Roof, brakes and engine light...

[pandaboy]

Hi all,
As soon as I fix one thing, something else happens....!

I now have 3 issues.  I've searched but can't seem to find anything that helps.

1. Engine light suddenly on.  Stopped to fill up on fuel, started car again, engine light on.  The car doesn't seem to be in 'limp' mode, just the engine light on.  I found some random info about the engine light coming on after filling up and sometimes it clears when you take off and replace the filler cap?!  Unfortunately this didn't solve it for me.

2. Roof won't go down.  This is random and weird.  Worked fine a few days ago, now when I pop the roof handle and try the lower button, nothing happens.  I mean nothing happens.  No noise, no movement, no CEL warnings, nothing.  It will close again, the switch lowers windows and pushes the roof forwards to allow the handle to re-attach.  Just nothing on the opening side of things....?

3. Clicking noise on the brakes.  I've had new disks and pads all fitted in the last 12 months, car had the stopping power of an elephant gun!  Now I can hear a very clear clicking noise when I press the brake peddle.  The braking doesn't feel different, just the noise, and a weird noise on the brakes can feel a bit unsettling.  To be more accurate, the clicking happens after I depress the brake peddle a little bit, just at the point you'd expect the brakes to start braking, not as soon as I touch it.  It sounds like it's coming from the rears, but I can't be sure.  It's fairly consistent, can't hear it all the time, but hear it more often than not.

Any help / suggestions greatly appreciated...

And despite my multiple issues, I still love the car!

[sgould]

Engine light could be a lot of things, so suggestions will only confuse.  To be sure you need to get the codes read.  You can buy a code reader that will do most engine codes for around £30.

The roof lowering is often a fault with the bag in the boot.  The roof won't go down if the car thinks the bag is obstructed.  Sometimes this is a broken cable the raises and lowers the bag, or just a stuck bag, or a boot with stuff in it.

Clicking noise on the brakes could be a split reluctor ring.  This is the toothed wheel on the outside end of the CV joint that is read by the wheel sensor.  If it cracks (and they do) it confuses the ABS braking as the system gets confused by the crack and larger gap.  A new CV joint or a new ring shrunk on is the likely solution.

[pandaboy]

Thanks (once again!) for the reply sgould,

With the roof, the odd thing is there are no CEL errors that i've seen previously when there is an obstruction.  Even trying to lower the roof while it's still clipped on gives a warning chime and message.  With mine it's just dead.  Am suspecting the switch as the roof powers shut to re-clip it.

Will check the brake clips.  I did have a look but nothing appear untoward.  Again odd as it's relatively intermittent.  Wouldn't a loose or missing clip be a consistent noise?

And it looks like i'll be on ebay looking for a code reader...  Although again this issue seems odd as the car doesn't feel it's in limp home mode, which I thought it did if the engine light comes on?  From what I can tell (admittedly from the manual!) the engine light accompanies 'limp home' mode, but i'm not noticing any large loss of power, still revs freely and the turbo spins happily? 
Then again i've not experienced 'limp home' mode so it may be more subtle than i'm imagining?

Thanks again, appreciate the reply.

[sgould]

Light can come on for so many reasons.  Not all will stop the boost, or trigger the throttle body limp home.  The check engine light is a result of the "green lobby" that wanted emissions controls on the engines and a warning of failure.  So you have something wrong that is likely to cause poor exhaust emissions.

I have an Autop D900 reader from eBay.  It's OK, but it's not a Tech2, so it will only read engine codes and not Saab's own codes for the rest of the car.  So it probably won't help with the roof. And maybe not the brakes.  But at £30 against £3000 for a Tech2.......

[pandaboy]

Looks like I need to look into the many reasons behind why the engine light would come on.  I was always under the impression it was a serious 'stop car now it's gonna blow...!' type of warning.  Now hoping it's something simple.  It was odd that it came on right after stopping to fill up though...?

On the plus side the roof has come back to life.  I tried to remove the centre console switch module to investigate the switch. The roof switch was clicking in both directions, but only seemed to work when pushed to the roof lower position.  I didn't find anything obvious with the switch, but after i'd replaced it I tried the roof again, hey presto it lowers again.  I took this opportunity to check some of the micro switches, tried lowering it with the storage bag clipped up and the CEL warnings came back, same with trying to lower it with the handle latches in place.  Once again the CEL told me off.  Now i'm fairly confident its the switch playing up.

Anyone had experience of these switches misbehaving?

[saab talladega turbo]

If u fancy it take the switch pack apart and clean and grease it.
I had this problem with the windows on my 900 and its a common fault with the mirror switch on 9-3's. if there's no warnings when you press the switch it can t be any switches.