This thing will not fire a plug unless the alternator is disconnected and the battery is almost dead and then it will only run until the battery finishes dying. I have swapped computers with another one, so I am sure it is not that. . Could this be as simple as a bad alternator? Or is there some other Saab quirk I need to know about?
does your car have DI?
DI=Direct Ignition. If your motor has spark plug wires and a distributor, it doesn't have DI.
I thought DI was introduced in early the 1990's, so you probably don't have it.
Walt Kienzle
1991 9000TThanks, I'm learning stuff. You're right, it does not have DI. Does this make troubleshooting harder or easier?
Walt Kienzle wrote:
I can't speak for the rest of the group, but lack of DI makes it harder for me to provide suggestions. The last car with a distributor that I worked on also had points and condenser (pre electronic ignition). Age makes recollection of those experiences somewhat vague.
....the nice thing about diagnosing problems on DI, is that all you have to do is to replace the DI cassette with a known good one, if only temporarily, to see if that's the problem. With conventional coil/distributor ignition you have to work your way through coil, HT leads, distributor cap, rotor arm, spark plugs etc trying to nail the fault. Having said that, it's probably cheaper to replace all the conventional components than it is to replace the DI cassette with a new one!
Well said. I have a story that goes a step further in illustrating pricing: A friend of mine found a failed small component in the distributor that was causing his car to stall. The part was only available from the dealer and cost US$130. He also discovered that rebuilt distributors were readily available for US$90 and they included the part he needed, along with all sort of other renewed parts, and it came with a 1 year warranty.
BTW, I bought a new, red DI cassette a few months ago and thought it was a bargain at US$299.00
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