Stalling Saab 9-3 2001 2.0 turbo

Stalling Saab 9-3 2001 2.0 turbo



Car has 120,000 miles and runs great???except and the except is driving me crazy?.will stall at idle for no reason and is sometimes difficult to restart. Happens usually after driving without stopping for 20 minutes but very unpredictable but always at idle. If driven for 100 miles a day chances are that it will stall once. Latest happened off the highway while refueling. Stopped to car to gas up and had a hard time restarting; engine turns over but nothing happens. Started after 5 tries, move car to pick up wife and made the mistake of turning it off. Would not restart. Tried at intervals for 15 minutes and killed battery. Waited for tow truck about ? hour. Jumped the car and started like a charm. Drove about 400 miles without an issue. Dropped of at dealership in Toronto and they spent 4 hours, no codes, and they could not duplicate, no surprise (1 hour charge) Drove home, pulled into the driveway and it stalled. Would not restart for 10 minutes. Car has been to a dealership in Michigan; unable to diagnose.

This has been an ongoing issue getting gradually worse for a year. One other note: the drivers side motor mount was broken and it was much worse with the broken motor mount; it would stall every 10 minutes at idle.



New motor mount, gas filter 6 months ago. new front suspension 6 months ago, change oil every 4000 miles and use synthetic. Turbo was properly bolted to intake 2 months ago, was loose and rattling when cold.

No answer but I have a similar problem awaiting a diagnosis. No shop within 70 miles so the local foreign shop is looking into it. They THINK it may be a dying fuel pump on my 97 900 with 120k miles. Others think it may be water in the tank (sits lower than gas and the pump sits in the water; sucks up water and stalls). We’ll have to wait and see what the $$$$ is. Keep me informed if you find out anything. Thanks

Are you trying a restart without depressing the accelerator pedal?
If so, try depressing the pedal and see what happens.
If the car starts when the pedal is depressed then the car likely has an Idle Air Control Valve problem. IAC probelems can be present without leaving a code.

In the work done recently you didn’t mention, spark plugs, air filter, throttle body cleaning, and some general “tune-up” types of items. Are they all maintained up to snuff recently?

If so I’d investigate the “cold” start system. Perhaps the computer is putting too much fuel in the mix thinking the car is cold when it is warmed up. That explains why it starts fine with it cools off.

I have the same car with exactly the same problem. Runs great then stalls randomly with no error codes or check lights. It has 100,000 miles. I have replaced plugs and ignition cassette. Anti freeze is fine all other levels are good. It often will not start when hot but will when it cools. PLEASE HELP!

A friend of mine with the same car just had the same symptoms. It turned out to be the crank position sensor.

Hi a follow up to my post. It was the crank position sensor. This electronic sensor is down low on the front of the engine and heat was causing it to act up. Replaced it this week and it is runnig great again!

Guys, Great…Thanks for all the help…Replaced the CPS a month ago and have had not furhter stalls. Spread the word. Thanks to my local garage K&W in LeSalle Ontario Wally, Frank and Tim are the best. You guys beat the delership hands down; why couldn’t the dealer ship figure this out? Thanks to everyone else for their input.