Saab - 9-3 :: 2004 - Battery Warning Light Came On / Hard To Turn The Steering Wheel
May 20, 2015
I have a 2004 Saab 9-3. Currently the Battery Warning Light has come on. It came on while the car was being driven. The car's performance seemed to suffer and it was hard to turn the steering wheel. We were about two miles away from home and we somehow managed to get home but we simply couldn't get the car to turn on to our driveway because of loss of power for steering.
We checked the Saab manual and it reads : Warning Charging - This light comes on together with 'triangle/exclamation' light if the battery is not charging. If it comes on while you are driving, stop the car as soon as possible and switch off the engine.Check the alternator drive belt. If the belt has broken, the engine may overheat (cooling system will not function properly), the battery will not be charged, the A/C compressor will not run and power assistance for steering will be lost.
Our observation:- We experienced the a/c not working too well- We had problem with steering - It was almost as if the steering wheel was locked. It was extremely hard to turn. Is this an alternator belt or a battery issue? If so, how do we figure out?
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My R32 which has around 45k was running fine until I went to leave work. As soon as I got in and went to back up I noticed, I had a red steering wheel warning light lit and I had no power steering. It ran fine at lunch and had been sitting for several hours at this point.
I only have two other known issues with my car. One the starter motor is squealing and has been for a while. When the dealer looked at it, he said it would probably fail one day, but it wasn't something I needed to take care of now. I have yet to have a single issue actually starting the car. I figured I would hold off until I found a local mechanic I liked since it was out of warranty. The other issue is during two especially hot days my fuel gauge fluctuated and I would get the low fuel warning even though I had more than half a tank. They also looked at that and said it was just the sending unit which failed to respond several times during their tests. It hasn't happened since but it was on the to do list.
Is it common for the power steering to just fail like that? I have read that a low or dying battery will give off weird electrical errors so I am hoping it might be something simple like that or possibly a fuse which I couldn't check tonight.
If it is not something simple like that, what I might be looking at as far as fixing it goes? Of course it had to happen on a Thursday night so I don't even know if I will be able to find somewhere to look at it and I don't have a scanner. Also without power steering I don't really trust trying to drive it anywhere.
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The truck is at the dealer now and they said the rack needs to be replaced and there is something in the column they need to replace too. I have the extended warranty, so this is all but covered 100%. I just have a deductible to pay.
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