engine cut off and died 97 900 turbo N/G
 

Hello can anybody help me with this problem.
I have a 97 turbo next generation. I also have a 99 motor in this car.
I have this problem I think is related to the turbo. When I take off 1 gear is good but when I shift in 2, 3rd the turbo gauge redlines very quickly and then the engine cuts out.
So I learnt to play with the gas pedal to not to floor it and balance it right on the redline. If I need to do fast acceleration. But in normal driving conditions the car performs well.
This has been going on for about a year. There has been talk that the waste gate is stuck but I can here it open with that little squeal sound when the pressure releases.

But today was the worst I was driving normally and I was going down a onramp when all the sudden the engine just quit and the engine light came on. I landed in the worst area right in the middle of rush hour on the hyway.

When I got the car towed to the garage I opened the hood I could smell a burning smell like if you had burned out a car radio or stereo . sort of a silicone smell. My thinking it is a module had burned out. All the light work well, the car will turn over everything works ,well the only thing there is no ignition. My thinking also it might be the coil pack or rail you know the part everybody dreads the fact that someday they might have to change . Easy to change but it cost an arm and a leg.

The only other thing I was wondering about the turbo problem is that some times when I red line the (I think it is called ) APC meter the engine would cut out and then start again after the red line goes down but there has been a couple of time where the engine went in a completely stall so I would have to turn off the key and turn it back on to get ignition again.
A budy of mine spent 15.000 on a Snap-On diagnostic computer but he dose not have the Best card for my model but is there a way I could do a test on the coil pack or rail system I really don’t know what the part is called.

Thanks if any body could help out on this one

RE: engine cut off and died 97 900 turbo N/G
 

The sound you may have been hearing could not have been the wastegate, it must have been the recirculation valve. The problem could be the wastegate flap, the actulator or the boost control solenoid. I would start with the actulator/flap first since it's the easiest to diagnose. Grab hold of the actulator arm and try to move it. You should be able to force it open, if not than the fla is stuck. If it opens freely than you have the boost control valve problem OR...you did say it's a 99 engine, right? Did this problem start right away? Because if yes than you most likely have the vaccum hoses mixed up at the boost control solenoid. Unfortunately there's no easy way to test the DIC (direct ignition cassette), the only way would be to have someone swap it with you and see if your car starts. When you turn theengine over do you smell fuel? Pull the plugs and see if they're wet. You might just have a bad fuel pump that just happened to go. Either that or the Crank Position Sensor went which would not let you start the car as well, but it's not as likely.

RE: engine cut off and died 97 900 turbo N/G
 

Thanks Roto for the response
Wow what a learning curve. I found the mechanic that did the engine swap and the old block is still on a engine stand lol.
What it turns out is yes it is a 99 engine but he just used the block, so all the sensors was put on the newer block

Yep it turned out to be the (direct ignition cassette) I drove 80 klm to get a used one and I was looking at it and I said to the guy at the scrap yard why is this one red and he replied there all the same . I paid 380.00 for it… drove all the way back to fined out it did not work. The original one was black.
(This was before I found the Saab specialist that did my engine swap.)
Today I took the (direct ignition cassette) to him and he tested it on another Saab and it was dead. So I went to the Saab dealer and bought a new one instead for 490.00 tax in. and bingo it worked out well.

I drove 80 klm back to the yard to get my money back and just as was arriving I smelt something burning. I drove into the parking lot lifted up the hood and the belt was cooked. Luckily I got my money back from the yard for the dead (direct ignition cassette) but I had to fine a mechanic to fix the belt so there was plenty of power in the battery to get me to a mechanic with the tempter climbing. Well a new problem one of the pulleys broke. So the mechanic is on the phone and he cannot get the parts for two days. I nice guy gave me a lift into this town and I rented a car to drove all the way back to the city where the specialize was and he had all the parts in stock and drove all the way back with the parts. The mechanic was swamped but hew was nice to squeeze me in. I thought I was going to have to camp out in the sticks lol but I got back home just in time for supper

Sorry for the sope I just thought I would share my adventures.
Her is the total bill

125 for towing when the car died on the first time
495 (direct ignition cassette)
145 for new pulley and belt
105 car rental and gas
70 cash for mechanic ( he wanted 80 but all I had was 70 so he took everything I had ,even the quarter lol)
Total 940.00
All prices Canadian

I have had not much time to look into the turbo yet I will wait for the next paycheck.
Over all this was just a bad streak I had spent more money on Japanese cars for littler stuff but I am really impressed with the (direct ignition cassette) it is fast and easy to replace realistically if you had to change it the old way it could almost come up to the same price . caps coils cables condenser ect..

RE: engine cut off and died 97 900 turbo N/G
 

MOST saab guys carry a spre cassette. By the way your cassette should be red, I'm not sure why the heck you have a black one, anything until 99 (non viggen 9-3) was red and than you had the black ones on T7. Both colors should have worked fine anyway. I think you were just given a bad cassette.

RE: engine cut off and died 97 900 turbo N/G
 

This is sort of what I learnt , this really screws thing up . if you engine originally came with a red block then yes you can go to black and it will work. But you cant go the other way. From black to red

When I went to the Saab dealer there specialist was not there but the parts guy said he thought the difference was between high pressure and low pressure and It depended
On the type of engine you had

The Saab specialist that did the engine swap told me really the difference was that the read block had a knock sensor built in so it would also depending on original engine and the original electrical system you have. Now I am not to sure exactly about the year of the bock because apparently the engine block came out of a 9.3 . but I thought the 9.3 started in 2000. but the total engine is apparently the same that is why he did the swap of all the sensor’s on the original engine.

My Saab is a 97 900 Sc And my friend who sold me the car told me that the car originally came with a black cartridge . He had mentioned that the original engine was a low pressure with turbo. So you can’t go to red. And the red cartage is not set up for this electrically.But the other hand my friend was not the original owner of the car too, he was the second owner. I guess I could always go to the dealer and give them my serial number and they could tell me exactly what I have . This is starting to be an enigma…

Is there a big performance difference between the red and the black (direct ignition cassette) ???

For the turbo I tried moving the actulator / flap and no problem it moves and when I accelerate I do here that sound of the pressure being released or that whistles or hard to describe that little sound but my buddy told me that was the sound of the pressure being released .
I don’t think it quit started right away the first signs started a week afterward I bought the car and we when on a trip and I had to get around a 18 wheeler and I dropped it in 4th and at one point it cut off very quickly. And it seemed to happened once then afterwards it started to get worse to the stage it is at now. I mean I can still drive the car I just have to be careful not to put the pedal to the floor.
So take off in 1 first is very good and you can here the pressure release but when you get to second gear it seems that you don’t here the release of the pressure anymore and the gauge will get to the red very quickly and my rpm’s are low.

Today I will give it more attention to the turbo and I can give you a beter description what is going on.
Thanks

RE: engine cut off and died 97 900 turbo N/G
 

There's no way that a 97 model year car came with a black cassette from the factory. The difference is in the way that knock is detected and when you put a black cassette on a red cassette engine than you have no knock detection.


As far as your turbo problems go, try this: there is a vaccum fitting right on the compressor side of the turbo. Get a vaccum hose and connect that directly to the wastegate actulator nipple. You should see no more spikes, but your car will now be making base boost (which is around 7psi). You should be fine to drive now. If that works than the boost control solenoid is at fault.