold RADIO for more than 3 seconds - to select EU-mode, check EU-mode

- to select US-mode, check US-mode

1. Select Yes to confirm the setting

SAAB Infotainment

1. (press) MAIN (button) (then select) Radio (then select) Radio Settings
2. Press and hold RADIO for more than 3 seconds - to select EU-mode, check EU-mode

- to select US-mode, check US-mode

1. Select Yes to confirm the setting

Hope this helps,

John G