2001 Saab 9-5 Engine cooling Problems

“My 2001 Saab 9-5 has just under 80,000 miles and has gone through 2 catalytic converters. It also burns out a lot of lights--headlights, tail lights, brake lights, etc. Every few months. Also the LED display on the dash has a lot of pixels out. I'm wondering if the electrical current is perhaps a little too high and that could be what's causing all of the problems?”

“I own a 2001 Saab 95 se v6. Was driving down the nj tpk and the car lost power and had a small electrical like fire under the hood. Had to get the car towed from the nj turnpike off and then again to my place in bensalem pa. Total cost $77 + 66. Found out that the di cassette burned out, cost me approx $600 to fix. A day later the cat converter fails (check engine light came on again). This is certainly due to di cassette burning out. Very frustrating for a car with only 60k miles on it.”

“The first time the oil light came on was in mid october 2006, after about an hour of driving. There was no other indication of a problem (noise, vibration, change in handling, etc). The oil had recently been changed, but it was rechecked and topped off on the side of the road anyway. Everything seemed good for about 20 min when the oil light came back on during a turn. I was on my way to the airport so I parked the car and took it to a service shop two days later when I returned. It was given an oil change and an overall check. The oil light did not come on during the test drive. …”

“At 8:00 pm this evening, I went to dinner. Everything was working normally on my car. At 8:20 pm, twenty minutes later, I start my car and it enters limp-home mode with a blinking check engine light, indicating misfire. Given the way the car was acting, the timing belt has broken. In my research, I have found this motor is a GM l81 motor, 3.0l v6. This motor has also been used in the saturn vue and cadillac catera. According to the NHTSA records, there was a recall on timing belts for the 97-2002 cateras. As stated earlier, this is the same motor in my 2001 Saab 9-5 se v6 3.0l.”

“My car has only 50,000 miles. No warning, no escalation, just sudden. Sid l.c.d. Display is missing dots and lines causing unreadable display. Checked several Saab discussion forums and apperantly this is a very common problem which damages the value of a $40,000+ car. I am afraid to find out how much this is going to cost to repair after seeing how many 9-5 owners have posted home remedy repair methods for this. Upper radiator hose- third one in fifty thousand miles from myself and the previous owner whom I knew. They all burst in the same place. Pressure relief cap tested ok. …”