Hi
I own a -86 Saab 900i. I've had some trouble with getting the car going at cold weather. I have checked the transmission fluid and the level is okay. When it's very cold, the car doesn't move at all until the engine and the transmissionfluid warms up a bit. When the system is warm, the car goes normally. Could anyone suggest me what might be the problem?. Does the change of transmissionfluid and -filter do any good or is there a more serious fault?
I have a 97 Saab SET that had pretty much the same problem, turned out to be the "Neutral Safety Switch". It felt like low fluid and shifted strange or not at all when cold but like yours, once it's warm, it had no issues. The part is $350 which is a little outrageous but what are you going to do.
I don't think an '86 has anything like that, it doesn't sound like it's not shifting, it sounds like the transmission is simply slipping or not engaging.
That's exactly what I had. I believe there are neutral safety switches (NSS) in most Saabs so check it out. The switch prevents the transmission from going into gear and when it malfunctions, it won't go into gear. I would shift my car into drive and it just wouldn't do anything. As it warmed up I could eventually get it into 3rd (ie Winter mode) but it was strange. Once fully warmed up it was fine. I was lucky in that I live in Florida so it really wasn't an issue until about 2 months ago when it got really cold (ie
60F/~15C). I thought it might be low fluid or a dirty transmission fluid filter clogging a valve or something. One other strange symptom, most of the time it would shift into reverse fine. I would find out if the 86's even had a NSS, if they do, it sure sounds like that is the issue. Do you have a "Check Gear Box" indicator, if so, it should light up if you try to drive and it's not engaging.
Worth checking I suppose, but an '86 900 is a completely different beast than a '97 900, different engine, tranny, body, etc, completely redesigned. I've only ever worked on manual 900's but the autos are fairly old-tech, no winter mode, no transmission computer, just an old fashioned hydraulic slushbox.
I will take 60F days, even if they are "really cold" :-) All joking aside, I don't see how a 60F day would "freeze" automatic transmission fluid or a switch, unless the switch had Crisco in it as a lubricant. I should probably confirm what you are using for automatic transmission fluid first. I had a car with a manual transmission with
90 weight gear oil. This oil would "freeze" enough when it got below 10F to required a slow drive around the block before it would shift easily.
Presumably this is on a car which has an automatic transmission? Because auto's are dependent on more things to transmit the energy from the engine's crankshaft to the wheels, there's more that can go wrong...
My current car is an 1982/83 900S with an auto, and on very cold mornings, the auto slips noticably when moving off in an uphill direction. It appears like one of the bands plays up in cold weather, but I've never had the engine out of the car in the two years I've owned it so the tranmission hasn't been fully-serviced in that time either. The auto transmission will be coming out as soon as possible to put a rebuilt manual transmission in.
Also, if the torque converter section has leaks, or some of the internal valving isn't seating or opening properly, the transmission will behave like it's shedding power and either do nothing or produce very little output with increasing engine revs.
Regards,
Craig.
"Craig's C900 Site" kirjoitti viestissä:crqe6f$piv$ snipped-for-privacy@yoda.apana.org.au...
So the first reply went to Craig's C900 site... :-)
Yes, the car has automatic transmission, forgot to put that in my original message. So a bit more about the symptoms: the car is shifting but it's moving very slowly at first, until the transmission (I think) warms up a bit. The engine has to run fast to get the car going. We are now talking of temperatures below 0°C (32F?). The car has done the same before but the temperature then was about -15°C (5F?), but now it happens even in 0°C.
The car is old and does not have any computers or like, so it's all mechanic.
When the car is running warm, it behaves normally. There is really not so much power than you would expect from a engine of that size, but I've thought that is't because it is an old car, driven more than 300000 km:s, so the engine too might be a little worn out.
The biggest trouble in this is that I haven't managed to get a repairhandbook concerning automatic transmission, not Saab or any other either. Automatic transmission is not so common here in Finland so there aren't many in here who can repair them, and those who exist are very expensive, that's why I really would like to do this myself.
world-wide!
Automatic C900's are rare anywhere in the world, they were just never very popular. That engine performs quite well with a manual but the slushbox just saps away enough of the power to make it feel weak.
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