Saab: This week's Saab puzzler

THE CAR: a 1996 900SE, with 88,000 miles.

THE PROBLEM: after three years of starting reliably, including after a
week left at an airport, during which time there was a foot of snow, in
the current East Coast cold spell, the car refuses to start. My
diagnosis: the battery needs to be replaced. After all, I've owned the
car for three years, and the battery is the one that was in it when I
bought the car. It's a Saab battery -- is it conceivable that it is the
ORIGINAL battery? So I get a jump-start from my neighbor, and drive
into work. The car then spends the day in an underground garage, but
won't start in the evening. Get another jump-start from one of my
colleagues, and then drive home.

THE MYSTERY: While driving home, the car -- which is an automatic --
won't change up into the appropriate gear. At about 50 mph it's running
at 4,000 RPM, and when it finally does change up, it does so with a
major jerk. I'm dismayed, thinking that not only do I need a new
battery, but some kind of (possibly very expensive) unrelated
transmission problem has developed. So, today (Saturday), I get another
jump start from my neighbor, drive to the local NTB, and have them
install a new battery. I anticipate that, when the car will start
reliably, I'll address the transmission problem. But, when I pick up
the car, the transmission problem HAS DISAPPEARED! The car runs
smoothly, and shifts appropriately.

THE QUESTION; Why? Why would having a bad battery affect the
transmission, and why would putting in a new battery fix the problem?
Is this something that's peculiar to Saabs?

as already said, low battery power = chewing your fingernails as you drive
hoping it stays alive.... this happens on most cars, be glad the saab's
don't have digital dashes, one of my other cars, '86 cavalier convert. has
all digital, man once that battery got low, all guages went out, engine had
no power (well it really has no power to begin with), and it was truely a
crappy ride home.

Al



"Bill Jackson" <com> wrote in message
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