2008 Saab 9-3: engine stalls while driving

Filed Dec 3, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 160,000 miles · NY

My vehicle doesn't start/idle well in the cold due to the air intake manifold bolts slowly becoming loose. **when driving and shifting** the vehicle cannot handle the extra unclean air entering the system and will stall out while going anywheres from 0-60+ MPH, once the engine shuts off all power steering also shuts down. The secondary issue is an acceleration problem because the seals on the air intake valves into the combustion chamber have become faulty resulting in cylinder misfires and a high amount of vibration intermittently while driving, the symptoms come and go with increasing frequency as time goes on. This secondary issue ties into the first issue because of shifting with a standard my vehicle today (12/3/2020) shut off while driving 7 times to and from my job.

Filed Jul 5, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 101,000 miles · DE

My car wouldn't start so I replaced the battery and the crankshaft sensor. It drove fine and then I parked it and went out a little later and it would jerk and try to stall while I was driving, sputtering like I was running out of gas. If I pressed the accelerator, it wouldn't accelerate and then it would surge forward. I ran some errands and it drove fine. After my final errand, the car struggled to start but did and idled really roughly. I put it into gear and it died. I couldn't get it started again. After reading other posts, this seems like an issue with these years and veey dangerous.

Filed May 6, 2020 · Engine · 157,000 miles · NH

I brought my 08 saab 9-3 to a shop for a compression test cause it kept stalling when I would go to start it, it's an automatic. I was told my intake valves were wearing down and it's due to gms faulty valves. Yesterday my car started ticking while I was driving and I lost almost all my power, come to find out my valves were about to snap. Now I'm making payments on a car I can't drive and gm refuses to fix this issue and there are multiple cases of this happening to 08-10 saab 9-3 with the gm factory valves.

Filed Sep 25, 2019 · Engine · 100,000 miles · TX

Rough idle and start on cold starts. This issue is well known in the saab community due to gm putting weak material in factory fuel injector valves. Engine loses compression until car is warm, but may result in stalls or limp mode

Filed Dec 8, 2017 · Electrical, Lights · 127,000 miles · FL

The headlights in my vehicle started flickering and shut off while driving in the dark a few days ago. After safely parking the car, I investigated and found that the housings are designed to be unservicable but I was able to investigate and found that nearly all of the internal wiring shielding had cracked and fallen off (please see attached photos, I appologize about the quality). The headlights failing without notice created a very dangerous blackout scenario which could have very easily resulted in serious injury and/or death due to manufacturing defect and by no fault by or prior warning to the operator. I was lucky!

Filed Nov 7, 2017 · Electrical, Engine · 90,000 miles · CO

Recently, while starting the car it started up very rough. A few weeks ago the check engine light also came on and the mechanic told me there was an issue in cylinder 2. We replaced all spark plugs and coils, and the issue did not go away. In addition, the car has also started stalling randomly. Luckily, I haven't been driving at high speeds when this has happened but it's now shut off about 7 or 8 times in the last month. Been wondering if its intake valves, fuel pump, powertrain control module, camshaft timing... Sounds like lots of other people have experienced similar issues and hoping mines not because of the intake valves. Please email [xxx]@hotmail.com if you have experienced similar issues and know the fix. Car is a manual transmission.

Filed Sep 9, 2017 · Fuel system · 25,000 miles · CA

Fuel pump is defaulting to check engine light , error code for fuel pump , while driving the fuel pump intermittently does not send enough fuel to motor resulting in not enough power stalling while driving.

Filed Jul 31, 2017 · Engine, Fuel system · 99,000 miles · NC

Reached 100k miles, and car began running very rough. Engine light came on and diagnosed as bad ignition coil. Paid for tune-up, ignition coil, and and fuel service. Less than a month later, same issue. Car running fine, then suddenly almost stalls and engine light blinks then stays on - car runs very rough at idle and acceleration. Replaced 2 more coils. Less than one month issue, same issue - car running ok, then just almost stalls and runs rough - engine light blinks then stays on - relaced #5 coil. When diagnosing, service tech advised that issue was likely worse, not maintaining compression - likely required valve job. Have already paid several thousands of dollars on ignition coils and other service to dealership for this issue, now facing large bill for valve job.

Filed May 2, 2017 · Engine · 77,000 miles · FL

I have been having this problem with my car for a while now and couldn't figureout what the problem was. When started from a cold start would take 2 or 3 times to get the car running it would stall out and run really rough. After a number of trips to the shop that maintains my car they researched online that this was a common problem for saabs with this engine and gm isn't willing to do anything about it. I had to spend just under 2000.00 to get this issue fixed. I see there are a bunch of people posting about this same problem the intake valve issue is a known issue with gm supplied intave valves on 2007-20011 saabs with the b207 motor.

Filed Feb 9, 2017 · Engine · 64,000 miles · GA

Intake valve issue is a known issue with gm supplied intave valves on 2007-20011 saabs with the b207 motor. Car struggled to start when the temperature was below 40 degrees. When it finally started, the car idled roughly. In addition car stalled a couple of times while being driven on the highway. Took it to the service center and they performed a cold block compression test. Values were well below 100 on 2 of the valves. The other two tested about 20% below normal. 66k miles, serviced regularly, and premium fuel was used exclusively. Also, southern care from day 1.

Filed Nov 28, 2016 · Engine · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2008 saab 9-3. The contact stated that the vehicle overheated and stalled several times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the extension tank was replaced three times. The inner hose detached internally and the dealer provided no solution. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided no remedy. The contact was uncertain if the part was replaced a fourth time and if the failure would recur. The failure mileage was not available.

Filed Sep 6, 2016 · Engine · 105,000 miles · MI

I was driving at 55 miles per hour on the lodge freeway in metro detroit, I was in the left lane and there is no emergency lane on the left, and my engine turned off on itself (scary!). As we are aware, brakes pretty much stop working when the engine is off and I was driving with 55 MPH with many vehicles around me. I managed to pull over to the right without getting hit. When I stopped, I tried to start the car, it would start for 5 seconds and it will stall and I had about 10 gallons of gasoline in the tank. I had to get the vehicles towed to my house. Next day I started reading the blogs online to figure out how it is possible for the engine to stall like that without any warnings, especially one is going at highway speed. It turned same thing happened to a lot of saab owners as well - engine stalled without any warnings when they were driving. I hooked up the vehicles to a diagnostic computer and it showed that the crankshaft sensor stopped working. If there are other saab owners with the same problems, we should do something to prevent any injuries - happy to discuss it with anybody.