2006 SAAB 9-3 Automatic transmission

JOMALLY

MEMBER
2006 SAAB 9-3
52,000 MILES

This seems to happen only in very warm weather. After driving for about half an hour the car seems to go sluggish and does not change up into the higher gears - revs stay high and overtaking on the motorway is impossible. Changing into manual mode seems to help. The yellow engine block warning light comes on at this time. This first happened 2 or 3 years ago during a rare warm spell, but my local (non-saab) garage couldn't identify a problem. No probs until now, when we have hot weather. Any ideas please?

Monday, July 22nd, 2013 AT 1:18 AM

3 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
54,137 POSTS

When you say yellow engine light do you mean check engine light? And if so does the car have any codes? Please get back to me.

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Monday, July 22nd, 2013 AT 6:53 PM

JOMALLY

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Hi, yes, it is the check engine light - but I don't get any codes (I don't know where to look for them, & thought the car needed to be hooked up to a diagnostic machine to find them). There are no other warnings shown on the SID.

I have booked the car in with a SAAB qualified mechanic in a few days time, but would appreciate your input before then, so I don't get ripped off! Thanks.

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Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 AT 12:30 AM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
54,137 POSTS

Hi, I can appreciate needing the info before you take the car in. If you know a little of what's going on before you take the car in, you can be ready for what ever the mechanic tells you. We will need to read the codes to determine in what area the problem lies. Please follow this link to see how to read the codes. You will need a code reader which are available on amazon.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

Not to jump ahead, and this is only my past experiences, It sounds like the seals in the transmission could be going bad or a control solenoid is failing. Please let me know what you find, this is a very interesting thread. :-)

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Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 AT 10:52 AM