2003 9-5 Arc Wagon V6 - Crank Sensor? Need your advice.

[SCSaab9-5]

Hi All - I wanted to get your advice.

Vehicle and Previous Repairs That Indicate Similar Past Issues: 2003 Saab 9-5 Arc Wagon with the 3.0. ~88k miles. New dealer crank sensor at 52k, new fuel pump at 80k, new DEI cassettes at 35k (both) and 82k (just bank 1) -- all done by previous owner.

I'm having what seems to be the classic crank sensor issues, but my Saab Indy shop doesn't just want to throw parts at it. Basically asking all of you if I should twist their arm to just replace the crank sensor.

Details:

- Main symptom: About once a day, after driving the Saab -- doesn't matter if it's been driven 200 miles on the highway or a 5 mile trip to the store, shutting it off and letting it sit for 15-60 minutes -- the Saab will randomly not start. It will crank and crank, I'll lift the back seat and remove the fuel pump cover and hear it priming. Then if I wait 10-15 minutes - after trying to start it 30-40 times (I know that's bad but I do this because once in a while, it starts up after the 3rd or 4th try) - it will magically start up and generally run fine. Let's say this happens 1 out of 8 times I go somewhere and come back to the car.

- A more recent issue is that the Saab will just stop running at a light. Very rare, but it has happened a few times.

- Again, the Saab generally runs fine, except when this issue acts up.

- Doesn't matter whether it's hot or "cold" (doesn't really get cold in Southern California) outside.

- Waiting times until she starts up seem to be getting longer and it seems to be happening more often. Seemed to used to happen ~1x/week. Now seems like 1x/day.

- This has been happening for ~9 months, but not enough to truly bother me until recently.

- My Saab Indy has tried to pull codes and there are none. They can't replicate the issue (they would probably spend hours trying to replicate it just to get it to do it once if they are lucky). They have not checked fuel pressure or spark as they want to see it not start before doing that.

Should I just ask them to replace the crank sensor? Any other parts that would cause this issue without throwing any codes?

Thanks in advance!

[SCSaab9-5]

For future reference and as a follow up just in case someone else in the future with a 9-5 3.0 Turbo has a mysterious, intermittent no start issue after driving for a bit and no codes are stored...

I had my indy replace the crank sensor 10 days ago. The issue seems to have gone away (knock on wood) and I have not had a single no-start incident since - I would guess I have stopped the car and ran into a store/restaurant about 50 times since over the course of 300 miles. It used to happen at least once a day.

Knowing that the old crank sensor is not completely failed and works when completely cold as it is first thing in the morning, I threw it in one of the trunk compartments just in case the new sensor breaks on me in the middle of nowhere (the failing one is OEM - Bosch but only had 30k miles on it).