Saab - 9-5 :: Battery Light Suddenly Started Flashing
Nov 1, 2013
The battery light (but not the ! warning light) suddenly started flashing a week ago, and then a day later the car wouldn't start so I took it in for repair. Was told the battery needed to be replaced, but that it was drained because the alternator was defective. So both replaced. Within one day of driving it home, the battery and various other lights started flashing anew (which had happened last after it was jumped and while I was driving it into the mechanic the first time). Car then went dead again after turning off ignition. Wouldn't start.What's wrong with the car? BTW, mechanic has car (which we towed in) and now can't get problem to recur despite his having driven it around several times, for shorter and longer trips! My sixth sense tells me as soon as I pick the car up and drive home, I'll get the loss of battery/power experience and it going dead yet again! He says he checked for short wires and belt issues.
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I have a 2002 with a 4.8 ... My alternator started to make some noise, and my battery wasn't holding a charge very well so i decided to change the alternator today before it went some were out in the boonies. After i put the new alternator in, the battery light started flashing in the "message center" but everything seems to be running fine. The voltage gauge in the dash is reading about 15. So from there I turned everything on in the truck and the gauge barely dropped. At this point I'm not sure what to do, I'm going to put the old one back on and see if it goes out, oh I also put some tension on the belt to make sure it wasn't slipping.
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Driving home yesterday and my dashboard battery light started flashing intermittently. This morning it came on and won't go off.
So far I have...
1. Tested alternator and battery with a multimeter and the results appear to be within normal ranges.
2. Pulled out the alternator and had it tested. It went through 7 test cycles on the bench and passed all of them.
3. Swapped out the battery with a new one.
4. Checked the charging system fuse.
5. Thoroughly cleaned the battery cables.
6. Cleaned the battery to chassis and engine to chassis ground cables.
The battery light stays on no matter what I do. What am I missing?
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Last night, while my wife was driving, the battery light on her instrument panel started flashing. This morning the battery light came back on when she started the car. As she was driving on the highway, the ABS light, the stability light, and couple other lights came on, plus her she was losing power to her wheels. She said it then felt like the car was towing a heavy object and that there was no power going to the wheels or any other part of the car. She was able to drive it a few miles to a parking lot, where it died.
When she tried to restart it, she heard a clicking sound, but had no power and the engine was not turning over. She could not remote lock the doors because the all power was gone.
The tow truck driver tested the car and said the battery is fine, but that the alternator was dead. She had it towed to the dealer, who also says it is the alternator that is the problem.
This all occurred after we had a previous, and resolved issue, to the instrument panel (including the light around the cigarette lighter) and the taillights going out intermittently. The dealer disconnected the electrical connection to the towing package and the lights have stayed on since.
Seems odd to have an alternator go on a two-year old vehicle (we bought it new in Jan 2011). Could it actually be the alternator or something else?
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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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2002 Ford Focus SE with 130k miles on it. For the past 4 months the battery light flashes randomly while driving. The flashing and frequency of flashing doesn't seem related to anything I can tell including temperature, length of time the car is running, speed or any variable. Seems like it should be an alternator, but that was replaced less than an year ago and it also has a new battery. The alternator always checks out fine at the mechanic and it will never flash for the mechanic. It went 1 month with no flashing and suddenly it will now flash maybe 20 times in a 5 mile drive. Yesterday it just died at a stoplight with no warning, but then after shutting everything off it started just fine and the battery light didn't turn on for the 2 miles to home.
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I was going 65-70MPH on the highway and the engine suddenly shut down. I pulled over on the shoulder and tried to restart but the engine would start for a second then dies again. I tried several times but it would not start. Waited 10 min and tried again with no luck. I called a towing service and a friend to pick me up. The towing guy called me 40 min later and said the car starts fine. I have driven it for couple days since and tried to recreate the problem (warming the engine, accelerating hard to 5000 RPM, stop and go situation) but the car runs great. No problem whatsoever with power or jittering or unstable idle or starting the car.I talked to 2 mechanics and they both think it is the fuel pump failing. But I am not convinced since I could smell gasoline when I was trying to start it.I have no check engine light on and I checked for recorded codes with my BT OBDII tool – nothing.
Do you think it might be CPS? Wouldn’t I get check engine light on if it is CPS?
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Two weeks ago, my '05 Malibu suddenly shut off as I started up from a light. I was low on gas and assumed that was the problem. I went straight to a gas station & filled up, and it seemed like everything was ok. However, twice in the last 3 days, it has happened again (with plenty of gas in the tank)--once going uphill on a highway and once rolling along at 30 mph on a city street. The engine and traction control lights come on and the message center says "Engine disabled" or "engine power reduced". I tried driving slowly with "power reduced" but it immediately switched to "disabled" and shut off. So far, if I pull over, shut everything off, and wait for a minute, I can start it again and drive on with no problem.
My dad has an '04 Impala with a somewhat similar problem, but instead of shutting off, it won't start. Nothing happens when you turn the key. If you wait about 20 minutes, it will often start and run fine. He had the engine computer replaced and it was great for a few months, but now the problem is back. He can often tell when it's going to have an 'episode' because either the security or traction control message will come up. Is this the same issue my Malibu has? What issue does my Malibu have?
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Friday I pulled my steel gn 3 horse trailer about an hour each way. with the horses it weighs right at 7000 pounds. no issues. Saturday morning I drove to town, no issues. Saturday evening, I got in it to run down the road and about 2 miles from the house, the check engine light came on and the tow haul light started flashing and the temp gauge is dead. drives and shifts normal, tow haul button still functions. Truck is stock except for an EGR delete. No tuner, FICM was rebuilt. I had it on a battery minder before I left and was thinking about pulling the batteries and letting it sit for a while to see if it clears. Scan Gauge II shows no codes.
Sunday: So I let it sit all night, batteries connected and it was completely normal this morning. will see what happens when I drive it to work tomorrow
Later Sunday evening: So I just took it out for a test drive, went a couple miles down the road, shifting normal for a cold start. Temp gauge is working, just as I am almost back home. 5 miles at the most, temp is coming up to normal, gauge goes dead and check gauge light comes on and tow haul starts flashing. I think it might be the sensor.
This morning: I got about 6 or 7 miles from home, trans just got up to temp, pulling up a hill, it shifted out of overdrive, tft gauge went dead, check gauge light came on and the tow haul light started flashing. still shifts like it always has and the tow haul button still functions.
I am thinking it is just the temp sensor. Truck has 159k on it.
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A couple of days ago the TPMS light started flashing on my 2004 GX. This morning I took it to a trusted tire shop. They checked each sensor, including the spare, and found they were all sending a signal. At 11 years old, and they are original as far as I know (I've owned it about 7 years), the tech said the signal may be too weak for the ECU to pick up. He didn't want to start changing sensors in the event it is an ECU issue. Not sure what to do for now, other than leave it alone. Is there a way to confirm the ECU is good? Do the scanners tell how strong the signal is?
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Looking for some info about the 4wd system.
My car is a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.5 and several times i've seen the 4wd warning light start flashing. It happens right when i start up the engine, however if I turn the engine off and on again, the light will be off the next time it starts up.
I'm just trying to figure out what kind of problems this warning light would indicate, in case it stays on sometime. I like to plan ahead my car repairs and know what's going on with it. The car has like 190K + miles so it's getting there.
Also I try to avoid the dealer, so I was also wondering if a typical scan tool that most mechanics have could read the codes, or if would need to be done by Hyundai specifically.
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This is for our '05 Toyota Camry with 125K miles on the ODO, has ABS but no TPMS.
Around a few weeks ago the ABS light started flashing on start-up. Turned engine off and it went away. This has happened 3 times to far. The light stays off otherwise. Before this we had new tires installed and the car aligned and they said the rear was a bit off (had uneven tire wear), not sure if related or not.
I was able to read the code with shorting two pins and I get 33 & 34 which is both the rear wheel sensors. The part that I am suspicious about is both sensors going out together that not make sense. So I am thinking it is the wiring somewhere. Hopefully not the module ...
For now I have cleared the codes and want to see if they return. The sensors are expensive and seems like I have to take the rear bearing off to change them, so not keen on just throwing parts at it. How to approach the troubleshooting?
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2006 Prius, 134K miles. All tire pressures perfect but pressure indicator light started flashing about a minute then stays on. Happens each time car starts. There have been no weather temperature fluctuations. Attempted indicator reset by pushing “ON” once without pedal push and then pushing and holding pressure reset button under dash for a minute. Nothing happens. Indicator does not come on or flash when pushing the reset button while in “On” mode. Tires have not been changed or rotated since last year.
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I have an 09 ES 350 that I decided to put some very nice subwoofers and amp in. When I found out that I needed more power, I took out my spare tire and mounted a second battery in where the tire is supposed to go.
We'll sure enough when I drove the car later the TPMS light came on and started flashing. The system has to be able to read all 5 TPMS sensors. 4 tires and the spare. So when I took the spare tire out, the system thought there was something wrong with that sensor and turned the light on.
So what I did was I took a piece of PVC pipe and 2 PVC caps, drilled a hole in one of the caps, inserted a new TPMS sensor into the cap, then glued everything together.
After it dried I pressurized it to 35 psi, mounted it in my trunk next to the jack, and reset the TPMS system so the light would go off. Now the TPMS system thinks the spare tire is back and there are no more problems.
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On the way home from purchasing this 2.5i Premium the BRAKE light started flashing when I got to 40mph. - yes, the emergency brake was off. Car was roaring like the brake was on-ablut 5 mi. to home. When I drove it back to dealer/service to get a few minor "We owe" things done, same thing happened again when up to 40mph. This was reported to service and car was driven by service manager. They reported a bad wheel bearing front R, and later in day found out rear R wheel bearing also bad. Yes, to be replaced..
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On the way home tonight, the O/D light started flashing. I happened to have the Bluetooth OBD adapter with me, so I plugged it in and opened Torque. It comes up with a "pending" code of P0743. After a little bit, the light quit flashing so we drove the last mile home. The O/D light began flashing again the last couple hundred feet before our driveway. There didn't seem to be any loss of power or anything like that the whole time.
After we got the kids to bed I went back out to check the fluid level. (It had cooled some, so I let it run a bit before I checked it - the light wasn't flashing this time.) The level is at the second dot, right below the crosshatch. It's almost transparent, but I don't know when it was last flushed (if ever). From what I've seen on here, I'm guessing this is an electrical short somewhere?
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working on a 2000 F-150 (5.4L & 4R70W). the truck was towed to me with the complaint it would not go forward.
I found 6 transmission trouble codes set. I cleared the codes and was able to drive the truck for about 30 miles. It shifted perfectly and had all 4 forward gears, codes did not come back. I parked the truck to check the fluid level (it was full) waited about 15 mins and went to move the truck, As soon as I turned the key and started the engine the CEL came on and the OD light started flashing, the transmission would engage in forward gears but would just chatter when you tried to accelerate.
I checked the codes and found P0743, P0750, P0755, P1747 and P1760 set. I tried clearing the codes again several times and come back instantly when the key is turned on.
I doubt all the electrical solenoids in the transmission have failed at the same time. I suspect the internal connector and/or harness maybe faulty. what is the best course of diagnosis on this? where so I start?
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I recently had the following work done or replaced on my 2005 Saab 9-2 X -
Timing belt kit and water pump replacedA/C BeltALT/P/S BeltFront Camshaft seal KitFront Camshaft seal
Everything was fine for a couple of weeks. A few days ago my car started shuddering on the highway and the check engine light came on. I was out of town at the time and took my car to a different service garage. They found that "Cylinder #3 was miss firing and had very low compression, only 20 psi" They suggested I may need to find a used motor to have installed...
I arranged to have the car transported home and dropped of at the shop that performed the original work.
Is it possible that the current problem could have been caused by the previous work being done incorrectly?Or should this possibility of this problem been noticed when the previous work had been done?
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I've got a problem with a 2000 Impreza 2.5RS 5spd. It started with the check engine light coming on. A trip to Auto zone revealed that the O2 sensor was the problem. But on the way home, the light came on again and started flashing. All the while the car started acting like it had a misfire. It idles really rough and the exhaust smells like it's running really rich. I've replaced the plugs and wires, and all corners of the ignition coil check out properly as well. Can the O2 sensor cause a misfire in one or more of the cylinders? Or is something else that I should be interrogating as the cause?
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Having an issue with my 2002 GP GT. I started it, but then it died after a couple of seconds while the "Security" light was flashing.
I actually had both original keys with and tried each to no avail (same thing: starts, but engine kills after a few seconds). I checked the PassKey III fuse and even replaced it - still no luck.
Called two different dealer service departments and they suggested turning the key to the "ON" position and leaving it for 15 minutes. I tried this 3 times and still the same issue.
I understand this can be a VERY expensive repair as I've read it requires replacing the ignition module and perhaps the Theft Deterrent Module. How to at least temporarily by-pass or reset the system so I don't have to get it towed (of course it's no where near my place).
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Two days ago my 2005 T went in to have a heated driver seat switch replaced. Since getting it back we now have an annoying red light flashing from just to the top right of the Nav screen. Light flashes until either the radio is switched on or engine is started. I've checked the owners manual and forum but can't find any info on it.
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