Saab 9-5: Another DI cassette story

Hello all:

I've gotten a lot of information from the group here since I bought my SAAB, a 2000 9-5 SE (V6) wagon, so I thought I'd add my latest experience to the group knowledge.

My SAAB wagon has 55,000 miiles on it and is maintained well. The maintenance schedule is strictly adhered to and I change the oil every 3,000 miles. Last week we're on vacation at north shore Lake Tahoe, 235 miles from home. We're on our way to dinner when I lose power and the throttle won't respond. I pull over, put the engine in neutral and rev it up - it revs up great with no load but as soon as I put it pack in gear it stumbles badly under throttle. After letting it sit for a while I tried to restart it - no go. It turned over beautifully but wouldn't catch. Like one person described, it was as if it was starved for fuel. There are no SAAB dealers in north shore Tahoe. There are no independent SAAB mechanics there either. The car ended up being towed 116 miles to the nearest dealer in Sacramento. We ended up renting a car and continuing with our vacation.

The dealer says it's the DI cassette which was on my list of suspects since I follow this newsgroup. Has anyone ever heard of a DI cassette failing this young? Now I know why some of you recommend carrying a spare!

One final observation. Mine failed without warning. No sputtering or poor performance in the days preceding the failure. She ran great right up to the point where she died. Had I been turning left in front of oncoming traffic or passing a big rig uphill when the failure occured the consequences may have been catastrophic. It seems to me that if SAAB can't signal the driver of an impending failure beforehand than a DI cassette replacement should be on the maintenance schedule. What do you guys think?

- Rob Malkin

Reply to
Rob Malkin
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I had the same experience. I have a 2001 9-5 SE (V6) with 52,000 miles on it. The engine just lost all power right in the middle of traffic and at idle it ran very rough. Upon pulling over and opening the hood, smoke started to billow out with a strong odor of burned epoxy. I had a feeling that it was the DI Cassette. I had it towed to my dealer (35 miles). Unfortunately it was a weekend (Saturday afternoon) and I had to leave the car at the dealership until Monday. Interestingly enough, when returning on Monday, a lady with the same type car and approximate mileage was having her car towed in with the same problem. My dealer confirmed that it was the DI but, adding insult to injury, the failed cassette also took out my catalytic converter. To my dealers credit he replaced the DI even though it was out of warranty and of course the Cat Conv. was replaced under warranty. Up until now I have been very happy with this car. I realize that parts go bad and must be replaced but it seems that this is not a random problem and occurs to a wide number of customers. I am very disappointed with SAAB and at this point I don't believe that I will ever buy another. I have had many vehicles in my lifetime (including a '64 Studebaker Avanti which I still own) and none of them have stranded me such as this SAAB. It is my sincere hope that SAAB tries to do something to correct this problem before someone gets hurt or killed.

P.S. I replaced the other bank cassette myself and keep the used, but good cassette in my trunk.

Tom Harrill

"Rob Malkin" wrote in message news:_2SMc.26904$eM2.3151@attbi_s51...

Sacramento.

Reply to
TJH

"TJH" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

You're painting the devil on the wall (danish expression). Ask around amongst VW owners and ask if they're satisfied with the VW ignition system. VW has had 100 fold the problems that Saab owners has had.

I have had many vehicles in my lifetime (including a '64

You cannot compare an ancient car to a new century car. The Studebaker doesn't have any electronics at all, whereas new cars have tons of it. And if you change the plugs regularly, and to the correct type - no fancy plugs experimenting! Then a DI-cassette can go for 100.000+ miles.

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

You mean there's TWO?? One for each bank of cylinders?

- Rob Malkin

Reply to
Rob Malkin

Ask around

Isn't that like saying "Hey, I don't beat my wife as much as my neighbor beats his"?

- Rob Malkin

Reply to
Rob Malkin

"Rob Malkin" skrev i en meddelelse news:44aNc.163302$%_6.50015@attbi_s01...

It's like - He's criticizing Saab for having ignition probs, and wanting to change the brand next time. I just point to the fact that Saab has less of these probs than other brands. Also the new BMW M5 will have this ignition-system.

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

"Rob Malkin" skrev i en meddelelse news:v0aNc.161236$a24.138097@attbi_s03...

Of course, how else would it be possible to have a DI-top on a V-engine?

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

The DI cassette failed in my 9-3 at approx 80Km with absolutely no warning other than the engine suddenly failing at high speed on the highway. Luckily, it was only a two lane road, and I as in the right lane already so pulling over was trivial.

I agree. I wondered whether it might be prudent just to have it replaced myself as part of the 64K service, at my own cost. Costly, certainly, but also perhaps good for peace of mind and safety...

Reply to
Viktor Haag

I have my suspicions about "failed without warning". Generally the care develop a misfire when hot that most people ignore.

I agree that a spare DI in the trunk might be nice. Lots of cars have DI systems and they all seem to have problems somewhere over 50K miles (except Audi & BMW, which recently had a rash of low mileage cars dropping like flies... so many that customers were waiting months for the parts to come through). One difference with the Saab DI is that it's replaced as a unit - most other makes use individually replaceable coils.

Reply to
- Bob -

"- Bob -" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

So does the new Saab's.

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

Mine certainly seems to have failed without warning. The day before the failure we drove it 235 miles up to 7,000 feet elevation (San Jose to Lake Tahoe) and it ran great. I would never ignore any stuttering or misfire as I am an OCD type of guy ;). Perhaps my failure wasn't typical?

- Rob

Reply to
Rob Malkin

Probably not - but I can't imagine how you managed to ruin the cat. converter if it went bad that fast. Usually you have to dump a lot of raw gas into them over time to make them die. MHE.

Reply to
- Bob -

My cat. converter came through it fine. It was another poster who had that problem.

- Rob

Reply to
Rob Malkin

Not in my case. I'm a long-time Saab owner, and am sensitive the sounds of my car; it was running just fine until the casette kacked out.

Just how easy is it to replace "in the field" -- I'm not really a person who does his own repairs, but if having one in the trunk with the right tools, and clear instructions, I could probably effect the repair, as long as I'm not liable to damage anything else by trying.

Or is this something that should only be done by "someone who knows what they are doing"?

Reply to
Viktor Haag

By "new", what do you mean? Will my 2004 9-5 have to replace the entire unit, or individual coils?

Reply to
Viktor Haag

"Viktor Haag" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@suldrun.rim.net...

The 9-5 has a single unit, whereas the new 9-3 has 4 single coils. But the prices for the units for the 9-5 is lowered a lot over the past 3-4 years.

Cheers!

Reply to
Henrik B.

For vehicles with a pre-cat (a small cat directly after the turbo) it is not uncommon to destroy the pre-cat when the ignition system fails. The pre-cat will melt and make its way down to the large cat and block it.

Reply to
Goran Larsson

Interesting. Do you know which models have the pre-cat ?

Reply to
- Bob -

That may depend on the market the car is sold in. I think model year

2000 9-5 Aero was the first here in Sweden, but today all petrol 9-5 sol here in Sweden should have it. If the exhaust pipe has a bulge just after the turbo, i.e turbo -> cat -> pipe -> flex-pipe -> cat -> pipe

-> muffler -> pipe -> muffler -> tip, then the vehicle has a pre-cat.

The purpose of the pre-cat is to reduce emissions just after the engine has started. The small cat close to the engine will heat up quickly, long before the ordinary cat, and will start doing its job perhaps minutes before the ordinary cat.

Reply to
Goran Larsson

I was going to post roughly the same story to this newsgroup about my 2000 9-3, but you beat me to it.

My story is a little more complex. The trouble started last April when the car had only 24,000 well-maintained miles on it. Precipitous, sudden, dangerous failure on a California freeway. The ignition cassette, tow and rental car cost me about $800. Then the car failed again, just one day after I got it back. This time it ran but weakly and with the 'check engine light' on.

Stranded again but closer to a dealership, I limped the car into a nearby dealership. I will save this newsgroup the complete sad story and skip to the bottom line:

Six weeks. Six trips to the dealership. Blown catalytic converter. Blown cassette. Cracked flywheel (!!) Cracked brake rotor. Replaced gas tank fuel pipe ($900 right there). Total: $6500. $4800 under warrantee.

This is outrageously bad build quality for a car that thinks it is a compeditive upscale brand. I don't give a Cheney how bad VWs or BMWs are: I bought a Saab.

I am still alarmed over these problems. I need to trust my car. I still don't know if I can trust this car at this point. I can't enjoy driving this car any more. I am dismayed for the Saab brand, which I had had great respect for until now.

brokenDown

Reply to
another one

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