2008 9-3 TTiD Aero electrical problems when starting

[Yeatus Fajitus]

Hi Everyone,

I have lurked here when needing tech advice since I first got my 9-3 ten years ago.

As of yesterday we can no longer start the car with a fully charged battery and all of the exterior and dashboard warning lights flash on and off as we try to turn the engine over at ignition.

In recent times, when the car has been getting much less use than it should have, we have experienced some weird electrical problems which i will summarise:

A few years back we had to change a battery and the replacement was a slightly lower spec aftermarket model rather than a direct replacement. However we have experienced similar problems with the original but because it was on it's way the problems were much more frequent with the original battery.

We have in recent years had temporary problems with the central locking on the drivers side affecting either the drivers door, passenger door or both on that side of the car, usually it was an indicator that the battery needed a charge but it seems to be more permanent now especially on the rear passenger door.

In the past I have heard the sound of a short coming through of the drivers door speaker.

In the past we were getting the steering lock malfunction error message but this again seemed to be a symptom of the battery flattening and we have seen it twice in the last month but it disappeared as soon as the engine turned over.

As a precaution I took the underbonnet fusebox off today as I've heard that the wet can ingress the connectors underneath but these look clean. I have also taken off the Drivers door to card to see if I could spot any obvious wiring issues but none were spotted. Next steps were going to be check the drivers side rear passenger door and maybe have a look at the ignition box under the centre console.

I was just about to get the car serviced and thoroughly checked over and known issues addressed, as due to redundancy this is now my families only car, and I will want it to get me to job interviews and/or work soon (hopefully), but now we won't even be able to drive it to the garage.

Does anyone know what the cause of this might be?

[sgould]

Welcome!

My first thought is that the battery is dead.  The flashing dashboard lights seem to be a common symptom of a dead battery. 

Do you have a multimeter?  If so, check the battery voltage. Check it the day after a charge, and if you get the car started, check the voltage when running.  When sitting, the voltage should be a bit over 12v.  When the engine is running, the voltage should be around 14v.

I had a similar problem a month ago and the battery was at 10.6v the morning after a full charge.  I saw 13.8v when the engine is running. In fact we lost the batteries on both of our cars.

Modern batteries do seem to die suddenly.  One battery on my 9-5 was 5 years old, but the one on the 9-3 was only just over 2 years old.

Can you bet someone to try a jumpstart?  If that works, then it would seem to confirm a bad battery.

[Yeatus Fajitus]

Thanks for your input

We have used this as an indicator for battery charge for a while especially when the car was not being used very often. What is different this time (and I forgot to mention in my original post) is that I took the battery off to charge it and it had a full charge according to my charger. So that has puzzled me because that suggests that alternator has been working okay now that we are using the car more frequently.

My thoughts on why this seems to be more an electrical problem is the dashboard warning lights and exterior lights flashing on and off and that this condition started after we had the rain this week.

[Steve McF]

Welcome - hope the gurus on here can help sort out your issues

Just out of interest, you mentioned a shorting crackle through the door speakers. When do you get this?
At idle or during driving?

Will,

could this be an alternator issue, or loose connection to battery or alternator? And would that kill the battery over time?

[aerojon]

the battery that should be on is 70Ah 640-660CCA minimum..The battery indicator is neither use nor ornament as it only relates to 1 cell..you need to put a voltmeter on the battery..Your battery is shot..

[Audax]

To me it sounds like a failing battery. If the battery has been left to get flat before and needing charging several times it's not going to help it very much at all.

[carrera]

Welcome ! ........... and another vote for a battery fault. As suggested, take some readings with a multimeter. Out of interest how do you know the battery is fully charged ?

Can you get a jump start from a neighbour with a running engine. If so, leave it running for 20 minutes to charge, switch off and then try to restart without the jump leads. If it starts, and does not the next day, then time to get a new battery. Tanya have been shown to have good choice and delivery.

[aerojon]

under no circumstance try and jump start the car with a possibly totally shot battery,i've known of electronics being fried because of power surges..

[Yeatus Fajitus]

Hi Steve McF
I can't remember when we got the shorting crackle whether it was just at idle or whether it was whilst driving, but from what I can remember I heard it at idle, but I may not have driven it as it was my other halfs car at the time.

As for those who asked how do I know the battery was charged. We have one of those intelligent chargers with lots of functions, in all honesty it is only a cheapy brand, so I wouldn't out and out trust it, but voltages seemed okay and the charger would not let me start a charge on the battery. The car had been working fine the day before with none of the usual indications that the charge was a bit low. Between working and not working the weather had turned to rain.

As for battery spec - I will have to pop the bonnet and have a look later, but when bought firstly it was the 'book' model for the TTiD according to the battery manufacturers recommendations. Secondly the specs were only just below that of the original battery.

If it is the battery what spec do people recommend as I have seen many conflicting arguments on several Saab forums?

Could underspec battery or bad earth cause some of the issues we have seen or does it seem more like a part failure (as in one with some electrical components in it?

[sgould]

The best battery for your 9-3 is an “096” . This will be the right size and shape, with the terminals in the correct place, to fit.  That is the size that was in our 9-3 and it’s been replaced by the same type.

It’s probably 20 years since Saab wrote the spec for the battery in the 9-3 and things have moved on, so you will find the current offerings will probably have a slightly higher spec than required.  If you try to use many search functions provided by battery suppliers, you often get offered a type “027” battery. This is a cheaper, lower capacity battery that will also fit.  It will work, but for a diesel I would go for the higher performance 096.  Our 9-3 is the V6 and also uses the 096.

I got my battery sent on a next day delivery from Tanya.  This is their list for 096.  You just need a normal battery, not one of the special ones for cars with “stop/start” technology. They are around half the price of Halfords for the same item.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/096/

When my battery failed, I had the same thing as you with a smart charger.  It went quickly through all the stages -suspiciously quickly - But wouldn’t actually show the green light at the end.  The second failed battery did end on the green light, but it was back to 10.6v in the morning.

There may be an earth problem, if so, that often improves when the weather is damp and the rusty connections conduct a bit better.

Do try a jump start from another car, if possible. 

[Yeatus Fajitus]

Hi all

Thanks for the advice so far

My original battery was a GM 70Ah 700A and the current battery is a Supac 096 74Ah 675A

I have measured the voltage on the battery and it is 12.23V and the same from terminal to terminal ( checked to ensure that one of the terminals isn't damaged)

I'll have a look at the list of Tayna batteries. When selecting a new battery is it better to have a higher Ah value or A value and do either of those have to be matched to the original batteries value, as obviously neither were the same for current battery AH value was higher and A value was lower?

[aerojon]

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/lucas/ls096/ , https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/varta/e44/ , https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/bosch/s5008/

Do you have a meter to check the charging voltage..Never heard of supac,been working on cars for 30yrs+..12.2v is around 60% charged,at this voltage the plates will possibly start to sulphate..

[Yeatus Fajitus]

Hi AeroJon

Do you mean charging voltage from the alternator on the car (car's not running) or charging voltage on the charger - I'm not sure I'd read anything on this as the charger was saying the battery was fully charged when I tried the other day.

Regarding the batteries - any preference on which of those you'd choose for reliability?

[aerojon]

Sry should have been more specific,charging voltage when the engine is running..

any to be honest,lucas has a 4yr warranty,varta/bosch 5yr..

[Yeatus Fajitus]

Cool thank you all

Got my mate who works at the garage to have a look and we have managed to start the car and drive it to the garage ready for looking at next week. Ironically, once I had shut the engine off I managed to restart it twice with the key!?!?!?

I will bear in mind the battery suggestions, but at this point I don't think that is the full picture.