What I Did To My Saab Today.

[welshwizard]

I do have the Poltergeist playing silly tricks on my NG again today....got to work parked up and tried to lock the car, feeble horn parped when I used my remote...tried a few times and I got the horn blowing.  Went round the car and boot was shut and none of the doors were ajar.  Tried the remote again 'beep!'

Gave up. 

Lunchtime - went to the car, it was locked and started the ignition 'boot lid open'     Had no reason to open the boot this morning, no warnings on my way into work...tried it and it felt and looked shut...   gave the lid a tug and it opened....

Used fob again, no horn...

I was going to take the Golf into work this morning, as Saab was low on fuel.  But Openreach are working on our round, thus blocking Madge (the Golf, so called because I had a Dame Edna).  Confidence gained by hopefully fixing the water issue without breaking any trim gives me the confidence to try to fix the horn on the NG before the MOT.

[carrera]

There does seem to be a programming logic that opens the boot when the battery voltage drops below a certain level. I'm not saying that's what happening, but it's an interesting aside to the NG's foibles

[welshwizard]

I had that when my old battery was failing and the BCM taken over by the devil.  Try driving across Dartmoor in awful weather in the dark during Covid times (evicted from hotel) with nothing working from the steering wheel or stalks....

[welshwizard]

Confidence gained by hopefully fixing the water issue without breaking any trim gives me the confidence to try to fix the horn on the NG before the MOT.

The bootlid fix on the Golf is holding after the biblical rain we've had for the past few days.  However, a 'shakedown' journey from Richmond to Bracknell tells the truth I've not fixed the issue, there was a bit of water collecting in the bootwell when I arrived at work.  Because I had not refitted the carpet etc I could see where the water was coming from, which means bumper off in the spring/summer.  The Golf has a weakness behind the bumper and below the lights, it's where the external vents are and they become loose over time, and water collects in a recess.  There is a gromit that, when you can access it, allows you to drain the water - a temporary fix - but I have just ordered a syringe set from Amazon which allows me just to take some trim from the side of the boot and access the recess through there and suck the water up.  Summer time I will fix the vents properly.

[carrera]

The TTid suffered from a catastrophic loss on coolant on Monday evening, I managed to get her to the unit, where she has spent some time up in the air.

The 2.0 diesel engines have an EGR cooler system, where the hot air from the EGR system is cooled by the water at ~90 C. This takes place in a plastic housing, it's a bit like a boiler where the hot gases in the tube heat the liquid outside it, except not to the point of making steam. Well, these plastic housings aren't up to the job and they crack

I already did this job when I bought the car as there was a weeping, I bought an aftermarket one as it was less than half the price & had a 5 year guarantee. It's lasted 2 years / 24,000 miles. The supplier has agreed to replace under warranty.

In the meantime, I sourced a genuine Vauxhall/Opel one, which is now fitted & is leak free. It has taken quite a few warm up cycles to fully bleed all air out of the cooling system, and it was only really effective on the road, but I think it's done now.

This affects the 9-5 NG TTid and Tid models as well as the equivalent Insignia cars

Here's a picture, & you can see daylight where the waterfall was. The split is probably a good 4cm long

 

[carrera]

Well, it seems that the TTiD has decided to become a bit leaky, I used her today for towing & the extra power demand highlighted the problem.

The good news is the work I have already done is good & that side of the engine is dry. However, when the thermostat opens there's a drip drip leak from the offside, which elerces at the back of the air compressor.

Well, after much fiddling, removing the exhaust (easy), aircon compressor & power steering pump I was able to remove the mounting bracket. & I could see witness marks from higher up.

After spending some time on WIS & EPC I have identified that the leak is likely coming from the inlet to the water pump, part number 55566104

Now I know what the problem is, I find out that this is accessible from the top 

Oh well, I'll get it off tomorrow & see if it's just a gasket failure, a crack in the plastic housing or something else. That side of the engine has been a bit damp for a while, but not in a significant way, & all shielded by the engine covers, so I'm actually pleased I have been forced to confront the problem

[carrera]

Today, I started stripping the engine for a HG change 

https://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=4813.new#new

[sgould]

Over the weekend the engine light became more frequent and I kept getting P1314.  I had already had the new plugs, so, yesterday, I popped over to Saab Parts in Harlow and got a  new "genuine OE" DI unit.  They have stock of the Saab Original units with a 2 year guarantee.  These are the new design that Orio had designed after the old SEM originals were no longer manufactured.

Car started first time, so I must have done something right.

[sgould]

And, although there was only sketchy evidence of spark escape on the original, it must hace been. there.  The car is running much more smoothly.

[Audax]

9-3 went in for service and MOT yesterday, thankfully easy pass and small MOT. I'd asked Indysaab to also check it for rust and they reported back that it's not rotten and only has mild surface rust on the subframes so I'm going to put off doing any rust proofing a bit longer. They also had a look at why I'm losing 300ml of coolant every thousand miles and they've found a small hole in the radiator so it'll need to go back and have a replacement some time soon. The price difference between a pattern part and "Saab approved" is quite a lot so I'm not sure which I'll take. 

[sgould]

Have you considered using a local radiator repair company?  I have used ones around here in the past and the quality was very good.  The ends were reused and a new core fitted.

[Audax]

I'm not entirely sure where the leak is if it's on the core or a joint, I'd need to take a look but I don't have the time to DIY really and don't know any companies around here who put new cores in.

I had a further look and it appears that the genuine Saab approved part is about £280+vat which would explain why the difference in the bill is so much, I'll probably go for a pattern part and get the job done for me as I hate playing about with cooling systems.

[welshwizard]

The boot trim on the Golf has proved to be stubborn and without wanting to draw blood I've not been able to draw the water using the syringe.  Instead, I crawled under the car, at risk of being 'attacked' by a neighbour's American Bully (who's curious, clumsy, yet affectionate), to locate a pair of grommits that would drain the cavities where the water collects.  On the passenger side, the grommit is easy to locate, pull out and replace.  No water.  Driver's side much more difficult to access.  Still find water in the bootwell.  Last weekend, parked my car on the kerb, crawled under and confused by the grommit, looked like one that should allow water to drain, thinking it was blocked, stuck in a stick  - nothing.  Then, 'milked' it, 'jiggled' it cue one soggy arm.  This morning, drove the 30 miles to work.  Boot dry!

Last week as my car was being serviced at Joe's we got talking in the car as he was taking me back to Epson station.  They have sorted two Mk7 Golfs with the same issue as ours in the past week. So, given Madge is 10 years old I decided then and there to forget about using VW service and to let Joe do the service and MOT and to sort out the offending cause of the water ingress....

Doesn't get me over that hideous journey from Epson Downs to Richmond. 1h 20 by car - 6 miles as the crow flies!!!

[ScarbSaab]

The MY08 saloon has had a rattle with the driver's window down for a while. At the start of this week, something went crack when I put the window up. Today I stripped the door, found one disintegrated roller and the the other broke when I popped the ball joint out. Bit of a struggle to get them out of the track and to get the new ones in, but all done and greased. Also found one of the channel liners at the bottom of the door, which probably accounted for the rattle. All back together, and the window is running better than ever, and silent too. Part of the door trim cracked removing the mirror adjuster, so that is on the side waiting for tomorrow.

Also, one of the letters came off the boot during polishing. That is now back on, so my Aro is once more an Aero.

[carrera]

Common issues

I usually evo-stik the rubber strip back in position

Delighted that you have your Aero back. I lost some in washing, which are now back, but the R dropped off on the road. No dropped vowels. One day....

I picked up some 4 wheel nuts for Blackie from my local Vauxhall dealer this week, so now the wheels have 5 standard bolts, no messing with security keys.