Saab Newbie - '05 9-3 Check Engine Light On

[MarkPopkie]

Hi my name is Andrew and I have owned a 2005 Saab 9-3 Arc for just over 1 month now. I apologize if there is already a thread that covers this kind of scenario but I didn't find anything when I looked.

Two days ago, the Check Engine light came on. I had been noticing that it was occasionally a little rough in idle, but that was really my only concern. It still seemed to drive fine. Now that this light has appeared, I think I'm being super sensitive to the car's perfomance... but something does seem "off." Could it be in Limp Home Mode?
I have meticulous service records from the previous owner so I know what has and has NOT been done to the car.

I've been running on premium 93 octane, I've checked the gas cap, and I've got an appointment scheduled for tomorrow to have the codes read.

What possible damage could I be doing by continuing to drive the vehicle in the next 24 hours?
Any ideas about what kind of repairs I could be looking at?
I've got a fairly extensive dealer warranty, so hopefully most (or all) of it will be covered.

Are there any Check Engine light scenarios in which the car does not go into Limp Home Mode? Or is it pretty much guaranteed that I'm going to blow through gas like nobody's business until it gets fixed?

What should I be watching out for in terms of performance reduction? I had it up to 60mph on my way to work and didn't notice anything different.

Thanks for any help you can provide. I just got this car and I love it...


EDIT: After posting this, I had to run an errand in the car... The light is OFF now. Does this mean that the computer is no longer sensing a problem? Or does it just automatically turn off after a few days? Should I still take it in to the dealer for the diagnostic?

[Voytek]

I've had a similar thing happen intermittently in my '06 Aero.
There was a time when the check engine light actually stayed on permanently, but most of the time it would come on and later it would be off (sometimes it would take a few days before it would disappear).

In the end it turned out the be my BCS (Boost Control Solenoid).
After some time of this happening I eventually started having boost issues. Nobody knew what was wrong - even a shop couldn't quite narrow it down after scanning the computer.

I started with the cheapest part from The Saab Site ($47 bucks I think) and that was it.

Have them do a scan and see if they can narrow it down for you or not. Dealerships usually can. I've had this issue with other GM vehicles in the past and one time it was the EGR valve having a small leak so the vacuum sensor detected it. My point is that this may be nothing serious that you can continue driving with (for now), especially if your car seems to be running just fine. There are SO many sensors in these cars that as soon as you have one of them malfunctioning slightly, the check engine light will be on and will drive you nuts but it may be nothing serious.

If you're still driving it, watch the boost gauge under full throttle and see how high it climbs or if it climbs 'evenly' (you can gauge that by the seat of your pants too). Lots of people have complained about the check engine light and later boost issues and this was the problem that I had.

Good luck!