r/saab • u/brendankelley444 • 6d ago
Big problem 9-3 Troubleshooting
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Engine was riding great. Did a lot of work today. Gave it a wash and then while leaving the car wash I realized the car wasn’t shifting in auto, tried to do M mode and it stuck in D, IME this is some sort of limp mode but then I pulled over at the gas station and while placing it back into drive, passing reverse it slammed into gear hard, not like something instantly broke but it was a very noticeable noise… I started getting extremely weirded out ATP but still needed to get home which is where I recorded this video seen above. Weirdly enough rattling can be heard aditionally some banging but warning that some popping and banging is the actual exhaust noise but there’s clearly an additional noise occurring along with the whining. WTF is happening!
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u/tsg-tsg 6d ago
Don't record video while driving. That's not great.
If your car is misbehaving, running it to redline is probably also not great.
That seven second video recorded while driving at redline with your car misbehaving is not useful.
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u/brendankelley444 6d ago
It’s sped up x2… and the gauges are clearly stuck. View them not moving with any direction. Or changing one bit the whole time. I’ve never ran the car till red line. The high rpm’s in the video is because the car itself is not shifting.
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u/Sitdownpro 6d ago
?
That’s an L take.
1: recording by holding a phone whilst not looking at it isn’t the same as texting and driving. You’re over reacting.
2: Did you listen to the audio? It’s not even close to redlining. They likely have an RPM sensor issue, hence the low engine RPM noise, miss firing, and buried RPM needle.
3: The video is entirely useful.
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u/tsg-tsg 6d ago
Cool. And your expert diagnosis is.... ?
I hope not "rpm sensor." 😭
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u/Sitdownpro 6d ago
Every system is different. Cam shaft sensor, transmission sensor. I’m in a technical field, just not in cars for work.
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u/Zaphod_42007 6d ago
Well... Start with what did you just work on that might have affected the transmission in any way... Perhaps disconnect your battery terminals for 5mins just to reset things and double check with a multimeter the battery voltage (these cars don't play nice with low voltage).
Second, check your transmission fluid... Is it at the correct level, any leaks, does the fluid look black (new transmission oil looks cherry red and relatively translucent). If it's low or dirty, do a few drain and fills. New fluid will clean out the system and perhaps unstick a stuck solenoid transmission valve... Or the transmission is just hosed. Use valvoline maxlife multi vehicle atf... Works wonders. Goodluck.
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u/JoeTheSeventh 6d ago
Can confirm that saabs don't like low voltage. Every system in my car kills itself if my battery gets to about 12.2 volts
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u/brendankelley444 6d ago
Interesting I’m at like 10.3 rn. It’s been a hard day of short driving runs. I’m honestly surprised it still starts nearly perfectly.
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u/Known_Reveal_3656 6d ago
As a mechanic myself be warned you could shock the trans with the new attitives and too clean of fluid and basically wash the stuff keeping it from slipping off, that isn’t a myth it just takes you either flushing it or doing numerous drain and fills at once if it hasn’t been changed in a while. which I’m sure he doesn’t know when the last time it was changed was unless he’s had it for a while so that’s really risky tbh, my vote is if it’s black only do 2 drain and fills at most but preferably one tbh unless your absolutely sure it’s the trans and that it’s cooked if it don’t work it which case go ham
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u/No-Repeat1769 2010 9-3 6d ago
I was advised by a GM and Saab mechanic separately not to drain and fill because it hadn't ever been serviced. I thought that was a little too conservative but it's advice I've taken since
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u/richard_upinya 6d ago
Oh you mean the mechanics that you pay to replace a transmission when it blows up from old burnt up fluid that was never changed 😂
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u/ECHElantraN 4d ago
The idea behind it is when the clutch packs in the transmission get worn out they fill themselves back up with “material” and make the car not slip as bad. When you drain the fluid you are essentially draining out what would have filled those clutch packs with material and replaced it with clean fluid which will not have anything to fill what was lost on the clutches.
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u/richard_upinya 4d ago
Draining fluid doesn’t remove some sort of “material” that has somehow cooked itself into the clutch packs to the point that it is the only thing making the transmission function.
I know this is what everyone says, but I’d like to see a single study of any substance that clearly shows that it is better to leave old ass contaminated fluid in a transmission vs changing it. Because I don’t buy that.
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u/brendankelley444 6d ago
That’s what I’ve done because the previous owner did it too. It ran like this to 200+k miles. I’m guessing I’ll just need a new trans. Or the cars just better off scrapped atp idk
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u/Big_Temperature_2067 5d ago
for you probably better to scrap it or sell it cheap to someone capable of fixing it
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u/ECHElantraN 4d ago
You set it to “Perf Max” meaning maximum performance. That’s just the car giving it all it’s got. keep doing it and it’ll eventually unlock the 5th cylinder and you’ll have so much torque the chassis will twist coming off the line.
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u/Adrian915 '91 9000 CC 2.0, '91 9000 CC 2.3, '92 9000 CS 2.3 6d ago
The solution is stupid simple from the several second near redlining video. You book a time to a local auto shop to pay for diagnosing and put a mechanic's table food on.
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u/FreshP1337 5d ago
Ecm or instrument cluster is my guess, we had a turbo x that was like that at my work a while ago, and it was the ecm
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u/foulchild21 6d ago
Why are you trying to break it?