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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Sad end to an old friend

« on: 11 November 2015, 07:13:49 PM »

As you know, we decided to replace our old 9-5 Aero estate. We took delivery of our Honda CR-V on 19th October, and I advertised our 9-5 for sale on the local Gumtree equivalent and a Saab enthusiasts website at €1250. The ad had over 900 views on the Gumtree website before I had an enquiry, then I had two in one day. A lad in his mid 20s arranged to view it on 24th October. He turned up on time with a friend, gave it a very casual once over, and agreed to buy it for the asking price, although I threw in a set of winter rims/tyres which I had previously valued at €1250. He paid cash, and signed a standard Austrian buyers contract (needed to enable him to register it in his name) which stated he'd bought it as seen and test driven, without guarantee or further liability on my part. He then produced a set of number plates from his friend's car and put them on "my" car. The plates here are issued by insurance companies, and can only legally be put on a vehicle after it has been registered with this registration number (which is person-related rather than car-related). So I suggested he might not want to drive off in an uninsured, unregistered (to him) car, but he was happy to do so, and he did!

90 minutes later comes the text message "Motor kaputt, full of oil and smoking". He'd driven it the 100km to his home, and with around 10km to go hit the autobahn and I think floored it. He admitted he'd hit 160km/hr (around 100mph), whereas the motorway limit here is 130km/h. I suspect the head gasket went, as it already had an external leak but was pronounced sound internally. A bit ironic, as we have regularly cruised at 160 km/h in Germany. He couldn't stop as it was uninsured and unregistered so he drove it another 10km home.

I visited him the next day and refused to give him his money back.I had a look at the car and it did look really sad, the engine and underbonnet was covered in oil. He said he'd get a diagnosis and see his solicitor, which didn't worry me as everything was done properly. I gave him €250 back, and took the winter wheels & tyres away. He eventually sold it for €500, probably for spares, and I gave him another €200 back as a goodwill gesture. So I still have €800 and he's lost €300.

I was really pleased that the car had gone to someone who would drive it rather than as spares, but obviously my joy was short lived. Very sad end to a car that we took from 70k to 230k miles over 8 years, including numerous trips between the UK and Austria, and was totally reliable except for the two disabling breakdowns in the last year leading to our decision to replace it.

On a happier note, our CR-V is only the 120bhp 2WD version, but is a wonderful motorway cruiser. It has 300Nm, as against the 350 of the standard Aero. I was worried that it might feel underpowered after the Aero at 120bhp  , but that's not the case. It's roomy, comfortable and quiet, and the 55mpg is rather better than the 33mpg of the Aero. SWMBO is having trouble with seat comfort however, so ideally we need to transplant the Saab seats into the Honda.....

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Anyone stripped/repaired a xenon adjustment motor?

« on: 28 September 2015, 01:46:21 PM »

Typical. Only three weeks to go before the delivery of the new car, the intermittent problem with the occasional lighting of the xenon warning lamp on the dash has become permanent. In another cruel twist of fate, the MOT is due which means a failure 

As I suspected, I think I have narrowed it down to the adjustment motor in the drivers side headlamp. It makes a juddering noise as it attempts to adjust the light. I really don't want to source another lamp at around 200+ euros, so I was wondering whether anyone had successfully stripped the lamp and repaired the motor? I know they aren't available as replacement items. I'm happy to invest a couple of hours time but I don't really want to spend any money. And I don't even want to start the job unless I'm likely to have some success.

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Sadly leaving as well.....

« on: 09 August 2015, 01:01:51 PM »

As I've posted a "probably for sale" ad in the appropriate section, I thought I would update the forum on what's going on.

Having had two breakdowns in the last 9 months without warning (CPS, alternator), we've decided that sadly we need to move on. Having looked at the various options and criteria for the next car, we've decided on a Honda CR-V. Ideally it would have been a 170bhp Passat (much like Jim's), or an Octavia VRS. However, as this has been effectively an unplanned change of car, we're having to cut our cloth according to our finances. We looked at buying a used car with a bank loan, but have decided on new with a lease. We will save around €90 per month on running the Saab at 25,000 kilometres per year. Diesel here is around 22 cents per litre cheaper than super plus, so moving from 10L/100Km petrol to 4L/100Km diesel will a big saving, as will the €50 per month tax.

The CR-V is slightly shorter than the Saab, but almost an identical width, with huge amounts of leg and head room, We are buying the 1.6 i-DTEC 120PS diesel 2WD. It doesn't feel too bulky on the road, and bowls along very smoothly. Friday we test drove a Golf SV back to back with the CR-V, and it was a no brainer financially - the Golf over 5 years is almost identical in all monthly costs with the CR-V over 4 years, the only difference will be the fuel consumption. The SV was the 110PS diesel, which we drove with a 5-speed manual although we would have bought a 7-speed DSG. On twisty uphills the SV proved to be nimble, sure footed, and easy to place on the road, while the CR-V was a bit more cumbersome but not terribly so. The steering on the SV was light and direct, whereas the CR-V has electrically assisted PAS, which I didn't greatly like but it was OK. The SV needed to be kept on the boil, the Honda less so. And on the flat, the perceived flexibility of the Honda was far better, with the SV not having much in the way of pull until it got a few revs on.

Hopefully, in 4 years time, we'll be able to move on to something more exciting - 530xD estate  - but for now, the CR-V should be a nice relaxing place to spend our time on the road. And the Saab stays until around October.

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Dead car - battery not charging

« on: 16 July 2015, 06:59:31 PM »

Went for a nice day's outing today. On the way back, the warning triangle lit up, two bongs, and the battery symbol came on. After a while, the auto went into limp home mode and the dashboard looked like Blackpool illuminations. The motoring club came and it was obvious that there was absolutely no charge going to the battery, which only had just over 10 volts. His reasonable diagnosis was a dead alternator. Two questions - could it be just the regulator, and how easy is it to change the alternator on the drive?

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Deterioration in starting

« on: 02 July 2015, 10:13:28 AM »

Since I had a new fuel filter by the local main dealer, my Aero auto has not been quite as good at starting. It would always start first turn of the key, burst into life, and that was fine. However, since the new filter was fitted, I soon noticed that just occasionally, it needed to churn a little longer, but only on the odd occasion - perhaps 2-3 times a week. That was two months ago. In the intervening weeks, it seemed to become more frequent. Over the last couple of weeks, and only once or twice, it's needed a longer churn, then died just when you think it has caught. It restarts instantly. When you've had a car for 8 years, as we have, you quickly notice when something isn't *quite* right. Once it's running, it's as smooth and powerful as ever, with no hesitation or other symptoms. The fuel consumption *might* be slightly down, but we haven't done any longer trips recently.

It seems to me that it's a fuel-related symptom, but I checked the plugs about 3 weeks ago, they looked OK but I cleaned and regapped them to 1mm. Yesterday I put some new ones (PFR6H10 as always) in. I'll monitor the symptoms, but the following faults spring to mind:

• dirty MAF sensor
• throttle body needs cleaning
• head gasket problem getting worse (I detailed in a previous thread from that time the external oil leaks, and loss of c. 400ml coolant per month) - the main dealer advised me against having the head gasket replaced due to the potential costs of collateral damage given the mileage of now 227,000
• fuel pump

The MAF sensor and throttle body have never, AFAIK, been off the car nor been cleaned.

Have I missed anything else that it could be? I have checked for pending error codes but nothing showing.

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Intermittent xenon warning light

« on: 27 May 2015, 06:20:01 PM »

I've had the xenon warning light come on intermittently for around 9 months. Today, I have at least seen the symptoms, because it happened while I was parking up under the car port. After starting the car, the light came on, and the headlamps slowly lowered to their failsafe (lowest) position. However, after a couple of seconds, the left hand one kept going down, and the right hand stopped where it was. I'm guessing that the error is being thrown by an intermittent problem with the adjustment motor on the right hand lamp. Any thoughts out there?

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Summer tyres - what are we using these days?

« on: 26 March 2015, 06:14:44 PM »

In three weeks it will be time to put the summer tyres back on - the front two need replacing. Having a look round reifen.at (the Austrian site of mytyres.co.uk, which are German just to confuse things  ), looks like the choice might be between the following:

• Goodyear Eagle Asymetric 2
• Michelin Primacy 3 (which are what I'm replacing)
• Dunlop Sport BluResponse
• Dunlop Sport Max RL

They're all about the same price here, between €100 and €110 each, so price isn't a factor. For some reason, certain tyres seem to perform better on certain cars, and wear differently. The Michelins are supposed to be energy efficient, but I haven't noticed any change in fuel consumption. And the wear rate isn't brilliant. Any comments on what others have chosen, and whether they would recommend them?

N.B. All in 225/45 x 17 XL (94), rated W or Y for speed

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Flickering xenon again

« on: 03 March 2015, 06:16:28 PM »

Back about 18 months ago, perhaps a little more, I was having trouble with one of my xenon bulbs flickering. I eventually replaced both bulbs at vast cost, but over the last few weeks the bulb in the same lamp has started flickering. I'm thinking perhaps the control unit is dodgy. It seems odd that the first bulb lasted 10 years before the problem started, yet it's come back after only c.18 months. It looks like the control unit is one of these:

http://www.skandix.de/en/spare-parts/electrics/lights/headlights/control-unit-gas-discharge-lamp/1051704/

Anyone else had the problem? It's tempting to take the cheap option and just buy another bulb, it might be cheaper to keep replacing them over the expected future life of the car than buy a new control unit!  Doesn't seem worth taking the risk of buying a second-hand unit, unless failure is extremely rare, as I might just get the same problem again.

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Indecision re 91 & 94 load rated tyres...opinions?

« on: 10 January 2015, 02:32:47 PM »

I've always run 205/55 16"s for winter tyres on my Aero estate, in a 94 load rating and an H speed rating - quite adequate for winter conditions. The Saab recommendation - which in Austria is shown in the registration document and taken as gospel - is for 91 load and Q speed. Clearly the 94Hs exceed the requirements, so no problem there.

The dilemma is caused by the flat we had we had in the UK, heading for the Channel Tunnel, when I had to have a replacement in a 91H fitted because it was the only one available in Reading from stock. Now we're home, I have had it replaced by a 94H to match the others. So I now find myself with a hardly used tyre (which cost me £105 and 2 hours of lost time  ). I will continue to use 94s when I replace others due to wear (probably in a couple of months), so I'm tempted to keep the 91H, source another rim, and use it as a spare for both summer and winter. Clearly it's probably a bit iffy if I had to fit it in the summer, when I'll be running 225/45 17s in a 94W, but technically legal if I had to use it in the winter. I'm a bit uncomfortable about mixing the 91 with the 94s, although TBH we drove from the UK back to Austria with this configuration, with the car fully loaded with 4 people plus luggage, with no apparent problems.

So what would you do? Sell it as second hand and forget it (good market here for second hand tyres, so no issues there as it's a common size), or buy another rim and make use of it? Am I right to feel uncomfortable, or should I just shrug my shoulders and get on with it as it meets Saab's spec?

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Parts availability for our beloved motors

« on: 17 November 2014, 11:39:00 AM »

Having had to source, or at least try to source, several parts over the last week or so, it's clear that there are beginning to be some supply issues. I'm interested if anyone else has had much in the way of problems, particularly for those parts that rarely fail and/or are critical? I'm thinking of parts like the link rod between the xenon sensor and axle that I recently bodged - there were none anywhere within the dealer network in the UK, nor were there any in the central warehouse in Sweden. Yet this little didgery could have kept my car off the road, as the garage wouldn't give it an local-equivalent MOT ticket without it. To cap it all, the only one I was offered second hand via Parts Gateway was 2.5 times the list price of a new one, so clearly some breakers are beginning to price according to supply and demand.

 I'm also thinking that there might be some use to having a "sticky" thread, where we can post details of suppliers that aren't necessarily widely known but might be able to supply where others can't. What do you think?

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Standard vs. performance brake pads

« on: 16 November 2014, 04:09:52 PM »

SWMBO is giving me earache about the squealing from the DS2500 front pads. I've done all the usual things with copaslip etc. but it doesn't help. I'm thinking about switching back to standard pads to stop the noise, in both senses  .

The reason I went to higher performance pad stems from a nasty experience with brake fade on standard Saab pads some years ago on my old 9-5. Since then I haven't trusted them on the front of the Aero. The last time I changed the pads a couple of months ago, I tried to get hold of some Mintex M1144s because they are reputed to have less of a problem with squealing, but although I could find them advertised, no-one actually had them in stock, nor a realistic timescale for getting hold of them.

The DS2500s are fine, but with a lot of slow speed and town use they don't often get warmed up enough not to squeal. However, there are occasions when we charge up and down mountains for extended periods, and I'm reluctant to change back to standard pads.

My question is, has anyone actually experienced any fade worth talking about on standard pads recently? And how about the general performance of them?

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Xenon load angle sensor on rear axle

« on: 12 November 2014, 11:32:49 AM »

The saga continues...having paid €50 for a new non-genuine xenon sensor for the rear axle, which the garage told me had failed and was a mandatory fix for the MOT, I went to fit it today and discovered that it's not the sensor that's the problem  it's the link rod that fits over the ball joint on the sensor and the chassis that has broken (ball joint siezed and broke the cup holder). And there wasn't a new one with the sensor.

The computer with my parts manual on has now gone belly up so I can't find out the part number, or indeed whether it is a separate part - should a new one have been supplied with the sensor? A bit of googling implies not.

Any kind soul help?

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / CPS failure with no warning

« on: 10 November 2014, 10:06:27 PM »

Had the misfortune today to break down on one of the busiest roads in Salzburg at one of the busiest times  . SWMBO and I were crawling through through the traffic and the engine just cut out, with no chance of restarting. Rang the motoring club, who took 90 minutes to arrive. After plugging it into his OBD reader, he pronounced the CPS as "kaput". So we then had to wait to be recovered, and eventually got home 4 hours after breaking down.

Anyway, a couple of questions for the assembled multitude:

• presumably he pulled a code - I don't know what it was, but I'll put my own reader on in the morning to check. The question is, can that fault code indicate any other fault, or is it definitely the CPS?
• does anyone have the Saab part number for the CPS, and is it available from a GM dealer? Is it best to fit a Saab original part rather than aftermarket? 2004MY Aero.

Lastly, is it easy to replace, and is there anything special to look out for apart from making sure the O-ring for the old one is taken out before fitting the new sensor?

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Xenon headlamp levelling sensor

« on: 08 September 2014, 10:30:39 PM »

I first had a problem with the warning light for the xenons in February this year (documented in this thread http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=2489.0). Recently the warning light has started to come on again, usually for around 15-20 seconds after turning the ignition on, then it goes off.  It used to go straight off. I'm wondering whether this might be a sluggish levelling motor, or is the monitoring system not that clever??

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Classic Saab 9-5 (MY 1998-2010) / Fettling the front calipers

« on: 15 August 2014, 09:24:33 AM »

I need to change the front brake pads. As an aside, I was going to try the Mintex 1144s but couldn't track any down (that were in stock, or deliverable within the foreseeable future) so I've gone for DS2500s again, having used them for a long time.

Unusually for me, I can't track down in my records exactly when I fitted the last set, but I have in my mind that it doesn't seem so long ago. Part of the evidence for that is that there doesn't appear to be any ridge on the outside edge of the Brembos I fitted at the time.

 I noticed a few weeks ago, when I removed the front wheel to change the oil,that  the pads were well down, so I have a fresh pair waiting to be fitted (time and weather permitting). I was wondering whether they had worn more quickly because the pistons weren't backing off as much as they used to. This in turn got me wondering whether I should clean and perhaps lube them with a special grease. I don't want to do a full removal and strip down - with only one car, and being stuck in the middle of Austria, I can foresee something going wrong and being transportless!

So, the question is, can anyone recommend a grease, procedure etc. to make sure that they continue to give good service? Bear in mind that the mileage is now sitting around 213,500 and the only attention they've had in 10 years is pad changes. The easy option is of course to fit exchange calipers, but I'm really in "maintenance mode" on this car now - spending what's necessary to keep it in good safe running order without going OTT. And the MOT is due in a couple of months....

Lastly, I have to say that I don't feel there is an issue with the brakes, they seem to be functioning perfectly well from a driving perspective.