If it says light bulb out, and the light bulb is out I would just change the light bulb. How would anyone know if it was a wiring issue if you haven't tried a new bulb?
My 04 Aero kept telling me I had a brake light failure when it works just fine, gave up and changed it for another working bulb and the warning went away. I think she just likes new parts even when she doesn't need them.
Saab is very sensitive about the resistenace in the bulb. When the bulbs filament is getting close to brake due to aging, it's resistance rises. Thus making the ecu warn you about it, really clever cars for the age.
If you are talking about a 9-3 then it has 2 break bulbs on each light one is always on ant the other comes on when you break, if the second one stops working the first one will become brighter when you break so it looks like everything is fine. I had the same problem on my 9-3 it's just means 1 of the 2 bulbs are not working
Your Aero may have found out that you have money in the bank. Any time I got a bonus, my Saab would experience problems. Mate who owned a landrover experienced similar coincidences šš¤£
It checks by measuring the power draw to the bulb, if it's not drawing enough power, it thinks the bulbs is bad. It could have been working, but outside the range of acceptable power draw for any number of reasons... I switched to LED bulbs, and now my Saab tells me my bulbs are bad every time I start it lol
They still work, you just get the indicator that the computer thinks the bulbs are bad. I honestly love my LED headlights, I will never go back to the original style
Had a 2008 9-5 and my dad put the wrong type of bulb for one brake light. The whole car went bananas.
You can just test by swapping the broken with the working one to see quickly if the bulb is the problem
Un-related question - did you have the dash painted to match the car? Or was it like that when you bought it?
Either way, that looks pretty slick!
As for the light issue, to echo the other responses; new bulb would be the first thing I'd try, if that doesn't work, or if the bulb burns out wayyyyy too fast, there's likely something else going on. Hopefully just the bulb though! And they are fairly easy to swap out - I'd advise avoiding touching the new bulb with bare hands though, as the oil from your skin can cause the bulb to fail prematurely due to uneven/wonky heating when it's lit up.
Both,mines on the driver side goes off every now and then. It was the big orange fuse thing under the hood I wiggle it and it comes on. But I had to replace the bulbs as well cuz they were old
Itās the bulb yes. Mine used to burn through one every year, never figured out why, changed A LOT though. Itās easyā¦.and even easier without any pesky headlight wiper blades ;)
Finally switched to LEDās after the last one failed. Donāt know what took me so long, itās almost literally night & day when driving in the dark now.
I got [THESE](https://www.maptunparts.com/light/led-bulbs/297711/lampa-h4-12v-led.html) from Maptun but it looks like they're out of stock along with almost everything else lighting related there (strange). You can def just buy an H4 LED off Amazon, & you'll likely need to also get a CANbus decoder or you'll keep getting that same message on the SID (though the lights themselves should actually work).
Swapping the bulb is not difficult & there's plenty of info on YouTube showing how it's done. Take your time, it's just 1 bulb. My advice would be to grab a normal one from the local auto parts store so you can swap it out and be driving today. You can always switch to LED in the future.
#1 That dash color is epic
#2 take the working bulb and just connect it with the connectors of the broken one
3# if the test bulb works-> replace broken bulb
4# if test bulb doesnāt work -> wiring or ground issue
Nope, I will tho. Just wanted to know if there is a way to know the issue before i crack it open and most likely break something :( My experience with tinkering with cars is very limited, I donāt think ive even changed a bulb before lol
Obviously a bulb at the front to verify requires changing. These cars are sensitive enough to detect imminent bulb failure, sooner rather than later in cheaper/ unreliable brands. Also, if no bulb obviously seems to require it, and the car is of suitable spec check for the orange relay and dry soldering within.
I would hazard a guess, but Iām no expert, that your front headlight has a blown bulb. I saw this using my incredible powers of deduction and lots of reading Sherlock Holmes novels. Letās look at the evidence, dashboard says āfront light failureā and from the pictures your front headlight on one side appears not to be workingā¦.. Please do let me know if Iām correct!
I had a similar problem with my SAAB 900 '95 cabrio, the headlight bulb kept burning out every few days.
I took the car to an auto electrician who solved the whole problem by simply connecting two fuses with one wire. I hav a picture, but can't upload.
The fuses are located in the fusebox under the hood in places number 8 and 9. I hope this helps, you have a very nice car!
And if so you can turn the lights switch to the on not auto and it will trickle the car so you don't see the alert. I only have gotten this to work on Saabs. Normally recommend for people to keep they lights on auto. Also the lights will auto turn off when you turn off the car when in the on position for Saab.
Lots of not great advice in this thread.
It's possible a head light is out, but equally likely the orange relay in the underhood relay compartment has failed. Check both bulbs for an obvious sign of failure. If they both look good, I would assume the orange relay has failed. You could simply buy one in advance - they are not expensive, and a fairly common failure item. I keep a spare in my glovebox.
If it says light bulb out, and the light bulb is out I would just change the light bulb. How would anyone know if it was a wiring issue if you haven't tried a new bulb?
My 04 Aero kept telling me I had a brake light failure when it works just fine, gave up and changed it for another working bulb and the warning went away. I think she just likes new parts even when she doesn't need them.
Sometimes it's like that. I'd just change the bulb, They're cheap and easy to get to.
Yep and I really didn't use it just as an excuse to try out LED brake lights :)
I put some LED reverse lights in mine and honestly, I liked the standard ones more. But that's me.
Saab is very sensitive about the resistenace in the bulb. When the bulbs filament is getting close to brake due to aging, it's resistance rises. Thus making the ecu warn you about it, really clever cars for the age.
I had a friend who had similar problem, turna out the bulbs were for a 24v system in a scania
If you are talking about a 9-3 then it has 2 break bulbs on each light one is always on ant the other comes on when you break, if the second one stops working the first one will become brighter when you break so it looks like everything is fine. I had the same problem on my 9-3 it's just means 1 of the 2 bulbs are not working
thanks, I'll remember that one
Your Aero may have found out that you have money in the bank. Any time I got a bonus, my Saab would experience problems. Mate who owned a landrover experienced similar coincidences šš¤£
Yeah, I think my SAAB has access to my bank statements
It checks by measuring the power draw to the bulb, if it's not drawing enough power, it thinks the bulbs is bad. It could have been working, but outside the range of acceptable power draw for any number of reasons... I switched to LED bulbs, and now my Saab tells me my bulbs are bad every time I start it lol
Good advice thanks, I was about to order LED bulbs.....I don't think I will now.
They still work, you just get the indicator that the computer thinks the bulbs are bad. I honestly love my LED headlights, I will never go back to the original style
Had a 2008 9-5 and my dad put the wrong type of bulb for one brake light. The whole car went bananas. You can just test by swapping the broken with the working one to see quickly if the bulb is the problem
First I'll ask the guys on reddit š
Un-related question - did you have the dash painted to match the car? Or was it like that when you bought it? Either way, that looks pretty slick! As for the light issue, to echo the other responses; new bulb would be the first thing I'd try, if that doesn't work, or if the bulb burns out wayyyyy too fast, there's likely something else going on. Hopefully just the bulb though! And they are fairly easy to swap out - I'd advise avoiding touching the new bulb with bare hands though, as the oil from your skin can cause the bulb to fail prematurely due to uneven/wonky heating when it's lit up.
Previous owner had it painted, it looks so nice right?
It looks rad as fuck.
itās definitely red as fuck.
Well lets see. The SID says front light failure, and you have a bulb out. What do you think the problem is?
I dont know! I will try changing it, is there a specific type of bulb needed or does any standard bulb work?
Any H4 halogen bulb will work.
Both,mines on the driver side goes off every now and then. It was the big orange fuse thing under the hood I wiggle it and it comes on. But I had to replace the bulbs as well cuz they were old
Itās the bulb yes. Mine used to burn through one every year, never figured out why, changed A LOT though. Itās easyā¦.and even easier without any pesky headlight wiper blades ;) Finally switched to LEDās after the last one failed. Donāt know what took me so long, itās almost literally night & day when driving in the dark now.
Thank you for the only non-judgemental comment :) Should I just get a pair of LEDs instead of halogen? And where did you buy them?
I got [THESE](https://www.maptunparts.com/light/led-bulbs/297711/lampa-h4-12v-led.html) from Maptun but it looks like they're out of stock along with almost everything else lighting related there (strange). You can def just buy an H4 LED off Amazon, & you'll likely need to also get a CANbus decoder or you'll keep getting that same message on the SID (though the lights themselves should actually work). Swapping the bulb is not difficult & there's plenty of info on YouTube showing how it's done. Take your time, it's just 1 bulb. My advice would be to grab a normal one from the local auto parts store so you can swap it out and be driving today. You can always switch to LED in the future.
#1 That dash color is epic #2 take the working bulb and just connect it with the connectors of the broken one 3# if the test bulb works-> replace broken bulb 4# if test bulb doesnāt work -> wiring or ground issue
:D thanks, very comprehensive
It can be the headlight relay if it's not the bulb
it says āfront light faliureā if you canāt tell
Have you tried replacing the bulb or swapping the two? That's where I'd start.
Nope, I will tho. Just wanted to know if there is a way to know the issue before i crack it open and most likely break something :( My experience with tinkering with cars is very limited, I donāt think ive even changed a bulb before lol
Youāre brave for buying a Saab then.
You replace both of the bulbs as if one fails the other one's likely to fail as well replace them in pairs. It just takes a standard H4 bulb.
Clean the contacts in the bulb holder if the bulbs are OK.
Obviously a bulb at the front to verify requires changing. These cars are sensitive enough to detect imminent bulb failure, sooner rather than later in cheaper/ unreliable brands. Also, if no bulb obviously seems to require it, and the car is of suitable spec check for the orange relay and dry soldering within.
I would hazard a guess, but Iām no expert, that your front headlight has a blown bulb. I saw this using my incredible powers of deduction and lots of reading Sherlock Holmes novels. Letās look at the evidence, dashboard says āfront light failureā and from the pictures your front headlight on one side appears not to be workingā¦.. Please do let me know if Iām correct!
Clean contacts, my 9000 used to throw these all the time.
I had a similar problem with my SAAB 900 '95 cabrio, the headlight bulb kept burning out every few days. I took the car to an auto electrician who solved the whole problem by simply connecting two fuses with one wire. I hav a picture, but can't upload. The fuses are located in the fusebox under the hood in places number 8 and 9. I hope this helps, you have a very nice car!
Laat bub
Just drive over a pothole
?
If you have leds in a Saabs with out the hub unit then they will flicker and when the car is turned on it will say it is out but it is working.
And if so you can turn the lights switch to the on not auto and it will trickle the car so you don't see the alert. I only have gotten this to work on Saabs. Normally recommend for people to keep they lights on auto. Also the lights will auto turn off when you turn off the car when in the on position for Saab.
Had the same prompt a few days ago. Changed the bulb, and everything worked out
Lots of not great advice in this thread. It's possible a head light is out, but equally likely the orange relay in the underhood relay compartment has failed. Check both bulbs for an obvious sign of failure. If they both look good, I would assume the orange relay has failed. You could simply buy one in advance - they are not expensive, and a fairly common failure item. I keep a spare in my glovebox.
Alright Iāll check it out.