2000 manual 9-3 (its a piture of either the engine or transmission) light on...

[miz jay beezie]

Hi, I'm new here. I have a 2000 saab 9-3, it has a manual transmission. Just got it from my inlaws who took immaculant care of it and used only one saab specialist, they did, however, use it as the daily commuter from portland to salem (aprox 150 mi a day)for work, so it is fairly high in highway miles (I believe about 250;000) ... it drives great. Has a couple quirks nothing big... well yesterday I was driving about 50mph and a light came on right under the speedometer, its a picture of a transmission or an engine... not sure which, but I'm freaking out. I'm listening to the car and it seems to maybe be idling a little higher then normal, also having to shift a bit sooner,maybe... other then that, I haven't noticed that anything else has changed that I can see hear feel ect. So now what? What does the light mean? My little screen hasn't said anything while running its check.. I wanted to check all my fluids and they are all fine but I can't find the transmission fluid to check that. Advice? Next step? (Sorry so long. I so appriciate your advice). -jonelle

[miz jay beezie]

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[rpiereck]

First of all, welcome to SAAB World!

That light is your check engine light. Many times it's something small that triggers it. You engine ECU now has at least one engine failure code stored in it, the best thing to do if you don't have an OBD reader is to take it to a trusted auto store and they will read the codes for you. Sometimes they might charge a few bucks, but not too much, $5 or $10 sounds right. After you have those codes put them here and we will be able to help you better. But with a high idle it could be a vacuum leak, which could throw a code and shouldn't be too expensive to fix.

You picture on the second post did not show up.

[miz jay beezie]

Ok. Thank you so much!! The guys who has done all the work on it lives about a half hour away. Do you think its safe to drive it on the freeway without hurting anything? Like I said it feels just fine driving, but don't want to hurt it. Or should I just drive to a local car shop and get the codes and go from there? I'm so happy to hear it may be something small! ... and thank you for clarifying that it is the ingine light. I'm no car expert, but I do sooo love this baby.

[rpiereck]

Well, there are lot of reasons why the CEL (Check Engine Light) may illuminate, and many times it could be something small. I wouldn't drive it too much, but if it's your only transportation then it's unavoidable. Get the codes read soon, post them here and we can probably help you.

[miz jay beezie]

Thank you! That will be my goal in the next few days. I will certainly post the codes as soon as I get them. You guys are great. So glad I joined.

[rpiereck]

So glad I joined.

So are we