I'm starting this thread so members can list anything and everything they've done to their cars recently. From mechanical stuff, to modding, routine maintenance, or a full restoration :D
My contribution isn't so ambitious :-[ I gave the car a good clean and scrubbed the hood in preparation for re-dying. Waiting for some dry weather now so I can get the colour on and weatherproof the canvas.
I gave the leather seats a bit of a spruce up too, touching up a couple of very minor wear patches, which have now disappeared ;)
While I was at it, I had a look at the boot release switch and mechanism as this isn't working, couldn't find anything obvious, so it'll have to wait until I have more time.
When I get the hood done I'll post up some before/after pictures.
Excellent idea :D
Have made the thread a sticky.
Mine is in the garage now - in for Cambelt (inc water pump, pulleys, tensioners etc), replace fog light destroyed by a stone, replace the motor for the locking thingy on the fuel filler cap and an MOT.
Went to Bond Street Saab (Leicester) to do the work. They've now moved to brand new premises in Birstall to the north of the city. Easier for me to get to being just off the A46. Courtesy car is a 2006 9-5 1.9TiD Auto. Engine pulls very well despite its 144,000 miles, car isn't quite as tight as mine, but nice to see the 1.9TiD's can take the miles as well as the proper Saab engines (is it an Alfa engine??)
If the drizzle stop here, I'm going to be taking out the satnav for a thorough investigation of all the connectors, to see what the best way of connecting the new one. I think it will be cut wires and solder as no one produces an adaptor cable for the 9-5 to a Kenwood/ISO.
The 1.9 TiD engine was a joint project between GM & Fiat I believe so it appeared in various Vauxhall's and Opel's, Fiat's and Alfa's. I have driven one in an Astra van and it is a nice free revving quiet smooth engine but will it be as long lasting as the old 2.2 TiD motor in my 9-5, which has no cam belt to break suddenly, and for which I have read that taxi drivers get 300,000+ plus miles out of them.
I will be happy to get 200,000 out of mine - 138,000 on the clock and counting!
Finally bought a bottle of Meguiars Plast RX off the net, to tidy up one headlamp *. Took a couple of hours, but superb results. Don't buy the kit in Halfords, you'll pay £20. Half that is for a sponge and a cloth.
Also after a good wash, etc, with assorted Autoglym stuff, the car looks lovely.
* One headlamp was brand new a couple of years back after a 4x4 reversed into me. ::)
Nice one Geoff. :)
Hoping the weather will hold out tomorrow so I can finally re-colour the hood and put some water
repellent on. Top isn't leaking, but the rain soaks right into the fabric at the moment.
As they say, 'always use protection' :D
Tomorrow I hope to get the parts so I can replace the rear shocks and springs on my 9-5 estate, I'd known for a while that the rear end was a bit bouncy but finally checked to find the leaky shock last Saturday. After a massive amount of trouble caused by one of my local specialists I just bought spring compressors from Halfords, a second hand shock from Two Stroke and some new shocks/springs from carparts4less.co.uk which will hopefully turn up tomorrow. If they don't I have a shock to fit from Two Stroke, if they do I have a spare to play about with before breaking the car. ;D
Forgot to take the before pictures, was in such a rush to get the job done. But let me assure you, there is a vast improvement
in the appearance of the hood.
Of course it cannot completely renovate the hood, but all the discolouration is gone.
I used this stuff
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLACK-CANVAS-DYE-CAR-BOAT-ROOF-HOOD-500ML-/260971327761?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Car_Care_Cleaning&hash=item3cc31a7111
Here's a few pictures of the results
(http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq296/hawkwindphoto/Saab%20Hood/CIMG3891_zps5eca4e8b.jpg)
x
(http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq296/hawkwindphoto/Saab%20Hood/CIMG3892_zps19ac5860.jpg)
x
(http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq296/hawkwindphoto/Saab%20Hood/CIMG3893_zps877a6748.jpg)
x
(http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq296/hawkwindphoto/Saab%20Hood/CIMG3894_zps59715859.jpg)
I took my car up the road to the car wash and back. I thought I ought to have clean windows before the trip round the M25 tomorrow.
I built up the new strut using the second hand tower I had, I then proceeded to remove the old unit from the car, eventually I gave up as the 2 bolts holding the top housing to the car were not going to shift. So, I had to reassemble the car, drive to Halfords and buy a 16mm 1/2" drive socket so I can use the big breaker bar on my stubborn nuts tomorrow. ;)
Nice Silver Machine, Hawkwind.
Looks a thousand times better than my OH's Peugeot of the same age.
That's 1 shock/spring replaced finally after acquiring a 1/2" drive it made the job much much easier. Car now goes around right hand bends very nicely, left hand bends are a lot more wallowing so I'll do the other side next weekend. Think I'll grind the nut off the shock too, it's in a terrible state.
Well done mate. It's a pain when you've not got the right tools for the job >:(
Refitted the alarm. This time I DID manage to shear off the rear arch lining retaining stud!
Bum.
Good job there is a box section to drill into behind there, so a self-tapper can be used. At last it's goodbye to "SERVICE THEFT ALARM"!
....and Hello to a symptomless CEL this morning! It was fine when I took it out last night...........
.......and cured with a big dose of switchcleaner up the MAF........
Quote from: CitTone on 15 March 2013, 01:07:36 PM
.......and cured with a big dose of switchcleaner up the MAF........
For some reason I read this as a big dose of sandwich spread... was wondering how that would help. I guess I'm just hungry after sorting the suspension on the other side of the 9-5 this morning.
Anyhow, the 9-5 now has 2 new rear shocks and 2 new rear springs, although the oil leak it has seems to be getting a bit worse and I was going to check tyre pressures and adjust the headlights but ended up going on a test drive after fitting the suspension so can't do the tyres until tomorrow. Figured lunch was more important!
Tried repairing the SID unit today.
Managed to get it apart without destroying it and cleaned up around the ribbon as per this thread.
http://www.saabworkshop.com/index.php?page=workshop&article_id=10
Mixed results really. There is an improvement, but it still isn't completely legible :(
Might have another go later in the week.
So had another bash at fixing my SID unit today.
Took it apart again, but this time I noticed that the actual display screen can be detached from the plastic unit that holds it in place, allowing access to the other end of the circuit ribbon.
There's also a thick rubber band that applies pressure to the ribbon from behind, this was squashed flat, so I moved it round so that fresh rubber was pressing on the ribbon and for good measure added some packing.
Re-assembled, re-installed and 'Hey Presto!' I have a fully functional SID unit ;D ;D ;D
(Took some pictures if anyone is interested).
So I thought I'd have a go at the climate control display. Unfortunately there are two star bit screws that I don't have the right size bit for (must be tiny). So no progress with that as yet until I can find the right size star bit.
That rubber band isn't original, some one has been there before you!! ;)
On my 9-5 I had to buy a T8 Torx driver to get the Aircon apart.
The band looks as though it belongs there to me, there's even a groove in the plastic to make sure it stays put.
The green arrow shows where you can just see the band.
(http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq296/hawkwindphoto/Saab%20Hood/SID/ea033503-b4e4-4b77-bae6-2ac543ed8bfe_zps96508866.jpg)
Yeah, I put in an order for a set of these :-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Piece-Precision-Torx-Screwdriver-Set-in-a-storage-Case-T5-T6-T7-T8-T9-T10-/271164132120?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3f22a44b18
.
Ah then the 9-3 is a bit different. I put a rubber band on my first 9-5, but it didn't last long....
Finally got to take a look at the electric mirrors today, turns out it was the switch.
Took it apart and cleaned it with contact cleaner. There's a sort of rubber diaphragm inside that holds the contacts.
Cleaned them up so they were nice and bright and put it all back together, plugged it in and it works! :)
Summeris here!
Well, at least winter must be gone: swapped out my winter wheels last night.....and did the SMax (phew.....about 2 hours of work, including cleaning the winter ones for returning to the shed!)
It's a dirty job,but someone has to do it :)
Quote from: MikeIOW on 18 April 2013, 07:41:02 AM
It's a dirty job,but someone has to do it :)
TBH, nobody in the UK HAS to do it. It's a self-inflicted wound.
Ha !
Yes, good point, no law requires it!
......but I would call it a self-inflicted blessing, the weather we've had. On the SMax, we hit the Alps over Christmas, and cruised up the mountain whilst there were literally dozens of cars fumbling with chains by the road. (I was watching the chainless vehicles coming down, & things felt fine on the winter rubber).....
Quote from: MikeIOW on 18 April 2013, 07:41:02 AM
Summeris here!
Well, at least winter must be gone: swapped out my winter wheels last night.....and did the SMax (phew.....about 2 hours of work, including cleaning the winter ones for returning to the shed!)
It's a dirty job,but someone has to do it :)
Got to get my winter wheels off too. Have bought some new 17 inch alloys, though won't be fitting for a while as I need to wear out my 16 inch summer tyres first!
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i148/kprm77/newalloy_zpscd60bb04.jpg)
Nice!
Bet they were a bargain too (although possibly not the £100 for cash bargain my somewhat tatty alloys were, cash handed over in service station car park a few years back!!!)
I've just put these on mine. Looking good, especially at the price! Cost less than getti getting old ones powder coated, and I even got half the cost covered by selling the old ones...
Quote from: jmblack on 22 April 2013, 09:15:36 PM
I've just put these on mine. Looking good, especially at the price! Cost less than getti getting old ones powder coated, and I even got half the cost covered by selling the old ones...
Any pics? Interested to see how they look on the car.
I've never seen new alloys that cheap, and although I have many miles left in my current tyres (on 16's), I didn't want to miss the opportunity. If I had the money, I'd have bought another spare set :D
Not a great pic and car needs a wash - ill put a better one on later. Along with 4 new eagle f1 assy2 tyres we are all set!
Last July all Saab Service Club members received an email offering new alloys at knock down prices - I bought 4 no. ALU31 which are a 15" 3 spoke wheel for my 9-5 Linear estate for £34.26 each plus delivery which cost me £30. Went for 15" as it's a Linear which has 16" as standard so these were to put winter tyres on. Bought Maloya Davos M + S (Swiss company owned and manufactured by Vredestein in Holland) for £41.80 each delivered from Mytyres. Haven't had any snow to test them but they are good in the wet. Must get them off soon and put the summer tyres back on!
Quote from: jmblack on 23 April 2013, 05:24:09 PM
Not a great pic and car needs a wash - ill put a better one on later. Along with 4 new eagle f1 assy2 tyres we are all set!
Wheels look better than I thought on the car. I'll have to wear out my 16's as quickly as I can! 8) ;D
Jump-started the 9-5 Saloon (from the 9-5 Estate) as the wretched thing seems to have a dead battery.
steve >:(
Check Engine light appeared on the way up the M1 this morning :(
No idea what that's going to be. DPF and EGR valve have been replaced on mine in my ownership. Hoping for once it won't be expensive - not holding my breath though.
Summer wheels/tyres (16's) will be going back on, and Air con service to be done too.
Having a wee blast along back road. Loud pop, odd whiny noise and no boost along with EML. Worried I'd bust turbo - just turbo pipe popped off....local garage working late so all fixed!
Mine needed a re-gen again. This is despite a new DPF last November and I do plenty of longer drives with work. These diesels are a pain in the buttocks.
Annoyingly, the stuff they used to spray into my air vents (air con service) has reacted with the dash and left an unsightly mark. Needs to go back for them to sort that..
I've taken the plunge with dpf removal as despite motorway driving it keeps blocking. Gone about 1k since and all ok so far, with a couple of mpg improvement and slightly better low rev pick up.
Quote from: jmblack on 24 April 2013, 10:34:31 PM
Having a wee blast along back road. Loud pop, odd whiny noise and no boost along with EML. Worried I'd bust turbo - just turbo pipe popped off....local garage working late so all fixed!
That happened to me once. Frightened the life out of me! :o
steve
It was an impressive pop!
Today the shed got 4 x Falken ZIEX-914 fitted onto the summer wheels and the winters taken off, of course I now have to build the Keter shed I purchased that turned up this morning to store the winter tyres in... ;D
Last weekend - 4 new Hankook Ventus Primes. This weekend - new MAF sensor, remove and clean EGR, MAP and inlet, refill washer bottle.
That's enough for the moment I think....
Plastidip passenger pull handle, as the covering had badly scratched/worn away, and electric window surround. If successful, plan the same to both door mirror covers, and the whole driver's assembly, as the bottom section of covering has gone.
Another tomorrow job is to clean out the SAI valve, and a thorough wash, blutak and polish the car - that'll be the major preps for Swedish Day, next Sunday week.
QuotePlastidip passenger pull handle
???
steve
(http://9thcivic.com/gallery/albums/post/Plasti_Dip.jpg)
Cheers Chris. Never heard of it before. :)
steve
Oooh - missed out what I did last weekend.
Headlight refurb. They were starting to make the car look like an old blind dog.
- small bit of 320 grit wet&dry
- small bit of 500 grit wet&dry
- egg-cup of T-Cut
- Metric f***tonne of elbow-grease
They aren't back to new, but at least they are smooth and some of the light goes where it should now! About 2 hours work, but I wish I'd put a polishing bonnet on my cordless drill!
Fitted some new flat wiper blades from Tesco, £4 each. The old ones were knackered so I'll try these... even if it is a case of buy cheap buy twice it's not a huge amount of money down the drain!
Well, didn't do it today, exactly, but last week. Aircon pumping out hot air on lowest setting, so went to my local indy, and they found no gas in the system at all. They ran leak checks, all OK, refilled system and now perfect. Just need some summer weather now.
(And I fitted the new Saab wiper blades I bought on the net a few months back. More appropriate to current climate conditions.)
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 27 April 2013, 04:01:23 PM
Annoyingly, the stuff they used to spray into my air vents (air con service) has reacted with the dash and left an unsightly mark. Needs to go back for them to sort that..
This was fixed yesterday - they sent a mobile chap round to sort it. Did a good job - can't see any discolouration at all now.
Before:
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-3%20Headlamp%20Refurb/03e48010-5d9a-4166-905c-a2329fd9c41d_zps4bb49d5f.jpg)
After:
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-3%20Headlamp%20Refurb/DSCF1528_zps7d5d1b61.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-3%20Headlamp%20Refurb/DSCF1528_zps7d5d1b61.jpg.html)
It still needs a bit more work to be perfect. I used the Meguiars restoration kit. It worked well on the right hand headlamp, but the nearside one shown here needed more work, so I had to fettle it with wet and dry. Needs a re-do with some finer paper and a repolish to complete. I can still see some light scratching.
Shiny !
Now then. Why am I finding it impossible to remove my wiper blades ? I'll have another bash before posting up a piccy in desperation: there are two tabs on the bottom end that squeeze in but then the blades fail to slide or angle up :-(
Ridiculous: sometimes I think I am bl00dy useless!
*update* Ahhh. Click & pull. Brute force & ignorance saves the day. On the downside: so the fleabayfolk I sent for replacements from sent me the wrong ones (hook style). buggerit. Oh well.....
Chrome trim on the exhaust of my diesel 9-5 all sooty and dirty. Never really cleans up so took the "barkeepers friend" my wife uses for the kitchen sink to it. 5 minute job and all shiny!
I managed a small milestone on the way to work today:
(http://s23.postimg.org/fgov510gr/speedo.png)
8)
Just thinking about an earlier post in this thread regarding 'PlastiDip' does any one think it would give a good finish to the tatty door mirror housings, and would it need an application of non-ferrous primer first?
I like round numbers :)
I believe that Plastidip has been used on the mirror by some people. I has the advantage that it can be peeled off it you don't like it.
I rubbed down and repainted the old folding mirror that I bought to replace the one on my 2007 9-5 that had stopped folding.
But on her 9-3, I used AutoGlym Black Dye. The black had faded badly, but not corroded away. It's lasted well - about a year without any significant fading. I should have done a couple of coats at the time. But as soon as the weather dries up a bit, it will get it.
Mine are corroded with the paint bubbling off. Looks like a coat of non-ferrous primer and a couple of coats of satin black. SWMBO doesn't like the look of them so want's them re-painted!
Just completed annual super clean so we can mess it up on holiday. Wash, clay, polish, tyre paint and inside now spotless. Even did the chrome tailpipe with "barkeepers friend"...Beats working.....
I've taken the photos left handed on the phone again...
I thought you had flipped the car over..
I sorted the headlights out with the 3M headlight restoration kit on my 9-5. I was going to take before and after photos but I got all the kit outside to realise my phone was in the house and didn't fancy leaving my tools there for the light fingered to grab them while I was away...
Anyhow, I did the worst headlamp first which was probably a mistake as I didn't put as much effort in and it didn't turn out as good as the other one. Either way the headlights will now certainly be an MOT pass next month which is the desired effect.
The 3M kit is very good although the polishing compound didn't seem to work all that well so I used a bottle of meguiars plast-x that I had kicking around from doing this job a few years ago (I didn't do it properly then as it was winter, cold and hard work by hand with wet and dry!) but by comparison the 3M kit on a drill was great although you have to be careful of swirls appearing.
Replaced pollen filter on my wife's 9-5 est auto. Is there any car in the world with a more awkward filter to change? Added to that old one that was done by at a service some time ago had no foam seal fitted....some things you're better to do yourself....
Smells better now!
Taken Helga (the 9.3 conv in my pic) for MOT, service and full brake replacement. Needed a front exhaust clamp, engine cleaner and some bulbs so now £700+ poorer.
steve :'(
Mine has been a bit slow to start the past few days, battery voltage over the terminals is 12.2V so a new battery has been ordered from ECP for delivery tomorrow.
First post on this thread. I rarely have to do anything to my old thing. But today, I treated her to fresh oil and filter. Yesterday it was new plugs. While I had the front wheel in the air, I put the new air filter mounts on that I bought some months ago, the metal and rubber on the old ones had parted company.
One of the reasons I spent a few minutes on the car today is that it has a couple of big days coming up. Firstly, on 30th September is the tenth anniversary of registration. Secondly, the odometer is now reading 199,266, so the big 200k is near. They won't coincide as I'm not planning on racking up nearly 740 miles in the next 5 days. I'll be posting again to encourage all those 9-5 owners to keep their cars running.
MOT done today along with oil and filter service + check over of car. £120 total. :D
Since I bought the old 1998 9-3, I've done/had done the following:
New floor mats from Ebay.
Oil and oil filter change.
Bought a drivers side headlight unit from Ebay - recevied today - got to fit it yet....
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 30 September 2013, 05:34:38 PM
Since I bought the old 1998 9-3, I've done/had done the following:
New floor mats from Ebay.
Now why did I not think of that? My mats are older than the financial crash. I am going to order a new set right away.
Swapped the DI unit. The spare I've had for many years is back in the boot and the new one with the correct part number is in the car.
Quote from: StanleyB on 30 September 2013, 05:47:30 PM
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 30 September 2013, 05:34:38 PM
Since I bought the old 1998 9-3, I've done/had done the following:
New floor mats from Ebay.
Now why did I not think of that? My mats are older than the financial crash. I am going to order a new set right away.
The ones I got for the 9-3 don't fit that well (supposed to be a tailored fit), though they're still a lot cheaper than the ones from Halfords which also wouldn't fit! However the ones I bought for my new car fit perfectly.
Tomorrow - the rubbish wheels and tyres are coming off the 9-3 shed to be replaced by slightly less rubbish (but straight) wheels, with massively superior tyres. Headlamp with a hole in it is being replaced too. :D
Here's a pic of the car with the new (old) winter wheels on. Looks a lot better than the old ones. They look huge compared to the old wheels despite only being 16 inch! Pic taken earlier this evening.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i148/kprm77/Saab%209-3%20winter%20shed/2013-10-07180100_zps86fad4a0.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/kprm77/media/Saab%209-3%20winter%20shed/2013-10-07180100_zps86fad4a0.jpg.html)
It was last week if truth be told, but I replaced the green rollers on the driver's window. However, not for the life of me could I fit the retaining clips, so the regulator arm ball joint is all that's keeping them in place. I zipped everything back up and went into the garage where I eventually managed to squeeze a clip into a roller. It seems to me that the reason these things break in the first place is squarely down to the force they are under with the clip in place. The window is (currently) up and down fine mind, but what on earth was I doing wrong?
Regards,
Brian
Took the car into the back lane last night and adjusted the Xenon headlights. Only a crude setup as it still needs proper calibration to the new front sensor and I was deliberately conservative in vertical alignment, but with only a couple of turns I've got decent range again.
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 07 October 2013, 07:12:25 PM
Here's a pic of the car with the new (old) winter wheels on. Looks a lot better than the old ones. They look huge compared to the old wheels despite only being 16 inch! Pic taken earlier this evening.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i148/kprm77/Saab%209-3%20winter%20shed/2013-10-07180100_zps86fad4a0.jpg) (http://s71.photobucket.com/user/kprm77/media/Saab%209-3%20winter%20shed/2013-10-07180100_zps86fad4a0.jpg.html)
Not half a mile's drive after taking this photo, I went over a raised railway crossing. When the car returned down onto the suspension, I heard an unpleasant sound. I assumed something had fallen off and I'd driven over it. Luckily the customer I was at had garage facilities and they kindly jacked the car up to see what the problem was. Turned out the spring had snapped right towards the top.
Managed to drive the 180 miles or so home with the cracked spring with no problem. Car now has a new spring, shock absorber and bushes on the front drivers side!
Cracked Drivers side headlamp has now also been replaced with one I got from a scrappy.
Full service and mot on our nov 06 9-5 2.3t vector auto.
A tidy £460 for that including swapping over to winter wheels (even though its 15 degrees!)new discs and pads at the front - first time they've needed done so can't really complain (on third set at the back!).
First time ever had advisories on the mot - corrosion on rear springs and slight corrosion on rear brake pipes. Is this the start of regular little issues after needing some rear bushes a few months ago?...
Interestingly £70 of my bill goes to the government as vat. Filled up as I left the garage for £80 so is that about £40 to George? Then due £400 odd in car tax next month which together with vat on the recent bushes all comes to about £550. Are Saab petrol drivers the saviours of the financial crisis?
More seriously had a courtesy car - s reg 9000 auto. Still very comfortable and cruised on the motorway at xx very nicely thanks. They were really nice cars although the wheels look tiny by today's standards!
Quote from: jmblack on 23 October 2013, 08:59:48 AM
... nov 06 9-5 2.3t vector auto...
...Then due £400 odd in car tax next month ...
...Are Saab petrol drivers the saviours of the financial crisis?
Yes, we are.
Your figure of £400 odd had me looking at the Gov's website - http://carfueldata.dft.gov.uk/new-vehicle-tax.aspx - then click through. Mine is a Jan 05 2.3t vector saloon, I've just taxed it at £280. (Yes, it's out of sync with the reg date, it was in a dealers untaxed for a few months.)
I'm not gloating, but according to the gov.uk website, you'll be paying £475.
The crucial date is the March 2006 cut-off in band K.
Sorry !
Today was check tyre pressures, clean the glass and get the gummi pflege out to sort all the door weather seals out before winter. I also got a chance to check my winter tyres tread depth more carefully and they are actually 2x5mm and 2x6mm so looks like I'm in luck and will be able to wear these out over this winter and replace the whole set next year.
Well....last weekend........time to pop the winter shoes on. & given my summer ones were down to *cough* perhaps 3mm, and the winter ones were all new last season, they don't half feel like they grip well ;-)
Those 4 and the 4 SMax made me feel like a proper mechanic......even got the inflater thingy out to make sure they are all blown up nicely.
Phew !
Bring on the cold !!!
Got mine on this afternoon. Very cold and windy out there.
It got me thinking that we always wait until the weather turns before changing the wheels. So it's always cold when I pit the winter's on and always warm when the summers go back on. Must change the winters over sooner next time.
Tomorrow is 15th November. That's the day in Germany and Austria that winter tyres become compulsory in snow. Our German friends say that winter tyres are not compulsory in winter, but it's illegal to drive in snow after 15th November on summer tyres. If you haven't changed tyres and it snows, you have to stop and walk home.
Got my winters on last month; the MOT had crept up on me (thought it was due this month!) so as two of the summers were a bit low, on went the winters which have good treads despite having done two seasons with me and one with my lad (but that one only low miles).
Back on topic - today I lifted the bonnet, checked the levels, (oil still correct after over 10k miles since I bought the car), topped up the washer fluid, checked/adjusted the tyre pressures.
Not a lot, but later this month I will be renewing all discs and pads and carrying out a full service. Tax due end of this month; only doing 6 months so the cost will be better spread next year and around this time no tax on top of servicing and MOT.
Pete
nice to be capable.....last time I changed oil was on my Metro Turbo......after draining the sump, I screwed the plug back on.....and on.....and on......and eventually realised the thread had stripped :-(
Got a friend to tow me to a garage.....luckily they could re-thread a bigger hole/nut, otherwise it would have been a new engine & gearbox. It was about then I realised I needed to 'know my limits'.......
changing the wheels, checking oil.....I filled the screenwash today.....that's about me done :-(
!!
Quote from: MikeIOW on 14 November 2013, 10:28:08 PM
changing the wheels, checking oil.....I filled the screenwash today.....that's about me done :-(
!!
That's more than many drivers can do, I have witnessed drivers of both sexes asking for help to fill the screenwash. ::)
Quote from: Geoff1951 on 15 November 2013, 05:35:47 PM
Quote from: MikeIOW on 14 November 2013, 10:28:08 PM
changing the wheels, checking oil.....I filled the screenwash today.....that's about me done :-(
!!
That's more than many drivers can do, I have witnessed drivers of both sexes asking for help to fill the screenwash. ::)
That's one up on a young ex-neighbour of mine who, disgruntled that his girlfriend had implied he was no good at basic car maintenance, was determined to prove her wrong, and poured oil into it to top the engine up...
I had a friend who nearly 20 years ago would stop with his Volvo 340 in a layby and use a bottle of water to clean his screen as topping up the screen washer bottle was too scary.
I had a colleague whose wife considered putting fuel in the tank was part of the service. Fortunately she had a car that needed a service at 6000 miles or 6 months. The six- monthly interval was about right for someone like her that only did 600 miles a year!!
And an elderly neighbour would drive out into the local countryside to her favourite village garage where the fuel pumps were not self-service.
I doubt either of them are still driving.
Quote from: Audax on 15 November 2013, 11:32:07 PM
I had a friend who nearly 20 years ago would stop with his Volvo 340 in a layby and use a bottle of water to clean his screen as topping up the screen washer bottle was too scary.
ROFLMAO
2009 9-5 TiD estate manual with 98k. Winter wheels on 2 new avon ice touring on the front so need to see what they are like.
Had a go at cleaning the MAP sensor and EGR. Very sooty - especially the sensor that seemed fully clogged can't see how it could have been working at all! Schoolboy error - dropped the gasket! Anyway a new set only £5 from dealer so I'm arguing it was best to replace anyway.....
Car now pulls much better at low revs.
Quote from: sgould on 14 November 2013, 06:35:31 PM
Tomorrow is 15th November. That's the day in Germany and Austria that winter tyres become compulsory in snow.
1st November here in Austria, until 15th April.
Took the 9-5 Estate into Kwik-Fit for MOT/service and came out 650 quid poorer. (Brakes f & r, track rod end mostly)
steve
Quote from: Paper Plane on 10 January 2014, 08:51:23 PM
Took the 9-5 Estate into Kwik-Fit for MOT/service and came out 650 quid poorer. (Brakes f & r, track rod end mostly)
steve
Not somewhere I'd take a car....
Drove home with the top down for the first time this year.
steve :)
I played with the Tech2 and also reprogrammed the Kenwood satnav/audio. Ended up with a flat battery! :(
Can the Tech2 do a battery test? I can read voltages, but I can't find anything else.
Nope, Tech-2 can't test the battery. You need a battery tester for that.
Thanks!
I'll get Halfords to do that then. The battery is still under the 5 year guarantee.
I gave mine a jolly good hoover and clean :-)
Actually that was last night. Today I peddled for 40 miles with a mate. What a mistake that was: cream crackered now!!
Quote from: wrighar on 10 January 2014, 09:35:02 PM
Quote from: Paper Plane on 10 January 2014, 08:51:23 PM
Took the 9-5 Estate into Kwik-Fit for MOT/service and came out 650 quid poorer. (Brakes f & r, track rod end mostly)
steve
Not somewhere I'd take a car....
Careful, my son is a supervisor at one of their Scottish branches.
steve
Blame me for the snow we'll inevitably get in the next few weeks now as today I swapped winter tyres for summer tyres. Looks like I will get 1 more season out of these winter tyres with careful usage (this time they'll only get put on when we have credible forecasts of snow and ice). Must say that having put the Falken FK-452 on last year I'm not so impressed with them as they are wearing quite quickly compared to the Nokian winter tyres!
I actually don't believe this, no snow so far this winter here... until right now, less than 2 hours after swapping the wheels!
Quote from: Audax on 23 March 2014, 02:47:11 PM
I actually don't believe this, no snow so far this winter here... until right now, less than 2 hours after swapping the wheels!
I have been running Falken 912's on my 2.2 TiD Estate now for nearly 7 years and currently have two of the newer 914's on the back. Wear, grip and ride comfort is excellent. Tyrereviews website gives 452's only 74% with the main complaint being wear - or lack of it - but gives the 914 85%. My winter tyres are Maloya (owned and made by Vreidestein) Davos M + S and stopping on wet roads is outstanding. Haven't had any snow to try them in anger for 2 years now.
Quote from: collywobble on 23 March 2014, 04:32:55 PM
I have been running Falken 912's on my 2.2 TiD Estate now for nearly 7 years and currently have two of the newer 914's on the back.
Actually, I'm being daft I've got the 914's fitted! They are: ZE-914 225/45 R17 W (94) XL, I'll see how they go as maybe they just bedded in quickly but if they keep wearing at this rate they'll not be something I'd be buying again!
Quote from: Audax on 23 March 2014, 02:47:11 PM
I actually don't believe this, no snow so far this winter here... until right now, less than 2 hours after swapping the wheels!
Unbelievably, today is only the third time this winter we've had snow here in Austria! Still got the winter tyres on luckily. Yesterday it was 22°C, today 0°C and snow :o
Quote from: Audax on 23 March 2014, 02:47:11 PM
I actually don't believe this, no snow so far this winter here... until right now, less than 2 hours after swapping the wheels!
And the gritters are out in Oxon, for the first time in three weeks.
Today I put 2 new Osram nightbreaker bulbs in for dipped beam. One popped the other day after being fitted for about 12,000 miles (I always leave the lights on when driving) so I figured it was time to replace the pair, taking the bulb out the other side it showed signs of distortion on the filament so probably doesn't have much life left but will do as an emergency spare.
Today I fitted a set of Tyrepal wheel sensors to her car. She may notice a flat tyre if it bleeps!! ;)
And if it works, I may get one for myself!
http://www.tyrepal.co.uk/tyre-pressure-monitoring-system-applications/tpms-for-cars
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/Tyrepal/IMG_0508_zps68ef6980.jpg)
Today I started work on swapping my "dead" auto gearbox on the 9-5 for a "live" one. This means pulling the complete egine & transmission out.
Removed/made ready so far
All engine/box mounts removed except rear
PS pump off
AC compressor off (hoses still on)
Exhaust dropped
Battery & tray out
All fluiids drained
Crankshat pulley off
Hub nuts slackened
Radiator fan assembly off
Snags so far:
- the fuel line tool I bought doesn't work with Saab fittings so I'll have to take the rail off
- I can't work out how to get the selector cable off the gearbox!
Whilst the lump's out I also plan to replace the subframe bushes
Tomorrow's jobs:
- get the fuel rail off
- undo all the wiring looms
- driveshafts out
- build the engine crane
- subframe bushes
I suspect the weather may not be good enough to continue on Sunday. Maybe Monday will see the enigne pulled...
Finally got the summer wheels and tyres out of my workshop - learnt two things, firstly always clean them before you put them away and secondly, 99p alloy wheel cleaner from 'Poundstretcher' is useless! There's a reason 'Autoglym' is expensive is because it works, mind you a pack of 5 toothbrushes from 'Poundland' are ideal for scrubbing off the brake dust!
So now sitting down with first glass of wine of the evening with two clean summer wheels, will clean the other two tomorrow and then put a coat of wheel wax on all four......
Now, which job is easier - fitting sgould's tyre pressure monitor, or phoenix's gearbox swop?
There's only one way to find out...
Well. I'm part way there. The engine is now ready to pull. Two issues yesterday:
- I couldn't get inner end of the OS driveshaft to release, so ended up pulling the tripod joint instead
- The crane I bought had problems with holes not lining up properly and I had to oval them to get them to fit
However I did find the source of the vibration which I had thought was the box:
(http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/9-5/excv1.jpg)
(http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/9-5/excv2.jpg)
(http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/9-5/excv3.jpg)
:o :o
The CV boot was intact, although the clip did come away rather easily, possibly suggesting it hadn't been sealed properly.
Luckily enough I had already secured a used complete driveshaft as I thought I'd felt a small amount of play.
Not actually done but planned for this week, is to swop the summer and winters around. Have got some shiny new 17"s for the summer, tyres fitted, ready to go on. While they are off, I will be replacing the rubber grommet that seals where the handbrake lever goes through the backplate (on order, expected in this week). At the same time, replacing the springs that pull the handbrake shoes away from the drum when the handbrake is released, then adjusting the handbrake shoes internally before finally adjusting the cable. I'm hoping that these measures will give me a handbrake that actually holds the car ::) I replaced the shoes last year, so apart from these measures there's nowt else I can do to improve it.
I also need to do the job described in this post http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1512.0 (http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1512.0), which sounds a real pig, as my NRV valve broke a few months ago and I cobbled a temporary solution using 6 cable ties :o. Goodness knows why the NRV couldn't have been a separate part instead of being integrated into the pipe! I have the part, it's just a case of summoning up the enthusiasm...... :-\
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 27 April 2014, 09:10:36 AM
Not actually done but planned for this week, is to swop the summer and winters around. Have got some shiny new 17"s for the summer, tyres fitted, ready to go on. While they are off, I will be replacing the rubber grommet that seals where the handbrake lever goes through the backplate (on order, expected in this week). At the same time, replacing the springs that pull the handbrake shoes away from the drum when the handbrake is released, then adjusting the handbrake shoes internally before finally adjusting the cable. I'm hoping that these measures will give me a handbrake that actually holds the car ::) I replaced the shoes last year, so apart from these measures there's nowt else I can do to improve it.
I also need to do the job described in this post http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1512.0 (http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1512.0), which sounds a real pig, as my NRV valve broke a few months ago and I cobbled a temporary solution using 6 cable ties :o. Goodness knows why the NRV couldn't have been a separate part instead of being integrated into the pipe! I have the part, it's just a case of summoning up the enthusiasm...... :-\
Well, all jobs done on this lovely sunny day :). I can report that the grommet that seals the handbrake operating lever as it goes through the back plate can be easily replaced from the outside, meaning that no dismantling is required other than removing the return spring for the cable.
And, if you ever have to replace the pipe containing the NRV for the oil breather system, I can report that it's certainly easier with two people as the other post I referred to indicated, the second above the engine with a long screwdriver to press the top half of the quick release clip. It's a bit awkward to position, but visibility isn't too bad. SWMBO wielded a mean screwdriver, and as a bonus has had a few choice words added to her vocabulary :o . And it's easier to thread the new one in from underneath, which also needs a helper as it's a little difficult to see where it should actually goes.
The only minor fly in the ointment is that the new centre caps I bought a couple of months ago to go with my shiny new wheels are the wrong size, they are fractionally too small. I think there is a 60mm and 63mm size, so these must be 60s. Luckily they were only £12 or so, I'll shift them on Ebay and look for the correct ones.
You're right. I bought the same caps and they are too small :)
This weekend I have put the summer tyres back on. Then I refitted the rain sensor on the windscreen. I did it last year, but used some silicone sealant to stick it. That was the wrong stuff, it relaxed too far and the sensor wasn't sensitive enough when it wasn't tight on the screen. Restuck it with Araldite. Let's hope that works.
Then I dismantled the mirror switch on the driver's door and cleaned the contacts, in an attempt to get the reverse dip on the passenger mirror working. But it made no difference :( I think the fault lies in the memory module as the passenger door mirror now does not always respond to the memory button when I adjust the seat.
Then I found that all my tinkering with the doors open and shut, had flattened the battery..... ::)
Quote from: sgould on 04 May 2014, 08:03:57 PM
You're right. I bought the same caps and they are too small :)
Just managed to sell mine on via Ebay Austria, turned a small profit by selling them at €17.50 - a lot of frantic last minute bidding! ;D
Quote from: sgould on 04 May 2014, 08:03:57 PM
You're right. I bought the same caps and they are too small :)
Then I dismantled the mirror switch on the driver's door and cleaned the contacts, in an attempt to get the reverse dip on the passenger mirror working. But it made no difference :( I think the fault lies in the memory module as the passenger door mirror now does not always respond to the memory button when I adjust the seat.
Then I found that all my tinkering with the doors open and shut, had flattened the battery..... ::)
Hi,
Been down that very road several times. Can you adjust mirrors in each direction with switch. Mine cant be adjusted up or down, N/S only, but memory raises and lowers them. I also have no kerb position working. Switch cheapest place to start I would hope
steve
The switch does adjust both mirrors in all directions, but the passenger dip does not work. And when I press the memory button, the driver's mirror moves to the right place, but the passenger side only moves in & out; it doesn't adjust the up/down.
So I am assuming the memory module is bad. Something to look at next month when I have some free time.
Replaced front and rear de-laminated badges with gleaming new ones, then received an email letting me know I can have the front fitted for free, (great, nice to know when I've just paid for replacements).
Then replaced fin antenna for a nice new one....
Not to bad a job once you've got past the "look dear it really wont take to much longer" and "I know I said it would only take ten minutes but I keep getting bloody interrupted by someone asking how much longer I'll be" stage of things.
Looks a lot better now, although I'm not convinced that the new fin wont leak :-\
I put a quick polish on mine after the muck had been removed by the guys in the hand was at the end of the road. Then off to Swedish Day! :)
At Swedish Day I met two men who let me play with my Tech2 on their cars. ;D ;D
Cleared the "Test Brakes" message on one car and married a CD Changer on the other. The CD changer came undivorced with the VIN No. of the donor car. So now I know how to do that. :)
Took the 9-3 Cabrio to local garage at the other end of my village because the "Check Engine" light had come on and he does diagnostics.
Great result too! Not only was there no fault and he turned the message off, but it turns out he's an apprenticed Saab mechanic.
So, no more trips to Kwik Fit, just a mile up the road in future.
steve
Not today, but Sunday's efforts:
(http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/9-5/subframe.jpg)
Part way through replacing the subframe bushes, and off the car because the pesky ARB bolts sheared, despite having been soaked in pen oil for a week.
Finally... she's back on the road. In the last week I've shot blasted the control arms (which were in quite a bad way), plus the plates around the rear subrame mounts, drilled & retapped the ARB mounts, wirebrushed & painted it all.
Yesteday I got the subframe back in (with the entire exhaust system still in one piece). Today I started the engine for the first time in around a month... without issue (doesn't sound that big a deal until you remember it's been out of the car and disconnected from everything and I had to put it all back together correctly). Ran fine. With my foot on the brake I moved the autobox selector through the gears to make sure the fluid had got everywhere it needed. No leaks, so then I droppped it to the ground and went for a test drive. Shifting felt a little awkward at first, which I put down to it needing adaptation but within 3/4 of a mile the fault lights were on for both gearbox and engine :o
Limped home with the display showing (and it driving) like it was in 5th (in D or M) unless I selected the low range. Not good. Read the codes- just P1743 , too much slip.
Checked WIS to see if I'd missed anything (e.g. should the torque converted have beel filled with fluid before fitting) and then remembered that as a precaution, because mine is an mY03 an the donor box came from an MY06 I'd got the ECU as well. So I swapped the ECUs over. On start up there was an error code, P0725, rev disparity. Wasn't looking good. However I cleared the code and went for a drive... Bingo! All good now 8)
So there we are, I've successfully completed the most complex procedure I've ever undertaken on a car and come away (relatively) unscathed. 4 weeks later and she lives. Yay!
What it's taught me is that most procedures are achievable for the home mechanic, but you do need to have
a) time- things will not go as well as you hoped. We are lucky to have 3 cars beween 2
b) some of the right tools e.g. engine crane, bearing press
c) the ability to take a step back and think every now and then
Some pics
(http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/9-5/DSCN1917s.JPG)
(http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/9-5/DSCN1918s.JPG)
(http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/9-5/DSCN1919s.JPG)
(http://www.markje.co.uk/car/pics/9-5/DSCN1926s.JPG)
Amazing to see the entire lump including gearbox coming out through the top! I always felt uneasy with the complete set of 9-5 engine and gearbox hanging from a crane, too easy for it to slip and slide around due to all the weight. Obviously you can't drop it all from the bottom in on your driveway but we only ever used the hoist to get the engine on and off the lifting table and sometimes to help lift it back into place. That's a major thumbs up from me getting all that done on a driveway. Also, yes, when replacing the gearbox you have to use the later control module if it's a later gearbox.
Very brave! Well done! :)
I, on the other hand, have stuck the rain sensor back onto the windscreen for the third time!!
It was never right after the windscreen change. When I investigated, it looked like the windscreens boys had bodged it. It was restuck with bath sealant and that worked for a few days, but the sealant relaxed and it moved away from the windscreen and stopped. Then I used Araldite but that fell off yesterday. Absolutely no adhesion to the plastic bits on the sensor holder. So today I used superglue. I will see if it is still stuck to the screen in the morning.
I charged up my aircon with one of those nasty kits from halfords. I did visit my mate the other day and asked him to do it but he was out of aircon gas after a rush on refills due to the warm weather so I figured rather than spend £50 on petrol and a few hours of my time later this week I'd try the gas kit. It was at least blowing cold air earlier, I'll see how it is later in the week I guess. :-\
Wow!
I salute that effort, Phoenix, superb!
For my part.....well, I washed it. & hoovered the carpets, & dusted the fascia. C'mon, some of us know our limits!
I did clear out half the garage.
I know. Feeble really!
Respect, Phoenix! :D I once removed and replaced an engine & gearbox on a BMC 1100. Relatively straightforward as there were far fewer wires & pipes, but the engine that went back in was an MG1300 unit with twin carbs.......all worked OK afterwards as well! There was a little bodging required if I remember rightly. That was back around 1980......wouldn't fancy doing the same job with the Aero! You must have a real sense of satisfaction.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YVwgLk_NNpc/U6Sf_ziB_bI/AAAAAAAABmo/XYgtHiNliwU/w1132-h849-no/IMG_0174.JPG)
I took a photo of my odometer today. Been waiting on this for weeks, hoping I'd tripped it at the right distance.
Genius! :)
I was working out the mileage to trip the odometer only this afternoon. I'm coming up to 120,000 and a 1234567890 is planned.
Quote from: sgould on 20 June 2014, 11:23:03 PM
Genius! :)
I was working out the mileage to trip the odometer only this afternoon. I'm coming up to 120,000 and a 1234567890 is planned.
Mine's on 121000 so not far for me either :D I'll probably forget though :-[
Good work, these always make me smile.
My next target is from Earth to the Moon
Finally got round to replacing the broken parking ticket clip yesterday, not to hard a job thanks to very helpful advice from sgould. Found it was essential to unclip the strap at the top of the 'A' pillar trim and also remove the speaker grille.
Also fitted a new badge on the tailgate with help from SWMBO who held the hair dryer while I used a piece of 10 lb. breaking strain nylon fishing line (dental floss kept breaking) to saw through the old adhesive. Finished it off with a couple of applications of wheel wax.
Today I took the windscreen washer nozzles off (for those who don't know, they come off from underneath the bonnet rather than the outside).
Twenty minutes of VERY careful dismantling (the little springs inside can fly a long way, I remember the first time I did it) and cleaning - wooden toothpicks are ideal - and I now have all six jets with a flow a horse would be proud of.
I took my 9-5 to RAF Waddington today to watch the airshow where there were some Saab's in the air. Very impressive seeing and hearing what a Saab can do with a Volvo engine in it!
My 9-3 should be okay for a few more years now after it's been in for a major service. Suspension racket had been fixed cheaply - subframe housing (?) was loose and just needed tightening.
Car feels so much better with the suspension issue sorted - that was making the car feel as old as it was. Was hoping for the 9-3 to get me through the Winter, but the mechanics have said that it is essentially in very good order for its age, so should see me through several winters, not just one!
It does need the driveshaft replacing On the drivers side, though not urgent. Probably get that done at the MOT in September.
Very pleased with the old girl! ;D
Today I took out the Kenwood satnav and completely rewired the speaker/amp connections following problems with speakers dropping out. So far so good.
I also took the opportunity to transfer the ignition feed from the OE ignition feed to fuse 5. This is the +B circuit that stays on when the ignition is turned to lock, as long as the key is in the hole. So the Kenwood now acts like the OE one did. Why did Saab use the I-Bus to keep the radio on when the key is in the lock when there's a circuit the does it directly?
Quote from: sgould on 31 July 2014, 09:51:27 PM
Why did Saab use the I-Bus to keep the radio on when the key is in the lock when there's a circuit the does it directly?
It was probably easier for the engineer when bench testing the setup as he'd always have an I-bus but not another power feed.
Today, I removed the Parrot CK3100 kit from my 9-5. If anyone's interested, it's for sale elsewhere on the forum.
Had a puncture yesterday and then the wretched locking wheelnut rounded off >:(
Recovery unable to move it (nut) so we were trucked home. It being Sunday no tyre places available so Kwik Fit will be visiting tomorrow to fit new tyres all round as the rest need it too I discovered.
Anyone managed to shift a rounded locking wheelnut? I will be replacing the ****ing things with plain ones.
steve
Sometimes you can get them off by hammering a socket over the outside. But there are special spiral sockets designed to do this, but most good tyre shops should have them.
Get quotes for tyres. KwikFit are not the cheapest, in my experience.
http://www.dynomec.co.uk/locking-wheelnut-remover.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Laser-3291-Locking-Wheel-Remover/dp/B0012MB360
Thanks guys.
Interesting devices those...
steve
Quote from: sgould on 15 September 2014, 08:15:27 PM
Get quotes for tyres. KwikFit are not the cheapest, in my experience.
I would not be using KwikFit unless it was an emergency, I used them last week for a tyre on my 9-5 after a blowout when it was 15:30 on a Sunday afternoon and we were going on holiday, I paid them £105 for a tyre that I could get fitted for £75 if I booked in advance.
Also, yes, replace locking wheel nuts with plain, and yes sgould has linked to the devices that will remove them. Even then you can actually drill them out enough to remove the wheel and remove with pliers. Also, as those tools exist to beat locking wheel nuts it's pretty much pointless to have them in the first place.
Well, the nice man from Kwik Fi Mobile turned up and he managed to get the offending locking nut off after a bit of a struggle.
I have ordered replacement plain wheel nuts and am replacing the locking items completely on the 9-5. I am also thinking seriously of doing it for the 9-3 too.
Thanks for all your advice chaps, most helpful.
steve
I did nothing but I got prices for new front sub frame rear bushes, gearbox oil change and software update, new front leveller and loom for xenons on my 9-5. Plus prices for new fan relay. Not bad all fitted inclusive of VAT and SSC discount for £585 - oh and of course the free wheel centre caps via SSC :)
Wow that's a first.
levelers and loom were fine but the connector on levelers was grubby and after good cleaning headlamps move fine - £166 saved. Sub-frame bushes all fine - ARB bushes shot and replaced - all now quiet. Gearbox oil was black and smelly - no works a dream after complete (well 8 litres) change - has latest software already..... fan relay £16 and regen works fine..............came away with bill for £235!!!!!
What a change :)
Which garage? Are able to name and shame praise? :)
Thurlow Nunn Norwich but I ask for specific technician :) Not the Vauxhall monkies
Indicators on the 9-3 Cabrio suddenly stopped working. Turned out to be just a fuse needed replacing. Was a bit of a shock as never happened to me before.
steve
Some preventative maintenance today...
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Underbonnet/IMG_0600_zps19506fb2.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Underbonnet/IMG_0600_zps19506fb2.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Underbonnet/IMG_0599_zps6a9d3944.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Underbonnet/IMG_0599_zps6a9d3944.jpg.html)
Yesterday actually. ;D
Swapped out the summer wheels/tyres for the winters. Pulled a large lump of rust about 9" square of rusted outer skin off the bottom of the rear silencer box - wouldn't have looked good for the MOT which is due ::) . Briefly investigated noises from underneath the car, which I think are the front subframe bushes deteriorating, but sprayed the front anti-roll bar bushes with silicone lubricant in the vain hope the noises will go away. Noticed during the wheel change that the driver's side rear brake pads are worn to their limit only one year after replacing the pads, discs and handbrake shoes, so I'm guessing the caliper is a little sticky, in which case I need to repair or replace. The passenger side wasn't so bad, but still more worn than I'd have expected (from previous experience, they should last around 50k miles at least) I've also found that the car is using a little water (only about 300ml or so every 6 weeks), so I thought I'd try to locate the source of any external leak which I failed to do. Noticed while I was underneath that there was some oil round the bottom where the sump meets the auto box. The car was oil tight for years, but over the last year or so there seems to have been a few wet patches appearing.
To cap it all, the battery went flat while I was using the compressor to set the tyre pressures on the winter tyres, which has been resolved by an overnight charge, but there is no way it should have flattened so quickly. Tomorrow I will be visiting the local accessory shop for a replacement in preparation for the winter. I knew it had been replaced here in Austria within the last five years, but I couldn't find the receipt to check when. A quick forum search here showed that it was 3 years ago to within a couple of days. Not good, but seems to be not unusual. So that will be €100 or so.
The overall picture is worrying. Nothing of any great note, and nothing that needs addressing ultra-urgently except for the rear pads, no point replacing them if I don't fix the root cause of the problem. There's a steady picture of old age deterioration building up (and not just the car ;D ). Subframe bushes I'm guessing might cost around €500, rear calipers and pads (would do both) €300 minimum supplied and fitted. Water/oil leaks - head gasket? So at 217,000 miles I'm wondering just how much money to sink in to the old bus, particularly given the cosmetic rust patches appearing round the rear wheel arches. :-\
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 26 October 2014, 08:30:24 AM
Water/oil leaks - head gasket?
I'd say that's not so likely to be HG, have you checked the pcv valve? all older 9-5's will leak some oil to a certain degree. I'd also guess that some water leakage is to be expected from work rad hoses and the heater bypass etc. etc. mine needs a top up of water every so often (and has done for the past 2 years) and is currently leaking oil everywhere after the pcv valve failed but hopefully that issue is clearing up a bit, mine is still young compared to yours with only just under 160,000 on the clock :)
The most common point for a water leak is the bypass valve behind the engine. The black plastic one with the three heater pies and the small thin rubber tube. It's been dropped on the later cars.
It's a standard Vectra part if you need one. Often called the "starship enterprise valve". Being in the hot area,small leaks dry up quickly. But a fondle underneath when cold often finds dampness.
Quote from: sgould on 26 October 2014, 11:06:27 AM
Being in the hot area,small leaks dry up quickly. But a fondle underneath when cold often finds dampness.
As Eric Morecambe would have said "There's no answer to that!" :P
This afternoon was quite warm here with no wind. So I went out and put new pads in the front brakes and took the opportunity to put on the winter tyres.
Pads are Mintex 1144. Half the price of the Ferodo.
Quote from: sgould on 27 October 2014, 07:50:44 PM
Pads are Mintex 1144. Half the price of the Ferodo.
Where did you get your pads from Will? Having done some research, I wanted to fit a set of those but couldn't find anyone who could supply them. One supplier said they
might be able to get hold of them within 2 or 3 weeks, but having left it a little late I couldn't wait in case they never turned up.
Quote from: Audax on 26 October 2014, 10:20:20 AM
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 26 October 2014, 08:30:24 AM
Water/oil leaks - head gasket?
I'd say that's not so likely to be HG, have you checked the pcv valve? all older 9-5's will leak some oil to a certain degree.
I'm not too worried about a relatively minor loss of oil & water, just a little annoyed that the car was dry for so long. I'll follow up Will's suggestion re the bypass valve.
Still considering whether to go for rebuilt calipers to fix the problem with the rear pads. Have found I can get them locally for €105 each, so not too bad.
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 28 October 2014, 08:52:44 AM
I'm not too worried about a relatively minor loss of oil & water, just a little annoyed that the car was dry for so long. I'll follow up Will's suggestion re the bypass valve.
Still considering whether to go for rebuilt calipers to fix the problem with the rear pads. Have found I can get them locally for €105 each, so not too bad.
Bypass valve is also likely, for callipers I'd try cleaning them up and winding them back. Usually they will come back to life although yours has done a long service so maybe replacements would be a good idea.
I got the brake pads from www.camskill.co.uk
These are the ones for the 345mm Hirsch brakes.
http://www.camskill.co.uk/m33b0s3395p27733/Mintex_Performance_Brake_Pads_Mintex_M1144_-_MDB2749M1144_-_Mintex_Racing_Brake_Pads_
Here's a link to the Mintex online catalogue
http://www.brakebook.com/bb/mintex/en_DE/PKW/99/3591_Series/applicationSearch.xhtml
Had a quick look at Camskill, they only seem to list standard pads for the 9-5 with 308mm brakes.
Today I finished off yesterday's work by cleaning up the summer wheels and tyres. Putting the best one in the boot as a full size spare wheel and taking the other three to the store. Then I did all the pressures and put the Tyrepal pressure monitoring system on the winter wheels.
Soon I hope my wooden shed will be empty enough so I can demolish it.
Quote from: Audax on 28 October 2014, 09:23:11 AM
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 28 October 2014, 08:52:44 AM
I'm not too worried about a relatively minor loss of oil & water, just a little annoyed that the car was dry for so long. I'll follow up Will's suggestion re the bypass valve.
Still considering whether to go for rebuilt calipers to fix the problem with the rear pads. Have found I can get them locally for €105 each, so not too bad.
Bypass valve is also likely, for callipers I'd try cleaning them up and winding them back. Usually they will come back to life although yours has done a long service so maybe replacements would be a good idea.
Went to the garage today and explained the problem. Seems that in the countryside around here this sort of problem with the rear calipers is common. They're going to take a look and advise. As we only have the one car, and it's not really very convenient to tackle the job myself, I have reluctantly decided to let them sort it out "reluctantly" not because I don't trust them, but because I resent spending the money on something I could do :'(
Can't believe also that brake pads are not held in stock at the nearest Saab dealer, seems they have to order them. Luckily, I pushed them them to find some more quickly, they have managed to locate some at a price much reduced from the list price that they originally wanted - €65 vs. €105 ;D
Yesterday had too much on to post, but I fitted new Xenon bulbs and polished the lenses! Followed WIS in removing the headlamps, and I don't see how the garage could have made such a mess on Norfolk Jim's car. ::) It's not difficult, and providing you site the bulb between the fingers of the 'fly trap' they all make contact! The biggest headache was the length of free cable on the left hand lens meant I had to unplug it before I could get the bulb clear, then hold the new bulb above the fly trap whilst I plugged it in again.
By putting things back on the marks (a bit of dirt helps!) everything went back together neatly. I now have bright lights up front, much brighter and bluer than the old bulbs which had started to flicker, and no frosted patches to reduce the transmission.
Having read up on UV protection, tomorrow's task is to wash and wax the car then to wax the lenses, hopefully to reduce the rate of oxidation now that there is no UV coating remaining on them. (Not that I'm complaining on an 11 year old car.)
I took my wife' Hyundai to Two Strokes to Turbo a month or so ago for service and MOT, and they did this nitro cleaning thing on the engine. I was reasonably impressed with the results, so I asked them to do the same on my 9-3 when I took it in last week. Well, superlatives can't come close to describing the end result. My 9-3 picks up far quicker now and MPG has improved. It must be the 2nd best bang for bucks "upgrade" that I have done since I bought my first SAAB. Only my previous MBC upgrade was any cheaper. I don't know who else offers this nitro cleaning, but if there is somebody local to you that does, I recommend it unreservedly.
Do you mean 'Carbonclean' in which they run the engine for 30 minutes after injecting nitrogen into the air inlet? There is also a water based turbo cleaner called 'Revive' which is advertised in 'Diesel Car' magazine.
That's the one. I guess different providers call it different names, but the process is the same. I can't recommend it enough after having it done to two different cars.
Quote from: collywobble on 02 November 2014, 11:41:55 AM
Do you mean 'Carbonclean' in which they run the engine for 30 minutes after injecting nitrogen into the air inlet?
Around 78% of what goes into my cars air intake is already nitrogen....
I'm not promoting it, all I did was read the website for the company that markets it!
Quote from: collywobble on 02 November 2014, 04:32:49 PM
I'm not promoting it, all I did was read the website for the company that markets it!
I'm not suggesting otherwise, just pointing something out that things written like that end up muddying the water when talking about this kind of maintenance, obviously there's lots of snake oil out there and some things that aren't! Anyhow, I'd suggest someone start up a separate thread to discuss these treatments.
Quote from: Audax on 02 November 2014, 06:11:16 PM
Quote from: collywobble on 02 November 2014, 04:32:49 PM
I'm not promoting it, all I did was read the website for the company that markets it!
I'm not suggesting otherwise, just pointing something out that things written like that end up muddying the water when talking about this kind of maintenance, obviously there's lots of snake oil out there and some things that aren't! Anyhow, I'd suggest someone start up a separate thread to discuss these treatments.
I was under the impression that this thread was about what we did to our SAAB, rather than the merits or otherwise of a certain type of maintenance. I passed on my personal experience with one particular maintenance process in good faith, not expecting to see it being implicated as a possible suspect in the snake oil business. I take my own performance measurement very serious. If something doesn't work or perform as to the sales pitch, I don't mention it. But when it does make a positive difference, I have no problem with sharing the info. What's the point of having a forum to share user experiences if they are subjected to claims of snake oil without any alternative evidence to back up those negative claims?
Quote from: StanleyB on 03 November 2014, 08:17:24 AM
I was under the impression that this thread was about what we did to our SAAB, rather than the merits or otherwise of a certain type of maintenance. I passed on my personal experience with one particular maintenance process in good faith, not expecting to see it being implicated as a possible suspect in the snake oil business.
I didn't say that the treatment you has was a snake oil at all! Just that discussion for those types of treatment would be better suited to another thread so that this one can be kept for talking about what we actually did to our Saabs. The question about which are good and which are snake oil is related to how many treatments out there that are absolutely worthless, once I was at a garage where a salesman was doing a demo of a fuel based treatment and put it in the fuel tank of one of the garage workers cars and then it wouldn't start or run. If you've found a good treatment then it's worth sharing that information but I'm sure you'd agree that some will not have the same effect or benefit?
My point is that some (in fact, many) of these treatments are clearly a snake oil in much the same form as putting a magnet on your fuel line or a resistor on your intake sensor. There's now been 3 treatments written about on here and there's at least one more I can think of off the top of my head (terraclean) which is why I'm suggesting you share information.
Quote from: ScarbSaab on 31 October 2014, 08:32:19 PM
Yesterday had too much on to post, but I fitted new Xenon bulbs and polished the lenses! Followed WIS in removing the headlamps, and I don't see how the garage could have made such a mess on Norfolk Jim's car. ::)
The problem was caused by a Vauxhall monkey trying to do it from under the bonnet as he thought he knew better than WIS. I can't repeat what the Saab Technician called them but needless to say it's wasn't praise. I still have some sort of issue with the levelers though which every so often decide to whip them up and down whilst driving. Cable connections are all ok and still seems to be the leveler operation itself so perhaps more rigorous cleaning of the front one will sort it. They are certainly miles better than before they were cleaned; however one issue that annoys me is that one of the headlamps seem to vibrate when going over a bump - all I can think is the headlamp leveling motor is loose making lamp vibrate???
It is amazing the difference it makes with the new capsules - did you use genuine Saab original or go elsewhere??
Had a busy long weekend... picked up a "twin" for the 9000
Towed very well considering it was just about on the max limit of 1800kg and there was no anti-snake on the trailer. Sadly though it's not going to be put back on the road but turned into parts. Getting it on the trailer was interesting... the ramps were noy long enough to avoid catch the front bumper spoiler lip so I had to unhook the trailer from the car and allow the back to drop as I drove the car on. I managed to stop just around the tipping point then winched it the rest of the way.
Fixed a throttle body niggle on the 9-5
Took the rear brakes off the 9-3 only to find after I'd blasted them clean that both had a seized piston.
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 28 October 2014, 08:52:44 AM
Still considering whether to go for rebuilt calipers to fix the problem with the rear pads. Have found I can get them locally for €105 each, so not too bad.
Well, the good news is that despite it looking very ratty, the exhaust (original at 217,000 miles) has passed muster for the MOT. The rear brake calipers have been cleaned, the garage didn't feel it was necessary to do any more than that, and the pads replaced. Apparently there was some rust on the front discs so they've sorted that. And if I understood correctly, one of the drop links at the front needed replacing despite being replaced 2 years ago with a genuine GM item.
The bad news is that it seems the xenon sensor on the rear axle was faulty and it won't get its MOT without it :( There are none available from Saab at the moment, seems they are between suppliers (IIRC the availability of this part has been a problem in the past). The supplier I have used in Germany, Skandix, has no Saab parts in stock but they had just the one from a different supplier (their "own brand") so that's on the way. Bit of a relief, as the car would have had to come off the road if I couldn't have sourced one. Cost €52 including postage.
Just need to check the valve that Will mentioned re the water leak, then she seems fettled for another year.
Wow Mike that gravity sensor is cheap!!!!
My dealer has had no problems getting them but they are £67 here with discount for SSC. Your car is doing well though at that mileage. Keep her going :)
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 07 November 2014, 10:43:34 AM
Wow Mike that gravity sensor is cheap!!!!
My dealer has had no problems getting them but they are £67 here with discount for SSC. Your car is doing well though at that mileage. Keep her going :)
The genuine Saab ones were either €72 or €79 (plus €4 postage), but there were none in stock. I seemed to recall someone saying there were supply problems in the past but perhaps not. I was certainly told by the local dealer that Saab in Sweden couldn't supply them at the moment and were looking for an alternative supplier, so I assume that unless a UK dealer has one in stock they would have the same problem getting hold of one.
Our local dealer seems to hold b*gger all on the premises, they even had to order brake pads in. It's a glass palace that mainly deals in GM, Audi and VW, and given the facts there aren't many Saabs here I guess they don't want to dedicate any space them. ::)
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 07 November 2014, 03:50:46 PM
I seemed to recall someone saying there were supply problems in the past but perhaps not. I was certainly told by the local dealer that Saab in Sweden couldn't supply them at the moment and were looking for an alternative supplier, so I assume that unless a UK dealer has one in stock they would have the same problem getting hold of one.
They were impossible to get hold of in the past, looks like genuine are not available again. However It does appear you can get compatible items for £40 in the UK.
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 03 November 2014, 09:59:14 AM
Quote from: ScarbSaab on 31 October 2014, 08:32:19 PM
Yesterday had too much on to post, but I fitted new Xenon bulbs and polished the lenses! Followed WIS in removing the headlamps, and I don't see how the garage could have made such a mess on Norfolk Jim's car. ::)
The problem was caused by a Vauxhall monkey trying to do it from under the bonnet as he thought he knew better than WIS.
...
It is amazing the difference it makes with the new capsules - did you use genuine Saab original or go elsewhere??
Yes, I realised they had done it in situ... a quick glance told me it was
much easier to remove the headlights!
As we're currently earning only enough to cover our expenses I had to take the gamble on £60/pair bulbs rather than Saab parts. My bulbs claim to be genuine Philips (thought they were standard fit, though found I was removing Osrams) from a seller who listed ways to spot fakes, and they appear to satisfy all the criteria I could find online (except I haven't tried the sticker removal). The difference is amazing. They're much brighter, much whiter and there's no flickering on and off! It could do with a calibration and alignment (did it in the back lane when I changed the sensor), but there are other priorities so it will probably stay as it is until I get a properly paying job again.
Quote from: Audax on 07 November 2014, 04:21:18 PM
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 07 November 2014, 03:50:46 PM
I seemed to recall someone saying there were supply problems in the past but perhaps not. I was certainly told by the local dealer that Saab in Sweden couldn't supply them at the moment and were looking for an alternative supplier, so I assume that unless a UK dealer has one in stock they would have the same problem getting hold of one.
They were impossible to get hold of in the past, looks like genuine are not available again. However It does appear you can get compatible items for £40 in the UK.
My dealers don't seem to have any problems getting genuine Saab sensors............................
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 10 November 2014, 08:37:55 AM
My dealers don't seem to have any problems getting genuine Saab sensors............................
Well, due to the way parts supply happens they can be in and out of stock several times a week but whatever, mike said his dealer says they are not in stock and the two systems I have access to say not in stock. That you can get non-genuine items now is a good thing but they have certainly had supply issues on those parts many many times in the past.
How odd - I spoke with them only today and they've got two in stock for me which arrived yesterday. Genuine Saab gravity sensors - one front and one back.
Speaking of headlamps I tried for a pair on eBay over weekend only to find pair off a 2007 Vector Sport went for just over £1k!!!! The words WTF came to mind but after speaking with the chap it seems one part might be available that solves my issue cause by Vauxhall monkey. On the offside lamp the monkey broke off several of the pins/lugs that the bulb/capsule fixes to which means it doesn't get 100% power so lamp about 98% compared to other side. Was told if I get second hand or new lamp with all in place I'd have 100% offside as well.
Now then this part is numbered 12762509 which appears to be the main part of the lamp that all else fits and costs around £90. The EPC shows lots of bits around it like bulbs, connectors, screws etc but not the 'venus fly trap' as I call it of the pins/lugs so is that in this piece????? Both I and main dealer don't know how to find out unless we get one in but that means paying for something that won't necessarily work??? Dilemma £700 new lamp or try this part and hope!!!!!
Has anyone ever seen this on it's own??
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 10 November 2014, 07:27:30 PM
How odd - I spoke with them only today and they've got two in stock for me which arrived yesterday. Genuine Saab gravity sensors - one front and one back.
Sure, but they may be the kind of part that gets ordered on demand, so the factory only makes them when there are enough back orders and that may be in batches of 1000, some suppliers got hurt when Saab went under and didn't get paid so they are suspicious of building up large inventory that they may not get paid for.
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 10 November 2014, 07:27:30 PM
Now then this part is numbered 12762509 which appears to be the main part of the lamp that all else fits and costs around £90. The EPC shows lots of bits around it like bulbs, connectors, screws etc but not the 'venus fly trap' as I call it of the pins/lugs so is that in this piece????? Both I and main dealer don't know how to find out unless we get one in but that means paying for something that won't necessarily work??? Dilemma £700 new lamp or try this part and hope!!!!!
Has anyone ever seen this on it's own??
Check this picture out, it's for the same part but from the other side but from the look of it I think you're out of luck. https://www.saabpartsdepot.com/body-1/headlamp-housing-12762508-9-5.html (https://www.saabpartsdepot.com/body-1/headlamp-housing-12762508-9-5.html) I did go through the rest of the catalogue as many of the parts are hidden in there but couldn't see anything likely.
What I would suggest is posting a picture of the exact part you need or looking on ebay with the search term "xenon holder" as there are dozens available for different cars (some say Saab) and hopefully one will be the same as Saab used which given they are standard bulbs and Valeo lights may work out.
Fitted a new set of Bosch Aerotwin wipers to the 9-5. The old ones were at least 3 years old. Bonus ball for remembering to do it at lunchtime in the light & dry rather than when I get back to the car this evening and it will be at least dark, if not wet as well.
Very cheap from this store on eBay, and turned up next day:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/ACP-All-Car-Parts
Searching that site is almost impossible! If I put my car in the genral search it comes up with zero items. If I search on "aerotwin" the short description doesn't include the size..... ::)
Oops!
You're not wrong; I just copied the link to their shop :-[
A model search won't work because 24" is slightly oversize- they don't do a 23" Aerotwin. Anyway, here's a link to the item:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361082445998?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Thanks, I've noted it. I got some flat wipers from www.wiperblades.co.uk They are Lucas brand. They don't quite fit. They clip on and they work, but the plastic lid that clips down on top afterwards won't go stay shut.
160k today.
Things that have gone wrong or been done since 150k have been the ACC recirculation motor and link arm (repairing this on Saturday), a new set of wiper blades all around, 2 tyres shredded and replaced and 2 puncture repairs, 1 aircon refill, some vacuum hoses replaced, a new pcv valve, headlamp repair/clean up due to fogging on the plastics, crankshaft oil seal replaced and a leaking auto box cooler pipe replaced and some servicing.
(http://i.imgur.com/VGenIzA.jpg?3)
Fitted the winter tyres to the Carlsson yesterday, then at around 11 pm realised that I hadn't added the antifreeze stuff to the washer bottle in either car. Couldn't find it, went to Tesco and bought enough (I hope) of their cheap stuff to make a difference.
Then today I went out in her car in the frost and ice. Got home and my car was still covered in frost. i checked it over and found that the frost must be a mirage.... must be, because the outside temperature, according to the SID, was 13˚C.
New sensor ordered. A day of lying on the ground trying to fix it next week, then.
Then Tyrepal told me that one of my tyres had a puncture. :(
I went to check all the levels yesterday having had a low coolant warning in the week, the car has been using a few hundred ml of coolant every few thousand miles which I just attributed to hose degradation and old age as there was no obvious leakage. I stuck 300ml of fluid in again and checked the heater bypass valve carefully as it looked like there might be some water staining around it and then ordered a replacement from Cambridge Saab online thinking this was the problem. I then started to have a further look around and noticed the red staining on top of the aircon compressor, looks like new water pump time, I was going to drive it over to Leelac who are just down the road from me to see that actually they've moved to Stevenage and are now significantly further away.
I'll have to call Dawid in the morning I guess, typically this is the first week I need the car in about 2 months. ::)
Yes, my waterpump started weeping at ~160k.
Done a few bits today/yesterday
- found the auxilliary servo pipe had become detached from the pump (auto). Stuffed backed in securely with an o ring (red plastic retainer had broken)
- found a broken end on the PCV check valve nearest the throtle body. Replaced hose with silicon and ordered new valve
I can still hear what appears to be an air leak around the TB but hopelly the fixes will sort
a) the rotten fuel economy
b) poor brake perfomance when it's just started
I have swapped back on to the winter wheels, the new heater bypass valve turned up so I will be taking that with me tomorrow to get fitted when the water pump (or pipework) gets attention tomorrow.
New water pump fitted today by Leelac Saab, £132 including all parts, fluids and vat :)
Probably Saturday when I fit the temp sensor. Had a quick look today.
As I'm finding more and more, the WIS for the Dame Edna looks wrong. The sensor looks as if it is in the o/s lower grille alongside the foglight. Not where it's shown in WIS. And the one I have delivered looks rigt, but isn't the same as WIS..... I will find out in a day or so.
Quote from: sgould on 11 December 2014, 08:31:43 PM
As I'm finding more and more, the WIS for the Dame Edna looks wrong. The sensor looks as if it is in the o/s lower grille alongside the foglight. Not where it's shown in WIS. And the one I have delivered looks rigt, but isn't the same as WIS.....
WIS has always been full of inaccuracies and lies ;) Looks like the outside temp sensor has stayed the same throughout the life of the 9-5, same part as many Vauxhalls (surprise!), maybe it lives somewhere slightly different on lhd cars which is a common WIS problem where they didn't bother to change diagrams or translations when the steering wheel moved to the other side!
Managed to do the sensor swap today between the showers. WIS says "Remove the spoiler". So I took of the undertray. But not enough access. So I dropped the bumper shell as well. Then it was fairly easy. I don't think that the undertray really need to come off.
Anyway, here's the photos...
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/157250fb-d5e2-4265-ad9a-54aab71f4143_zpsb087bc2c.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/157250fb-d5e2-4265-ad9a-54aab71f4143_zpsb087bc2c.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04466_zps8faa8c84.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04466_zps8faa8c84.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04472_zps091c90da.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04472_zps091c90da.jpg.html)
And the before, during and after. Note that when disconnected, the SID gives a null reading.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04469_zpscfd7571f.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04469_zpscfd7571f.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04470_zpsfe48df15.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04470_zpsfe48df15.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04471_zpsb788dec1.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Temp%20sensor/DSC04471_zpsb788dec1.jpg.html)
Today I cleaned all the insides of the windows and did the annual cleaning/conditioning of the door seals with Gummi Pflege. I also found a couple of cr1632 batteries in the glove box which was handy as one of the keys had recently started complaining about low key battery so I replaced them too. I then also had to buy a new key back as the flipping thing broke when I was doing the swap. ::) On top of that I did a light check and found a number plate bulb was out so put in a spare and ordered a new one to put in the bulb kit.
Sod's law, only a few weeks after the MOT, and two days before we are due to hit the autobahn for a christmas visit to the UK, the exhaust started to blow a couple of days ago >:( So this evening I've been to the local motor factors come tyre and exhaust centre for them to have a look and it turns out to be the flexi that's blowing, which is what I suspected. New part on order and being fitted tomorrow morning, phew! No time to shop around or investigate alternative suppliers, so it's costing €190. No idea whether that includes tax and fitting, but I've got to pay so it's irrelevant really!
Safe drive to the UK Mike.
At least it happened before you drove. Less like a tractor when in the UK.
Thanks Jim, yes, lucky I managed to get it sorted. Cost €250 all-in for the flexi, including fitting which took less than 30 minutes. Very obliging chaps at the local place, always ready to help. I couldn't really tell how bad it was with the car just jacked up, nor exactly where the blow was, but dead simple on a 4-point hoist! Should be enjoying a high speed drive across Germany this time tomorrow :P
Hi All,
Today shes had New Bosch Aero Twin Wiper Blades, GE Maxi Light main beam bulbs, Osram Night Breaker Fog Light Bulbs and new Rear Number Plate LED Bulbs, Fuel system cleaner and Autobox fluid change (well 3.5 litres). Sneaky suspicion ive got a wheel Bearing gone, rumbling noise has appeared and at 160000 still on at least one original front I am not surprised.
steve
Just ordered re-manufactured turbo for mine :'( Hope to have back on road before Christmas :-\
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 19 December 2014, 11:43:15 AM
Just ordered re-manufactured turbo for mine :'( Hope to have back on road before Christmas :-\
Oooer, Jim. Sorry to see that. Fingers crossed.
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 17 December 2014, 04:10:35 PM
Thanks Jim, yes, lucky I managed to get it sorted. Cost €250 all-in for the flexi, including fitting which took less than 30 minutes. Very obliging chaps at the local place, always ready to help. I couldn't really tell how bad it was with the car just jacked up, nor exactly where the blow was, but dead simple on a 4-point hoist! Should be enjoying a high speed drive across Germany this time tomorrow :P
Ha! The trip to the UK was fine, but the return was a journey not to be repeated. Had a puncture on the M4 heading towards Reading services, managed to get there safely but had to call out the RAC. Had driven a fair distance on the flat tyre so had to faff around getting a new one fitted. The only winter tyre available in Reading was only in a 91 load rating, so I had to have it at £105 - but of course I now have to buy another now I'm home in a 94 >:( We'd have missed our channel shuttle anyway, but heavy traffic on the M25 and delays to the shuttle meant that we didn't hit France until 5:30pm instead of 2pm, with 360 miles still to go for our overnight stop. Then, as we approached Brussels we hit snow....got to our beds at half past midnight. Next day, what is normally a 6 hour journey took us 10 hours thanks to bad weather and road works on the autobahn near Stuttgart (BBC reported a 16 mile/25km tailback). We were dogged by freezing washer jets and I had to stop a few times to de-ice them. Now safely home and glad of it! There are normally just the two of us, but sod's law meant that this time we had our son and daughter-in-law with us, plus their luggage and our christmas presents, and she hates car travel. Luckily our son shared some of the driving, and they both took it in good part - bit of a Dunkirk spirit really!
Hope everyone else had an uneventful christmas car-wise.
Poor you Mike - glad you are now home though.
Hopefully I pick mine up tomorrow complete with new turbo fitted. It went into garage Friday before Christmas but due to couple of parts taking there time it took longer than expected. Happily I was able to do without it but now I have meetings so hope it goes well.
Still had no apology from previous supplier who didn't supply!!!! He's off my Xmas list.
Happy New Year to you all.
I got a dash cam earlier this week which I'd been running with the cable not very well hidden so today I removed the glove box and A pillar trim and ran the cable so it's hidden behind the dash. While I was at it I realised that the microphone cable for the parrot kit ran a silly way which may be the cause of some of the interference from the alternator so moved that too.
Oil change was way overdue (at 9k rather than the usual 6k), but due to lack of time, and the weather (slushy and cold) have been putting it off. Unbelievably, here in Austria it has been 19°C today :o , dry with blue skies, so I went for it. Not very exciting, but it needed to be done. Next jobs - attempt to cure brake pad squeal, plus an auto trans fluid change at 225,000 miles, less than 3k away, although if it's snowy and cold I won't fret about leaving it until the better weather, as it's only 75k since the last one (Saab recommend 90k).
When I purchased the car, a year back come the end of January, the selling dealer supplied a set of floor mats. Unfortunately they were a Renault set. At first I thought, "No matter, they will be hidden under a generic rubber set which I have".
Well today I fitted a geniuine Saab textile set which I bought from Parts for Saabs. They also are hidden beneath the rubber ones meantime, but I can let them see the light of day come better weather.
I know it's not much but the 9-3 SE now feels more of a "Saab Saab", to paraphrase Victor Muller's words. ;) :)
Called my 9-5 a few choice words as still throwing up code p1901.............waiting for Tech2 analysis ...........................
On the flip side I go tomorrow down to Gloucester to collect a VW T5 campervan I bought last weekend with 34k on clock. Smug grin coming up tomorrow.
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 23 January 2015, 03:05:28 PM
On the flip side I go tomorrow down to Gloucester to collect a VW T5 campervan I bought last weekend with 34k on clock.
You're going to put some 9-5 seats in it? right?
Wellllllll.......................we'll see. I did think how comfortable they were when I tried it last week but some 9-5 electric seats would be nice except complicated for the turning passenger seat!
It did start off as a van before conversion and these vans normally have comfy seats but after 220 miles I'll make a decision tomorrow - with SWIMBO's consent lol
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 23 January 2015, 10:17:42 PM
some 9-5 electric seats would be nice except complicated for the turning passenger seat!
I believe some people make adaptors for them. I've sold many sets of 9-5 seats to T5 owners over the years. The odd thing is that I'm not actually convinced they are any easier to fit to a T5 than any other seat!
Well results are in. Having driven 220 miles on mixture of A roads and motorway and can confirm the T5 seats are more than acceptable. They do go up and down and also have a lumber adjustment in them and didn't take long to settle into comfortable driving position. Steering wheel tilts and moves in and out as well. Passenger seat would be complex with 9-5 seat as complicated turning mechanism but all in the drive was very very good. Not as firm as my 9-5 but that's suits SWIMBO and she likes the much higher travelling position - see over fences and all that.
I had said I wanted one roughly car size and was surprised to find it is only 49mm longer than my 9-5 est and 166 mm narrower (although not sure whether 9-5 measurement refers to across mirrors or body at 2070). Across mirrors the T5 is still only 2242. So quite chuffed. Fuel economy is also good for something weighing in at 2800 + conversion weight and only 84 bhp engine which does superb job with 200Nm
I think Saab seats are more popular for T2 vans- the plain bolt base makes it easy for them to fit as I recall
Quote from: phoenix on 26 January 2015, 06:38:36 PM
I think Saab seats are more popular for T2 vans- the plain bolt base makes it easy for them to fit as I recall
The only ones I saw when people came to pick the seats up were T5's but if you look on the VW forums people seem to fit Saab seats into all of them. No idea why they chose Saab though unless one person did it and then everyone copied it?
Today I fitted a storage tray in her Carlsson in place of the ashtray.
Should have been straightforward, but I had to change over the cigarette lighter. Oddly the one in the secondhand storage tray was quite corroded. It seems to have been used as a lighter! very difficult to get the lighters out and swapped.
Then I had to make a fitted rubber mat for the tray.
Today I put a new red bulb in the rear LH brake light of the Carlsson. OH reported an error message. I checked, and the tail light was substituting for the brake light as it should. Halfords had none in stock and they were priced at £8.99. I got a Lucas one at Midnight Motors for £5.70
Yesterday I took the ignition switch out and lubricated it, having had to fiddle around getting it to pop out properly for the last six months. Works a treat now. Should have done it sooner ::)
Next thing is to tackle the squeaky brakes, every time it happens I get a strange noise in my my ear from the passenger seat ;D
Is it just the squeal from the front brake warning device?
Quote from: sgould on 14 February 2015, 03:57:27 PM
Is it just the squeal from the front brake warning device?
See here for the discussion Will:
http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=2746.0 (http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=2746.0)
Other than buying the anti-squeal shims, no progress made! It's on the "things to do" list ::)
Yesterday...
New pads & discs on the back of the 9-5. I also bought shoes as well just in case they needed doing. First side, no problems and plenty of material left on the shoes so I leave well alone. Second side, real struggle to get the carrier bolts off then the pesky friction material fell off one of the shoes!
Started replacing the wing on the 9000. The bubbling had been growing and the extent was clear when the arch trim was taken off.
Of course, there were also a few rusted fasteners to contend with that wouldn't budge and then had to be replaced, and it all takes time, so I gave up yesterday and started again today. Got it fitted, aligned and polished.
I had a new rear decor panel for it as well, which needed all over fine scratches polishing out (cue use of headlight polisher kit) and a new badge fitting.
Replaced the tired gas struts on the hatch too.
Thought about washing them but then the rain started...
Well, yesterday actually but I did replace a headlamp bulb.
Why is it always the battery side that goes, the most flippin' akward?
steve
Busy busy. Took the old 9-5 Estate down to the tyre place for a couple of new Falkens on the front (quick check on brake pads while the wheels were off). Peeled the back number plate off and treated it to some new sticky pads to stop it flapping in the breeze.
Yesterday I decided to free up some space by removing the CD changer. Got the trim half out an then realised that the bigger sockets I needed were in my socket set which I had left in the boot of her car which was five miles away and ot coming home in daylight... >:(
So, today I know what I will be doing!!
CD changer is out. No fitting kit in this one. Neither is there any patch lead. The connector comes straight out of the loom and the changer is held into the plastic side panel in the car with 4 screws.
Hi all,
Had 16000 service today, replacement cat and down pipes, old but genuine and have cleared EML. Front discs skimmed, new pads, plugs oils and filters. £561 well happy
A new set of plain shiny wheel nuts to replace the rusty ones and the irritating locking one ....
Got stopped by the police last night in a random check, and he spotted that a number plate bulb was out but wasn't too worried about it. So first job today was to replace that. Second job was to replace the control unit for the passenger side xenon headlamp, which I've had for a couple of months waiting for the right weather, and time to do it. The headlight had been flickering for a while, and a week or so ago it was doing it like a good 'un - luckily it was behaving itself yesterday evening ;D For the first time I got the angle of the lamp just right as I slid it in and out, so the job didn't take long. Just a slightly rusted screw holding the control unit in to contend with.
Lastly, the time came to rip this off:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7695/16903410807_43d647139a.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rKGp8n)
It's the outer skin from the top of the rear silencer, it had been rattling and was becoming loose so I decided to rip it off. Still on the original exhaust at 224,000 miles so can't grumble. There's just a small bit of outer skin left underneath now!
The headlights are looking a bit sad, so come the summer I might need to refurb the faces of them. Might even get a bit more light out of them!
Didn't actually do anything to the car today, except drive it to the the nearest dealer to have them take a look at the front subframe bushes and an oil leak from the front of the engine. They confirmed that the front subframe rear bushes are shot (quite obvious from underneath), and that the oil leak is from the head gasket.
The subframe bushes are going to cost around €800, including the cost of the bushes at around €50 each. They were quite upfront and said that if I was just pottering around town, it probably wasn't worth doing them, but given the long fast drives we indulge in on the German autobahns they felt that we should have the work done.
They gave me a definite no-no on having the head gasket sorted, on the basis that given the age of the car, there were a number of things that in their experience could go wrong, or need replacing in addition while the work was being done, that would make the job uneconomical. They also felt that, as long as the oil loss wasn't too great (which it isn't, at less than a quarter of a litre in 6000 miles), I should just run it as it is, and that it was unlikely to fail. I have to say that she's running well atm, with no sign of loss of performance.
Any comments on the head gasket situation?
If the leak is from the back corner on the LH side of the car (passenger side in UK) then it is likely to be just a leak and not allowing water and oil to mix, or the combustion chambers to lose compression and blow the gasket.
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 21 April 2015, 06:52:20 PM
Any comments on the head gasket situation?
Depends how bad the leak is as to see if it's worth it. I just had to have all the subframe bushes replaced as an oil leak had destroyed them (to be fair they were also going to be fairly worn by 160k) but they were replaced with cheap poly-bushes and I had the sump dropped and resealed, a new crankshaft oil seal fitted and new track rod ends and new track rod and a second-hand steering rack fitted and some decent second-hand front wishbone bushes (also destroyed by the oil leak) for £480, although I was a bit disappointed with the specialist that did the work as it had to go back the day after as someone had forgotten to do up a wishbone bolt properly... I also had to have the tracking done after that which was another £40.
Anyhow, after all that I still have a small oil leak, next step is it's either the dipstick tube where it fits on the engine *or* head gasket leaks which means at 160k I should have the engine taken out and stripped down and a new timing chain kit, head gasket, the other crankshaft seal etc. etc. and that's going to be around £800 which is pushing it a bit as I keep thinking about buying a late reg (08 onwards) 9-5 or 9-3 Aero as they are pretty cheap now and running that to destruction.
I'm doing a wait and see from here but having the suspension sorted and an attempt at the worst oil leaks was worth it, I'd suggest you get everything cleaned up properly and see how bad that oil leak is, if the oil is destroying the rubber then just having the bushes done might not be worth it as the oil leak might make the job need doing again before too long.
The oil leak is from around the front of the engine, perhaps a little towards the rear, but I don't think it was specifically from the LH rear. The worst of it was towards the front, as I first noticed it on the plastic undertray under the rad. It's a bit annoying as the car was remarkably oil tight until relatively recently. It doesn't seem to be the oil that's done for the subframe bushes anyway, they seem dry - I think it's just old age (nearly 12 years). Might be worth getting them to clean it up to see if there is a more specific cause.
It's a delicate balancing act at the moment - with 224,00 on the clock, I'm trying not to incrementally spend more than it would cost to replace the car. If I can get away with just the bushes, I'm (sort of ) happy! ;D
Unless you are buying a new car with a warranty, you need to add a hefty sum to deal with any problems on that car. Lets face it, most older cars are sold because they have a problem. In the UK a three year old ex-lease might be OK (it's what SWMBO did), but do thaty have such a thing in Austria? Or are you planning to stay with a right hand drive car?
Quote from: sgould on 21 April 2015, 09:25:20 PM
Lets face it, most older cars are sold because they have a problem.
I'd say that's really not true, most cars are sold on because they are "old" or the owner thinks that they are running on borrowed time and feel they need to change or they simply got bored and want something different. I've known people who had many of the 9-3 1.9 diesel failures over a few months (springs, egr, intercooler, dmf, injector 3 wiring, trailing arms) and then sold the car on after getting all of these problems fixed as they couldn't afford the car so end up taking a huge hit on depreciation and repairs that they never got the benefit from which gave the new owner a head start.
I've not really experienced a massive number of cars get sold on because they have a fault at that point in time, that even applies for car that were bought in the trade cheap at auction, sure the cars might need some brakes or tyres or a good service but it would only be 1 in 10 had an actual fault but never really much above and beyond you wouldn't find if a car came in for an annual service. Obviously there were exceptions to this where people would turn up with their "new" car having been sold a total dog (usually from motor traders I must add!) but most people turning up in their new car would have to spend money on a good service which is the same as a normal service but with the addition of maybe some brakes or tyres or exhaust or trim. The only reason the previous owner sold this car was because they didn't want to pay for brakes/tyres/exhaust themselves which isn't the same as the car having a problem.
Had oil leak at head on our 2.3 and a retorque of the head made a big difference....
Quote from: jmblack on 22 April 2015, 01:38:53 PM
Had oil leak at head on our 2.3 and a retorque of the head made a big difference....
I should do that on mine, it had a head gasket at some point but I'm not convinced that the person doing it used a torque wrench. However the oil appears to be from lower down, it's all a bit of a mystery to see where it's coming from without taking the engine out!
Quote from: Audax on 22 April 2015, 07:38:24 PM
I should do that on mine, it had a head gasket at some point but I'm not convinced that the person doing it used a torque wrench. However the oil appears to be from lower down, it's all a bit of a mystery to see where it's coming from without taking the engine out!
Yes, I thought my oil leak was below the head but the head honcho at the dealer seemed convinced that's what it was.
Do you think it's tempting fate at this stage to get them to just retorque the head on mine?
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 22 April 2015, 09:48:35 PM
Do you think it's tempting fate at this stage to get them to just retorque the head on mine?
Well, if it broke from having the head re-torqued then it was already nearly dead... It can't hurt anything other than the wallet!
Saab offered this as a solution on early cars. They have a procedure!!
I would show a copy but that page on my WIS has failed. ::)
Quote from: sgould on 22 April 2015, 10:59:40 PM
Saab offered this as a solution on early cars. They have a procedure!!
That was because they used different bolts and a different engine assembly process. It's not necessarily a problem that generically affects a car unless it's a 98-01 model.
Quote from: sgould on 22 April 2015, 10:59:40 PM
Saab offered this as a solution on early cars. They have a procedure!!
I would show a copy but that page on my WIS has failed. ::)
Yes, I remember that my old MY98 9-5 had a retorqued head done under warranty, there was indeed an early bulletin for this on cylinder head leaks.
edit: though I see from Audax that the cause may have been different.
Found this...
https://www.genuinesaab.com/psi/files/headretorque.htm
Quote from: Audax on 22 April 2015, 10:07:57 PM
Well, if it broke from having the head re-torqued then it was already nearly dead... It can't hurt anything other than the wallet!
Thanks for those words of encouragement! :(
Ours was a 2006 and it definitely dried things up.
Quote from: TomPaine on 22 April 2015, 11:17:54 PM
Yes, I remember that my old MY98 9-5 had a retorqued head done under warranty, there was indeed an early bulletin for this on cylinder head leaks.
edit: though I see from Audax that the cause may have been different.
Sorry, I probably confused it a little, they have a procedure for early cars due to problems with the bolts, you can obviously use the procedure on later cars to try and torque up the head again. What I was trying to say was that the early cars had horrendous oil leaks due to this, later cars don't seem to suffer as much but it doesn't mean it won't help. I'm certainly considering doing it on my own car.
Well, I've just fired off an email asking their opinion on a retorque. I must admit I hadn't thought of that.
On a different tack, I've put the summer tyres back on today. Ironic, it was 20° when I put the winters on, and today it's 3° and raining when I put the summers on! ::)
While I had the wheels off, I've stripped the front brakes down to cure a long-standing brake squeal from the front brakes that I first posted about last November. Just to recap, I bought some 3M self-adhesive anti-squeal pads last December, and they've been sitting around patiently waiting to be fitted. When I took the pads and calipers off today, I was surprised how dry everything was, considering I'd used copaslip when I fitted the new DS2500 pads in early November. This was probably contributing to the noise. I have now fitted the shims on the outer pads, cleaned the surface on the inboard pads and pistonsand, more copaslip, plus cleaned the bearing surfaces in which the ends of the pads slide (and more copaslip). Just been out for a drive and it all seems to have worked, just a small squeal once or twice, so we'll see how it goes.
Really glad your brakes work Mike with all those hills you have over there :o
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 23 April 2015, 03:42:40 PM
Well, I've just fired off an email asking their opinion on a retorque. I must admit I hadn't thought of that.
.....and they didn't recommend it, because of the risk of the bolts breaking. I think that it's probably best to leave well alone, it's running well so why tempt fate :)
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 24 April 2015, 06:01:17 PM
.....and they didn't recommend it, because of the risk of the bolts breaking. I think that it's probably best to leave well alone, it's running well so why tempt fate :)
I think I'd use new bolts if I was to do this, it seems you can get a set of bolts from Neo brothers for £30. Like you I'm in two minds over doing it as the car does have oil and coolant leaks and I don't know quite where they are all from. Head bolt retorque/bolt replacement may help or cause new problems.
Quote from: Audax on 24 April 2015, 06:09:12 PM
Like you I'm in two minds over doing it as the car does have oil and coolant leaks and I don't know quite where they are all from. Head bolt retorque/bolt replacement may help or cause new problems.
I have the same problems, the oil loss is negligible but it makes a hell of a mess! I put in c.300ml water every month as well (discussed in earlier posts last year). I'm erring on the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" side :D
Today I bought, downloaded and installed a new Garmin map for my Kenwood satnav, ready for the holiday.
The instructions in the manual and the websites of Kenwood and Garmin are rubbish. :( I had to search the satnav thoroughly to find the "Map Update" button. Nothing in any manual. Would you expect the map update button to be hidden and only found by going to the list of software suppliers and selecting the existing map copyright notice. Touching that gets you a button! ::) It's in a completely different area to the list of maps that are loaded on the satnav.
Then it takes 30 mins to load, with the car sitting there with the ignition on.....
But it's done and seems to have some new roads locally, which is nice. :)
Today I put some new car mats in the old GM900 to cheer it up a bit. 8)
Yesterday I took the number plates off, cleaned and polished the bodywork behind them and fitted them back with new screws and plastic dome caps - surprising how much better a car looks with clean number plates. Made me wonder why new number plates cost so much - after all it's only a couple of pieces of perspex and some self adhesive background and letters and numbers.
Today I started on renovating the alloy part of the mirror housing - living close to a large tidal estuary our air is salt laden. I'm being very brave and going to do it in situ. Masking off with duct tape and taking my time.
I've got the non-ferrous primer, any recommendations as what paint to use for the finish coats?
Some people use Plastikote or Plastidip. It gives a nice matt finish and you can peel it off if it goes wrong.
http://www.plastidip.co.uk/eStore/index.cfm
http://www.plasti-kote.co.uk/How_to
Yesterday saw the replacement of the rear pair of front subframe bushes at the "local" (as in an hour's drive) main dealer. While the car was there, they noted that the fuel filter was rusting (and I think they mentioned a leak) so they replaced that. The exhaust wasn't quite hanging properly after the replacement of the flexi section back in December, so they sorted that. The total bill, including the cost of the bushes and filter, came to €721, including tax at 20%, which is around £540.
TBH, it was a bit cheaper than I expected. The hourly labour rate was €120 including tax, about £90. How does that compare with UK prices, bearing in mind it was a main dealer?
I was also impressed with the cost of the courtesy car at €14 including tax (about £10.50), fuel not included. We were limited to 50km without incurring additional charges, but only drove a grand total of 13! We were given a 1.4TSi Golf DSG, which I'd have liked to have given a good drive but there wasn't the opportunity.
I think you are lucky to be anywhere near a Saab dealer in Austria. There weren't that many even when the cars were in production.
Glad to hear that my brake shim/sticky pad suggestion has helped.
Quote from: Mark B on 05 May 2015, 10:44:34 AM
I think you are lucky to be anywhere near a Saab dealer in Austria. There weren't that many even when the cars were in production.
Glad to hear that my brake shim/sticky pad suggestion has helped.
They keep moving them even now, there was one in Salzburg which lived in three different places at various times. I think the one I've just been to has been Saab for a long time, so they still have the expertise. The minister at the local evangelical church has six Saabs ATM .....
Yes, thanks Mark, they do very rarely give the odd squeal but they are silent almost all of the time now. I was a little worried that the brake feel might be affected, and they might just feel a tad spongy, but no problems in that respect.
Bought a headlight refurb kit a few weeks ago, and finally got round to polishing my lamps. As you can see in the "before" shots they were a bit rough!
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8897/17647729184_26482320cb_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/sTte3Q)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8828/18270324285_d37f5a22f1_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/tQubT8)
But they came up reasonably well:
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8838/18082495408_d007f9cc10_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/txTvUd)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8849/18243840816_e931c0344f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/tN9sgA)
TBH the refurb kit was expensive (€26) for what it was - 4 small sheets of each of 2000, 3000, and 5000 grade wet and dry, a small pad for using with the wet & dry, a tube of polishing cream, some finishing lacquer and 3 cloths. After finishing the first light (the one in the photos), I wasn't very impressed with the result, so I rushed off to the local DIY superstore to get some 1200 grade. Unfortunately, the finest they had was 800, so I gambled on that having tried it on an unimportant part of the lamp first. It worked out fine, getting rid of the deep pitting and imperfections collected over 225,000 miles. I used a cork sanding block to get some pressure with the cloth and polishing cream. As you can see, it's not perfect, but pretty good.
I also took out the plugs for inspection, as I'm still slightly concerned about the possibility of head gasket failure that I mentioned in another thread (oil leaks, and burning water), but nothing untoward there so I need to continue to ponder on that one.
I'd be pleased with that result. I should think the headlamps felt like new again!!
They look better than they are Jim, but they're 95% of the way there. For the time I spent and the effort I was prepared to put in (i.e. a couple of hours, no more), they came up well. Not sure whether the lighting is improved, haven't been any distance at night yet!
Bit the bullet this weekend as the MOT is coming up and both headlights were in poor condition. Decided to do one at a time and SWMBO was very sceptical of the method recommended on here and kept suggesting using Brasso or Duraglit!
The hardest part was removing the sidelight as never having had to replace an indicator bulb in nearly 8 years of ownership I had never removed the sidelight It is far easier with two of you, one to press the catch down and the other to pull on the indicator light. I used 400, then 800 then 1200 grit wet & dry, and then polished with G3 rubbing compound before finishing off with a plastics polish sold for polishing light aircraft windscreens. SWMBO was very impressed but did tell me that after I had used the 400 grit she did think that I had b******d up the headlight!
I have bought some Meguairs Plastx RX which I understand leaves a protective coating on the headlight to slow down the oxidation process. When googling headlamo restoration I came across an expensive American product called Pittmans sold by Amazon and on ebay. The information on it on ebay was NEVER use wet & dry or any abrasive product to restore your headlamps. They only got 3.2 out of 6 from the reviewers on Amazon. Would be interested if anyone on here has tried it or heard of it.
Today SWMBO took her car to the boys at the handwash to get most of the crud off the car.
Then we changed the wheels back to the summer ones, and after that I have been claying it and polishing it ready for Saturday. It will probably take another day to finish it and give it a second polish.
The car is a 2011 9-3 Aero Carlsson and I have been asked to drive it in the parade after the memorial service for Erik Carlsson on Saturday afternoon.
I have just finished the polishing and it's now ********* raining.... :( :'(
Quote from: sgould on 17 June 2015, 08:51:30 PM
I have just finished the polishing and it's now ********* raining.... :( :'(
Don't park it under any trees either - sap and birds ::)
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 18 June 2015, 06:47:43 AM
Don't park it under any trees either - sap and birds ::)
Tell me about it, I don't wash cars very often as I'm lazy and don't see the point. Since spring has sprung I've had to pay to get it cleaned twice as I couldn't see out the windows as our workplace moved to some very upmarket offices with lots of tree coverage in the car park.
We have problems with our neighbours. Our road has trees. The tree outside their house is infested with the aphids that excrete the "tree sap". So they park outside our house when they can, because the tree outside our house does not seem to attract the aphids.
I can recommend leaving your car covered in aphid excreta, also known as "honeydew" if you are going camping. Leave your car near your tent and most of the wasps and other insects will alight on your car and not you.
Today I got the tracking done. Car no longer pulls all over the place (had some suspension work done recently by someone with no tracking kit) but when driving the wheel is not straight and I didn't have time to take it back. Although, how you can screw something up this simple I don't know, another garage off my list and I'll have to find someone else to do the tracking.
On my new to me 9-3 2.0LPT - have sent my SID off this morning to be refurbished and have booked in the car for new disks / pads / oil change at the end of the week.
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 29 June 2015, 10:36:49 AM
On my new to me 9-3 2.0LPT - have sent my SID off this morning to be refurbished and have booked in the car for new disks / pads / oil change at the end of the week.
Sent my SID yesterday, only just found out the service I used is 2-4 days. I thought it was next day >:( ::) :-[
Whole point was to get it to saab-display-repairs in South Wales today, so they could get it back to me later in the week. Intend using the car to go to Preston with work next week - looks like I'll be going without a SID :(
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 30 June 2015, 10:44:00 AM
Whole point was to get it to saab-display-repairs in South Wales today, so they could get it back to me later in the week. Intend using the car to go to Preston with work next week - looks like I'll be going without a SID :(
If that is Damone I used to find the SID would turn up next day anyway, although I did used to send 3 at a time as we'd keep them in stock as exchange units. Anyway, I'm sure you know already but if you don't have a SID fitted you will get no indicator noise and the horn won't work!
Quote from: Audax on 30 June 2015, 07:53:39 PM
Anyway, I'm sure you know already but if you don't have a SID fitted you will get no indicator noise and the horn won't work!
It is odd indicating without the click - found myself looking at my cars reflection in the car in front to see if the indicators were actually flashing - which they were!
Ordered a replacement aerial from eBay - that's come already. Hopefully won't be too much trouble to replace the one on the car which has been snapped off. Motor still works, so that's promising.
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 30 June 2015, 09:31:35 PM
It is odd indicating without the click - found myself looking at my cars reflection in the car in front to see if the indicators were actually flashing - which they were!
One of the most alarming things I ever had was in one of my 9000's, I don't really use the horn on my car, it happens very very rarely. One day I was driving down a country road doing 50-60 and a car pulls up to the exit at a garden centre, the driver looks left down the road and not towards me coming from his right. He started to pull out without looking right and with oncoming traffic from the other direction, I had the kids in the car and they were about 1 and 3 years old, I leant on the horn and hit full throttle into oncoming traffic to go around him as if I'd have braked full on I'd still have hit him. Of course the horn makes *no* sound at all! Thankfully I missed him by a few cm and the oncoming car by several lengths but It wasn't far off from either broadsiding him or hitting oncoming cars head on!
What had happened was the clock spring in the steering column had died so the horn wouldn't work. Every month or so now I test the horn for when I need it!
Those things can be scary!!
I remember once driving hard through the Devon lanes late at night on my way home. I went over a bump and all the lights went out!! :o
We had that one recently Will when we bought the camper. My son was driving at the time and it was dark going through wood and with some cars coming lights were on dipped. Cars went past so he put lights on main beam - nothing - no headlamps at all!!!! Quickly put them back onto full beam but were blinding other drivers. Tired again and all went out. Managed to make it to a farm gateway where there was some light and had a fiddle around. Couldn't find anything wrong so fiddle around with stalk on steering and all of sudden dipped beam came on. We drove home so slowly and without using indicators.........scary for traffic behind when we needed to turn right. I just flicked hazards on, cars dropped back and we turned.
VW had car for the morning and tried everything including new switch and found nothing.................aaahhh. We think he must have dislodged/moved a wire when he fiddled around getting steering right. Oddly though VW could never replicate it no matter what they did even moving steering around. We now have steering set which suits all of us and don't move it...................all we can assume is a wire had kink in it which has now released - we shall never know.................. but on bends with no lights jeeeeezz
I didn't say what caused my problem...
It was the old Morris Minor. The fuse, one of the old glass tube ones, fell out. But that was because the metal clip broke.
Ah, those were the days. My dad had one. HHF914. I learnt to drive it on Ainsdale beach. I think they only had two fuses?
Beaches with fuses - scary Geoff.......................boom
Ha. I meant the Moggy!
Repaired SID arrived - that's one thing I managed to put back in myself! Can see everything now.
Car back from it's mini service plus brakes - old brakes were terrible as expected, so new disks and pads all round 8)
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 03 July 2015, 05:05:01 PM
Car back from it's mini service plus brakes
I take it they said it was a good one then?
Quote from: Audax on 03 July 2015, 05:36:17 PM
I take it they said it was a good one then?
They didn't say anything so probably not!
It's a lot better than it was anyway - certainly a lot safer. I intended getting the brakes done anyway as the disks were an advisory on the last MOT.
Are sump drops relevant on 9-3 lpt's? Had thought that was mainly 9-5 Aero's...
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 04 July 2015, 10:41:16 AM
Are sump drops relevant on 9-3 lpt's? Had thought that was mainly 9-5 Aero's...
Err yes, even more so than the 9-5 to be honest. You want PCV upgrade number 6 (if it's not fitted already) and a sump drop if you have no evidence that it has been done.
Quote from: Audax on 04 July 2015, 10:53:56 AM
Err yes, even more so than the 9-5 to be honest. You want PCV upgrade number 6 (if it's not fitted already) and a sump drop if you have no evidence that it has been done.
Poo.
It would have been useful if the Saab Specialist had mentioned this before my service rather than after it. I'll now have to drive around worrying if the engine will get sludged before it's next service. Either that or get the oil changed again. I'll be getting the sump drop done elsewhere..
You can save the oil and put it back in again. Might want to run it through a gauze though if the sump is nasty.
Today mine got new plugs, new air filter and a small top-up of air-con gas. This time I weighed the container of the air-con gas (it weighs 1260g full for the STP ez-chill refill from Halfords) before putting it in the car so I know how much is left. It still has many oil leaks though, I just want it to last another 18 months or so without needing major repairs. :-\
Change of oil and filter yesterday, plus new plugs last week. Odometer now sitting at 227,500.
Next planned job is to change the auto trans fluid - to do the full 3x change, each of 4 litres, it's not going to be cheap at €120. But cheaper than a new box! TBH, I'm tempted to leave it as it was last changed at 150k and the Saab recommendation is every 90k (I like to do things slightly earlier than specified to avoid problems). With a possible head gasket problem lurking, I'm reluctant to spend more than absolutely necessary. I checked the state of the old fluid yesterday and it looks as clean as it went in, so that's a good sign :D
Two new tyres - fronts were getting under 3mm, rears at 5mm, so rolled rears to the front and put two new Michelin Primacy 3 XLs on the rear. (Well, I didn't put them on - a big-up to Event Tyres, mobile fitters. I use them after seeing recommendations from Honest John in the Telegraph. They're very good: you book a slot, they came when they say they will, torque using a wrench and not airgun etc. No more waiting in tyre depots, waiting for an empty bay, and being pushed to buy a different tyre from the one you wanted. Tyres seem to have come down in price: I remember Primacys being about £150 a corner, but these were £96 each inclusive of fitting, balancing, disposal etc.)
I have just forked out £1900 to do a long list of jobs on my 9-3. I should get the car back coming Wednesday. I was in two minds if to have all that work done, but I just can't find another 2.3 litre turbo engine that gives me so much pleasure.
(What I did to my Skoda Today)
Just read TomPaine's post.
By coincidence, today I swopped fronts and rears, to even up the wear. Slightly more left on the rears as per normal, and I want to change all four at once from the current Michelin Energy+ to Primacy 3s in the autumn. (Yes, I know new tyres go on the rear, but there's not much between them anyway and they'll be evened up and replaced before the weather turns.)
Took me a while to get the wheels off, they'd done the usual trick of welding themselves to the hubs, but with careful use of a length of wood and a 2lb mallet, they came off in the end. Tightened everything up, put the trolley jack away, and went for a ride around the block to check for any sign of unbalance or vibration. All perfect, and as a bonus the slightly extra rubber on the front makes for a better ride. Highly satisfactory finish to a couple of hours work.
Then while locking up, I realised I'd lost the locking wheelnut key. It took the edge off the day somewhat.
Quote from: StanleyB on 18 July 2015, 08:25:10 PM
I have just forked out £1900 to do a long list of jobs on my 9-3. I should get the car back coming Wednesday. I was in two minds if to have all that work done, but I just can't find another 2.3 litre turbo engine that gives me so much pleasure.
I thought I'd spent a lot on mine! Is that a Viggen?
Mine now has fully working climate after a new compressor and replacement pipework.
Quote from: Kev_Mc on 21 July 2015, 11:33:25 AM
I thought I'd spent a lot on mine! Is that a Viggen?
It an odd ball that SAAB used to take some catalogue pics of with all sorts of bits from their work shop no doubt. It came with just about every piece of accessory that could be fitted to a 9-3. The 2.3 engine is not the aluminium block from the Viggen, but from the 9000 I reckon. Even the stereo sounds far better compared to the regular 9-3, even though it is the same head unit.
I managed to get my hand on it through a company that was asked to dispose of the bits after noticing it in their yard waiting to be taken apart. Feel free to pass by and take it for a spin if you ever find yourself coming to London via the M1.
On Saturday I was heading out to Tesco and the passenger side indicator decided to leap free from the car and do a merry little dance over the bumper.
Sure enough the clip that holds it in place was broken. I'm not sure if it just magically broke on Saturday or had been missing for some time but usually if they are broken it's not long until the indicator unit comes out.
Anyway, fixed with a self tapping screw in the top of the unit through part of the headlight frame. Annoyingly the other bit of decorative plastic in the unit also came loose so that also got a screw through the back of the unit to hold it in place.
Quite shock when that happens, especially at motorway speeds! It bounces around the wing and bonnet on the end of the cable, and isn't very kind to the paintwork.
Quote from: Geoff1951 on 24 August 2015, 03:09:28 PM
Quite shock when that happens, especially at motorway speeds! It bounces around the wing and bonnet on the end of the cable, and isn't very kind to the paintwork.
Fortunately my car doesn't have great paintwork and it's grey so you can't really see the damage and it only really got the bumper.
The worst time this happened to me was delivering a customers car back to them after it had been to the body shop for repair work. The guy who painted the car had removed the light but hadn't put it back in properly. I was 5 minutes away from the customers house when the light popped out and went all over the freshly painted wing, bonnet and bumper, worst of all it was a black car and you could see all the white undercoat very clearly. We had to phone the customer and explain why their car wasn't coming back that day after it was already 2 days late! Understandably they were not very happy about it either, especially as it was then another 2 days to get it sorted.
Audax, that's what happened to me. After I'd had a wing repaired when someone reversed into me, a local repairers who get all the insurance work round here and boast about their excellent reputation, (!), didn't refit the indicator properly and broke a clip in the process. Cost them a new indicator unit and a bonnet respray.
Hi Chaps.
I had that happen on my black aero when I was travelling at - uhum 3 figure speed on motorway (sorry officer dibble) but mine didn't bounce on wing for long and flew up in air to be never seen again - ripped the wires clean out. New complete unit and neat dent in wing which Dent Devils were able to remove. Complete new unit and housing ££££££............... none anywhere in breakers yards.
No idea why it happened as I definitely had never touched it/changed a bulb. Oddly the side repeater came loose as well for some reason but thankfully just slide back in. Ho hum
Not so much what I did to my Saab but my VW Passat......................
Well everyone probably knows I never seem to get a car with perfect ride and power together. This has also been the case with the Passat.
Being a 2.0 TDi 170 Sport (now with 200hp) it has the firmer sport suspension but compared to the Aero suspension this is hard and I mean hard! At 128k it is probably a little shot by now so I have taken plunge of fitting Bilstein B4 Sport shocks which I understand are probably the same as original but to help with a smoother ride Eibach Pro springs being fitted - sound familiar??? The sport ride is lower anyway but this, like Hirsch will drop another 10mm but should make for a much more comfortable ride - fingers crossed.
I could have got complete set from German eBay company for EUR499.90 (about £361) but warranty would always mean sending back there which simply wouldn't work so have found a really great business in UK who will do package for £445 including delivery and get 24 month warranty. Company have been really good with loads of advice and are called Balance Motorsport - Google them.
Will let you know outcome.
Here I go again.......................... :-[
Today I had a hack at the old DI unit that has been sitting around for a couple of years!!
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2800_zps4t1xe1fx.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2800_zps4t1xe1fx.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2786_zps1pcbbfca.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2786_zps1pcbbfca.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2799_zpsu932mu8k.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2799_zpsu932mu8k.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2789_zpswmdxfh9b.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2789_zpswmdxfh9b.jpg.html)
The centre metal contact can be unscrewed once the blue plastic has been cleared around it. Then the oil can be drained. It's fairly thin and it all ran out in a couple of seconds. Only about a teaspoonful in there. I don't think there is any need to let the oil drain down after fitting a new DI cassette. Maybe a minute at most. None of the 20 minutes mentioned in many threads on forums. And there is no mention of any risk of this, or it being a problem when reading the installation instructions in the Saab workshop manual.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2790_zpsqzmllolx.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2790_zpsqzmllolx.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2787_zps3l9x8vou.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20DI%20Cassette/DSCF2787_zps3l9x8vou.jpg.html)
Quote from: sgould on 02 September 2015, 03:38:29 PM
I don't think there is any need to let the oil drain down after fitting a new DI cassette. Maybe a minute at most. None of the 20 minutes mentioned in many threads on forums. And there is no mention of any risk of this, or it being a problem when reading the installation instructions in the Saab workshop manual.
It's one of those myths that have become all pervasive over time that I see spread all over the forums. There's no mention of this in any of the older workshop manuals for the 9000 either that I could ever find.
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 25 August 2015, 09:09:13 AM
Being a 2.0 TDi 170 Sport (now with 200hp) it has the firmer sport suspension but compared to the Aero suspension this is hard and I mean hard!
The roads over here, even more so in Germany, are usually of better quality and much smoother than the UK, which means it isn't so much of an issue. Passat estates here are quite often the target of ludicrously low profile wheel and tyre combinations, as are Golfs.
Quote from: mikeloadsasaabs on 03 September 2015, 08:58:39 AM
The roads over here, even more so in Germany, are usually of better quality and much smoother than the UK, which means it isn't so much of an issue. Passat estates here are quite often the target of ludicrously low profile wheel and tyre combinations, as are Golfs.
....which always confuses me as would it not be so hard to work out that if one of your major markets has rubbish roads that when you pull the dashboard with the hole on the right hand side for the steering column you also pull out some decent suspension for that market? There are many other European countries with rubbish roads (even worse than the UK) so I'd have thought making comfortable cars would be a selling point but it seems car manufacturers are still aiming for the "sports" segment with saloons which then crosses over into the estate versions.
I still think my next vehicle is likely to be some kind of Volvo XC series, Mazda CX-5, Skoda Yeti or Subaru Forester due to reasons of practicality and comfort.
Well the new suspension seems to be working but it is still a bit on the firm side but i'll just keep away from cr4p roads round here :( Now off on road trip in camper though so watch out Scotland - going to give Isle of Mull a look see and hope weather is half decent. I hear they can have all weathers in the blink of an eye.......................yeh right - rain and more rain and some wind mixed in. Usual holiday weather for us so no change but...................come on jet stream stay north and shift that low. >:(
Thought seriously about thrashing the living daylights out of my 9-5.
Despite having renewed the batteries and capacitors in the siren, it's been prone to the odd "Service theft alarm" SID message and spurious sounding recently. When it goes off, nothing will stop it- keyfob, turning the ignition on, starting the engine all have no effect. The lights don't flash.
Tonight it went off at about 8.30 and wouldn't stop. 20 seconds of alarm, then silence for about 10, and off again. And so on.
Thus it was out with the jack and toolkit in the dusk to remove the wretched thing. Naturally as soon as I got the jack under the car it stopped. However I figured it best for the neighbourhood entente cordial to carry on.
I've got Opcom which has previously shown up alarm faults but no joy here. Perhaps Tech II might be able to pull the alarm events.
Perhaps it's sulking because I decide to take the 9000 to work tomorrow
Did you try pressing the Night Panel button as you left the car, in order to disable the tilt sensor and glass break monitor?
If jacking up the car stops it sounding it could be the tilt sensor.
Yep, I've tried the doors only option. The indication that the fault lies within the alarm unit itself is that the hazard lights don't flash. The alarm stopped just before I started jacking it up.
MOT passed, exhaust system welded up, now at 166k and only £105. :D
Advisories were oil leaks, headlights discoloured, couple of bushes at the back worn and a loose under tray.
Today I replaced the "roller blind" around the gear selector.
Yesterday I fitted a new plastic engine cover to replace the broken one.
Today I took out the plastic trims from the middle door pillars to replace them with older 2004 ones with the small storage nets at the bottom...
...then I found that the things are completely different. Shape, fixing and the hole for the seat belt! :(
Back to square one!
Yesterday I checked the tyre pressures to find that one was down 7 psi compared to the others' 1 or 2. 2004 wheels, so looks like a leaking alloy. I've had 2 refurbed; starting to look like I should have just replaced the lot.
Over the weekend I replaced the short hose (part no. 5461876) that connects the pipe from the air filter to the turbo on my 2.2 TiD, as there was a a fair amount of greasy muck around on the outside of it. Not too difficult a job, a spray of silicone that you use for putting gutter fittings together made it slip on easily. The new hose is much smaller than the old one - so the cost accountants had been at work here - and was misled some what by the Jubilee Clips website which said use high torque clips for automotive applications. However their online catalogue says do not use these clips on soft hoses the reason being I think is that they do not have rolled edges and could cut through the hose. So £10 wasted!
SWMBO was very impressed as I took less than half an hour to do the job and didn't swear once!
As soon as I had finished she had to go and collect the grand-daughter fron school and she said it sounded much quieter....
Next job is to replace the vacuum hoses which looks rather fiddly to me. I have bought all new connectors and filters so all I have to do now is choose the colour of the hose!
Mine now has winter tyres on.
Got a tyre and wheel package from mytyres. Cost less for the tyres including alloys than it did for just the tyres the first time I got them a few years ago.
Went for Continental WinterContact-TS-850 195/60 R15 88T.
Doesn't look as good with the 15's on it, but I'm a lot happier with the winter tyres on. Just need some cold weather now!
It's been so mild my winter wheels are still sitting in my workshop!
Put my winter wheels on 2 weekends ago, the fronts are pretty much dead on 4.5mm of tread left so only (technically) just winter tyres. I would still change them soon as if not you'll have to change them in the snow and ice at some point and then swear that it all disappears 3 days later :)
Well my newly acquired TTiD went in for an intermediate service today and it's winter check.
For once in my Saab ownership that's all I paid for
Well that's made your Happy Christmas, Jim!
(And Happy Christmas also to everyone else on STT.)
Thanks Geoff and Happy Christmas to you and yours. Think of me moving into new home on 5th Jan.boxes to pack arghhhhhhhh
Happy New Year everyone!
Overhauled my gear linkage today. One of the plastic sockets on one of the connecting rods wasn't secure anymore, kept popping off and reverse was also becoming a bit of a pig. I've always had to pop it into 3rd before reverse but of late even that trick wasn't working and I had to pull the stick hard right and down before it went in.
Quite happy with the results, I've replaced the 3 balls on the linkage it's self but left the 4th that's welded (i think) to the bracket on the engine block. Feels a lot more positive with the metal sockets and reverse works as before. Cost me about £30 for the parts.
D
Treated the 9-5 to some new anchors- the 314 dia discs & calipers that are used on 9-3ss 2.8. I needed new discs and pads anyway...
I managed to pick up the calipers and brackets for a very reasonable £60 incl post from someone who was breaking a Signum 3.2. Genuine discs & pads were an astonishingly cheap £62 from Euro Saab Parts Direct, and I got some custom hoses made up for £35. So £157. Bargain upgrade. Except it got better- I sold the old carriers and a part worn set of DS2500 pads for £50 each, net cost £57.
I'd started on it between Xmas and new year but a cracked rib stopped play for a while. I took advantage of the pause to blast and paint them.
I also found what was causing the rattle from underneath- the alloy heat shield has come adrift and is lying on top of the exhaust. Nothing a few mudguard washers won't sort tomorrow hopefully.
nice upgrade :)
Finally I managed to get the winter wheels on today. A bit late, but they will stay on until the spring holiday which may involve the Alps.
If any muscles still work tomorrow, we will do the wheels on her car.
replaced the vacuum hoses, the ones on the car were in quite bad shape, exterior of the one to the bypass was starting to crumble and car had been a wee bit sluggish at times but after fitting silicone hoses a quick blast along the motorway and all is good again
W
Did the winter wheels on her Carlsson yesterday. Now I can barely walk... :( But I have to, or I won't get to the restaurant for SWMBO's birthday party. A hot bath, I think.
Washed rear lights and number plate late afternoon yesterday so number plate could be read - must get to car wash an power wash her - can't wash in drive at moment as slightly muddy form recent rain and need to lay new drive.................... embarrassed as car was never left two weeks without wash let alone 4 weeks!!!! Road round here are filthy from sugar beet harvesting - suppose that's what happens being country bumpkin now :)
Here's a pic of mine with it's new winter tyres / wheels. These were £440 from mytyres including the wheels which I thought was excellent. Tyres are Continental WinterContact-TS-850 195/60 R15 88T, so not cheapo tyres either.
Tried to get wheels which looked vaguely Saabish - look okay for the price though not keen on the centre caps.
(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i148/kprm77/9-3%20lpt/Saab%20EX02_zpspu4cbefd.png)
You can get some Saab centre caps to fit. they should be standard ones, if the hubs are OK without hub rings. Or you can get the gel domed stick-on badges and put them on the existing caps,if the coloured but can be got off. I have fitted these onto wheel trims and they have lasted well.
Today I fitted a dash cam hard wire kit to the 9-3, I ordered a Nextbase kit from Amazon for £11.95, it's designed for their cameras but works fine with my mini 0801 as it's just a USB mini type connector.
To wire it in I removed the passenger side A pillar trim (prise off the plastic "airbag" cover and remove 1 10mm bolt and then pull the trim out and upwards), ran the cable up from the fuse box, above the side curtain air bag and then pushed behind the head lining. Then I got another 10mm bolt and mounted the negative to the handily provided earth inside the fuse board in the dash and used fuse 22 as my switched supply. A few cable ties to tidy it all up and job done.
Another job done the other day was fit the Brodit passenger side mount so that I can put my phone in the car to use as a satnav and music along with being able to issue voice command for hands free dialling without having to use the rather poor sid interface.
I've also ordered the small tray with a power connection to replace the stupid ash tray that takes up massive amounts of space for little benefit and have started trying to find a coin holder and the plastic insert for the centre cubby box so that I can ditch the factory UHP cradle and get some more storage space.
Where did you order the ash tray replacement from? I've been wondering about doing that to save running a charge cable from centre cubby to phone sitting in front of gear lever while charging. My car has the dedicated phone connection and my S5 works superbly with it and can access phone book pretty quick. Voice activation seems to work better than I had expected.
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 09 February 2016, 12:01:05 PM
Where did you order the ash tray replacement from? I've been wondering about doing that to save running a charge cable from centre cubby to phone sitting in front of gear lever while charging. My car has the dedicated phone connection and my S5 works superbly with it and can access phone book pretty quick. Voice activation seems to work better than I had expected.
I bought my 2 from Ebay, just make sure you get the RHD one.
what is it called.?
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 09 February 2016, 01:01:52 PM
what is it called.?
On ebay you want to be looking for something like "saab 9-3 storage tray" they seem to come up listed under number 12806034 but the EPC (I think) says they are 12806063, PFS sell them new for £50 under number 12802363. I don't think that there are any currently on ebay though.
I also have the built in Saab phone kit but I prefer using "OK Google" voice recognition to do the calling as it also means I can nav or control music from the phone handset that way.
I have fitted the storage tray in the Carlsson. I got mine from Stephen Meadows at www.suffolksaab.co.uk
Between the rain showers and a very whingy baby I've managed to fit 4 new brake calipers and finally got the Goodridge braided brake lines on. Also replaced the standard Ferodo pads I had on with EBC redstuff. Just wrapped up now and it's started to sh1t it down :)
Foolishly I did this with only a spare half a litter of GM DOT 4 + brake fluid so I have a question:
Once I'd fit the new lines and calipers I gravity bled each corner as I'd completed it, keeping the reservoir topped up as I went. Once all 4 corners were done I pressure bled in the correct order; F/L, R/R, F/R, R/L. But due to a shortage of fluid I fell short of bleeding out the recommended 100ml per corner. However the fluid ran clear with no bubbles.
Question being how should the peddle feel with the braided lines, as I'm not sure I've bled the lines sufficiently? I have an amount of travel (about half the throw of the peddle) under which there is light braking. Half way down the peddle hits a brick and the braking is sharp and precise with little effort, ABS kicks in with a lot less effort than before and from speed the car stops nice and straight under heavy braking.
I'm more than happy with the results but wonder if I should have the amount of peddle travel I do. Mechanically it makes sense because the pistons have to engage the pads and move them a short distance before they hit the rotors, which would account for some peddle travel .. But I wouldn't mind a second opinion.
Excuse my pics, I forgot to take any whilst I had the wheels off ::)
D
I think it's difficult to tell until the pads have bedded in. But clear fluid and no bubbles should be OK.
If there was air in the calipers or lines, you'd have a very spongey feel no matter how hard you pushed the pedal.
As long as there was no more air coming out, it's fine. The recommended volumes are to ensure complete flusfing out of all the old fluid.
The only thing you've not got right IMO is fitting Redstuff. IME and that of many others, Brownstuff would be a better name for them.
Yellow are OK ish but personally there's only two pads I'd use- either genuine OE or DS2500. DS2500 are the last word when it comes to the perfect compromise between track abuse and regular road use, but OE are very hard to beat for regular driving.
Thanks a lot guys, the peddle feels solid eventually so I'm good! And I only flushed the hydraulic system about 7 months ago so that wasn't the aim.
Brownstuff? because of the dust or the fact the bite's a bit sharp? I was warned off the yellows, told they were more for track use and needed a little more heat in them before you got full braking?
Crickey the DS2500 aren't cheap!
Bar the fact the rear calipers were buggered (sticking) and needed replacing anyway. I've found myself a little short stopping power on a few occasions when I've been booting it, which was the idea behind trying a better set of pads. Granted, daily use is the Mrs going to Sainsburys and back!
Time will tell but after my test drive this afternoon, short of fitting larger rotors, I was quite impressed..
Brownstuff isn't a pad compound ;) It's a description of their consistency/performance.
argh, they're sh1t! :D
I did realise brownstuff wasn't part of the EBC range :P
They can "surprise you" !! Maybe on a cold morning.
i had a bad experience with EBC Greenstuff a long time ago. The previous owner fitted them to my 9-5 and they can't take the temperature and fell apart!!
Redstuff are supposed to be a "fast road" pad. i wasn't keen on trying them after my earlier experience and a couple of other members had problems with the pad material of the Redstuff cracking and the EBC discs themselves, crazing on the surface, so I went for Pagid which is similar to OE. More recent experience reported seems to suggest that EBC are inconsistent. It may be that their quality control needs improving.
I've been running Mintex M1144 material on my 9-5 with the Hirsch brakes. No problems and cheaper than the Ferodo 2500 that I had before. but only road use, no track experience.
I fit Pagid disks all round about 15k ago, no issue with them at all.
Oh well, the pads are on now and are easily changed as long as they don't fail when least expected :o I'll be sure to report back if they do!
For the record, bits of me that I didn't know existed ache today! Mainly from crawling around on my back to fit the rear brake hoses ..
My age is clearly starting to creep up on me :)
It does it to all of us but somehow creeps up on you when you least expect it !!!!!
I was chopping logs for our wood burner and my knees ache today - how that work
I've got colleagues around my age who've recently taken to running marathons.. I just don't understand how or why ?!
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 29 March 2016, 04:42:58 PM
I
I was chopping logs for our wood burner and my knees ache today - how that work
You shouldn't hold the axe between your knees...........!!!!!!!
No. he had the wood between his knees.
it's perfectly natural to have the wood between your legs ::)
You haven't seen the size of my chopper/axe!!!! :o
Just to confirm - the wood was on a large old log.
I then swing the 8lb axe over my head, extend my arms then whack onto log and split them...........................perhaps it's when I bend my legs before the main swing - those who have used a large axe will know ;)
What really scares me is previous owner left the axe for us and on Sunday whilst doing some gardening I dug up a pair of glasses!!!!!!!! I could tell the police and get whole garden dug :-[ ::)
I fitted a tow bar to my 9-3. You can read all about the saga of me doing this in the 9-3 section.
Not something I did today and not really even something I did myself, however..
Had Eibach pro kit springs and Bilstein B8's fit last week along with new top mounts and bearings.
Karl (Noobtune) did me a very nice stage 3+ map to compliment the Do88 intercooler I fit a few weeks back.
I can honestly say both the new suspension setup and edging up to stage 3+ (280ish bhp/ 420NM) has been the icing on the cake for my 9-3.
I made a number of mods to the suspension over the last few years but nothing has improved the handling, feel and comfort as much as this. It's sitting a tad lower than the stock Aero setup but no more then 10>15mm, it looks good.
With the extra torque, this remap (plus the bugger FMIC) I now seem to have a much smoother delivery of seemingly endless grunt. Especially on the motorway, it takes off effortlessly.
Without gushing too much, I honestly feel like it's finally become the car it always wanted to be.
I'm a happy bunny driving round with a large smile on my face at the moment.
One and only caveat, there is noticeably more rumble from the tyres (Conti sports 5) being transmitted into the cabin. It's completely livable with and it seems to send the baby to sleep nicely :D
I think that the Eibach springs are probably the best mod on these cars!
This last week I've had a complete turn-round of the Saab stable. The old GM900 V6 has gone, to be replaced by a shiny red 9-5 saloon which is being fettled. So far it's had a new (old) SID and a replacement near-side indicator glass (both from the Bay of Plenty), and a few advisories to sort before MOT time in September, but otherwise going like a train. Rear fog light needs doing, usual problem, broken wire in the loom where it goes into the boot lid.
The other change was the 9-5 2.2tid estate which blew it's intercooler and was going to need a bunch of tweaks for MOT, and it's gone to the Saab Graveyard at Bucklebury. It's been replaced by a 9-5 Aero which is fine, and just getting sorted. One new key needed and a battery in the one I've got, and I've also got to fossick around and change the gear shift indicator light bulb, but otherwise all fine and dandy.
Last night I got a call from SWMBO to say that there was steam coming out under the bonnet "Just like last time" :o She had just arrived at the concert hall to fulfil a professional singing engagement and was in her "tidy clothes".
The last time was Easter, when the small top hose to the coolant reservoir split. Tis time it was the other one. I bought both hoses on a "just in case basis at easter, so I was able to go and and fix it while she was inside the hall working. :)
It was a slightly odd failure and I thought at first that the coolant reservoir had split, as it was covered covered in fluid with no visible (or feelable) split in the hose. But once off, it was clear that the inner rubber lining had failed and the coolant had gone through into the woven cloth reinforcement, then run along the line of the cloth and come out at the end of the pipe and sprayed against the side of the tank.
So it looks like a quick fix and not too expensive.
I turned the front edges of the rear footwell mats in the 'vert up so that they were resting against the bottom of teh seats.
This cuts out the forward airflow under the seats when the hood is down, that makes mens' ankles cold and ladies' skirts billow.
Still some work to do to kill the draught between the seats with something inexpensive but visually appealing (cardboard works but doesn't look the part!) that willl allow the seats to tip and move.
I do have a cunning plan...
Put the summer wheels and tyres on this evening....
...and it hailed on me halfway through. Just finished.
First day of holiday. Spent an hour or so in the carpark at the hotel stripping out the tailgate lock to see why it wasn't working. Still not sure what was wrong, but the actual latch was not connected to anything. When I shut the tailgate, the latch moved to the locked position, but nothing held it there. So the tailgate could be opened straight away with out touching the opening button.
After working out roughly what was supposed to happen, I moved the various parts by hand inside the lock and reckoned that I could shut the tailgate and get it to lock in place, but maybe not open it without the manual internal release. Shut the tailgate and tried to open it and it worked! :) Dunno why...
But it still works this evening. Maybe a dirty connection on the plug or something?
At least it wasn't raining while I did the work.
No pictures 'cos I was in a hurry.
since purchase I have had dodgy radio reception, a few weeks ago pair of amplifiers from the diversity set up appeared on eBay for a reasonable cost. Unfortunately the breaker had been a little heavy handed in removing one of them from the original vehicle, it has taken a bit of fettling to get it back to OEM spec
fitted them last night and all seems to be well so far
W
Mine's in for an MOT / service and putting the Summer wheels on today. They're going to fit a second hand aerial (whole assembly) so assuming it works, I'll have a working radio for the first time in a year!
Not on my 9-3 but our camper has gone in today to have face air vents fixed!!!!!!
We spent a week on Isle of Skye and NW Scotland last week in temperatures ranging from 20 - 28 degrees, clear skies (and I mean no clouds at all over the Cuillin) and no wind - not nice driving around without those vents working. Screen and floor worked but no vents so windows down - little noisy at 60. Thankfully it appears to be common fault on T5's and VW replaced wire cable with solid rod so not expensive................phew.
Nice to get in the 9-3 which drove like a go-cart when fetching dog from kennels.......................
You certainly picked the right week to visit the Western Isles.
We've booked a cottage in Plockton for a week at the end of June, I hope we get your luck :)
It was Plockton Monday last week that had the highest temps in UK at 28 deg - the day we were driving up from Glen Coe to Staffin - bl**dy hot.
This pic was from The Old Man O Storr looking towards Raasay and Applecross taken at 10.00 am!!
absolutely stunning!
1130pm on the solstice in Gairloch a few years ago .. I really do love it up there but I very much doubt we'll be seeing 28 degrees :)
Yeh - we love it up there and normally go early May for a week and then late September for a week. This was Mull last Sept.
Today, I got into the car and it bonged and said "Brake Light Failure" :(
So I changed the twin filament bulbs in the rear.
Mot quite the same as most bulb changes. Once unscrewed, the unit has to be hinged outwards to release the clip, before pulling the unit back and off.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05301_zpsxjm8m16f.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05301_zpsxjm8m16f.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05304_zpsuel66eqm.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05304_zpsuel66eqm.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05306_zpsv1tt31uj.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05306_zpsv1tt31uj.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05313_zpsod1jarx1.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05313_zpsod1jarx1.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05308_zpszyc34cqw.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05308_zpszyc34cqw.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05309_zps375zb2ct.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20estate%20rear%20lights/DSC05309_zps375zb2ct.jpg.html)
Blimey Will, that looks rather complicated to simply change a light bulb. Saying that I have still to attempt the front side lights on my DE.
They are simple David as long as you take the front bumper off which actually is pretty easy as I managed it when i had mine ::)
Well it's raining and I have a problem. :(
Yesterday the right rear brake light bulb failed. Replaced it and it worked. So I did the LH one too to balance things up. All checked and working.
This morning the warning comes up again and the new LH one is out. Should have left well alone.
Reseated the bulb and adjusted the two contacts and it seems to be OK now.
It looks a lot, but I managed to ix it during an advert break in Countdown... :)
'Countdown' Will - really???????
At my age I'm lucky to still be able to see the TV and find the remote!! :)
A good afternoon of puzzles and quizzes can be had. Pressure Pad. Fifteen to One. Countdown. Tipping Point. Pointless. Eggheads.
Then it's time for tea!!
Ah, the labours of the fully retired.
Last night i finally got round to fitting my storage tray in front of gear lever and whilst the old ash tray was out I finally got round to fitting my Samsung S7 phone holder and wireless charger.
The wire that came with the charger wasn't quite long enough but I had a USB extension wire which I fed from the back of the ashtray/storage shelf slot through the drivers side footwell (side panel comes off easily), across dashboard under steering wheel to the door. The end panel of dash comes off easily so I coiled up the excess wire and clipped it together in the void behind this panel so wire just popped up in corner of windscreen then simple plug into bottom of holder. Plug USB into charger socket and voile cables all hidden and no more of having to plug charging cable into phone. Simply place phone into holder squeeze together and when ignition switched on phone automatically charges and charger shuts off when fully charged until phone next used. All sits very neatly above side airvent - benefit also it keeps phone cool.
BTW - in the cubby hole you can see a small rubber mat - called a tree frog and is brilliant. It's sticky but it isn't - if you get my meaning. slap onto any shiny surface (dashboard, door tops etc) and you can happily lay loose items such as phone, keys and the like and they won't slip. Occasionally wash it and it then retains it's sticky feel - get them from Mobilefun.co.uk - cheap as well. I use mine in the camper and it stops that annoying stuff moving around (sunglasses just put down for a minute)..........................
How do you find the durability of those stick mats? I have one that was supplied for the Tyrepal tyre pressure monitoring head unit. It works well, but after two years on the dashboard, the edge most exposed to the sun has melted into a sticky mess!
I give it a good wash in soapy water but mine is an original Tree Frog and there are a few imitations around. I have one on the dash of the camper that sits there all year round used for sat nav and had no issues with sun. It survived Italy last year at around 34 deg in full sun.
Another roundup of "what I've done to my Saab recently"
Had a few issues with my stage 3+ Noobtune map, that I've been working through with some great support from Karl.
Two main issues:
I was running lean leading to misfires under load. this was tracked down to my MAF giving a low air mass reading. Cleaned the MAF to no avail so replaced it with a new original GM part sourced for £51 including postage.
Second is a bit of an odd one. My bypass/diverter valve (A basic Maptun piston type.) when orientated the wrong way round i.e with the nipple facing the slam panel, it wont hold boost. If I apply pressure to the port that is at 90 degrees to the action of the piston, it leaks into the nipple end. However if I apply a vacuum to the nipple end, the valve opens and the vacuum holds. If I apply pressure to the port inline with the action of the piston, there is a good seal and the spring holds.
There's obviously something amiss in the manufacturing of the valve since it shouldn't matter which way it's orientated and whether under vacuum or pressure the two seals around the diameter of the piston should hold.
What I think was happening with it orientated the 'wrong' way round, boost was leaking from the nipple end into the recirculation pipe - Not very happy with that theory but with the valve the 'correct' way around it holds boost OK.
In other news - I did a full service. Amongst the usual items, replaced by cabin air filter. The old one was disgusting, black and mouldy as I'd forgotten to do it for over 2 years.
I've decided to bin the ITG panel air filter and have gone back to a standard Saab paper filter, as I'm sure the filter oil and regular cleaning have not done my old MAF any favours.
And finally - I re-blacked my exterior trim with Forever Black, vinyl die and am very happy with the results .. maybe a few pics to follow ..
D
While I was trying to pin down the power steering problem, I took the hose off the end of the MAF.
Mine looks quite clean after 140,000 miles...
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Underbonnet/DSC05316_zpsjou7j6ci.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Underbonnet/DSC05316_zpsjou7j6ci.jpg.html)
Are you running with an aftermarket filter?
Mines never really looked dirty but the smallest of contaminants on any of the 3 resistors and they will give a false reading. As there's a risk with an oiled filter that oil could be sprayed onto it, I've always sprayed it with a good quality electrical contact cleaner *edit* when I do a service.
But to be honest this is the first time I've every really had a problem with it
My under WOT Mair was around 1200mg for 1.4bar of boost, so assuming the boost pressure was reading correctly, the Mair figure was lower than actual so the ECU would have fuelled according to Mair figure and been lean .. I now read about 1280>1300 MAir for 1.4>1.5 bar
I don't have open SID, so I can't check without connecting up the Tech2 etc.
But the car has been serviced by the local dealer/approved service agent since 10,000 miles. So just the normal Saab OE filters.
In theory, if you've had regular Saab filters it shouldn't ever need cleaning.
There's so little to gain from an aftermarket filter, I just don't see the point in having one and potentially messing up a delicate sensor.
You could always buy a cheap OBD2 data logger if you were interested in seeing the info. I'm only just getting to really know what's what but it's really interesting.
I have an OBD2 reader that shows live data - and a Tech2 :) But I haven't driven the car and tried to read the info at the same time.
I should have known ::) very handy having a Tech II
Obviously a bit dangerous going on spirited drives whilst trying to read live data, and with the SID you can only view 2 values at a time.
I keep meaning to order a data logger so I can record the whole picture..
One total noob lesson I learned this weekend - The ECU has a safety feature and will hold back until TEng > 70
Always worth knowing!!
Today I dodged the raindrops and did the loom to the boot lid on the 9-5 saloon. Now things work again. :D
Well done! :)
Today I tried something I've not done in a very very long time....
I washed my car! When I got the replacement for the 9-5 I very stupidly bought something in a colour I like (MY07 Ice Blue 9-3 Aero Anniversary estate).
Today all I did was a wash as it was so filthy (and the weather is not suitable to clay+polish) and I've not got a huge amount of time this weekend or next weekend as I'm off to RIAT (anyone else going?), at some point over the next few weeks I'll do the wash part again and have a go with the clay bar, touch up pen and polish, although I might do only a few panels at a time.
Replaced the 3mm hoses under the cover and found this needed replacing, so after a temporary repair I replaced this one way valve and hose.
Sold it.
steve
Like a knob I backed into a stone wall which didn't register on the reversing thingy and grazed the back bumper. Ordered tin of touch up paint. ::)
Fitted shiny new number plates - originals past their sell by date.
Slight dilemma on whether to have the GB Euro symbol on the end - oh blow it who cares they're cheap enough to swap when and if we finally leave......................
I reckon your car will fail before they sort out the Brexit. At least 10 years???
The Norwegians are threatening to veto the UK joining the EFTA group which is one of the key matters when leaving. That's the thing you have to join if you want to have tax free dealings with the EU. Or, as the Norwegians say "Pay the EU the same as you would if you were in it, but not have any say in the matter".
And yesterday the French and Italians said that the UK should not be allowed access to Galileo and Copernicus, which are the alternative satnav and location systems. More accurate than the current US based system. But the rules say that it's a security matter and only available to EU members. It would mean that the UK's intention to use satnav for road pricing would be dead in the water, so maybe not all bad then...
Quote from: sgould on 19 August 2016, 10:55:35 PM
And yesterday the French and Italians said that the UK should not be allowed access to Galileo and Copernicus, which are the alternative satnav and location systems. More accurate than the current US based system. But the rules say that it's a security matter and only available to EU members. It would mean that the UK's intention to use satnav for road pricing would be dead in the water, so maybe not all bad then...
Don't think that would stick because it's a project done with ESA which has (different levels of) membership which includes Canada and Switzerland. However we will end up having to contribute more to be part of these projects if we actually do leave, really don't think the leave campaign thought it through as we'll end up having to pay to be in EFTA and then find extra money to join all the other projects we will need to be involved with and still have to abide by EU law while not having a say. ::)
Somebody on one of the larger Saab Facebook groups ran a straw pole just before the vote. At the time I was quite surprised, out of around 200 people that replied, only 2 or 3 were for Remain.
I'm no fan of the Tories but it does look like May is doing a fine job of kicking the whole debacle into the long grass. I'm not sure how that's going to sit with the staunch Brexiteers in the long run..
Reduced the price of the 9-5 TiD in the "For Sale" ad.
I need the money from selling the TiD to pay for the extra fuel that the 2.3T uses....
Quote from: CitTone on 22 August 2016, 11:41:00 AM
Reduced the price of the 9-5 TiD in the "For Sale" ad.
Might be worth adding a post as a reply in that thread as updated posts don't get new status so I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't have said here.
Today I replaced both head light bulbs in my 9-3 with the cheap Osrams I got from Amazon. Took me under 10 minutes to do both sides and I found out why the bulbs were off as one was looking very worse for wear and they were both different make bulbs in there although I will save them as spares. I also ordered a clip that holds battery tray cover on as one is broken and some standard wheel nuts to replacing the locking bolts all from http://www.saabits.com/
...and following on from my previous post, today I replaced the locking screws with standard screws along with doing my monthly checks. Oh, and I replaced the broken clip on the battery cover.
Some time ago I noticed my gear-lever gaiter was starting to look a bit scruffy and dog-eared. It's not actually made of leather and the leatherette was starting to show the fabric through it where it was repeatedly creased.
I acquired a new one on eBay made from leather, from a seller called "the-tuning-shop-team" and I'm very pleased with it, however...
Some time ago I had an issue with the gear-knob unexpectedly coming off in my hand :o and that was remedied using PTFE tape, but when it came to fitting this new gaiter I couldn't get the bloody knob off to get the gaiter on!
I eventually decided to gently stretch the leather over a period of days, by sliding it over the gear-knob as far as it would go and just leaving it for a few hours followed by more manipulation and further stretching.
Repeating this eventually stretched the leather enough and it finally did go over the gear-knob and without bursting the stitching or damaging it in any way. Stretching it made no significant difference to the way it fitted around the bottom of the gear-knob with the plastic tie-wrap, and overall I'm very pleased with the way it fitted at the base.
I should mention that the old gaiter was simply cut off :)
I had noticed this earlier in the year shortly after getting the car that the drivers side heated mirror didn't seem to be very good at heating itself. Yesterday morning the mirror was covered in condensation for the first time this autumn and didn't clear itself so off I went to ebay and found a seller 4a.parts who wanted £11.04 for a replacement heated mirror glass, glass turned up today. 5 minutes later and the old one was off and I measured the resistance of the old glass vs. new, old was 4 Mohm, new is 11 ohm so new mirror fitted and job done.
Audax my driver's mirror has the same symptom - it's clearly an easy job, but how do I do it and what tools do I need?
Quote from: Max Headroom on 04 October 2016, 08:24:28 PM
Audax my driver's mirror has the same symptom - it's clearly an easy job, but how do I do it and what tools do I need?
All you need is a screwdriver, to remove adjust the mirror with the adjustment in the car so that the glass is tilted as far away from the car as possible (as in keep adjusting it until you can't see the side of the car and keep going) and then fold the mirror body housing flat against the car. You can then look under the side of the mirror closest to the car and you will see 2 ends of a bit of wire, you just have to unhook these bits of wire from the glass and then pull it quite hard to get it off. I would suggest you get a new mirror glass (including the metal clip) first and you'll then understand how to remove it by seeing the new one. To fit a new mirror you put the wire clip in place and just push it over the motor and it will clip into place.
You have to unhook the two ends of the wire clip. I do it by opening the window and working while sitting down!! :)
When refitting, you can put the clip in place and just press the glass back into place. It clips to the edge of the circular motor. A bit of grease helps.
The edges of the mirror are fragile. I attach the suction cup of my old satnav to the middle of the mirror and use that to hold and remove/replace the glass.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/-Saab%209-3%20Vector/9-3%20Mirror/DSC02502_zpsd9902158.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/-Saab%209-3%20Vector/9-3%20Mirror/DSC02502_zpsd9902158.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/-Saab%209-3%20Vector/9-3%20Mirror/DSC02497_zpsb99a73d5.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/-Saab%209-3%20Vector/9-3%20Mirror/DSC02497_zpsb99a73d5.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/-Saab%209-3%20Vector/9-3%20Mirror/DSC02498_zpsf830fc15.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/-Saab%209-3%20Vector/9-3%20Mirror/DSC02498_zpsf830fc15.jpg.html)
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/-Saab%209-3%20Vector/9-3%20Mirror/DSC02495_zps3cbb96d4.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/-Saab%209-3%20Vector/9-3%20Mirror/DSC02495_zps3cbb96d4.jpg.html)
Got it!
Thanks guys - excellent descriptions; Mirror on order from same seller. :)
Today I cleaned the throttle body on the 9-3. Fairly easy job although getting in the inlet pipe off the throttle body was a real pain as it was stuck solid. The throttle body was absolutely filthy with lots of sticky carbon deposits coating it. I used about half a can of carb cleaner and it's now much cleaner. Not driven the car yet but it sounded lots better on startup, I'm hoping this is the cause of occasional stuttering starts and that I am not in line for having to get the inlet valves replaced.
Put the winter wheels on yesterday and today I replaced the broken clip on the windscreen pillar that holds parking receipts.
This afternoon I fitted the new upgraded set of Tyrepal wheel sensors. My old set are now on her Carlsson winter wheels. Her summer tyres have the OE pressure sensors fitted.
This One (http://www.tyrepal.co.uk/tyrepal-solar-4)
Quote from: sgould on 28 November 2016, 06:46:24 PM
This afternoon I fitted the new upgraded set of Tyrepal wheel sensors.
I hadn't even realized that you could buy after market kits like this to fit to any car. I just ordered two of the cigarette lighter plugin types to try out on our cars. The wife is the worst offender I know of who doesn't check anything on her car.
Just spent the morning making her car driveable. The courtesy car from the repairers won't arrive until Monday.
So pulled off the door card and removed the broken mirror. All gaffer taped over.
I took the door card off the old Vector a few times, but the clips have changed over the years and the ones on the Carlsson are now a lot harder to unclip. But otherwise much the same.
Quote from: sgould on 03 December 2016, 02:00:31 PM
Just spent the morning making her car driveable. The courtesy car from the repairers won't arrive until Monday.
So pulled off the door card and removed the broken mirror. All gaffer taped over.
...
Have I missed something?
She got sideswiped by a lad on a motorbike who was overtaking in the wrong place.
Quote from: sgould on 03 December 2016, 11:10:55 PM
She got sideswiped by a lad on a motorbike who was overtaking in the wrong place.
>:( >:( >:(
I hope she side swiped him across the ears with his helmet off!!!!!!!!!! SWIMBO nearly took one out opening passenger door as I let he rout at some traffic lights - he went straight across red light - I was fuming as he had nerve to stick his middle finger up!!
He fell off, hit the kerb and a bollard and went off in an ambulance. Paramedics reckoned he would be "OK".
Sorry to read about the mishap Will. Hope the good lady wasn't too shook up.
She's fine! :) A good sing at Choir practice and over the weekend has sorted her out!!
I was talking about the car (joke)
Mine's got a new throttle body. Also got a Maptuner sitting in the car though not "fitted".
Picked up the courtesy car this morning. An automatic Citroen C1...
It's adequate. not as bad as expected. Surprisingly roomy in the front. Wouldn't like to be in the back though.
J gate auto selector as the Saabs.
Switchable passenger airbag.
A radio with a bluetooth phone link, and operating switches on the steering wheel.
Electric adjustment on the door mirrors.
A connection for a smart phone with AUX and a USB socket.
Manual headlamp levelling.
And finally the big dash screen turned into a reversing camera!! :o :o :o
Quote from: sgould on 08 December 2016, 06:17:55 PM
Picked up the courtesy car this morning. An automatic Citroen C1...
It's adequate. not as bad as expected. Surprisingly roomy in the front. Wouldn't like to be in the back though.
...
I drove its cousin, the Peugeot 107 (the current generation is basically a re-skin with tech bits upgraded) back from Genoa to Liverpool via Gloucester, 1300 miles in a day and a half in 2012. Two adults, roofbox, and loaded to the roof inside. Surprisingly comfortable. It's the width compared to other small cars that makes it so good.
Today I ordered a headlight washer pump for the 9-3, was a bit shocked at the price, they used to retail for £13 when I was fixing Saabs, I had to pay £35 to get one delivered by the weekend. Appears that the RRP is now £33.39+VAT! Anyway, needs to be done as MOT is due at the end of next month.
Headlamp washer pump replaced this morning, easy enough job but mucky, even after cleaning the car yesterday.
I knew it - new battery today.................................. it appears mine was still surviving somehow on the original from end of 2008!!!!
I did call around for prices for 70 Amp battery and they ranged from £105 - £145 so was pleasantly surprised use my Saabparts voucher and pay only £99 for genuine one with 3 years warranty. They did it while I waited and gave car health check - not sure why as only serviced 2 weeks ago. Interesting under brakes it said both front and back 10% but it doesn't say whether this is worn or left!!!!
I finally managed to fit those tyre pressure and temperature sensors on my 9-3 yesterday. My car performs best with the pressure set at 32PSI at the front, and 30PSI at the rear. I'll now get a warning buzz if they drop below 29PSI. Very useful gadget that I recommend.
Service and MOT done, 1 drop link needed replacing other than that all good.
I was given a set of RimGuards from one of my daughters for Christmas after I mentioned the edges on my alloys were a bit scuffed, but the weather has not been too good up till now to fit them.
Must say, if you follow the instructions provided, they are certainly straightforward to fit. I did go over the rim a few additional times with the hairdryer which made the job much easier, just to make sure they moulded to shape better. I also cleaned the rim of the wheels with carb cleaner before using their wipes, to ensure a good bond. Applying the additional liquid, which came with the RimGuards for extra stickiness, will I am sure prove worthwhile. Although the colour (light grey) does not match my wheel, it is fairly discrete and would be even less noticeable on a silver wheel. I still need to do the other side, but my back was complaining, so I thought it best to wait a while.
(https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16804415_377123405976954_5012239774117682510_o.jpg?oh=30055c1efabe45b08b5d4ea3b5cfaa3c&oe=593F691C)
(https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16836591_377123442643617_2681355777423432786_o.jpg?oh=43fb64b97595ccacfbb940de64dca5ec&oe=59498508)
It will be interesting to see how they last. They look a completely different type to the other rim protectors I've seen.
The other ones I saw were ripped off at the first scuff and the ends flapped about!! :o
I'm with you on that one Will. Apparently, compared with the old design, the shape has changed and the liquid supplied as a bonding agent is supposed to ensure a good fixing, but as you say time will tell. I did find heating up the trim with an old hair dryer certainly made it more compliant.
They do supply antiseptic wipes, as used for injections, but these were far too small to be effective, hence why I ended up using carb cleaner to prep the rim.If you happen to see a 'flappy' 9.5 on your travels this summer, it may well be me! ;D
I saw you posted this on the SOC GB Facebook page. I'd also be really interested to see how they last.
I'd love to blame it all on the Mrs but it's all too easy to catch the rim, there's a couple of small chunks out of my recently refurbished wheels and I have to take the blame for one or two of them..
I tend to drive like Miss Daisy when parking, as I really don't want to go to the expense of repairing them and then having the worry I might scuff them all over again.
Even got the wife to get out and check as I park, especially at those granite kerb stones.. How sad is that. ;D
I will report back how they perform. Still got the other side to do when, my back is better :-\
What happens to them when you have to get new tyres ??? I suppose you get new ones?
That did cross my mind Jim. My local tyre fitters are a good bunch, so hopefully with a bit of care, we should be OK.
I have a spare set, just in case ;)
Fitted a new wiper blade on the driver's side today. It was wobbling about when I gave it a wipe after cleaning the windscreen.
Nothing wrong with the old Valeo flat blade itself, but the plastic clip that attaches the blade to the hook at the end of the arm has split in two. :(
The Valeo blades do seem to fair well. I seem to get through rear blades a lot. Wish I could get a slightly bigger blade to allow a bit more vision; sure one would fit as at least an inch or more to top of screen.
You can now get Bosch blades in the correct size for Saabs. I have fitted a pair to my 9-5 and they are far superior to the Valeo blades as well as being easier to get hold of and cheaper too!
Quote from: collywobble on 10 March 2017, 07:19:55 AM
You can now get Bosch blades in the correct size for Saabs. I have fitted a pair to my 9-5 and they are far superior to the Valeo blades as well as being easier to get hold of and cheaper too!
You always could get Bosch blades for the earlier Saabs, it's what I used to sell as a cheaper alternative to the genuine part but they never seemed to last much more than 18 months until they needed replacing compared to the genuine parts lasting more like 3 years. There was a period when getting blades for the later 2008 on 9-3 and 9-5 cars with the clip style arms meant not so much choice from the aftermarket but the genuine parts were not that expensive and the aftermarket parts were considerably more expensive at the time. ::)
Not sure how Jim is getting through rear wiper blades quickly as they seem to last 4-5 years! but you can get a cheap Bosch replacement from ebay or Amazon for £4.
It's probably worth me saying that I've not checked the prices for genuine blades compared to aftermarket for some time but with the reports of the Orio parts going down in quality I would be a lot more cost conscious now as I wouldn't be happy that the quality would be better on the genuine kit compared to Bosch if it was more expensive.
I have changed to Bosch blades on both my cars and found them much quieter. I change mine every 12 - 18 months. A small price to pay for clear vision..............
Managed to put the two remaining RimGuards on and would offer a few suggestions. Superglue the ends together. Mine had lifted off very slightly. Also if your rim has a noticeable i.e. deep scuff, the adhesive tape does not stick well. Again use superglue in these areas for extra grip.
Drove to London yesterday and can report back the rims are still there! No part has detached, despite some spirited driving, so I think all should be OK.
Checked the oil, checked and adjusted the tyre pressures, topped up the washer fluid.
That was it.
Yawn.
Tomorrow morning, if as forecast, the weather holds, I will wash the car.
Digressing slightly - if the weather is OK in the afternoon, as also forecast, I will go for a ride on the bike and thrash the nuts off it.
Quote from: Petemate on 12 March 2017, 10:33:04 PM
Checked the oil, checked and adjusted the tyre pressures, topped up the washer fluid.
That was it.
Yawn.
More than I did to the Honda - just checked the tyres, as it was serviced only 10 days ago having covered just over 40,000km.
I still drop in here most days, but don't post as there's nothing I've been able to contribute recently. I have been intending to post for a while, with all the spare time I have now that I'm not crawling under the Saab on a cold drive keeping it running, changing the oil and filter every 6000 miles etc. ;D
Just as a reminder, we bought (leased) a Honda CR-V back in October 2015 to replace our old 9-5 Aero auto estate after spending more than half the value of the Saab on a replacement alternator. I wasn't expecting it to be such a happy transition from the 265bhp, 420Nm rocketship to the 120bhp 1.6 diesel SUV. However, although I often miss the Saab, the Honda is surprisingly capable particularly on the motorway, and was a good choice for our needs. With 300Nm, it drives strongly, and has a much more usable luggage area than the Saab due to a taller area under the load cover, which is not so deep front to rear as the Saab. We recently completed a two-day journey from the UK back home to Austria with four people plus luggage, and it coped easily. The legroom in the rear is way superior to the Saab which meant that everyone was comfortable. The engines is delightfully smooth at speed, and it returns an overall 52mpg, somewhat better than the Saab at 27mpg. Diesel here in Austria is around €1.08 per litre, about 95p in real money, and the Super Plus that the Saab used is around €1.25, about £1.10, so it's a good saving.
The Honda isn't perfect. The manual gearchange is notchy, and couldn't be described as a pleasure to use, although it's not something that is a real problem on the open road. The aircon goes into recycling mode much more quickly than the Saab, presumably because it has a smaller compressor to aid fuel economy. The rain-sensitive wipers never seem to operate quite as I'd like, whereas the Saab always seemed to get things just right. The seat squabs in the Honda are a little short, although the comfort is generally OK on a long journey. Because the Saab had all the goodies, we also miss the memory electric seats, as SWMBO and I share the car and it's a pain with manual seat adjustment. No leather heated and ventilated seats, the black cloth in the Honda is a little rough and cheap-looking, although they are heated - only with two settings though. No passenger seat height adjustment in the Honda, although the higher spec models have it. Rear visibility is great with the huge door mirrors, but parking is a bit of a nightmare with the heavy rear, although the standard reversing camera helps, unlike the Saab where you could see the corners.
The only problem we've had, which I'm monitoring, is a clutch judder first thing in the morning when it's cold. The dealer has checked it out and can't find any problems, but suggested that I bring it to their attention again if it gets worse.
If anyone is interested, I have posted a fuller review here on the Honest John website:
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/owner-reviews/honda/cr-v-2012?review=4276#selected (http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/owner-reviews/honda/cr-v-2012?review=4276#selected)
I still look wistfully at Saabs when I see them (saw two 9-5 estates within an hour last week, unusual for here)..... :'(
Mike, I know how you feel.
Alright chaps :) Technically speaking the only thing really to go wrong with mine is the passenger door lock - other stuff was simply to update mine........................
Replaced my centre box mounts today. I'd used the standard offerings from ECP about 2 years ago and they'd completely perished, leading to a fair amount of clanging around down below :-\
I've actually refit the original GM mounts I took off, that were in good shape and appear to be much better quality.
Noticed the centre box was very close to the corner of the heat shield were the handbrake cable runs. So readjusted the exhaust position slightly and bent the heat shield a little to give a good amount of clearance.
Winter wheels are off the car - "summer" wheels back on. Car looks so much better with the 17's...
Fitted a new pollen filter this morning as apparently Saab main dealers don't replace them even when you asked for a fixed price service club annual service (and they overcharge for this service too...!) and then replaced the seal on the power steering pump for my B207 Saab 9-3 all before going in to work this morning.
Doing the power steering pump seal is not a fun thing to do either, Saab instructions tell you to simply pop the old seal out with a screwdriver taking great care to not scratch the surfaces of the pump shaft. Of course the seal has lost elasticity over time so it comes out in little bits making it impossible to not cause some scratches to the surfaces. I've put in a new Viton based seal and will hope that the pump is OK. If anyone has to do this job I would suggest drilling a very small hole in the seal and screwing in a self tapping screw and pulling that out with pliers and not trying to prise the old seal out.
Of course the little puddle of what appeared to be oil that led me to discover the power steering problem has turned out to be a small washer bottle leak but I think that will wait until I'm back from my holiday.
Today this arrived! Off on our travels soon.
(http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj503/sjgould2002/9-5%20Data/P1000952_zpsot5ztsa3.jpg) (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/sjgould2002/media/9-5%20Data/P1000952_zpsot5ztsa3.jpg.html)
Not sure how long before I need one for Scotland when we go in the camper............... ;D ;D ;D
Today I did a couple more flushes of the power steering fluid after replacing the seal the other day, the steering fluid is now looking a lot more like the right colour than before. I also fitted a couple of new wiper blades and hoovered out the interior of the car.
Then curiosity got the better of me so I thought I would investigate the washer bottle leak. After quickly pulling it all apart I could see where the leak was from, it's from where I fitted the new headlight washer pump in a hurry for the MOT in January. As it was wet and cold on that day and with the in laws visiting I rushed the job and as a result it looks like the pump and or seal were not seated properly, all I have done for now is given the pump a good push and it looks like it is now sealed however I will keep an eye on it, I didn't fancy dismantling it in case I damaged the seal and made it worse, especially given an impending holiday to Scotland. If it continues to leak I think I will get a replacement seal before pulling it apart as they are only a couple of quid and this time will do the job on a warm and sunny day instead!
Had the new tyres fitted yesterday - Nokian WDR4 's. First impressions driving away from tyre place was they seemed quite hard but very quiet compared to the GY F1 Eagles that came off. Up the road I decided, as you do, to check the pressures........................now I see why they seemed hard; they were - 40 psi all round!!!!!!! Having then reduced them to the correct 35 all round the difference was quite dramatic. Comfort was better than previous and handling was excellent considering winter tyre but good reviews to keep on all year round. I called tyre place as I had said 35 all round; they checked their equipment and found the gauge was well out of calibration and sincerely apologized - they'll give me some extra discount when I go in next week to have new rubber fitted to the california!
SO far so good with tyres and yesterday was pretty warm and they handled fine; no sponginess - will report back after a few more miles
I am now running Nokian Line's all round and they are much better tyre than the Falken Ziex 914's. Quieter, and the car seems to be more firmly planted on the road, although that could be the fact that today I've had the tracking checked and adjusted!
Quote from: collywobble on 11 April 2017, 04:17:27 PM
I am now running Nokian Line's all round and they are much better tyre than the Falken Ziex 914's.
Those Falken Ziex 914 were fairly poor on both my 9-5 and my 9-3.
The previous version, the Ziex 912 gave a much better ride but I have 914's on my Astra G estate which I use for my business and they are fine on that - perhaps the Saab is too heavy for them. I could only buy the 914's in 97W load/speed rating but I have neen able to buy the Nokians in 97V load/speed rating. Perhaps the combination of an XL load rated tyre and the higher than specified speed rating was the problem.
I don't think the 914 are necessarily bad tyres, just that for the money they are not worth it. The 912 was basically a premium tyre with mid-range pricing, the 914 is an average mid range tyre but priced at the higher end of mid range.
Fitted a new pair of rear shock absorbers. Planned this move after the last trip out with the caravan on last year; I had noticed a bit of pitching and thought as the car had done 90k miles or so they would possibly be due for replcements.
Yesterday I checked with Eurocarparts, and they had some in stock. These are Sachs the same as original on the car, which is now at 96k miles. They came at 97.15 GBP, down from 139.98 after entering the on-line promo code - 42.83 discount. Result. Interestingly, these for the 9-3 Tid with Sport suspension were slightly less cost than the standard suspension items they listed.
The upper mounting bolts were a bit tight, and one of the nearside ones was rusty and a right s*d to remove. Both lower bolts were very tight, threads a bit rusty, but all the bolts and both upper mounts came up like new after a dry blast in my lad's machine.
Did you check price for originals from your dealer using the Saab Service Club discount? I'm pretty sure mine were less than that on my TTiD Aero Estate.
Quote from: Norfolk Jim on 18 April 2017, 12:18:29 PM
Did you check price for originals from your dealer using the Saab Service Club discount? I'm pretty sure mine were less than that on my TTiD Aero Estate.
I think (hope!) that was £97.15 for the pair. Saab wanted about £82 each for the genuine item for my 9-3, I managed to get the Sachs dampers for £32.02 for the pair from Amazon in September last year, but didn't get around to fitting them yet however I think I'm going to buy some new front dampers, Eibach springs and some new genuine top mounts and bearings and replace the lot soon and then get it fully aligned.
I read my owner's manual.
(for the significance of this statement, please see my post in the 9-3 workshop)
:) :)
Quote from: Petemate on 30 April 2017, 08:15:16 PM
I read my owner's manual.
(for the significance of this statement, please see my post in the 9-3 workshop)
I also read the owners manual today to try and get some clarity on something. My daughter turned 12 a few weeks ago and now weighs just under 36kg and is just under 150cm tall. Turns out there's lots of information out there on when to use car seats but not much information about when to stop using a child seat when your little one is growing up. Anyway we took the car seat out and put the head rest back in the car and she looks fine in the seat and no belt pulling around her neck so she's graduated to no longer requiring a car seat although it would be nice to know what is safest!
Finally put the summer tyres on. The winters were a bit worn on the inside edge at the front. So had a four wheel alignment done.
Mine's in for a service and MOT today. Good job as the Check Engine light came on last night. Went from Leics to Redhill, Surrey up to Peterborough to see a car, then back to Leics with no issues. Then took the car to get fuel and the light came on. Car is driving fine so hoping it's nothing serious - mechanic hasn't got Tech II so hoping the diagnostics picks up the errors properly!
Mine passed the MOT with no advisories which was a pleasant surprise.
The CEL turned out to be the following (from my invoice):
Quoteplugged in diagnostics and found fault combustion fault with cylinder
1 and 2 possible worn spark plugs but replaced during service so cleared fault code and will require monitoring
I suspect the DI Cartridge. It is starting better than it did though I suspect I'll need a new DI eventually. Throttle body has already been replaced.
Is the DI cracked underneath? That's caused by leaking sparks.
I washed the car yesterday as it had been a while and also ordered a 3.5mm ground loop isolater from Amazon for £7 http://amzn.eu/f51KkpK fitted it this morning and the alternator whine that I would get over the aux input when the bluetooth kit was paired but not playing music is gone.
Soundproofed the 99T. Took three days and made quite a difference!
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/19452854_440364372986190_3653111614310481714_o.jpg?oh=bb666834a2b17d03149dfc33be7fcf63&oe=59C4B3B7)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/19466277_440388539650440_410335500197119695_o.jpg?oh=69f7e666f1f5dc101d59f4552dc43868&oe=59CA519F)
I fitted two new front door speakers in my 9-3 OG. They were those Volts type. Massive improvement in sound level and depth of bass. I am well happy but wish that I had done this years ago.
I finally worked out which fuse to use to fit the ignition controlled feed to the dashcam in her Carlsson. The Saab WIS is incorrect. I tried using the "Road Toll" fuse 17 which is on the +15 ignition circuit according to the list of fuses in WIS. This would have been nice because it says that there is a connector is by the speaker at the bottom of the A pillar. It's not on +15, it's on the permanent +30 circuit. It's shown correctly when you look at the individual circuit info in another part of WIS. ::)
Used the Parking Heater circuit in the end on fuse 18. The camera goes on and off with the ignition now. :)
Apart from sorting out a headlight misting problem on my new 9-5, I replace the valve cover gasket and fit a new bung in the old distributer hole.
The valve cover gasket was leaking quite badly and so was the plug in the old distributor mounting point.
I had a new plug I'd bought a while back, ran some loctite quick gasket round the edge of the bung - I'm not holding up too much hope but we'll see how long that lasts :)
I was pleasantly surprised with the condition of head and chain, it looks spanking new under there. Obviously I'd cleaned up the gunk with a petrol soaked rag before refitting the valve cover.
I did however manage to break the two sodding clips on the breather hose. I was so careful taking it off but stupidly tried to push it straight on rather than prising it gently.. Currently held on gingerly with two cable ties whistle I await the £35 replacement part (No. 55355330) !!
Today I sold my 9-3, very sad to see it drive off down the road.
She never got a name other than the one my son gave it "Blue Car!".
So bye bye Blue Car, you served us well and emptied my wallet even better :)
Resurrecting this... not actually today but at the weekend I have a couple of good fixes- filled and bandaged the corroded flange joint on the 9-5 exhaust so it doesn't sound like its got a bad case of flatulence any more.
And the real win... I've had an annoying rattle on the 9000 for some time. In the past I found it was due to the heatshield on the cat having come loose but the fix I last did with stainless cable ties was holding. I couldn't see anything obvious but I knew it was the NS that caused more grief so it tried thumping the wheel and heard a rattle. As luck would have it, the aperture of the Super Aeros was just in the right place for me to notice that the caliper was missing the retaining spring. Grabbed a spare from thE garage and all is quiet again now. Bliss!l
I did the plugs and coils on the Carlsson last weekend. The brake vac hose had been broken and glued, so I had to stick that together.
Bit of a fiddly job, but not too bad.
I fit the gear linkage bush kit from Abbott today. I've been eyeing up the same kit on Maptun's site for some time but they wanted around £80 for it (inc postage.). Abbott have it on offer atm so £51 all in. Still quite expensive for a couple of bits of turned brass but really worth it. There was a fair amount of play with the original bushes and shifting gears is now much more positive.
https://www.abbottsaab.com/product/saab-9-5-uprated-gear-linkage-bush-kit/ (https://www.abbottsaab.com/product/saab-9-5-uprated-gear-linkage-bush-kit/)
Started on dealing with this... :(
I'm going to pretend I didn't see this and live in ignorant bliss at what's behind my arch liners!
At least it looks like you're getting it before it's gone too far.
It's not too bad considering that the car is nearly 12 years old. When I started driving a car was unlikely to survive more than 8-10 years.
The good thing is that the arch liners are fixed with plastic nuts, so they came of without shearing off the fixing studs :)
I'm going to try and kill the rust with Bilt Hamber "Hydrate 80". I used it on the rust on the roof a year ago and that's still OK, but back then, I cleaned out the brush by brushing the Hydrate 80 on a rusty chain hanging from my trailer. It hangs in the open and is very rusty. It's still there and the rust has gone, so hopefully this stuff is good for a year or three. I picked up on a recommendation from Martin at Jamsaab. Seems a good one!! :) When the Hydrate 80 has cured in 24 hours, the wheel arch will get a coat of Hammerite followed by some underseal.
That's well worth keeping a note of!
One coat of Hydrate 80. Optical illusion on the photo for some, the bits that look like blisters are actually pitting!!
And then a coat of Hammerite.
The other side is a bit worse and the fuel filler pipe and EVAP stuff is in the way as well
Did the first service on the 9-5 yesterday. Filters, plugs, oil. As well as two engine mounts.
Found the service a bit more of a faff than the 9-3, particularly the pollen filter!!!
Noted when I bought the car, that it had been grounded at some point as there's some denting to the downpipe and cat. It seems that it's worse than I'd thought and the cat is holed with a small amount of sulphur deposited on the outside. Question is, will this constitute an MOT fail?
Replaced both LED side lights as they'd started to flicker. I noticed when I had the lights off the other month, that both LED bulbs had melted slightly. Bit poor that they only lasted a year, if I get the same life out of the set I've just fit, then I'll be going back to incandescents.
Fit these this time: https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/501-twenty20-cree-led-12v-w5w-canbus-wedge-bulb.html (https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/501-twenty20-cree-led-12v-w5w-canbus-wedge-bulb.html)
Replaced the small o-ring in the press in fitting for the vac line on top of the cobra. The fitting was a bit hit and miss when it came to gripping the pipe and the pipe felt a bit loose in there, so I'm sure it would have been sucking some unmetered air. The old o-ring was rather warn so I've replaced with a 12mm ID, 3mm section (I happened to have in stock) which was slightly too large section and made for a rather tight fit, but it's holding well and certainly well sealed.
Finally gave her a hoover and refit the passenger floor mat as the foot well has fully dried out since I fixed the leak a few weeks back, that had been letting in rain water around the ECU.
I have done nothing to either car for a couple of months. Building work is getting in the way... :o
I've had a bit of busy weekend in all... Also Artexed a patch in one of the bedroom ceilings the the electrician had put his foot through >:( the only ceiling in the house that the previous owner had Artexed! The plasterer had repaired the hole but some numpty (our builder) made a pee poor job of matching the stippled Artex, he thought putting emulsion on thickly would do it!. I fit push latches to a set of built-in cupboards in our hallway that have had no handles for the best part of 3 years. And spread a tonne of manure on the borders.
I've now got 3 weeks to paint and prep the stairs and landing for new carpet that's going down. If anyone knows a good source of reclaimed 5&11/16" floorboards I'd be happy to know, I need to replace a few .. Bit of a tangent but I blame you Will for mentioning building work ;D
Fit a set of new window rollers on the drivers window. I'd heard it go crack when it was rolling it down a few months ago and lo and behold both rollers had cracked.
Half hour job to get them in and good to see the window guide that I'd "no-more-nail'ed in place was still where it should be!
A nice simple job on the blue car today, just a rims swap from winter tyres to summer.
The car feels much taughter :)
Got my 9-5 back from having a new clutch a full set of poly subframe and front ARB bushes.
No more slipping clutch, no more judder pulling off in 1st. And the bushes have made a very noticeable improvement to handling, much more direct feel to steering, less wander. I had no knocking prior but about 1 cm or so of lift with a crowbar when it was up on stands (Seemed silly not to do the bushes whilst the subframe was off to do the clutch). And I don't feel any additional harshness, in fact I'd say it less crashy on the potholes than the worn standard bushes..
During the cause of giving it a good run, I turned ESP off for the first time ever. Floored it coming off a fast round about and Holy Moly I must have left a good few hundred yards of rubber on the tarmac. Needless to say, ESP went straight back on again but I was quite surprised by how controllable it was despite doing an amazing impression of a hooligan! I think this emoticon is relevant here :Fawlty:
Ah, you'll be needing an LSD next... much less chance of leaving a rubber stripe but when it does, it's "interesting"- FWD with both wheels spinning! :o :Fawlty:
Very tempted but I'm doing a lot of this 'by stealth' and I'm not sure I can swing an LSD. I was under orders from SWMBO not to tune this one. The 3" DP sold as (and correctly so) "a cost effective replacement of the stock pipe". Stage 3 was sold as "Karl making some changes to the ECU to accommodate the 3" DP". As you know she's far from stupid and rumbled me shortly after driving it with said modifications. Currently seeds have been sown for a little B12 upgrade and a FMIC.
I'm also worried an LSD would put me in the nearest ditch ???
Got the 9000 through it's MOT with just a couple of advisories :Fawlty: :Fawlty:
8) :)
I'm still learning what people have if it isn't in their signatures, so I am delighted there's another 9000 still around here. More on SORN than taxed these days though, having read the "anyone still running a 9000" thread and done an up to date check. I was getting a bit worried, 4 years and no updates.
What did I do today - well yesterday in truth, and related to stripping the breaker. I had noticed a couple of weeks ago that the drivers front upper speaker had gone a bit silent.
A couple of minutes work and the speaker was off, the donor was tested and working so great, not an unit/amp problem, and 5 minutes later the in car entertainment was back to full strength. It almost took more time to read how to access the speaker and get the right size torx bit than to do the repair.
In the house currently we have
06 Edna Aero Estate
00 GM9-3
96 9000 Aero, this one:
It's the same colour as my Dads (my old company car), beige interior though
At last year's National Rally at Prescott Hill Climb there was only one 9000... it won a prize for best in class!! :D
However in Trollhättan on Saturday there were plenty of all flavours of Saab. Well over 1000 cars. :) Including a street of 9000s parked both sides! :Fawlty:
Yesterday, actually:
1. washed and cleaned her - gleaming for a few hours until the seagulls redecorated the grill. >:(
2. used my yellow cable tie hinge method to fix the washer reservoir cap which snapped off when I was cleaning and topping up the car. (If it had only happened before I ordered the plugs and rear boot badge I would have bought a new one.)
3. replaced the old plugs I think were causing the occasional misfire to be logged - she idles smoother and accelerates harder when the loud pedal is pressed. ;D
4. replaced the cable tie holding the auto gear selector on with a bush repair kit - once I figured out how to get the rusty metal clip out I was able to do it without removing the entire cable from the car. Very easy to fit and I didn't have to pull the centre console apart!
Just need to sort the slight oil leak, the rear arch blistering and the bumper scrape someone didn't leave a note about.
Did the thermostat on the 9-5. Bolts sheared off, but not too bad a job.
Today I checked the coolant level and all seems well. Then I had a quick check around the engine bay and saw that the short length of hose from the purge valve to the non-return valve on the EVAP system was starting to split at the end, so I replaced it with silicone. A quick suck to check the valve was working - and it wasn't :( I could blow both ways once it was off and cleaned.
The Saab replacement is difficult to uwork out because the parts list shows a diagram for the old EVAP system, LHD, RHD, USA, rest of world, etc. so which part is which is anyone's guess ::) And anyway it comes with lengths of pipe attached.
So I ordered an aluminium valve from eBay which will get here sometime next week. Then SWMBO reminded me that she needed my car to go to Northampton on Saturday...
I looked for valves elsewhere, but found nothing. On the way out to a meeting this evening I stopped at Halfords, just in case; but they had nothing. Then I remembered Midnight Motors which was also on the way. I went in and asked. The man reached behind the counter and said "Which do you want. 6mm, 8mm or 10mm?" :D
The Saab valve is, of course, 6mm on one end and 8mm on the other ::)
I know what I'll be doing tomorrow...
Norgren do a great range of check valves, and you can specify what size on each end. RS sell them.
I looked at the Norgren ones but the ones on the RS website all looked to be ones with socketed ends that needed a rigid pipe pushed into them. Next time I pop into RS in Watford I'll have a closer look.
All done! :)
So much for guessing the size. The Saab valve has 8mm & 10mm ends, not 6mm & 8mm ::) But a couple of pipe clips sorted that.
Oh! Rats.
Been out for a test drive and all seems well, except for a slight smell of petrol.
That makes things difficult. It might be a longer term problem, and not caused by the work that I've been doing because I lost my sense of smell and got some nasal spray from the doctor which has restored my sense of smell to some extent, but only in the last 48 hours...
It's not the fuel filter, that's completely dry.
All OK now..
It helps if you reconnect the purge valve electrics!! :roll:
My 9-5 passed it's MOT with zero advisories, just the usual note about child seats not allowing full inspection of the rear seatbelts.
Also played cheque book mechanic had the rear rose buhses, that have sat in my kitchen for the last 3 months, fitted. Need to have the alignment checked again but hopefully that's brought my rear camber back within tolerances. The rear end certainly feels a lot tighter (Oooh, you are awful .. but I like you)
Got round to doing the last service item yesterday, the evil cabin filter. That has to be one of the most ill thought out service items, in the history of service items... Trim removed, glove box out, removed inspection cover, forgot to disconnect battery, arched the fan controller heat-sink that's attached to the inspection cover on the ECU ... and then spent the best part of 30 mins contorting myself trying to get the new filter in whilst keeping the foam block in place around the air-con pipes! Finally succeeded by using a long pallet knife to hold up and compress the foam block whilst I slid in the filter.
Worth noting the 'Genuine' Saab filter I was sent (from a reputable parts supplier) is no longer marked as a Saab part, it just carries a Mann Filters logo and part number. It also has an 'improvement' by way of double sided sticky tape to hold the foam block in place on top of the filter. If you have A/C do not attempt to stick the foam to the top of the filter as there's absolutely no way to get the filter in and the foam secured around the A/C pipes with it attached to the filter. You'll simply spend an additional 10 mins cleaning double sided tape off the top of the filter..
Tackled my leaky rear offside light cluster. It's been swilling with water for a while and having just blown the second rear/brake light in as many months, thought I'd better have a look.
The connector was very wet, as were the terminals which were covered in salt deposits and had signs of aching.
Filled the cluster with water and couldn't see any leaking so can only assume water's been getting in via the connector or the seal around the bulb holder. Cleaned both connector and holder seals and smeared liberally with silicone grease, dried the cluster out, cleaned the terminals and put it all back together. Hopefully job done!
Today I swore at my at my Saab several times ;D
Drove up north for a birthday party. Realised this morning just before I started my drive back that the nearside rear tyre had 15psi in it. Had checked it before I set off on Friday. Front nearside was also down 3 or 4 psi. Had to stop 3 times this afternoon to top up the rear tyre, dropping about 10psi in an hour.
Noticed after a half hour of driving that we'd had icy cold air continually blowing on us despite the temp being set to 19 degrees. Climate control only blew hot air with the temp set to max... Also my OpenSID kept freezing.
Took the rear tyre off when I got home and fit the space saver so the Mrs doesn't have to worry about constantly pumping it up. No nails but a spray of soapy water showed the valve was badly leaking. Front nearside valve also leaking with a little less vigour. They were new at the end of June!
Ran an ACC calibration which didn't show any error and it did appear to be blowing warm air again, however I noticed the SID was displaying external temp as --- and I could no longer ender openSID. So I'm assuming a busted temperature sensor.
Annoying day but thankfully (hopefully) nothing too difficult or expensive to fix.
Quote from: fka on 29 September 2019, 09:37:10 PM
T
Noticed after a half hour of driving that we'd had icy cold air continually blowing on us despite the temp being set to 19 degrees. Climate control only blew hot air with the temp set to max.
Check the coolant level, low coolant also gives no heat......... and you're just showing off that your aircon is working :)
Coolant level is good. It blew nice and hot, I just needed to turn the temp up to max to get it there. I'm assuming the ACC uses the external temp sensor?? I know a faulty external sensor prevents you entering opensid... Kinda hoping it's that simple.
I mean I don't like to brag but it's dam cold 8)
I swore at it again today :-X
Mrs has been driving round today with the space saver on and told me the ABS warning light and ESP 'off' lights had come on with a corresponding bong. Did initially think I'd go larger problems than just a failed outer temperature sensor but it seemed a bit of a coincidence that it coincided with having fitted the "funny tiny wheel" as my eldest calls it.
Seems to be noted on a few forum posts that the different size of the space makes that wheel turn at a different rate to the others, causing the ABS to throw its toys out of the pram. Panic over !
Garage that fit my tyres sorted the two leaky valves today, the valve cores were loose. Guess I could have done that myself had a put a little more thought into it.
Mrs tells me the ABS warning and 'no ESP' lights went off shortly after leaving the garage, with 4 equally sized wheels on!
Fit the new temperature sensor this afternoon. The old one had actually started to tell approximately the correct temperature this morning and my openSID started to work again along with the ACC, but thought it prudent to change it anyway.
Once I'd got the bumper off I spotted the connector for the bumper wiring loom was dangling around the bottom of the air box. Presumably the last person to have the bumper off hadn't put it back properly and as they'd also failed to re-secure the air box (Identified a few months back when tracing a knocking from the front end) I'm not too surprised..
Since the temp sensor failed on a long and very rainy drive, I'm now not sure if the connector had just been saturated and then eventually dried out. Or if the sensor has actually failed?!
Hi, does anyone know the process of replacing the fuel filter on a 1.9tid? Mine is located in the engine bay.
Much appreciated.
Seems to be different depending on year, pre 06 models have a different procedure to post 06.
Fit a pair of new ball joints.
Offside was still very tight, nearside was free moving with a tiny bit of play. Probably wasted my time but at least had the chance to have a good poke around. Control arms are very rusty but solid, their bushes are good but the rubber does allow a fair bit of of lateral movement so might fork out for polys. Ultimately looking for a bit more stability at motorway speeds, for which I'm sure I just need a suspension refresh/upgrade..
Also ordered the wrong Aerotwin wiper blades AP22/24U rather than AR. I'm laying blame fully with an ambiguous website for that, although I should have know better ::)
Over the weekend I have removed the Kenwood satnav unit and almost fitted the Pioneer unit to replace it. The only thing that's needed tomorrow is to fit the Pioneer microphone and run the lead around the windscreen edge. The existing Kenwood microphone has a different connector :(
The Kenwood DNX4210DAB replaced the original Denso unit in 2013. The Denso was never very useable and the maps were fixed. You couldn't add you own points of Interest - except one by one... Then it went wrong and needed a new DVD unit. A replacement was cheaper.
The Kenwood was a disappointment. I think it was rushed to market without proper testing. It is slow to start up and has many niggling bugs. It too has started to become a bit unreliable on top of the bugs. It uses Garmin maps/satnav.
So I've ditched the satnav and gone for a Pioneer SPH-DA230DAB which hopefully will use the free satnav apps already available on my phone.
So far all the leads (except the mic) are connected and it lights up and the FM and DAB radio works.
If anyone wants a double DIN Kenwood head unit that works most of the time, it's available!
Today I found that there's an aerial fault. it worked on the old set...
And I put the winter tyres on the Carlsson.
One oddity. I put TyrePal tyres sensors on the winter tyres last year. This year, for some reason, two tyres have sensors and two do not. I need to find the missing ones. When I ran all four wheels with no pressure sensors, the built-in TPMS system assumes "winter mode" and ignores the fact that there are no sensors. The wheels with the OE TPMS sensors are nowhere near the car, but the car is showing a tyre pressure failure on the instrument panel. It would seem that the TyrePal system uses industry standard transmission frequencies and are being read by the built-in TPMS....
Got an MOT on my dads 9000 Aero :) :Fawlty:
More like a recommissioning, lots of work involved starting with replacement clutch, then some minor chassis repairs, brake refurb and all sorts of stuff I spotted. It's been a while since I had a proper look at the car.
A few little jobs to do today and then I suppose I need to give her a deep clean and polish
Well done! :)
I found the missing pressure sensors, and the failure warning has stopped, but Tech2 can spread no data. So it seems the car can only recognise their presence but not their info.
Finished off the 9000 with a second wash and bit of a polish.
The dash top has been off for a few days troubleshooting an instrumentation fault. I think it's fixed and he's back from his hols this evening so time to deliver it back to him. I have thoroughly enjoyed driving my old Aero, and had forgotten just how luggable they are with the long gearing, it still pulls like a train. Here's a photo, as I suspect it will be a while before it's this clean again (don't look too closely) and it's always nice to see a 9000 :)
(http://937carrera.co.uk/IMAG1463.jpg)
Fixed the orange filament monitor on the grey car.
Nearside main beam had gone off, bulb OK, fuse OK, no warning light on the dash when the right hand main beam was illuminated.
Once I got the plastic cover off it was simply a matter of remaking the solder connection on the board for terminal 56al
The easy test is that there should be continuity between terminal 56a, 56al and 56ar as marked on the base of the "relay"
Today I was a bit shocked! :o
I decided to try and sort out the P0059 fault which indicated a fuel pressure fault. After looking at things, I decided that changing the fuel pressure sensor was the best option. Opie Oil were selling a Bosch one for £27. Orio were doing the same part for £201. :o :o Talk about making Saabs expensive to repair!!
Anyway, £27 was cheaper than a trip to a specialist, so worth a try. I read the WIS instructions which stated that the fuel pressure should be reduced to zero by carefully pressing the relief valve until no more fuel came out. I did this. I even used a plastic tool to avoid any spark risk. Then it was just a case of one connector and two small bolts. Everything went fine until I eased the old sensor out...
... it came out followed by a fountain of fuel still under pressure!!! :o :o :o I was covered in petrol. :)
Job was completed. Car started and engine light was out, without the need for a Tech2 session. So, hopefully that was the issue.
I've had a good wash and changed my clothes, but the smell of petrol still lingers...
Today I went out to the 9-5 and serviced the four tyre pressure monitors. Replacing all four coin batteries. No more bleeping for low battery warning.
Keeping the work to a nice gentle level, I decided that today was the day to buy new numberplates for SWMBO's Carlsson and fit the Saab Museum surrounds that we bought at the Saab Museum Festival last June. I couldn't use the existing perspex plates because they are too thick. But the latest style from Halfords are aluminium backed and a lot thinner.
No photos. It got dark and the front fitting was a pain. In all the five years we have had the car; I never noticed that the plate was 2 inches off centre. I got that sorted, but it took longer than planned and now it needs to be adjusted as it's not very level. ::) ::)
I would have done this in the summer, but SWMBO put all the car docs in a "safe place" and has only just found them. She is out at the moment. I wonder how long it will take her to notice the change!! :D Probably straight away! Although I will wait until Christmas Day to tell her if she hasn't noticed by then...
MOT on the 9-3 today, front suspension arm and drop link were shot, £350 bill in total.
Then when walking back from the shop with my colleague we were talking about Saabs (he has a 9-3 and we were talking about the brakes on his brother in laws 9-3) only to have a scrappers lorry drive past with a 54 plate 9-3 and a 07 plate 9-3 on the back... :-\
Going back to the post two up^^^^^
It's been 5 weeks and she still hasn't noticed the new number plates and surrounds. I forgot about it at Christmas, so we'll wait and see. Maybe this week I will tell her, as a birthday present!! Maybe not... :)
Front bumper off and temp sensor changed. Not too bad a job. The front bumper is fixed in pretty much the same way as the 9-5, and I've had that off several times! :)
Replaced the rollers on the driver's door window regulator, failure happened over Christmas holidays on a cold and rainy day hundreds of miles from home, not the best but managed to jury rig a repair to get home
turns out the one that had failed had no grease in the track which was probably the cause of the failure
Yesterday I fit a tow bar. Will be doing the electrics over the weekend..
Replaced for the second time in my ownership the Xenon bulbs. What a difference! Hadn't realised how dim the previous ones had got.
Ran out of time and light trying to sort the rear washer, so tomorrow's job, wind permitting, will be to replace the missing screws from the undertray...which I found out about when one side dropped at speed. >:( How difficult is it to put all the fasteners in a plastic box (ideally compartmented) and leave it in the boot of the car they're working on?
That's a job for me to do on my green one, one of the lights has decided to take on a pinkish tinge.
Today I fixed the charging sockets and electric seat adjusters on the green one, more detail in my thread
Though not strictly on topic, this weekend I helped fix somebody else's 9000. Bought as a non runner it is now running after repairs to the ignition switch, CPS and earth on the ECU
Not yet done, but I've ordered a couple of D1S bulbs for the Carlsson. In the traffic jams on the M25 yesterday, I noticed that one headlamp was yellow and one was white. :(
So, after taking the front bumper off last week for the temp sensor, it's time to take it off again...
Yesterday, actually, but I replaced the shredded undertray! Secondhand tray which hasn't scraped along the road, new clips and screws and all is well. Just need to do the other little jobs...
Rear washer working again. Replaced the faulty valve (or was it just a connector?) in the n/s wheel arch (thank you carrera) but was still dribbling out the rear despite rodding with a drill bit. Snipped the end off a bicycle brake cable and gently wiggled it in a long way until it would give a nice long stream. With the new rear washer nozzle adjusted it is back to how it should be.
Replaced the sooty number plate bulbs with LEDs and the same for the front side lights (one holder had melted) so now it has white side lights to go with the xenons.
Fitted a new rear wiper blade to the rear of the 9-5. That took all of 30 seconds!! :)
Quote from: sgould on 29 February 2020, 05:38:56 PM
Fitted a new rear wiper blade to the rear of the 9-5. That took all of 30 seconds!! :)
It wasn't a Bosch one then. They have the wrong size and fitting for the 9-5, despite what it says on the back of the packet. I bought two and started to wonder how I couldn't do a simple wiper blade.
And to keep on topic, I collected a 2.3LPT estate today..... that will be the subject of another thread, when I get round to it
I got mine as a genuine GM one (Saab9-5/Saab 9-3/Astra H) from the eBay shop of Euro Saab Parts Direct in Dunmow. I've used Peter O'Carroll a few times and found him very good. He used to run the parts dept of a London Saab dealer. It's perfect fit. Exactly as the original. I think that the wiper blade may have changed at some point in the life of te 9-5. This one is just a push to remove and push to clip the new one on.
This is the one that I got for the 2007 9-5
These are the ones that don't fit - finger pointing at the saab 9-3 and 9-5 Combi compatbility :( (good job too as i seemed to be suffering from shaky hand syndrome) ;D
Today I started investigating the scraming blower motor.
I got this far before it started raining...
Needs a vacuum, wash and a grease. :o
That's the hard work done then, presumably you have had the wiper arms off before ;)
Do the wiper spindles while you are in there. I did them on my blue one when changing the speed controller. A couple of weeks ago the same screeching started on my green one ::)
It's the first time I've had the arms off. I wound up the puller really tight, and nothing happened. So I boiled a kettle and poured the water over. The bang was so loud that my wife thought that something heavy had fallen, and she came down to see if I was OK!! :o
We have "lift-out" :)
The brushes are worn down a bit and the springs fairly extended. I'm not going anywhere for a while, so I may get some new brushes. The outer frame is not the same as the WIS. It has clips and bolts.
Firstly I hope everyone is holding up ok :thumbsup:
Today I repaired the front bumper SWMBO managed to graze on an unsuspecting SUV.
Had to buy a new washer nozzle (part 12762222) as it appeared to been the only broken part.
Once I got the bumper off found the housing for the hydraulic washer arm (part 12767675) had also bitten the dust and was hanging on by a thread. Managed to patch that up and find a suitable o-ring that seals between the nozzle and the extending arm, only to find the hydraulic arm no longer fully extends. It seems a bit sticky at the mid point of it's extension, so I may be in the market for a salvaged one, if it doesn't get through it's next MOT.
What looked like minor damage turned out to be a massive PITA!
Whilst the bumper was off, I fit the Abbott intercooler I picked up second (maybe 3rd) hand about 6 months ago.
Bit of a phaff getting it in without damaging anything else but not too bad. Also the stock FMIC I took out was in remarkably good shape considering my peak boost is still a little wayward. A very slight bowing at the bottom but nothing major.
Throttle response is markedly snappier. I may go to stage 3+ but don't feel any real need for it, unless it would help when towing..
I might have one of those washers. I'll look in daylight tomorrow. I'm sure that I have one with the fixing hooks broken because I took it out he wrong way around, but I might have a good one. Not sure which side it is though.
That would be awesome if you do Will. Thank you!
I found this one. It was on the replacement bumper that I used to replace the one I broke on mine. So I have never used it, but it looks OK. I also have the plastic cover, if you need that. It's in the original silver - possibly Titan Grey.
If you would like it, PM your details and I'll find a way to get it to you. I'm not supposed to go out, as I'm on the vulnerable list, but my wife won't be a vulnerable age for a month or so!! :) I need another bunch of pills soon and the post office is next to the pharmacy in the village.
Well, I hope the parcel arrives. It was collected an hour ago from the porch where I left it. But, 10 mins ago, a man driving a taxi with a boot full of parcels stopped outside and tried to deliver it back to me... :o He's sitting outside in his car eating his sandwiches at the moment...
I ordered a new aerial for the car on Friday morning. It was apparently sent First Class the same day, but it hasn't arrived yet. :)
I must have spent too long doing the aerial investigation and the blower motor with the car unlocked and doors open, because the battery is flat. I can jumpstart it with my power pack, but it really needs a decent drive to charge it up. Or I will have to buy a charger. My old charger failed last year and wasn't replaced.
Quote from: sgould on 31 March 2020, 01:43:38 PM
I can jumpstart it with my power pack, but it really needs a decent drive to charge it up. Or I will have to buy a charger. My old charger failed last year and wasn't replaced.
20 mins on tickover will do a lot, or go out for a drive, you aren't going to be having contact with anyone are you ?
Or maybe even repair the battery charger, it's only a rectifier / transformer after all :)
The charger was thrown out. It must have been bought 50 years ago!! It died when the old garage roof leaked and flooded it and everything rusted away. I did have a look but it was a mess...
Our local butcher is delivering food, but he's a bit overwhelmed, so on of us my have to goto Costco. It's our nearest supermarket apart from a mini-Tesco next to the butcher. I will go the long way around, but it can wait until I've fitted the aerial. There's just enough power to operate the door locks at the moment - maybe only once more!! :o
Another day has passed (almost) and the First Class post from Friday is still not here. :) The Royal Mail tracker says "We have it!", as it has done since Friday afternoon.
No sooner spoken that the aerial arrived. All fitted and working. :) So it was the old aerial that died at the same time as I changed the radio. It was probably broken earlier, but the Kenwood was a bit more able to cope with an unamplified aerial.
Only one small snag, the DAB Fakra connector was not the same as the one I removed so i had to pare off a fin to make it fit.
Hopefully the car will start in the morning, if necessary. My jump start battery pack was flat too ::) ::)
So jump started from the Carlsson and went for a drive. I took SWMBO to Costco for food and drove around the car park for 20 mins while she was in there. :)
Quote from: sgould on 31 March 2020, 01:43:38 PM
Well, I hope the parcel arrives. It was collected an hour ago from the porch where I left it. But, 10 mins ago, a man driving a taxi with a boot full of parcels stopped outside and tried to deliver it back to me... :o He's sitting outside in his car eating his sandwiches at the moment...
Sounds well ;D
Nothing yet but I'll let you know when it arrives..
Well, the Hermes tracker looks promising. :thumbsup:
Well, yesterday actually. On a lunchtime break I decided to change the fuel pump. The old one had been giving erratic fuel readings for a while and was a bit noisy. I managed to get NOS pierberg for a good price. I had the removal tool, so it should all be easy, right?
Well, the first thing that greeted me was a nest on removing the cover! Obviously the car must have been stood for some time in its history before I owned it.
Removing the debris it then transpired the (now departed) resident had enjoyed a good gnaw at the cable insulation >:(
One of the retaining tabs had been broken and there was an odd metal bracket that had been jury rigged to retain the fuel line.
Anyway, the ring undid easily enough. However as I then went to pull the pump out, it was apparent that it was in two halves- the spring had come away from the top plate. So it looks like it had been replaced with a dodgy used unit in the past.
This made getting it out something of a struggle, but I got there in the end. Wrapped some insulation tape around the wires and we're all good to go again... but the bonus ball was that as I had Tech 2 on the check the readings, I thought I'd also check the aircon pressure to see if it might be needing a regas. Pressure? Zero. Zilch. Nada. So I now have to find the hole in the A/C system...
My aircon leaked twice in the past three years.
The first was when I found that the metal aircon pipes across the car had been rubbing on the fluid cooling pipes between the auto gearbox and the radiator. All four pipes needed replacing. Fortunately the aircon had previously been filled with fluorescent dye, so I found the source with a UV torch. Small the plastic clips on the aircon pipes were broken. I had never been in there, so it could have been done by the main Saab dealer when they fitted the Hirsch stuff, or a bit later when they replaced the power steering pipe.
As I did not want to work with aircon stuff and I needed the car fixed in a hurry before we went on holiday, I took it to another local Saab specialist. The day we arrived in France the CEL came on with a MAF fault. I cleared it, but it kept returning after an hour or so. A couple of days later I found that they had fitted the MAF the wrong way around...
The aircon leaked again a year later, I took the car to another Saab specialist who found that, although the replaced aircon pipes had been fitted into the plastic clips, it hadn't been done well and one of the pipes had rubbed through on a bodywork flange. Again low down behind the rad.
Quote from: phoenix on 02 April 2020, 08:49:07 AM
One of the retaining tabs had been broken and there was an odd metal bracket that had been jury rigged to retain the fuel line.
The odd metal bracket might be the genuine Saab part used to hold the fuel lines in place on a number of OG9-3 which had a recall due to the tabs breaking. I've seen those brackets used to fix fuel pumps on a few cars.
Quote from: sgould on 02 April 2020, 09:45:19 AM
Small the plastic clips on the aircon pipes were broken. I had never been in there, so it could have been done by the main Saab dealer when they fitted the Hirsch stuff, or a bit later when they replaced the power steering pipe.
Are these the plastic clips? I noticed the threaded stud on the nearside of my subframe when I did the intercooler last week but nothing holding the two pipes. I thought it didn't look right!
*edit* for my own reference more than anything part Nos 4633202 and 4633715
Quote from: Audax on 02 April 2020, 08:44:00 PM
Quote from: phoenix on 02 April 2020, 08:49:07 AM
One of the retaining tabs had been broken and there was an odd metal bracket that had been jury rigged to retain the fuel line.
The odd metal bracket might be the genuine Saab part used to hold the fuel lines in place on a number of OG9-3 which had a recall due to the tabs breaking. I've seen those brackets used to fix fuel pumps on a few cars.
This is the bracket. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAAB-NG-900-93-9-3-95-9-5-FUEL-PUMP-LINE-RETAINING-TAB-CLIP-MODIFIED-12806113/332446345457
Quote from: sgould on 01 April 2020, 11:35:17 PM
Well, the Hermes tracker looks promising. :thumbsup:
Arrived this morning :thumbsup:
If you're missing a 1.5mm drill bit, I found one in the box!
Don't worry about the drill bit. I've been clearing and tidying the shed and found quite a few small drills and other things. It seems that I have a lot more in the way of tools than I knew I had!! :)
I noticed from the Hermes tracker at 12.20pm that the parcel had arrived 40 minutes later at 1.00pm :D They must be working on continental time.
It took a while to organise the screen shot...
Nice shot of Mrs running shoes ;D
Well, nothing obvious. I've also been round it with a UV torch. Now waiting on the arrival of a mini-regas kit to get some pressure in and listen for the hisssss...
Found the leak... jury rigged power steering pipe was touching and had rubbed a small hole in the condensor. The anti- vibration mounts had failed an it had been cable tied.
I've ordered and received new mounts, new condenser (with dryer) and some more gas to get it going as far as checking the system is properly sealed before booking a full regas.
Well done. Make sure there's fluorescent dye in the new gas.
Is the power steering pipe OK? When my pipes rubbed together, both pipes were badly worn.
Can you guess what I have been doing ;D
Both the daily 9-5's have been having the annoying intermittent siren sounding problem. It's quite annoying when it continues even with the engine running. No parts yet, but the diagnosis from left to right
Broken one from the graphite green rescue - 3.08 volts left in the battery
Early spare given to fix, nice and easy, just screws - 0.03 volts
Late spare given to fix, tried to separate with heat and a knife, ended up using a dremmel - 3.01v
Removed from silver auto, similar symptoms - 3.05 volts
Now what was really interesting was that the one from the silver car had already been "done", includings the capacitors. So why is this one bad. Well, look at the writing on the battery. The "Lithium" is not in the same place and the orange is slightly weaker. I reckon these are fake copies, with the solder tags out of position.
So I have 3 to fix, plus two on cars
I don't suppose anyone knows hat the trigger limit for the "Service theft alarm" warning on SID is. I think when new these batteries are 3.25v.
Some people have wired in an external battery pack and mounted it in the engine bay. Someone else built a voltage dropper circuit and mounted that in the engine bay run from the car battery.
On the other hand, these cars are really very old now. Are they at risk of theft? Would it just be worth removing the alarm unit altogether? I believe that the warning can be turned off in Tech2.
I don't see the risk of theft has being that great at all, the immobiliser serves that function. After all many owners have enough problems getting past the Immo anyway :)
Glass breakages to nick contents is perhaps another matter. I thought that the batteries would be rechargeable, and if you look closely you will even see a transformer. That must be a step up transformer for the siren as the batteries are not rechargeable
The siren has been removed from the silver car, I think on that one I may just remove the warning, once I figure out where to do it in the menus ::)
Yep, I'm another that's just had the alarm removed and the warning deactivated in Tech2.
Well it was Friday actually... but I did manage to replace the condenser- eventually. Pretty much every single fitting that could have rusted/sheared, did. So there was much application of Dremel, drill and a good dose of re-tapping. I had ordered replacement anti-vibration mounts for the PS pipes which were fine- steel is much harder than aluminium.
Topped it up with a few (cheap) cans of regas but the compressor didn't cut in. A check with Tech 2 showed it was still registering zero pressure. Further investigation revealed that the pressure sensor stub on the replacement was about 0.5mm shorter than the original, so the sensor wasn't quite pressing the valve, so I had to grind some off the end of the sensor. Refit and away. Now working but not icey cold.
Found time between WFH and looking after the kids to get a few bits done today.
Fit the new AC pipe clip (now part no. 32022024 on Orio). I noticed the second clip on the offside of the subframe had a rubber pad between it and the subframe so I cut and used an oblong of neoprene rubber sheet I've got laying around - First and second pics
I'd thought I could put a new cable tie through the clip on the offside but it's an original push-in 'clip' with one side snapped, so I'll need to order another clip - 3rd pic
.. Continued ...
Fit the new washer that Will kindly supplied. I've lost the push rivet so used a self tapper to secure it. Also got the Mrs old hairdryer on the bumper skin and managed to straighten it out fairly well. Used compressed air to extend the arm and get the cover on.
Whilst the bumper was off I noticed the AC dryer is hard up against the Abbott FMIC I put on the other week. Is this going to be a problem/ can the dryer be adjusted/moved? - last pic
Oh d********!
I've continued clearing and sorting the shed and I saw one of those rivets a couple of days ago. I'm not sure that I could find it at the moment... :-[ :-[
;D Not to worry, the hole was already there. It's how I secured the broken one. Looks good a new on the outside and more importantly, it works!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :Fawlty:
Got a bit fed up with 2 of my tyres constantly losing pressure. One wheel had been back and forth to the garage I elected to fit my tyres as part of the Black Circles install deal, until they finally said they'd done everything they could to clean the rim up and (fair enough) washed their hands of it. Bit the bullet and ordered a set from a refurb exchange place. They didn't have any ALU62s in stock but did have ALU83 (Griffin) rims and were happy to exchange with the ALU62s.. I'm running 235s so had to be a 7.5j rim. I was tempted with a set of ALU71 et41 they had but the design didn't quite fit with me and I've no plans to fit bigger brakes.
Quite happy with them.. and very happy with the service at my small local independent tyre gaff. Always use a torque wrench, which says a lot!
Additionally on the whole tyre pressure topic... last week I decided to try to up my tyre pressure from 36psi all round to 39psi. Since I'd had the B12 kit put on I was never entirely happy with the feel, especially at speed. Steering felt slightly woolly, tram-lining was more evident and small ridges on the road felt overly harsh. The tramlining and woollyness - to be fair to the B12 kit - has been 'more' evident since the CrossClimates went on.
Had to go into work yesterday so drove to London bridge down the A3 and it felt a lot better. Holds the center line more confidently, less tramlining and didn't seem to feel as harsh on rough roads at speed and around town.
Wondering if the combination of the wider 235s and the soft compound of the CrossClimates benefits from a little extra air to reduce the contact patch? I'm no tyre expert but it seems to make sense to me.. How that affects braking is another matter.
Quote from: fka on 22 April 2020, 02:46:39 PM
Got a bit fed up with 2 of my tyres constantly losing pressure.
I've lived with this for years now on my old 9-5, i.e. what I take to be porous alloys and constantly needing more air. I've replaced (I think) two with refurbs at Saabtech at previous services, but one of the remainder is now so bad that it loses (a remarkably consistent) 1 psi per day. Since I only use the car weekly at the most (and less at present) no journey is complete without a four-tyre pressure check. Driving a car off without working up a sweat pumping up one or more of the tyres would seem an extraordinary luxury!
Mine all lost pressure to a greater or lesser degree, the worst one was the same a yours, about 1psi a day but would leak quicker when I drove the car - which was confidence inspiring! Eventually the garage cleaned it up as best they could and looking at the bare rims, smothered on the rim sealant but it was pitted so badly it kept leaking. They've all got corrosion patches all the way round the bead seat, I'm surprised they held pressure at all.
Oh, so I'm not the only one with that problem then ;D
I made it much more manageable by getting a little air compressor for home. Not one of the little 12v electric ones, but a small "proper" one. Conveniently I already had the hose and inflater. A bit like this one https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wolf-Air-Compressor-Running-But-For-Spares-Or-Repairs/174257764205 (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wolf-Air-Compressor-Running-But-For-Spares-Or-Repairs/174257764205) I'll bet the head gasket has gone on that, 4 bolts to take the head off and then make up a new paper gasket - common problem on all piston compressors. I think I gave £14 for mine which was a real bargain
I'd wondered about one of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079Z9FQPW/
I don't really want one of the many that run off the battery since the car is only running occasionally and I don't want to draw from the battery when it might not have been run for a fortnight.
Quote from: fka on 22 April 2020, 06:03:33 PM
Additionally on the whole tyre pressure topic... last week I decided to try to up my tyre pressure from 36psi all round to 39psi.
I run crossclimates on the 9-3 at 42psi all round, works very well. Suspension on mine is genuine Saab Aero dampers and new bushes and strut mounts, along with Eibach lowering springs (allegedly 5mm drop over standard Aero suspension).
I also have one wheel that keeps losing pressure, but annoying it only does it when you don't drive it (which given work changes I wasn't driving much anyway!) All my wheels have leaked but I'm not sure how long I want to keep the car as 3 were sealed up by taking them to the competent but expensive tyre fitters (£20 per corner to reseal!), they might be able to sort the other one which has got worse over time but the tyres need changing this winter (if we're allowed out by then).
I have an old Michelin brand 12v tyre inflator. But I always run the engine on tickover when i use it.
Have you considered a solar powered trickle charger? They sit on the dashboard. Cheap too. https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/p/ring-solar-power-battery-maintainer-549777741
There are also some small glovebox sized jumpstart units about these days, like this one. https://www.tayna.co.uk/jump-packs/noco/noco-gb20/
Those lithium jump charge units are surprisingly effective, though I don't know how the Tanya one rates.
On compressors, I see anything that isn't mains powered as a toy. My dad has one, but it takes ages to do anything other than top up a couple of psi.
Quote from: sgould on 23 April 2020, 06:49:27 PMHave you considered a solar powered trickle charger? They sit on the dashboard. Cheap too. https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/p/ring-solar-power-battery-maintainer-549777741
The car is mostly in a (dark) garage these days - and one without power!
I confess that as a now-mostly-ex-biker I regard tyre checks as a much more standard part of every journey than most drivers!
Ah, looks like you are restricted to battery operated or foot operated then
I just use my trusty 12v Michelin pump, works fine for topping up. Although with the car being mostly laid up at the moment, I did put the battery through maintenance and charge cycles at the start of this week. It'd got fairly low on charge and was obviously laboring when I turned the engine over.
One of the tyres was low on one of the daily cars yesterday, so I pumped it up. I did notice that it seemed to be leaking at the valve. 3 hours later I got s call saying it was completely flat. This morning I unscrewed the valve, checked its operation, refitted the valve and blew it up again.
It took less than 2 minutes to pump it up and put the gear away again, 3 hours later it's still pumped up, so it may be worth checking the seating of your tyre valves. The tool to remove them can be picked up for a couple of quid.
On starting cars, please bear in mind idling isn't ideal and you should really let the engine get to full temperature to burn off any condensation. Battery charging etc is great, but there's no substitute for knowing that the engine will actually start. Of course I don't always listen to my own advice ;)
Fit the second A/C pipe clip today, same part No. for both now so the second clip on this side is redundant.
I noticed the insulated flexi pipe had been touching my downpipe and some of the insulation had melted. Used the spare cable tie off the second clip to loosely tie the flexi pipe to the hard line.
With the heat shield off I noticed the lock nut on my actuator arm had wound it''s self loose. Not sure if I forgot to lock it up but rechecked my preload, and took the opportunity to slacken off a half turn, as it's still a little slow to control boost in the lower gears.
Also fit a new washer bottle cap.
Quote from: carrera on 24 April 2020, 01:00:02 PM
One of the tyres was low on one of the daily cars yesterday, so I pumped it up. I did notice that it seemed to be leaking at the valve. 3 hours later I got s call saying it was completely flat. This morning I unscrewed the valve, checked its operation, refitted the valve and blew it up again.
It took less than 2 minutes to pump it up and put the gear away again, 3 hours later it's still pumped up, so it may be worth checking the seating of your tyre valves. The tool to remove them can be picked up for a couple of quid.
On starting cars, please bear in mind idling isn't ideal and you should really let the engine get to full temperature to burn off any condensation. Battery charging etc is great, but there's no substitute for knowing that the engine will actually start. Of course I don't always listen to my own advice ;)
After my recent tyres were fit one of them had a loose valve core. That was a new one to me, I never new they unscrewed until the garage pointed it out to me. I then learned that the cap on my pressure gauge was valve core tool - who knew!! ;D
Quote from: carrera on 24 April 2020, 01:00:02 PMOn starting cars, please bear in mind idling isn't ideal and you should really let the engine get to full temperature to burn off any condensation. Battery charging etc is great, but there's no substitute for knowing that the engine will actually start. Of course I don't always listen to my own advice
Yeah I'm pretty ocd about that. I never start the car without running it for about 10 miles minimum. Even if I have a short pickup of some sort I go the long way.
Yesterday I charged the 3 yera old battery in the Carlsson. Today the 9-5 is getting the full cycle of charge and recondition on the 5 year old battery. Both batteries are Yuasa bought as distress purchases from Halfords.
And having substantially cleared the shed, I started on the long grass around the side. It's only at times like this that you realise how often you have changed the 345mm discs over the years. Anyone want a boat anchor, or two?
Quote from: sgould on 24 April 2020, 08:08:03 PM
Both batteries are Yuasa bought as distress purchases from Halfords.
Same as my last two. 5 years warranty, what could possibly go wrong ;D
Fitted a 314mm brake conversion to my 9-5. Things I learned:
- you can just get the discs inside the existing backing plates with some bending :thumbsup:
- ALU62 wheels do not fit over them >:(
So work is stalled for now whilst I await delivery of some 5mm hubcentric spacers...
It fought back as well. The NS disc retaining screw had seized and needed drilling out. I've had to do this several times before on other cars but they've always just been stuck on the head so as soon as you drill through that it comes out. Not this one. I had to drill it all out then run a tap through the thread. The clips retaining the brake hose on the inner wing bracket were also very seized. Difficult to shift because you don't want to shear the bracket off.
However, the other job, swapping the springs for Eibach went easily. Not got round to the rears yet. Comparing the two side by side (originals are Aero spec), the springs are the same thickness but the Eibachs are about half a turn shorter- maybe 15mm.
Thus I was forced to bring the 9000 out. Chucked some gas in the aircon just in case, gave it a wash and quick polish.
When you do the rears, take the plastic liners out and treat the rust. I did the rust a year later and it was a lot harder with the springs and shocks in place.
Quote from: phoenix on 27 April 2020, 09:09:43 AM
Fitted a 314mm brake conversion to my 9-5.
Do you feel much difference with the 314mm? I thought I'd read a comment of yours, after you'd done the conversion on the last 9-5, that you didn't think it was worth the effort?
Well, it's not a night and day difference, but if you can pick up the calipers and carriers cheap enough it's a lot cheaper than any other brake conversion, and it *should* fit under most 17" rims.
I'd actually bought the calipers before Xmas. Refurbished them- painted, new pistons and seals etc. Having now done a bit more reading, it seems to be a given that they won't fit under 9-5 wheels, which are ET49 whereas the 9-3 wheels are ET41.
Having a bad day today. :(
Decided that the shed was tidy enough, so I thought that I would have a go at the 9-5 passenger seat electrics. So...
Battery was charged up and reconditioned by the new charger in the car last week. This morning it was dead. OK to get the locks open, but just the ignition relay death rattle when I tried to start the car.
So, bonnet open to look at battery. 8.5 volts. Decided to take it out to charge it up. And although the doors are open, the boot, with all the tools in it, defaults to locked, it seems. Got the battery out with a small adjustable and put it on charge. Then I got the battery from the jumpstart unit, which I had also reconditioned last week, connected it to the car and opened the boot. Took out the tools and removed the battery tray and as I saw some rust beneath. Also removed the fuse box.
Then it rained, so everything was put away. 10 mins later the sun came out. I had left the tailgate ajar, but it decided to lock again. Went through the same procedure with the spare battery, but that seems to be dead as well.
So I have what looks like two dead batteries and some rust to fix. And a locked boot with the tools in there.
Then I went to move the Carlsson, to use that battery with jump leads and that just started with the battery being very low. That needs further investigation, either there's something wrong with the new charger/reconditioner. Or the fact that I found the boot had been open all night may have flattened it.
I have to day to sort it. We are promised two days of rain after this.
9-5 battery is two months out of the 5 year guarantee.
Carlsson battery is 3 years old.
Quote from: phoenix on 27 April 2020, 02:23:44 PM
Well, it's not a night and day difference, but if you can pick up the calipers and carriers cheap enough it's a lot cheaper than any other brake conversion, and it *should* fit under most 17" rims.
I'd actually bought the calipers before Xmas. Refurbished them- painted, new pistons and seals etc. Having now done a bit more reading, it seems to be a given that they won't fit under 9-5 wheels, which are ET49 whereas the 9-3 wheels are ET41.
Yup I read about that when I was looking around for refurb wheels. Hence my comment about not planning to fit bigger brakes as I could have had a set of ALU71 with ET41 but didn't like the look of them, too fussy.. Spacers don't seem to be too much of a hassle though.
Once I finally get the chance to haul a fully ladened caravan around a bit more I may change my mind on the brakes!
Sounds like a right palava Will
Here's a freshly cleaned car to cheer you up :thumbsup:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Our Carlsson would probably be worth more if I plant things on it!!
The rust has been chipped off the 9-5 and coated in Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80. And while I'm in there, there are some earth points to clean up.
Quote from: fka on 27 April 2020, 03:33:29 PM
Once I finally get the chance to haul a fully ladened caravan around a bit more I may change my mind on the brakes!
I hauled mum's caravan in 2018 on stock brakes/suspension. Very impressed how it handled. Don't forget the van has it's brakes. Every now and then I run mine at max gross train weight with an unbraked trailer...
Quote from: sgould on 27 April 2020, 02:58:19 PM
Having a bad day today. :(
Oh dear, sorry to hear about that and missing the post. I make a point of disabling any auto locking options and increased the speed when the tailgate locks on the green one when I was messing around at the weekend. So I suppose that's the only auto lock that I have enabled. Of course I'm nowhere near London.
I would put the battery back on the car, with the charger connected and use your tech 2 to disable all that stuff until you get the battery situation sorted.
Hopefully the battery will be OK in the morning. But it will be raining all day...
Normally the tailgate stays open once it's been clicked, or opened on the door button, which I did before I took the battery out. With no power, it seems to lock and then not open because the release is an electric button above the numberplate and it will have no power.
The worry is that when I gave it power from the spare battery from the jumpstart unit, it worked once, but not again. It's showing 11.5 volts and may be dead. It was in the jumpstarter for a long time and wasn't really used more than once every 6 months. The new charger is supposed to have reconditioned both batteries. We shall see tomorrow.
Ah, the benefits of a more modern car...... I'm not sure I am ready for a DE yet
How is the battery this morning ?
I would be tempted to leave it off charge and off the car to see how well it is holding its charge.
The battery on my green one is behaving unusually. No issues on the car, but while working on "fixing" the intermittent wipe I did manage to flatten it, which I realised when the radio switched off. The battery charges up OK, but it seems that it prefers to settle at about 12.3 volts. I measured it when dropping the sump last week. 12.26 volts when removed, 12.18 volts when replaced 2 days later. I have old tech garage type chargers, so can just hook it up and start the car on the charger if necessary.
I haven't been out to look at the battery yet. It's "somewhat wet" here. All the bits are in the open under plastic sheeting. There's due to be a short break in the weather soon.
The small 33Ah battery from the jumpstart pack, was removed and charged and put through the new charger "recondition" cycle. It was 12.3v soon after being removed, but 11v the following morning. I ran it through The charge/recondition cycle again. It dropped to 11.9v the following morning and has now levelled out at 11.7v. But there wasn't enough power to allow the locks to work on the remote. It worked once, but no more. I suspect it has died.
We'll see how the car battery has got on soon...
Quote from: sgould on 27 April 2020, 11:10:20 PM
The new charger is supposed to have reconditioned both batteries. We shall see tomorrow.
I've got a Halfords branded Ring charger and find it can take more than 24hours to recondition and charge especially on a 4 amp charge
Quote from: phoenix on 27 April 2020, 09:39:26 PM
I hauled mum's caravan in 2018 on stock brakes/suspension. Very impressed how it handled. Don't forget the van has it's brakes. Every now and then I run mine at max gross train weight with an unbraked trailer...
My only experience is the hours drive back from the dealer in Sussex, empty at around 1300kg and with a ridiculously light nose weight.
It has ATC which I felt kick in a few times on some of the twistier bits and generally it felt very stable considering the lack of weight on the hitch.
Obviously the key is taking it easy and looking well ahead.
The disks and pads were all new with genuine Saab parts when I bought the car and have plenty of meat left on them. I've got no desire to start changing them yet, although my bored lockdown brain might have other ideas ::)
It's "somewhat dry" (i.e bone dry) here, but I suppose we may get some later.
Have you measured the voltage being put into the battery by the charger...... if is isn't above 14.4 volts then it will not fully charge a battery. My old tech charger can easily put in over 15V and 30A if I want, but I moderate the charge rate down to about 14.8 volts to stop the battery overheating / generating hydrogen
The charger has 8 stages. When it gets to 4 the battery is checked and charged. Level 6 is the reconditioning phase. 7 is the maintain stage. 8 is a pulsed charge to keep the battery alive, if permanently connected. It varies the charge voltage and current. Max should be 15.4v.
It gets to 3 quite quickly. I put the battery on charge at 1pm yesterday. It's still on 3 after 26 hours. The manual says it can take 20 hours to get to 80% charge from completely flat. It's raining again, so maybe I'll leave it to recondition through level 6 again, which is likely to be late tonight. If it reaches level 7, the light goes green!
Small battery is down to 11.4v now. So probably dead.
Let's get the whole thing from the handbook. It will be correct then. ::)
Stage 1: "Desulphation". 15.8 volts. Pulsing current/volts.
Stage 2: "Soft Start" 0.8A charge until 12.6v reached.
(max 8 hours for stages 1 & 2)
Stage 3: "Bulk" 14.4v 5A charge. Max 20 hours.
Stage 4: "Absorption". Declining current while 14.4v maintained. Max 8 hours.
Stage 5: "Analyse". Charge stops an a check that at least 12v is maintained. 3 minutes.
Stage 6: "Reconditioning". 15.8v. 1.8A for 6 hours.
Stage 7: "Float". 13.6v. Charge cycle restarted if voltage drops. 10 days.
Stage 8: "Pulse". 12.7v - 14.4v pulse. If voltage drops charge cycle is restarted.
It seems a bit odd. It must be near the end of Stage 3. So I would expect 14.4v. But I'm only getting a reading of 13.6v. The green badge in the window on the battery is showing fully charged, but that might be faulty as it showed green at 8.5v. But it could have stuck then. By the time it was carried to the shed, the green badge had gone and it read 10v.
I'll let it run on. It will be 28 hours in an hour, so it definitely should be on stage 4 by then.
Now feeling depressed... :'( :'( :'(
I was beginning to doubt the accuracy of my voltmeter. Maybe the internal battery is dying. But I have an older cheaper multimeter and it's giving the same reading within 0.01v.
After the 28 hours the charger was supposed to get to stage 4, it was still at stage 3, but the green "fully charged" indicator was showing. The charger was giving 13.6v. So I took it off the charger and the voltage was showing as 11.8v. Still doubting the voltmeter at the time, i put the battery in the car. The radio started up, but the relay just rattled. Turned it all off and took it back out. Voltage now 10.85v. So it looks like a dead battery. :(
Checked the voltage of the small jump start battery and both meters showed 11.43v. So that's probably dead too. :(
So, I thought that I would check the voltmeter in the working battery in the Carlsson, both static and when the alternator was charging, and that battery is flat too. :(
I remembered that I have a Battery Tester. I tried all three batteries and it displayed the message :Too low. Charge before testing". :(
Options are...
1. New battery for the 9-5.
2. New jump starter.
3. Check the new charger that I bought on the Carlsson battery to see if it charges, or if it's killing batteries. Is this possible?
4. Buy another charger.
5. Break open the battery and check the SG of the cells.
It started raining again before I finished, and I'm wet. :(
Been there and seen the wrong readings due to a failing 9v battery in the meter. I would conclude Two meters saying the same the readings are probably correct.
I would buy a new battery for the 9-5 first. Sounds like you need one and it's always handy to have a spare.
With all the space you have cleared do you have room for this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Professional-Garage-Start-Charger-12-24v-Starter-Maypole-723-30a-Mp723/323473778809 (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Professional-Garage-Start-Charger-12-24v-Starter-Maypole-723-30a-Mp723/323473778809) Not portable, but will charge you batteries quickly and allow you to start a car on a dead battery or after.
I wouldn't worry about the 16A supply requirement. You aren't going to be starting a truck at 28v at 40 amps or more current. Mine just uses a single phase supply
I don't think a charger can kill batteries unless it is overcharging........ but then again I don't understand the technology for "conditioning" batteries. Dead batteries are all about sulphating and consequential internal shorts aren't they ? These guys know much more than me https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_restore_and_prolong_lead_acid_batteries (https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_restore_and_prolong_lead_acid_batteries)
Little point breaking open the battery....... it's not as though you are in Africa where they will disassemble and repair a lead acid battery rather than replace
Bit of a pain having all those failures at the same time
Oh forget that link try this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250-Amp-Starter-Battery-Charger-12-24V-with-Steel-Case-MP723/200496493440 (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250-Amp-Starter-Battery-Charger-12-24V-with-Steel-Case-MP723/200496493440)
£99 delivered
That's a proper bargain, garage style chargers normally start at about £160 +
Thanks for that. I'm going to order a battery, but I'm going to sleep on the charger/starter.
I still haven't got my head around the way the garage starter/charger works. Does the Maypole one have it's own battery, as well as mains? If so, it's the general lack of use it will get that bothers me. That's what killed the jump start pack that I have. The cost of a new battery for it is getting on for £70.
The portability of something like this may win the day. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ring-Battery-Power-Bank-Car-Jump-Starter-Booster-13000mAh-Compact-Lithium/233008011116
I'm sure that I could squeeze in a garage charger/starter. My wife says that I'm only clearing the shed to make room for an armchair and a TV!! :)
Starter chargers don't have an internal battery, they just have big enough transformers to deliver the starting current that a car or truck needs. I believe they also have more sophisticated electronics inside than domestic chargers. I have had mine for 10 years and really would not want to be without it, especially with the "fleet" that I run. In fact I have one at the unit and bought a smaller one to keep at home.
The lithium chargers I have seen are very good and portable too, but they are limited to being a jump charger. I also have a jump /power pack, the battery failed on that a couple of years ago and I ended up buying two replacement lead acid batteries which were on a deal. Jump chargers are OK on low batteries but can struggle with flat batteries or those with dead cells
Does your wife always make such helpful ideas ;D
Thanks for that. Looks quite viable.
My wife understands that I have to be some distance from her for extended periods. She is a professional singer and needs to practice. The singing is OK in moderation, but no one should be exposed to the sound of singing exercises!! :o
On wet days, I have to stay in bed until she has finished her hour's work...
OK. The Maypole starter pack and the new battery for the 9-5 are on order.
Progress on the charging/reconditioning of the flat Carlsson battery is progressing according to the lights. I though that it was charged yesterday when it couldn't start the car. I checked the voltages and they are all within those set out in the manual. No overcharging showing. So fingers crossed.
And the rain has stopped and the sun has come out! :)
Off to fit the new hose on my gas blowtorch...
Excellent.......... but please wait for your deliveries to arrive, don't torch the car just because of a flat battery ;D
Apparently it can take a few weeks to desulphate a battery properly... 8 hours is a very short time for it to be effective.
Once I have the new battery, I will try the reconditioning a few times and see if it makes a difference. So far the Carlsson battery is getting the voltages that the instruction manual says it should be getting.
I hope the work on my shed proves worthwhile. My neighbour is spending the day chopping down a large tree next to it!! :o
Was I right to be worried? :o
https://youtu.be/zXMRVSjnnp4
Well I was going to make some witty comment about the tree mating with your shed but thought better of it.
I didn't hear "Timberrrrr"
:) :)
The Carlsson battery finished its charge and recondition cycle and ended up at 12.8 volts. I left it and had supper and it was still on 12.8v over an hour later. I fitted the battery in the dark and the car started!! :) The alternator was giving 14.9v while the tickover was on high, but dropped to 14.1v at normal idle. So, hopefully, we have a working car again. Tomorrow will tell.
Well, "tomorrow" tells a sad story. After fitting the Carlsson battery last night and getting the car to start, all seemed well.
This morning the voltage was still 12.5v and the car started and ran. This afternoon we went to Costco and the self-storage. Car started OK, I dropped OH off at Costco and went on to the store. The store was closed and I went back to Costco. About 4 miles in all. Waited 15 mins for my wife to come back, only with the radio on. Went to start the car and the battery wouldn't turn the engine over. :(
The very nice man in the Costco tyre depot had a jump starter and we got going. Got home OK. Checked the voltage with the engine running and it was 13.8v, so I assume that the alternator is OK. Then we switched off the engine and the battery was on 12.6v. I left it for a minute and the car started with no problem.
Totally stumped now. I will check again when the rain stops later.
Sorry to hear that.
I have a weak battery on the Polo. It's been stood for 3 days with nothing connected, still on 12.6 volts....... but the parasitic drain will kill it over about 10 days without a run. Good enough for everyday use.
The green car has a wierd battery. Doesn't want to hold more than 12.2v (it's at that now 3 hrs after last using it), but has no issues starting. Had the radio on while I was doing the "intermittent" wipe and it took the battery right down. Again, good enough for every day use and I had no winter issues, even after leaving it a couple of days.
I think the Carllson battery is in a similar state, it can show the volts, but doesn't have the ability to store very much power in the cells.
The only other possibility is that the clamps on the battery terminals are not tightening properly. I have seen poor connections where the nut is up tight, but the clamp is not fixed tight onto the post and it looks like a dead battery. Move the cable and it'll fire up.
When does Big Daddy arrive ?
It's on its way by Parcelforce, so anytime from tomorrow to the end of May, I suppose! :)
I've had two other parcels sent to me "first class" by Parcelforce since the lockdown. And they have taken 7 and 10 days and were quite small in comparison. We shall see.
The Maypole blurb says that it weighs 17.5Kg. The defunct battery pack jumpstart weighs in at 14Kg, so almost like-for-like! :) But it's not a portable unit.
I made sure that the battery terminals were tight. I even gave them a wipe with some emery before refitting. When they were tight, I gave the clamp a little tweak. I'll have to see if Halfords are doing battery checks at the moment. This battery is only 3 years old.
When the rain stops, I'll have a look and see what state it's in. I also have a Ring battery checker, which may give a clue, but it only works on charged batteries, which isn't usually when you need them checked.
My wheels were sent parcel force 24hour service and were only two days late, you might have some luck..
All the items that I have ordered on line in the last 48 hours are in transit. Small batteries. Large battery. Battery Charger. Hose clips. The only thing that is delayed is some cheese from Neals Yard Dairy. They ran out of one cheese between my ordering and them packing it. Whole order on hold.
The Carlsson battery seems to have died. Coincidentally at the same moment at the same 096 Yuasa battery in the 9-5...
The two Yuasa batteries are 80Ah and 760 CCA.
The one in the 9-5 has stood for two days since charging and is showing 10.2 volts. A new battery is on order.
The Carlsson one still shows 12.5 volts, but may or may not start the car. I put the Ring Battery Analyser on it tonight and it says "Bad". It then follows with a fast scrolling message which says 30% performance. or something, and 236 amps. But I'm not sure of that bit. I suspect that the amps are theoretical using the test gear.
Once I get the battery in the 9-5 working reliably, I will be off to Halfords to get the Carlsson battery swapped. It has two years left on the 5 year guarantee. And, being married to a Chartered Accountant, she found the original receipt in her files!! :)
I also gave the old battery pack battery a final charge as a last resort. That's showing 12v as well, but the analyser says "Bad" with performance at 10% and amps at 36. So that's dead too.
The man at Coscto who jump started the car this afternoon used a small Lithium jump start pack. SWMBO wants one now! Who am I to refuse? :D
This parrot is deceased, it has popped off its mortal coil, it is an ex parrot etc
The one in the 9-5 is toast. You could try giving it another charge or recondition, I would, but I doubt the prognosis would change. Did the same on my jump charger as well.
You might get away with the one in the Carlson if it got a full charge and was used...... but stood around with the alarm draining it is likely to compound the problem.
I'll be interested to know how Halfords treat you. They have some exclusions on the warranty for vehicles that are not used or have minimum use, and I believe can check the mileage on MOT records. I have one, but it hasn't been MOT'd so I suspect they will just reject the claim.
The amp readings make no sense to me. An 80aH battery is capable of delivering 4 amps for 20 hours before being depleted
I think you should start putting up Christmas cards with all the new toys about to arrive :)
I did say that I needed to build a shed extension... :D
The Carlsson should be OK for use. 25,000 miles in the three years since we bought the battery.
If I was going to buy Christmas cards for all the toys coming, I would have to get one every time I filled the tank with fuel!! :)
Texted to say that the new 9-5 battery will be here after 12.36pm and before 16.36. If it's early I might have time to go to Halfords before they shut at 4.00pm and get a new battery for the Carlsson on the guarantee.
Busy afternoon...
Three deliveries. The fourth is by post and there was no post today. Once I've had my tea, I'll be back out for a play. :)
The Maypole seems to have been on the shelf a while.
I wouldn't worry about the manufacturing date of the charger.... mine was well used when I bought it 15 years ago.
Put the old battery on the car, put it on fast charge for 5 minutes and then try to start the car, without disconnecting the charger. I doubt you will even need to use the starter mode unless it is way below 12 volts
I've just been out for a short drive to check the new battery in the 9-5. It seems to be OK. I will try again in the morning. Most of the day has been wasted. It was supposed to be dry after 11.00 am, but although the rain radar looks clear to the west, we have had a lot of heavy showers appearing out of nowhere. So I managed to fit the battery and assemble the Maypole.
One quick check of the Carlsson and is turned over slowly twice and then suddenly caught, but it's not good. I don't want to try too hard in case it works well enough to seem OK when I take it back to Halfords.
The battery tester looks at more than the state of charge. It's all about how the voltage holds up under duress of the big resistor load being applied, if old tech.
The test itself can help kill a marginal battery
Something like this.
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/rFoAAOSwQvheMOGW/s-l500.png)
The last time I had one checked at Halfords they didn't use one of those. I was expecting one. They used something similar to the electronic box that I have. We will see.
I've got one of these for testing. Only have to flick the switch for a second or so to see how healthy the battery is.:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6V-12V-100Amp-Car-Van-Battery-Load-Tester-Drop-Charging-System-Analyzer-Checker/313069080827?epid=2308226882&hash=item48e45f10fb:g:jF0AAOSwcIpeqtGy
Well it's been a good morning so far. I was going to go down and charge the Carlsson battery again and see what happened, but a quick check of voltage showed it was at 10.4v. So I went straight back to Halfords. Queued for half an hour. And spoke to the lady at the plastic window. "I have a dead battery which is three years old and has a 5 year guarantee". I showed her the receipt and she said "Bring it to the exit door and I'll bring you a new one". :) No testing. Just took my word for it!!
Battery is in the car and seems to be fine.
Then I went to sort out the passenger seat electric switches. I've found the problem. I'll see if I can fix it this afternoon. The switches are fine, but the plastic cover is loose. It stays on, but slides forwards and back more than it should. When it has gone too far forward it jams and prevents the "up" working. We shall see what needs doing.
So that's good news then:
Both cars working and a full set of kit & caboodle in case either of them dares to misbehave again.
I did suspect that the battery testing gear had moved on and had seen that same gear on ebay too ........ whether it is accurate who knows, perhaps, perhaps I may get one.
The seat switch problem I assume is on the Carlsson, in which case I have nothing to offer other than luck. Back to the Polo HG
The seat switch is on the passenger side of the 9-5 Aero. It's a simple arrangement for the seat base. Three switches. Up/down front. Up/down rear, and the fore/aft switch. The backrest has its own separate rotary switch.
The seat base switches are all under one cover which clips to the two end switches, bit locates on two rectangular pins. The lugs sit in cruciform holes in the cover. This means that when the cover is moved up or down at either end, it cannot slide forwards and back, and vice-versa, when the cover is slid forwards or backwards, the end switches cannot be engaged to move the seat up or down.
The problem turned out to be that when the cover had bee moved back, there was just enough play that it was still slightly engaged in the horizontal arm of the cruciform preventing the front switch from operating in the up direction. Some gentle bevelling of the two corners involved has fixed it. :)
The other thing I did was to free up the driver's seat belt in the Carlsson. It has started to become sluggish on return. Lots of suggestions as to the cause, but once the pillar trim was off, it was clear that the belt was running freely into the reel, but was being slowed by something in the top loop. I did what everyone suggests and cleaned the loop with a bit of emery. That got some dirt out, but not a lot. I had trouble getting the emery in the gap. It's very tight. That helped a bit.
Then I had a think about what else could jam things and took a closer look at the belt. Once I had removed the fuzz along the edges with my beard trimmer, the belt became quite free!! :)
Sounds like you have had a good day. You had to get more into the seat switch on the 9-5 than I have ever had to too.
Polo HG done, sounds sweet as a nut, but road test will be tomorrow now. Back on topic, I swapped over from winter tyres to summer tyres on the green car today, so I did something to my Saab too :)
Yes, it seems to have been quite successful today. Two cars back on the road, a couple of niggles sorted. And the hose clips arrived, so my blowlamp it now functional. It's on test overnight with leak detection fluid on all the joints I've made and remade.
I put the Maypole on the old 9-5 battery. On the low setting. After I hour is was pushing 5 amps. After 4 hours, it was putting 17.5 A though the battery. I took it off and left it for 30 mins and the voltage of the battery was 10.8v. So that's ready for the scrappy when I'm allowed out again.
Classic reading for one cell down. I think I must have a dozen to weigh in one day ;D
The Polo battery was showing 12.62 volts after being disconnected for 4 days. Turned it over with plugs out to make sure the cams and bores got some oil through the galleries before firing it up. Ten seconds cranking slowly and I tested the battery..... 12.35v. It is indeed close to death, but 10 minutes on the charger she turned over and fired up first time.
Mine has a timer on, max 90 minutes and then it drops to a maintenance charge level. 20 minutes is generally enough for any flat battery, without having to resort to the 0v or starter charge functions.
Went shopping yesterday and found that the door mirrors only work in the up/down direction. Memory button makes no difference. It will give me something to explore once the Carlsson lights have been done and the plumbing finished, etc...
Changed the winter wheels for the summer ones, following the failure of the front tyre. A brief check under the body suggests that the rear discs are close to worn out and the pads need replacing. And the rear spring rubber supports are in dire need of replacement.
I got fed up with the loose battery cover that couldn't be fitted properly because the holes for the catches didn't line up properly. The cover hooks in at the rear and has two quarter turn catches at the front. If you locate the hooks at the back correctly the catches can't be pushed into place unless the cover moves forwards about 6mm. So I extended the holes forwards by filing, and then glued in some bits of plastic to stop them sliding back allowing the hooks to come out.
I spent a couple of hours repairing some siren units by putting new batteries in.
Based on my testing, the SID warning seems to come on when the aggregate voltage is below ~ 6.15v, a new battery is 3.25-3.3 volts.
That's 3 on the shelf, with one faulty one still to be removed and two to be fitted.
Yesterday I also fixed the xenon lights for someone where pins had broken on the front sensor and there was also damage to the loom. A happy chappie :thumbsup:
(yesterday) Replaced the small pulley on the aux belt of my 9-5. It had started whining badly over the last couple of journeys and I didn't want it to let go. It has made things so much quieter- what I'd thought was maybe a little bit of auto trans whine that has been lingering for a few months has disappeared.
Interestingly enough when I got it off and spun it, there wasn't any obvious sign of a problem. So much so that I wondered if I'd replaced the right part, but on start up all was quiet.
"What someone else did o my Saab today" - Went into Joe's a few days later than planned due to parts taking longer than expected to come from Sweden. Air con now blowing nice and cold, rear ARB Powerflex bushes fit.
Asked Joe to investigate what sounded like a rattle from the front end when going over severe bumps - or as we call them in Surrey, the road!
He found both front drop links on their way out, had them in stock so put a new set on for me. Didn't get a chance to give it a good test but seemed very much improved on one of the poorer roads round my way, although I still think maybe something is clunking but it was on such a bad ridge it frankly could have been my teeth!
Also discovered in the course of chucking it round a roundabout, that the CrossClimates get really very soft when it's hot. Still very grippy but a mild amount of understeer (ok maybe quite a lot :Fawlty: ) on a right and then left hander and the outer edge of both front tyres is torn quite noticeably. They wouldn't last long if I always drove like a loon..
Drove down to the south coast today and the new drop links have resolved a number of issues. Slight vagueness/twitchyness to steering at speed, slight knocking felt though the steering wheel when driving on ridged/uneven fast A roads or motorways, and rattling on the potholed back roads of Surrey - have all gone. Had a lovely day on a quiet beach and a really lovely drive there and back. Don't know why I didn't check them sooner, especially as so many people bang on about them!
There is still something rattling when I hit a particularly bad bump but it seems to be coming from the offside front and higher up. Culprits are the rubber stop on the bonnet which I adjusted recently along with the bonnet catches to get the shut line more even. Or the evap purge valve (i think it's the evap) attached to the jubilee clip clamping the MAF, which I'd refit poorly so the evap valve or it's bracket was spun round and would hit the AC pipe below it given a slight shove.
Quote from: fka on 29 May 2020, 08:48:32 PM
Also discovered in the course of chucking it round a roundabout, that the CrossClimates get really very soft when it's hot. Still very grippy but a mild amount of understeer (ok maybe quite a lot :Fawlty: ) on a right and then left hander and the outer edge of both front tyres is torn quite noticeably. They wouldn't last long if I always drove like a loon..
You sure? my crossclimates have lasted very well despite being given a lot of abuse.
Yup. I wish I'd taken a pic yesterday. I'll look at them again in the morning but since I've just done an 80 mile round trip, I suspect the loose rubber will have come off now. The trailing edge of each tread block on the outside edge of the tyre had a noticeable burr (for want of a better word) of rubber along them.
Check the tyre pressures (not necessarily change them), take it for a bit of :Fawlty: and then take a photo for us to look at and the tyre pressure when hot.
From your description it does sound as if they may be getting to the edge of the performance envelope, but other factors may be affecting this.
Pressures were checked yesterday and are all at 39psi. Believe Audax is running higher pressure on the same tyres with no issues and the 9-5 handles a a rides lot better with them up at 39.
Haven't got the time to go out again today and there's too many cyclists on my local track to go silly.
Pic below shows the missing rubber mostly on the trailing edges but the burrs have warn off during my drive yesterday..
Those tyres are OK compared to the one that ran at 12 psi for an unknown period...
The Carlsson went in for service today. And came back with some unforeseen things. :(
But it now has had a service. It's got a new MOT. New rear discs. New rear pads. New rear spring seats. And a new front tyre because I asked them to investigate and they found a big nail in an unrepairable area. There was also a large screw in the replacement winter tyre that I asked them to fit in place of the damaged one, so that had a puncture repair, as the damage was in the middle of the tread. And a rear axle boot had split, which I hadn't noticed, but was picked up by the MOT man. At least the lockdown has save a bit of money on travel. That will offset the cost.
The car went to Joes Repair Shop in Epsom. He was playing with an NG2.0 that he has bought. The misfire it had has been traced to No.4 injector being stuck open!! :)
nothing like a bit of unforeseen expenses :-\
I think that's the NG95 he left with me for the afternoon. Was surprised to see to see his post on FB about the misfire, I thought it was running spot on when I had it..
Don't get me wrong about the tyres, there's nothing wrong with them, I was just expressing some shock at how much rubber they'd lost with so little effort. I've given them much more abuse than that on cooler days and didn't see any wear. It was about 24 degrees that day and they felt a lot softer when driving and evidently lost a visible amount of rubber.
What I did to my dads car....
In the middle of doing some general servicing to the 9000 Aero it was time to replace the dizzy bung, so off with the cam cover.
Wow, how clean is this for a 205,000 mile car, compare it to some of the others I have looked at recently. It really shows how Saab screwed up the PCV system on the 9-5, both vent holes were completely clear too
Yesterday I finished the service on the green Aero by swapping the cabin filter out. It's the first one I have ever done, I'm grateful to still have a good degree of flexibility, it was needed. The grey one will be next and be much easier as a result
Today I have taxed the 9-5 diesel as that is going to spend a period as a daily runaround. Best modify my signature :)
Took the diesel out for a run. Gentle running at first around town I was getting 45 mpg, and then a CEL when I started to stretch her legs in 3rd on a bit of open road with a P0244.
I found the problem to be with some vacuum pipes for the swirl valve solenoid, so that's something else learnt.
Swirl valves work, low down torque is better so I don't yet know why people want to delete them. I'm getting ~1.05 bar boost now, which seems good enough, but couldn't find a specification anywhere. She goes surprisingly well
Quote from: carrera on 07 June 2020, 04:13:20 PM
Swirl valves work, low down torque is better so I don't yet know why people want to delete them.
People like to remove things they don't understand as they for some reason think they know better than engineers who spent 5 years studying their trade before even beginning to practise it. Seen so many bodges to try and work around things before on Saabs rather than fixing them properly. One of the worst was a manual boost controller on a 9-3 which came in for service and "not running right", I took it for a test drive and there was literally no boost, the thing barely moved, got it back to the workshop and we removed the MBC and took it for a drive and it was running great, called the customer up and he told us that we had to put the MBC back as "it gives more on the low end" so we stuck it back and left him to it, he wouldn't accept that this MBC was the reason his car was not running right.
Not quite "done to my car", but I now have a permanent 12v supply in the shed so that I can test things out in the dry on a workbench.
Computer supply ?
12v and 5v if you have
I got one of these from TLC. It's 13.8v and 5A. It has a little fan in it to keep it cool. It's wired to a double cigarette lighter outlet mounted on the wall. The transformer 12v outlet is from two clamp screws, but the centres remain free for plugging in some banana plugs, if necessary.
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SK650656.html
The computer stuff can be fed from the USB outlets on the 13A mains sockets.
I looked through a big box of surplus computer chargers that I have, and none of them had a 12v outlet.
Ah, I meant desktop computer power supply, which is pretty much what that looks like but with just one rail, at 13.8v rather than 12v.
I only mentioned the 5v because some stuff works at that voltage, but don't ask me to name anything :)
Fitted the cabin filter to the grey Aero car, much easier second time doing the job.
Then I moved onto refitting the siren module which went similarly well.
After that I decided to replace some of the vacuum pipes on the diesel to prevent them coming off and throwing some more EML's. This was more difficult than expected because three pipes go through a piece of PVC tubing on their way to the inner wing and they were stuck to the tube.
This interfered with my plan of removing and replacing one at a time. After a couple of tries as I remembered things which caused problems, I ended up resorting to EPC to get the correct routing. The solenoid valve for the swirl flaps could be found, but not the cut off solenoid, but that was enough information. After that everything was fine and full boost was available again.
Then time to wash my hands, diesels are filthy things, even when you have cleaned the engine bay.
Another day doing nothing on the cars, but I use my new 12v supply to check an old car radio. It was a very expensive option back in the day, so I thought it might be of use to someone with an old car. But sadly it won't go. :(
If I put the ohmmeter on the power feed, the resistance changes when I turn the set on and off, but nothing lights up...
Component level repair needed. It's usually capacitors.
What you need in your shed is an oscilloscope...... and the knowledge on how to use it :)
I used an oscilloscope once. They got one in the physics lab at school, just before I left - in 1964...
Quote from: sgould on 16 June 2020, 10:47:41 PMIt was a very expensive option back in the day, so I thought it might be of use to someone with an old car.
I think most people gut the radios and put something more modern inside the case so you can have MP3 and Bluetooth while it looks period.
So it seems nobody is doing anything to their Saabs these days. Everything sorted eh ? :)
A little job for me today, changing onto summer tyres. I picked up this rather nice set of ALU59's with low mileage Falken Azenis FK510 tyres fitted.
ET41 I think, but they'll do the job
ET41 work well on the 9-5.
I think that those wheels were standard on the early 9-3 V6 cars.
Quote from: sgould on 07 July 2020, 05:30:32 PM
I think that those wheels were standard on the early 9-3 V6 cars.
Yup, they were.
This week as every week, pumped up the three of the four tyres that need a weekly top-up due to porous alloys. Will replace them with refurbs shortly ...
Quote from: sgould on 02 May 2020, 05:30:08 PM
The seat switch is on the passenger side of the 9-5 Aero. It's a simple arrangement for the seat base. Three switches. Up/down front. Up/down rear, and the fore/aft switch. The backrest has its own separate rotary switch.
The seat base switches are all under one cover which clips to the two end switches, bit locates on two rectangular pins. The lugs sit in cruciform holes in the cover. This means that when the cover is moved up or down at either end, it cannot slide forwards and back, and vice-versa, when the cover is slid forwards or backwards, the end switches cannot be engaged to move the seat up or down.
The problem turned out to be that when the cover had bee moved back, there was just enough play that it was still slightly engaged in the horizontal arm of the cruciform preventing the front switch from operating in the up direction. Some gentle bevelling of the two corners involved has fixed it. :)
Appreciate that this particular thread entry is a little out of date now but I have a relevant question I wanted to ask.
I bought some seats recently with the intention of using the frame and electrics for my Anniversary which had manual seats. My drivers side switch assembly (as shown in your photos) was broken, the rear up/down switch, and the rear guide (with the little white switch piece) were sheared off at the casing. I have repaired it now (details available if required) with threaded rods and some JB Weld epoxy and have even managed to re-create the little raised part on the rear up/down switch which clips into the switch cover, but not the little white switch piece as I couldn't see what it was doing realistically (and it was just too hard to re-produce).
Work in progress : (it looks better now !)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50089133323_ee34d92143_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2jjcUfX)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/2jjcUfX) by Mike (https://www.flickr.com/photos/37940605@N02/), on Flickr
So, does it do anything or is it just a smooth spring-loaded 'bearing' for the switch cover to slide forward and backwards on ??
Cheers
Mike
Took my 9000 for an MOT yesterday- failed! Structural welding needed at the back :(
Offside Rear Inner Integral body structure corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced (6.1.1 (c) (i))
Same on the NS but just as an advisory. Fixing bill isn't too bad though- £363.
Was that the chassis section that expands with a deformable piece just before the bumper is attached?
I had to do those on my dads
Yes, I believe it is. Going in to get it done next Thur. In the meantime I need to do the NS CV boot. Yuck.
A couple of little jobs on the 2.2TiD
The steering wheel was a bit off centre, so I wanted to adjust that. First job of the day was to measure the tracking..... 40 minutes in. After a bit of mental gymnastics I figured out that if I adjusted the toe on the right had side the steering wheel would come back towards the centre position.
I was faced with a non rusty trackrod and end. So, it has been replaced recently and the tracking wasn't checked afterwards. ::) Never mind, back to the correct setting and the wheel is straight too :thumbsup:
After that I wanted to loo0k at the gear linkage as 5th was difficult. I had a replacement component to fit, but that's when I discovered that there are two designs and the 2.2 has the later design. I took it off, concluded that the plastic bushes on the selector shaft were the problem, so instead of a plastic interference fit they now have a chemical metal interference fit.
The selector is like a new car again :thumbsup:
No choice then but to give the car a wash as well
(on the 9000 question, sorry I don't know the answer, you may be better putting the question in its own thread to see how good the collective 9000 memory is, not many left on here)
Did my annual service today. Minor, service - plugs, air filter, oil.
As I'm consuming just over a litre of oil in-between my annual services and I'd read some comments about Millers Nanodrive CFS 10w 60 I thought I'd give it a shot, although I went for the 10w 50. Considering the number of short journeys the car does, I think the 10w 60 would be a step too far for me.
Will see how the oil consumption goes but it's noticeably quieter at idle.
Also fit a pair of silicon intercooler hoses as the originals were a little damaged were the old rusty jubilee clamps had been.
I've had an issue with my Amul (long term fuel trim) jumping up to +7 and sometimes +10% and it's generally on the +ive edge of what's consider acceptable (+-5%). I've already replaced the lambda as it was behaving a bit wonky, so on the assumption I have an air leak after the MAF, pre-turbo. Or on the exhaust side before the lambda (second lambda is deleted/ mapped out). As such I've replaced the cobra to turbo and bypass pipe to cobra o-rings. Both were very flat and the bypass pipe was very loose in the cobra. I've tightened the turbo flanges and also have new o-rings for the throttle body and charge air pipe to throttle body but I ran out of time.
MAF is relatively new but I'll give that a clean too, have checked for a brake servo leak and have deleted the bypass control valve - all in an effort to get the long term fuel trim back to a reasonable level. Failing that it could actually just be running lean due to a fuelling issue!
Millers Nanodrive is good stuff, I use the 10/60 in some vehicles.
On the Amul the I suppose the obvious stuff would be fuel pump, fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator. In your case I doubt it's a blocked filter so FPR would be my first port of call.
Do you have the kit to do the test, and also the vacuum / boost measure ?
I think I can rule out fuel filter as it was replaced about 8000 miles back. FPR was replaced with a 3.5bar Bosch (To accommodate the stage 3 tune and a bit of a bodge, as opposed to upgrading the injectors). So possibly an injector issue as they're nearly at their limit.
I haven't got anything to check the fuel pressure but could invest. And I could devise something to to a leak test from the intake to throttle body but I've not got round to it yet.. Not convinced I have a boost leak, and that in theory should lead to the engine running rich..
Right assumption on the filter then :)
The fact that you have changed the FPR leads to an obvious point. Are you sure that it is running at 3.5 bar and that the correct adjustment to the injector constant was made in the map. When I have been playing around with T7suite I often found that the software would show injectors at 100% duty cycle, but apparently this is not necessarily accurate. I did read a response from Karl, but still didn't get why...... but he's clearly got the experience to know that a B235E can give ~235hp without running out of fuel
Measuring the pressure with a gauge will be a doddle, I haven't figured out how to cobble together an adapter for the schrader valve yet. (special tool)
Maybe boost leak will give a rich mixture as MAF overules MAP - my understanding anyway, but T7 will be seeing the lower boost alongside a higher than reality mair. You could always disconnect the MAF as a trial
It's Karl's map, so I've got every confidence he's set the injector constant correctly. From talking to him about this over the last few weeks, he's of the opinion it's a leak on the intake or exhaust.
I did manage to get a turn on all three of the nuts on the downpipe flange and the bypass pipe to cobra o-ring was clearly not making a tight seal.
(Which reminds me of a joke - what do walruses and tupperware have in common??)
My Mair and Mreq match, or as near as dam it. Although Mair does overshoot to about 1420mg/c with WOT (Max Mreq is 1380mg/c) for a second or so. That's neither here nor there as it's measured air and, in theory still within the limits of the injectors. Whether the pump can keep up is another matter. Also Aadd is low (30 = 0.3% i think) which indicates no vacuum leak..
I do intend at some point to swap back to a 3bar FPR and upgrade the injectors but it involves getting the ECU back to Karl and I'm dragging my heals on it..
Again MAF is relatively new so I don't suspect it. Although I have been meaning to check max pressure at max Mair. I can't remember the expected pressure for 1380mg/c on the 2.3 but I've got it written down somewhere. If Pinl is too high for 1380mg/c then it would indicate the MAF is reading under, therefore under fuelling > lean > high Amul
Peak Pinl is not necessarily at the same point as Mair... in fact almost certainly not ;)
I mean I'll observe Pinl when Mair = 1380. It will hold at 1380mg/c up to nearly 5000rpm
Nice joke, fka. Oldie but goldie.
What looks like a lemon and shaped like a rock? .. A lemon shaped rock.
I have had my thinking cap on......
Adaption is forcing a richer mixture through lambda adjustment than is assumed by the map
MAF is attaining / reading what it should
Leak of measured air would lead to a rich mixture so adaption would lean the fuel trim off, the opposite of what you are seeing.
Two possibilities:
Fuel system is not delivering sufficient fuel (FPR running lower than when mapped, injectors flowing less than required per duty cycle) - note that attempts to increase duty cycle when already at 100% will not deliver more fuel, so further (ineffective) adaption required at high demand, or
There was an undetected air leak when the map was written, resulting in a "weak" map, which becomes more apparent when measured air leaks are eliminated.
I'm not trying to argue or undermine Karls analysis, he has way more experience and respect than me, it can be helpful sometimes to go back to first principles.
Disconnecting the MAF and allowing adaption to run again for a period is easy to do and may give some further insight.
Hope that helps.
Quote from: Geoff1951 on 11 September 2020, 09:51:54 PM
Nice joke, fka. Oldie but goldie.
What looks like a lemon and shaped like a rock? .. A lemon shaped rock.
LOL - Now we're getting into what's brown and sticky territory - a stick
Quote from: carrera on 12 September 2020, 08:54:22 AM
I have had my thinking cap on......
Adaption is forcing a richer mixture through lambda adjustment than is assumed by the map
MAF is attaining / reading what it should
Leak of measured air would lead to a rich mixture so adaption would lean the fuel trim off, the opposite of what you are seeing.
Two possibilities:
Fuel system is not delivering sufficient fuel (FPR running lower than when mapped, injectors flowing less than required per duty cycle) - note that attempts to increase duty cycle when already at 100% will not deliver more fuel, so further (ineffective) adaption required at high demand, or
There was an undetected air leak when the map was written, resulting in a "weak" map, which becomes more apparent when measured air leaks are eliminated.
I'm not trying to argue or undermine Karls analysis, he has way more experience and respect than me, it can be helpful sometimes to go back to first principles.
Disconnecting the MAF and allowing adaption to run again for a period is easy to do and may give some further insight.
Hope that helps.
I think the assumption is a leak on the intake side, post MAF - pre turbo i.e. vacuum side so unmetered air is being introduced. Or an exhaust side leak pre-lambda, again so air is being introduced and affecting the lambda but post combustion.
Although saying that there are some posts on TrionicTuning which note unexpected behaviour with Amul (i.e running lean) with boost leaks - which does make no sense..
There's no sign of actual lean running, see plugs from recent change below (no a great pic, they are all actually the same colour, to the eye they all looked like the two on the left. Flash hit the other two making them look white). Also if injectors were at 100% duty cycle or pump not supplying sufficient fuel, I'd expect to see a much higher Amul.
I'm currently still awaiting it to adapt as I reset the ECU after my service, did a boost adaptation run but fuelling still hasn't adapted. I'll try and do a longer run today but even then it can run with an Amul of +200 or less for some time before I see it jump up. But will definitely try running on the MAP sensor if I still see a problem. Although I need to o some more reading first as I'm sure there's a possibility it can cause fuelling issues, especially at my stage of tune.
Cheers
From a thread in Trionic about running with MAP rather than MAF.
- maybe more work needs to be done to get this right, i've tried to drive without the MAF for about 50km (just out of curiosity) and i've found out that AMUL and AADD adaption goes to "0" and stays there (aka adaption is disabled)
- Yes, that's right. Because AMul and AAdd need for compensation of MAF degradation
Quite an interesting read actually
https://www.trionictuning.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1281&hilit=redundant (https://www.trionictuning.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1281&hilit=redundant)
Quote from: fka on 12 September 2020, 09:34:18 AM
Quote from: Geoff1951 on 11 September 2020, 09:51:54 PM
Nice joke, fka. Oldie but goldie.
What looks like a lemon and shaped like a rock? .. A lemon shaped rock.
What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? A stick.
LOL - Now we're getting into what's brown and sticky territory - a stick
What's pink and hard - Miss Piggy with a flick knife
(What have I started here ;D )
Parts for making a boost leak tester arrived today.
63mm rubber [pipe] end cap, complete with jubilee clip
Bolt-in tyre valve stem (to fit in the end cap)
Rubber bung to fit in the push fitting for the PCV on the cobra.
Rubber end cap + valve fits over the cobra inlet, bung in the PCV push fit on the cobra, tyre inflater to pressurise. Soapy water in a spray bottle to find the leaks.. Stupidly I took no pictures! My excuse is I had a 4 year old helper, who was determined to spray everything in sight (including me) with soapy water!
I had 3 major leaks
- Temp sensor on the charge air pipe. O-ring had split in two. replaced with a suitably sized o-ring from a multi box I have in the shed.
- Charge air pipe to throttle body, O-ring was completely flat and despite a t-bolt type clamp was gushing out air. Had already ordered an o-ring from Bill so that went on. I'd also ordered the o-ring that sits between the throttle body and intake manifold so that went on too. Original was a bit flat but not too bad and i couldn't detect any leak from it. Although it's hard to tell as the throttle body has a fair lip over the o-ring. But whist I was in there..
- Brake booster vac hose to the intake manifold - looks like it's the o-ring that seals the vac hose, as opposed to the o-ring sealing the push fitting in the manifold. Annoyingly I dropped the red plastic insert to the fitting and despite it sounding like it hit the drive, was nowhere to be found! I've ordered the entire fitting form SaabTech Europe on fleebay for £13.95. I'll just use the o-ring and red insert from it..
So I believe this would explain my high +ve Amul!
There was a 4th leak from the top of the APC, around the connector pins. But I eventually remembered I'd come across the before. Having checked the other 3 I have in the shed, they all leak air between the return port and the connector on the top. Presumably when then the return port is open to the c (compressor) port, this isn't the case. Regardless as the return port is connected to the cobra and thus always under vacuum, I find this very odd, since it must be introducing unmetered air!!
I'll await the new push fitting and see if it brings Amul down..
Apart from the CPS difficulties in my other post, I've found a failed non-return valve in the EVAP. Alook under the car shows that I need to do something about the rust. It looks to be mainly surface at the moment, but we shall see.
And I saw the inside of the throttle body today, and cleaned it out, but I didn't unbolt it.
Quote from: fka on 19 September 2020, 09:56:00 PM
I'll await the new push fitting and see if it brings Amul down..
Hopefully it's sorted, but as those three leaks are of metered air, then that would make the mixture rich so Amul would adjust negative ???
As you say, fix the problems you find and then see how things are
Have you read this ? https://www.trionictuning.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=7075 (https://www.trionictuning.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=7075)
Wasted sometime removing the weaker (0.5bar - measured as pressure required for full stroke of the actuator) spring from my actuator, that I put in on Friday in an attempt to stop my slight over boost.
It was far too week and struggled to hold 1000mg/c of air, even with 5 or 6mm of preload. Put the 0.8bar spring back in with zero preload, as it was before.
I believe my 0.8 bar is an example of poor manufacturing and QC. It actually needs about 0.6 > 0.7bar for it to start moving with no preload, and that should happen at 0.3bar!
I couldn't be bothered messing around with washers, or trying to trim a coil off the 0.8 spring. It's actually a massive ball-ache to get the actuator on and off with the king cobra. I can't remove the cobra without removing the actuator first. And removing the actuator with the cobra lose, is a pain in the..
I'll just live with the slight midrange overboost. It's only at 1420mg/c briefly (target is 1380). Karl has said that in the midrange there's enough left fuelling wise to accommodate it. It's also recovers from the overshoot and holds at 1380 thereafter so not really worth wasting any more time on..
I fit the new push fitting for the brake booster vac line today - or at least the o-ring and red grippy bit was used.
Reset the ECU and went through a few boost adaptation runs and once my peak Mair had calmed down Amul popped up at +125.
Last 3 times I'd reset the ECU and done the same, Amul was up at +690ish. I'm going to tentatively call that a success...
I "think" a leak after the turbo can cause a high +Amul as fuel adaptation is (obviously) occurring in closed loop, which is mostly (but not entirely) when there's a negative pressure at the throttle i.e off boost.
I'd say if I'd had the same amount of air leaking before the turbo but after the MAF, I would have seen a much higher +Amul.
On the downside - I identified a kaput tie rod inner joint on the offside today. I hit a speed cushion thingy that I hadn't seen, rather fast when I was in Wales last month. I knew I'd done something but assumed I'd just knocked the alignment out.
Frantic message to Joe this morning as he has my car tomorrow for the strut mounts. Fingers crossed he can get a new rod to him in time!
Quote from: fka on 23 September 2020, 03:58:18 PM
I "think" a leak after the turbo can cause a high +Amul as fuel adaptation is (obviously) occurring in closed loop, which is mostly (but not entirely) when there's a negative pressure at the throttle i.e off boost.
I'd say if I'd had the same amount of air leaking before the turbo but after the MAF, I would have seen a much higher +Amul.
That makes sense :thumbsup:
If the steering wheel is just a bit off, then the wheel alignment can of course be be tweaked until a new rod arrives
New rod and top mounts went on yesterday, alignment checked this morning, which was amazingly spot on!
Knocking and creaking from the top mount now gone and shimmy from around 70mph (not felt in the steering wheel) gone too.
It doesn't smell like it's running rich any more so hopefully my exhaust tip won't get as sooty. Will be interesting to see how it reflects in my fuel economy. It should improve by 5% in theory.
On the down side, it had a nice bit of pop and crackle on overrun that's now gone - the chav in me quite like it :Fawlty:
Hopefully that's all for the time being..
You can of course ask Karl to map that back in ;D :Fawlty:
Very tempting and very un-Saab-like ;D
I forgot to mention the strut mounts from Orio (Boge) came untapped! Quick call to to Saabits and Layla identified that that is indeed as they come.
The bolts in mine were of the self tapping kind but apparently one of the captive nuts came off when they tried to put the bolt on. It was welded back on and they ran a tap through them all.
Odd thing is that if you order new top mount bolts, the self tapping kind are discontinued and you just get regular bolts. Bit of a disconnect there.
Seems a bit daft to be using a self tapping bolt in the first place!
My Boge ones were untapped. The original bolts are hard and slightly triangular.
The first lot of top mounts that were "free" and split were supplied tapped, but the bolts that came with them were too short to reach. Very disappointing from a Saab specialist, but I understand that they have moved their specialism to other makes now...
This week I have mostly been watching TEng!
Noticed for some time that the temp needle is frequently sitting below 9 o'clock. Fan isn't kicking in so I suspected the thermostat.
I can see from watching Teng from cold start it will climb quite quickly to about 70C then drop back to 65ish before climbing back to 78-80C. It will then rise and fall as low as 70C depending on driving conditions. Occasionally it's climbing to 90 but always comes straight back down. At idle it settles between 75 and 78C.
Seems like the thermostat is closed initially but opens well before 89C, or it's stuck partially open.. Either way I've ordered a new thermostat, some GM antifreeze and distilled water. Small job for next week.
Sounds right.
Classic sign, temp rises at idle, drops when driving at constant speed at say 50+
Seems to follow. Hammer it and it will get to 90. On cruise control on the motorway it's dropping right back.
Do you happen to know at what temp fuel enrichment stops? I've got 70c in my head but can't find any reference to it anywhere in WIS
I think you need to be looking in T7 rather than WIS. There will be a parameter that feeds into the fuel quantity, most likely on some sort of sliding scale.
Just had a quick look into a map, T7 suite guide and then found this.
http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80808 (http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=80808)
Whaddya know, it isn't straight forward, but I would use 65 as a base
In between children jumping on my head, I've spent the best part of today looking on uks and trionic for such a post! Thank you for finding it!
I was down this route as my fuel consumption is fairly rubbish at the moment. I knew there is a cold start fuelling map with a Teng variable but the only detailed info I could find was for T5, which appears to have a couple of cold start fuelling maps.
Interesting to read that it ramps down at 80c but this is outweighed after x number of combustions.
Some increase in fuel consumption can be attributed to a cooler combustion chamber (if you thermostat is buggered) but can it really be so much that it would be that noticeable?
I guess a lot of short runs will keep you within the startup map if Teng is consistently below 80c..
Yes, fuel consumption will increase because you are running on a cold engine / rich mixture for an extended period
You know that as well as the standard fuel map there's the similar BFuelCal.StartMap, which is what is used when in warm up ?
I couldn't have told you the name of the map but yes that what I was saying. But according to Karl's posts in the thread you linked, the warm-up map is ramped based on Teng - up to 80c - and the number of combustions from start. Number of combustions from startup outweighs Teng - thus after x number of combustions it will run on the normal running fuel map regardless of Teng. Ergo fuel consumption would only be noticeably higher [with a duff thermostat] if you're regularly doing short start/stop trips, sort enough that you don't exceed the 'x' number of combustions and thus stay within the warm-up map.
My headlights are always on (/daylight running). I've noticed a few times over the last week or so that they're staying on when I take the key out of the ignition. Put the key back in, turn it and remove it again and they go off.
Took the cylinder out today and it was feeling very rough. Removed the white plastic cap, spring and washer. Gave it a good blast with brake parts cleaner and a fair amount of gritty stuff came out. Muck or warn metal from the cylinder, I'm not sure. Lubed liberally with white lithium and worked the key for a while until it ran smooth. Reassembled and now it's popping up like never before when the key comes out. Not a bad result for 20 mins work.
I have everything to replace the thermostat but I'm saving that one for the weekend.
I did my thermostat last year. The bolt in the centre that holds the earth for the DI unit sheared off. It was completely seized. I tried some release stuff, but it made no difference. I attached the earth to one of the main bolts.
Thanks for the warning. Hopefully that one shouldn't give me a problem, I've had the earths off last year when I re-terminated them.
Not doing very well today. :(
I felt well enough to go out and look though the myriad options in Tech2 to see if there was anything about the CPS and the start time.
I checked and cleared the error codes relating to the ESP which appeared and was browsing through the rest, when the display broke up and went off. Then I noticed that elusive grey stuff drifting out of the Tech2. It was the sort of smoke that blew out of the window. So I couldn't catch it and put it back. :(
I took the back off and had a look. There's a light brown item that has a dark patch on it, but unfortunately, the ribbon to the display which lay above it has burnt through. :'( :'( :'(
Then to cap it all, to see if the underside of the board was burnt (it wasn't) I rotated the display to the side and two wires broke off.
Bugger!
Well my alarm has been going of repeatedly this afternoon, so I'll be adding disconnecting the siren box this weekend too!
That escalated quickly. Bloody thing wouldn't stop going off!
My ears are bleeding and my tinnitus has just taken a huge leap forward..
It's off now. Question is, is it worth repairing or do I just get it TechII'd out and use the horn instead?
Fit a new thermostat today. I couldn't, or should say, didn't want to force the hose off the housing. Clamp came off easily enough but the hose was solid on the housing. Tried heating it up with a heat gun but it wasn't for shifting. I just took the housing off with the hose still attached, no big deal.
Cleaned the mating surfaces as best I could with a razor blade and brake cleaner.
I've ordered some non-acidic vaseline but it didn't arrive in time so I just used regular stuff. Not sure if this will prove to be an issue down the road.
The coolant that came out was fairly rusty looking. I didn't do a flush so I may change it again in spring.
Also the green drain plug on the radiator came out very easily and when I turned it back it, it didn't seem to click closed (if that makes sense). However it's not leaking..
Engine came up to temp fine and the fans kicked in at 100c. Seems to hold around 93 to 98C at idle.
Also moved the ground on the inlet manifold again. I'd placed it between the black powder coated bracket and the manifold but I noticed the other day the thread had stripped and I was never really happy with it here. The pre-drilled and unused hole it's now in was untapped but I realised the bolts are self tapping so it's locked down well.
I've also noticed I have the return of a misfire on light throttle when cold. Completely goes away once up to temp.
I thought I'd solved that when I re-terminated the grounds on the thermostat and inlet manifold. It seems not! Only other thing I did at the time that seems to have resolved it was run some injector cleaner through it. So I've ordered some Forte..
I've been busy doing non car stuff...
Sorry to hear about the Tech 2 Will, I'm sure you know the places it can be looked at better than me, seems a bit strange though. Do you think it was component or physical failure first ?
Glad the small jobs are working out ok FKA, even though they seem to be accumulating. Split the case and test the battery voltage against my thread. That might indicate a battery or capacitor problem.
I did a few earlier this year,I'm not sure it was worth it now, warnings are back on the grey one and the green one randomly decides to be naughty
The Tech2 is (sort of) working. My soldering skills are not good. I'm a bit too keen on "making sure" and either dumping too much solder on the joint and/or overheating things. I learnt my soldering on copper piping with a blowlamp! :o
I took a chance on the capacitor after I found that the Tantalum ones are known to fail all on their own, especially the cheap ones. I got a strip of 10 from RS Components. The cap was soldered in gently and seems to be firm. I then threw caution to the winds and replaced all 13 short wire between the main board and the display.
I thought about the hole in the ribbon and tried same small staples across the gap. It was put back together, but something was jamming the PCMCIA card. Another attempt and it all went together.
I now have a machine that lights up and appears to be OK, but the keypad is intermittent. A new keypad is on order from China, but will take a while. In the meantime, I'm going to try some electrical conducting paint. A tube will be ready for collection from RS Components tomorrow. I'll dot it around the point the staples go through the ribbon tracks.
Wearing two pairs of glasses helps with all this!
Picture of the ribbon
And a picture of the display as it is now. You can just see the new capacitor at the bottom.
Quote from: carrera on 14 October 2020, 08:34:28 AM
Glad the small jobs are working out ok FKA, even though they seem to be accumulating. Split the case and test the battery voltage against my thread. That might indicate a battery or capacitor problem.
I'm hopefully coming to the end of a run - but never say never!
I went to Joe's yesterday and we had a go with the TechII to set the alarm to use the horn instead of the siren. It seems this is not actually possible despite a number of people on different forums saying it is. Quick call to Phoenix (Mark E) and he checked his Edna and found the alarm had just been uninstalled/removed so he talked me through how to do it. I owe you a few beers Mark! And Joe frankly, who just left me to tinker with the TechII FOC!
Think I'd quite like a TechII of my own to play with..
Today I removed the brake booster vac hose fitting from the charge air pipe and fit a new one. The last leak I could find in the system plugged!
Was a bit of a pain. Had to remove the pipe and use a bolt, socket and g-clamp to press it out.
Tried the conducting paint pen. Sadly, the stuff is too good, even the tiniest dot conducted, but it spread and shorted across the ribbons and now none of the buttons work. :(
I can't scrape it off without damaging the ribbon further. I'll wait for the new pad to arrive. It will not be quick. It's coming from China.
I think that I could fix it but it would require a lot of careful work and would still be a bodge, so Ill wait. Tracker says it's at the airport in China.
Not just today but over the last few days I have replaced the power steering pipes on the 9-5. Never. Ever. Again.
What a complete pain of a job. It would be tough to do on a full height 4 poster but on your back on the drive underneath with limited room... and there was no way that poxy little bolt at the back was getting back on. I may do it at some point in the future if I drop the subframe to do the bushes.
I used the commonly available aftermarket kit which isn't quite the same shape as the original so requires much swearing to get in place. Indeed I think I have probably caused a local swear drought. And I'm covered in small bruises.
and in the middle of it all you take a call from me about how to drive a Tech2 ;D
According to the tracking app, the Tech2 keypad left China last night, after sitting in "customs clearance" since Friday morning.
The new keypad is with the Royal Mail! Maybe tomorrow...
OK, maybe Monday... :(
I got a £5 ELM wifi sender. It seems to be OK on a brief trial. I'm using it with an app called Carscanner. With both cars getting older and showing the odd fault. It seems a good Idea to have a code reader of some sort in each car.
Finally. Some post...
It lives!! :)
At least it turns on and looks OK when powered from the bench supply. Far too wet to get in the car and try it in situ.
Still raining in your part of the world, or is it fixed ?
It's been raining for days down here. I'll probably have a look tomorrow. Busy today.
The Tech2 is working OK. There is a vertical stripe down the middle of the screen but it's on a different layer and doesn't affect the reading.
Failed to start the 9-5. Turned over OK but nothing. Too wet to fart about this morning so jumped in the 'vert to get to work.
Got an MOT on the diesel :thumbsup:
It's always nice when the MOT man tells you the car is tidy underneath especially for its age, the engine runs sweet as a nut and emissions are really clean.
Needed a headlight bulb (failed at the MOT station I think) and I had to sort out a jammed centre belt. That was interesting.
Centre belt is a common problem. It really needs wedging in a slightly "undone" position, before you do anything like tilting or removing the backrest.
Hopefully I'll have an MOT on the 9-5 by Friday afternoon.
We don't use the back seats much so the centre belt very rarely gets used. When I got the fail sheet I remembered that I had seen the problem a few months ago and not done anything about it.
It's not obvious what you need to do, but I found a youtube video which confirmed the plastic cover over the inertia mechanism is just a push fit. The inertia bit seems quite prone to becoming mispositioned
Oh, and because I removed the spring section, mine now has a little slack by design
That's all 3 done now
Mine had a problem with the centre belt- it would wind too far in then become stuck. Solution- I bought seat belt studs (see below), and put a couple through it to stop it retracting too far.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333512545058
I think that's what initially happened to mine, there's a plastic insert in the webbing that can jam on a metal bar when fully wound in
I sold it!
Brought on by a number of factors but primarily because I wanted a better tow car, I've bought a VW toerag. After a lot of looking I finally found this one within my budget, which has a few options I really wanted; air suspension, factory towbar, sunroof and ergocomfort seats. There's only two or three options it doesn't have. I'm fairly chuffed with it. First diesel I've owned since my 1.5L AX back in 1999.
I'm sure I'll still pop my head round the door once in a while. But a huge thankyou to everyone for your help and advice. And when money allows, I'm planning to pick up a C900. Not sure when that will be but I live in hope ;D
Well, that seems a bit quick, but probably because I never actually saw your ad.
Toerags don't seem to bad, I have a mate with one of the earlier V10 ones, certainly picks her skirts up when needed
Hope to see you back here, maybe the new owner too ?
Only had an ad on UKS and it was picked up within a day by a reasonably well known dealer. Deposit paid last week, collected today.
The v10 was very tempting but I wanted something newer. Started a new job in May and I have no time or will at the moment to spend fixing my daily. Ignition switch was on the way out on the 9-5 and that was the final straw.
This one shifts 0-60 (to 62 in 6.1 seconds on paper). Doesn't come close the the 9-5 midrange at motorway speeds though. But that's not the point, it wafts perfectly well.
And thanks, I'm sure to pop in from time to time.
Today I took advantage of a dry and warmish day to put a new door seal on the driver's door of the 9-5.
While I had the sill trim off, I sprayed some Waxoyl down the holes into the sill. I found that even at 8ºC I still needed to soak the Waxoyl in hot water to get it to flow.
Looks like the battery is going flat, so it will get a conditioning charge after I've had a sandwich for lunch.
I left the battery on charge for a few hours yesterday, until the "charged enough to start the car" light came on. I was going to continue the charge today, but it's pouring with rain. It's forecast to be dry all day tomorrow, so I may do a full reconditoning.
The only worry is that there is a sign that a mouse has been living on the top of the DI unit... :o
Eek !
(yesterday) I finally got round to making a start some rear end maintenance on the 9-5- rust treatment of the arches, rose joint bushes, swapping the springs out for Eibachs.
Despite a thorough soaking with pen oil, the nut was so seized on top of the first shock that I managed to shear off the hex bit of the shaft :( :(.
It took mole grips plus 14 stone of me standing on water pump pliers gripping the shock shaft plus repeated cycling of the impact gun to finally get it off. So I now have to buy new shocks...
Also fitted a new stat to the NG9-3. Initially, it warned up much quicker confirming my suspicion that the old one was faulty. However it started opening at around 74 degrees, so I now have to swap that out as well. It was a Circoli from ECP for those who may want to avoid it.
Mine wasn't as bad as that, but once off, it was clear that the shock absorbers were shot. There was a couple of inches of free play in them! The other thing was that the top bushes were also dead. They were stuck to the shock absorber shaft and came off in two bits. I had trouble sourcing replacement bushes at the time. I eventually found some on eBay Italia...
Most of it is OK- just the combined bump stop/dust cover that needs replacing.
Shock #2 was even worse- top so corroded that I couldn't even get a socket on it. Had to resort to the Dremel to cut down between the nut and thread then impact it off.
Today I plan to put fuel in my car. First time since 29th October. Just have to remember how to do it. :o
'04 9-5 Aero. I've replaced the driver's seatbelt which was badly frayed with a new one. I only found out the cause when it was too late to prevent it getting worse, and I've been dreading an MOT failure with the lack of new belts. Everything worked without any dash warnings, and no bang from the pretensioner, so all looks good.
A bolt had come out of the seat hinge, so that's back in with some thread lock. With the side of the seat off I've repaired the broken fastenings for the seat controls - no more flapping about!
In between, I've dismantled the gear lever and replaced the jalousie. Unfortunately the battery went flat whilst I was working the gear select, so now the battery is on charge and the testing will have to wait for tomorrow. However, the wiring was intact so I am reasonably confident the winter button and the sport button will still work. I'll have to double check the sport button... :Fawlty:
Quote from: sgould on 23 March 2021, 10:41:12 AM
Today I plan to put fuel in my car. First time since 29th October. Just have to remember how to do it. :o
A month later - how did it go?
It went OK! :)
So yesterday and today I have been going around the nooks and crannies with a toothbrush cleaning out the mud and moss that has grown during the year. Then I gave the Carlsson a quick wash, just to check the new hosepipe. The old one was 40 years old and had started to crack... :o
Excellent news!
Since the first lockdown, my annual mileage has dropped from around 12,000 to under 4,000. Petrol is around the same price as late 2014.
I've done about 7000 in the 2.2 since getting it on the road. Yesterday she needed a replacement strut fitting as the front right spring had broken (I blame speed humps).It was a doddle to do, all nuts came off without issue, the occasional clunking has gone
We have a Brodit kit for holding a phone over the centre vent of the 9-3 Carlson. It worked well in the old 2003 Vector, but didn't fit the Carlsson with the satnav. Brodit say it doesn't fit, but I bodged it a bit and it was OK for a while, but my wife got a new phone which was a tighter fit because the holder wasn't designed for it, and the holder kept falling off. The kit is in two parts. One bit that is car specific, and one that is phone specific. The two parts screw together.
So I bit the bullet and bought a clip for attaching it to the A pillar. It's on, but a bigger job than the instructions. It's supposed to push on, but I had to take the pillar trim off and use some "persuasion". I think that the later pillar trim has a slightly thicker cloth covering. I also took the holder apart and filed away some plastic and it now opens wider and the phone fits! :) We drove to Warwick and back yesterday and nothing fell off.
Quote from: sgould on 02 May 2021, 09:56:01 AM
We have a Brodit kit for holding a phone over the centre vent of the 9-3 Carlson. It worked well in the old 2003 Vector, but didn't fit the Carlsson with the satnav. Brodit say it doesn't fit, but I bodged it a bit and it was OK for a while, but my wife got a new phone which was a tighter fit because the holder wasn't designed for it, and the holder kept falling off.
You can fix the satnav so that the clip fits, you just need to cut and file some plastic on the back of the satnav unit.... it's what I did anyway.
I thought of doing that but I didn't want to damage the unit, in case it didn't work ;)
It's quite low risk to be honest as there's no electronics in that area. Quickest way would have been to use the dremel!
I got nervous! The Carlsson has the leather dash which confuses the issue, and I didn't want to risk damaging it.
Took both my bikes for a bike fit yesterday which meant getting the towbar bike carrier out of the shed. That was all very successful (other than having to buy some different stems and seat posts for my bikes) but when getting home and unplugging the bike carrier electrics the mounting plate for the electrics snapped!
£21 for a Witter Z50 delivered next day from Amazon and bit of swearing later I now have the electrics sorted again.
The sliding blind that fits around the selector lever arrived from Bill Jones at www.saabits.com this afternoon. All fitted in a bit over half an hour. It helps that this is the second one I've done in this car!
The 9-3 Sport convertible failed its MOT this week on a broken coil spring and a weeping shock. Ordered new ones, aiming to fix this weekend but hadn't bargained on the top mounts fighting back- Both severely corroded and one bolt in the O/S was so stuck that it sheared the threaded boss on the underside so the angle grinder had to be brought out.
Everything else had gone very smoothly! Anyway the car is now sitting on axle stands waiting for the top mounts to arrive on Tuesday.
Then there was the aux belt tensioner. What an episode that was! Very little room to work but enough to get a ratchet spanner on. So far so good. Until it dropped out of the thread and left the ratchet stuck on the end with no way to manouvre it free- even having removed the crank pulley. Ended up having to slacken the engine mount and lever the engine towards the gearbox end to create enough room to get it out. This all took a lot longer than I'd hoped- probably around 2 hours of faffing about. I should have paused and jacked it high up, that would have helped.
And so the saga continued. Originally ordered them from Carparts4less but they only had Corteco ones. This was my only option as Autodoc etc. had better quality ones but would be a week delivery. Some random browsing and I found some Febi Bilstein ones on Spareto. Total price for those, bearings AND gaiters with express delivery (ext working day) was less so I decided to cancel the first order (which turned up anyway on Tuesday!). I should have twigged something when the shipping price was £23 for express- they were shipping from Estonia :o.
However, having order them on Monday they arrived Weds. Can't complain really and they are very competitively priced.
I decided to go all in and do the advisories too- front inner tie rods (had them for a while after being told they were too seized to do tracking). Rear springs, shocks, bump stops and spring seats.
Got the track rods off on Friday only to find that the ones I'd bought some time ago were 18mm inner thread, and I needed 14mm. Every single variant CP4L listed was 18mm >:(.
Rang the local(ish) motor factors. Specified 14mm. They'd have them in for me by 2pm. Got there and guess what- 18mm >:(. Said they'd have the right ones on for 10.30 on Sat but instead managed to get some next day from PFS.
So, all installed, plus brake fluid changed, wiper scuttle removed and hot air gunned to remove bloom, ECU mounted on bakerlite spacer to protect from heat. Phew!
Then, on t'other half's 'vert, investigated the leaking first bow ram. Isolated the problem to a failed (tiny) O-ring on one of the input connectors. I'm sure it could be fixed quite cheaply at a hydraulic specialist but finding one locally to do it the same day whilst the weather is good is a bit of a tall order.
And relax. (much needed) Beer now.
I've moved the 9-5 door mirror thread to the 9-5 forum. I hope that all the bits went!!
Been an exciting week! First off ever since I had the tyres changed there's been an occasional scraping noise from the rear of the car when going around bends and roundabouts. Turns out that it was the 17mm socket on the breaker bar in the spare wheel well had come off the bar, most likely I disturbed it when I retrieved the tyre compressor to check the tyre pressures the day after the tyres were replaced. At least it was an easy fix. ::)
Then the aircon has not been blowing very cold, I have a pressure gauge so popped it on to measure the pressure and it was indeed low, however the low pressure port got stuck part open when I removed the pressure gauge, so I had to pay for the mobile guy to come out and replace the valve and do the recharge for me... Only £96 but the pressure on the high pressure side of the A/C system is quite high after a full regas so we suspect that someone has put leak stop in it in the past dand that's probably gummed up the condenser although i'm not having it replaced as it's not really worth it, main side effect is that the aircon isn't quite as cold as it should be. :thumbdown:
Loose stuff in the car can be embarrassing. My grandfather left a miniature bottle of whisky in my Morris Minor on the front parcel shelf which ran across the car. When the bottle hit the steering column it sounded as if the front of the car had collapsed...
Today I finally had a proper look under the car at the oil leak that has been developing as you can smell hot oil now after a drive...
After last MOT in January it was commented that there was a "mist" of oil between the engine and on the bottom of the gearbox, I had noticed a little oil here but nothing much but today after a look around I have a small oil leak from the vacuum pump on the end of the cylinder head (2007 9-3 Aero B207R engine).
I'm hoping this accounts for all the oil underneath the car. Brand new part is ordered from ebay for £92.50 delivered, I had an option of a repair kit for £40 or a cheaper new in box part £63, but as I don't have the time to mess around right now and I want to get this fixed and the oil cleaned up to see if I have any other oil leaks as ideally I'd like to keep the 9-3 for another year or two if possible but if it is coming to the end of days for the car I need to start thinking about what I would replace it with.
Replace the vacuum pump today and both xenon headlight bulbs, the vacuum pump was easy and then cleaned up the top of the gearbox which was covered in a mixture of oil and bits of leaves and other organic matter, hopefully this is the source of the oil leak problem. The headlight bulbs ended up being a little bit fiddly in the end as the retaining ring in one of the igniters would not stay in place and getting the cover back on the passenger side headlight was a "challenge" - wish I had a workshop to be in instead of outside in the wind!
Audax, interesting you mention an oil leak and a vac pump. I had the same - WMSS replaced the vac pump, and it didn't fix the oil leak - I am waiting for a good time to clean the engine up to try to pinpoint the leak myself....and not bother going back to WMSS again!!!!!! :( :o
Quote from: Steve McF on 07 December 2021, 09:53:58 PM
Audax, interesting you mention an oil leak and a vac pump. I had the same - WMSS replaced the vac pumo, and it didn't fix the oil leak
That's very disappointing as it's incredibly obvious if the leak is from the pump! :o Of course you could potentially have 2 leaks.... ::)
Audax, this is very possible.....but the last couple of times I have taken the car to WMSS, I have been a bit disappointed. It's a long way for me to travel to take the car to somewhere for the Saab expertise, and they are not cheap. They don't seem to be too good at diagnosing things. However, next time I will be probably give Bagnal Saab a go, as I have heard good things about them.
I have just spent a while grovelling along the main road in fits and starts. 9-5 backfired, then wouldn't respond to the throttle. I managed to get off the by-pass, and around the roundabout, but it gave up on the uphill bit, just alongside a bollard. I was "quite popular"...
Anyway. the car would start and tickover and rev a bit in P, but died as soon as there was any load. I moved along a bit with the help of a couple of men who pushed me. :) and got to the Costco carpark. I had a look and couldn't see anything wrong. Changed the DI cassette, which didn't make any difference. I shook a few things and noticed that the big inlet pipe was moving on top of the throttle body. The engine was ticking over, when I lifted it up, the engine stopped. Pipe back on to throttle body and tightened up and all seems well.
It's probably my fault. I had the pipe off three weeks or so ago when I changed the CPS. I thought I had tightened it at the time ::) :-[ ::) :-[
Phew....hope that's all it was!!!
Tried to fit a towbar to the 9-3 Sport convertible. After a degreee of sweary underneath and even removing the bumper, I determined it wouldn't fit. Measured it compared to the centre distance of the two mount points under the spare wheel well and found it was 10mm wider.
I've emailed the suppliers and will wait to see what they say. Annoying- it was a Brink removable one that I specifically chose because it needs the least amount of non- visible cuts to the bumper shell and it had fewest parts to assemble. It was also the cheapest removable one I could find.
The only upside is that whilst I was under there I managed to get some penny washers on the exhaust shield that has been rattling for some time.
Fitted an E-SID to the 9-3 today. Instructions left a little to be desired but I worked it out in the end with a little help from WIS.
Quite a nice addition for those of us a little bit geeky about live info.
I thought about one of these, but SWMBO drives the 9-3 and wouldn't be interested in that sort of information...
What is it, and what extra info does it give?
I assume this is for the later facelift 9-3s?
The earlier versions of eSID work with the 2003-6 cars, I believe.
https://www.saabplanet.com/saab-esid2-update/
When the site is up again http://esid.se
It was first developed for the facelift 9-3ss, but due to demand they added the earlier 9-3ss too.
It gives you live data of things like
- instantaneous fuel consumption
- current power/torque
- peak power/torque
- intake, coolant and transmission fluid temps
- air mass flow
- braking performance
I sorted out the burnt out rear light connection on the 9-3 Carlsson.
Lack of clamping force caused the earth connection pin to melt on the right hand rear light. So I bored a hole in the bulb holder and soldered a wire to the earth network inside, then connected the new wire to the earth wire outside the holder in the loom. Hopefully only a temporary job, pending the arrival of the new holder and connector.
Pictures show the melted connector, the missing pin (only 3 of the four remain), and the repair I made.
Finally got round to cleaning up some of the mild surface rust blisters on the slam panel of my 56 9-3 Aero.got the wire brush attachment fitted to my drill to get rid of the rust, and then a liberal application of Hydrate 80 to neutralise it ;)
Been meaning to do it for a while. I need to get under the car as well as the subframes had a lot of surface rust, so was hoping to clean them up, apply the Hydrate 80, and then perhaps look to the get underside waxoyled or use Lanoguard on it.
Aircon condenser replaced! £348 including gas+vat. The fitter was very good, entire job done properly in under 50 minutes with him working on the floor and he came to my house to do it.
Started on cleaning and polishing the Carlsson. It's going to three shows in the next six weeks. Kimbolton on 10th july. SaabFest on 29th July and IntSaab in Luxembourg on 12th August.
it's not in wonderful condition, too many stone chips and fine scratches. But after a wash, clay and polish, it looks OK from 3 feet away. Still got to do the plastics, the glass and the interior. Then a quick wipe-over on the day(s).
I need to do the headlights again. I rubbed them down and worked my way back to a polish, but although the UV damage has gone, there are still some scratches and they are slightly cloudy. More polishing needed...
funny thing with Saab's is that after a quick clean and polish they always look good from a distance. I went to visit a friend yesterday who hadn't seen me in years and thought I had a new car while it was on the end of her driveway... all I did was pay the local quick wash a tenner to clean it the day before.
Having a metallic black car doesn't help with keeping it clean. I sometimes long for the old silver Aero saloon I had which was "self cleaning" from six feet!! :D
But a black car does look nice when it's shiny. :)
Tell me about it. Washed the DE last week, and it needs doing again. Seems to be particularly attractive to bird droppings
Mine is solid black (170), and comes up a treat when polished (apart from the front wing that had a botched spray can repair before I had the car, and some similar faded areas on the front bumper.
But boy does it show up that Saharan dust ::) ;D ;D
Well I finally got round to fitting my new wing mirror glass to replace the cheap after market one that was on there, which wouldn't heat up in the winter. Found out why that was - the leads weren't connected at the back. But the new glass is the same sort as is on the other side of the car, and I plugged in the leads, so we'll see how I get on!!
Also swapped the coil packs for another set I bought ages ago. There used be a sort of backfiring through the air filter box at idle that no one has ever diagnosed. This seems to have gone with the replacement coil packs - not sure what was at fault, or which coil pack.
Third job I tried to do was to swap my ICM2 unit with an ICM3 unit I also bought a while ago. However I couldn't get the air vent out - just couldn't unclip it. Think I need longer small screwdrivers, but I didn't want to risk breaking the vents, so I abandoned the job....for now....
Today I have been looking at the inside of the car with a view to cleaning it ready for the Kimbolton car display on Sunday. I found that the guy who fitted the new rear screen had lost the bolt that holds the rear C pillar. Replacements are "out of stock" at Orio. So I have ordered some cavity wall fixings, which seem to be the same as the Saab bits. For a change, the Orio price would have been acceptable. But odd that the bits are out of stock, when you can get them in multi packs from eBay suppliers. Although to be fair, it's probably a very, very slow moving part.
But as I has the parcel shelf out, here's a gratuitous photo of the rear shelf, taken through the glass of the rear screen, with the shelf cover removed...
Re: Dirt/Sand on black cars...
That applies to our Golf, also metallic black, one Sahara rainstorm and it looks like it's done a few miles in the Kalahari. Scratches do show up too well.....
The Grey Saab looks clean unless it's gone down some very muddy roads. Only snag is the poor repair on NS rear door which is a slightly darker shade of grey. Polishing is much easier due to better standard of paintwork.
Booked into Joe's in Epsom for her big service.
Ask Jie to show you his other Saabs...
There's an article about his 96 that he rebuilt in "Saab Driver" which arrived today. He had it in Sweden for the Festival.
Quote from: sgould on 07 July 2022, 12:00:52 PM
Ask Jie to show you his other Saabs...
There's an article about his 96 that he rebuilt in "Saab Driver" which arrived today. He had it in Sweden for the Festival.
Mentioned your name....didn't get a discount... ::). THought his price was so reasonable I had to check by phone... I'll have a chat with him when I see him on the 28th.
I've found Joe to be excellent. I hope you get on well. :)
I have just managed to remove the high level brake light in the Carlsson to re-position the cable to the light. It's now correctly routed. The guy that fitted the new screen managed to leave a loop of wire above the unit and it was visible through the glass in front of the lighting.
WIS is not helpful. It says "pull out the catches to release the light unit". In practice, and thanks to YouTube, you need to stick a small screwdriver into the slots to release a catch each side...
Put the boy in for MOT today.....he passed, with some advisories ;)
Fitted a brand new set of mats to the Carlsson. I bought them a while back when Orio had them on offer. I should have fitted them earlier. The old mat had a hole in it. :(
This week I have been installing a new Pioneer SPH-DA230DAB digital radio with Apple CarPlay. I have also installed a rear view camera. A trial fit today shows it's all working. :)
All that's left to do is to tidy the wiring and replace the trim that was removed to fit the new DAB sharkfin and run the wires from the rear camera to the head unit...
The installation harnesses from www.incartec.co.uk have worked perfectly. Steering wheel controls all work!
Picked the car up after having taken the plunge and gone for a full autobox rebuild. It had been driving badly for some time now, suffering the SLU fault (getting quite difficult to drive without triggering it) and the fluid was clearly contaminated with friction material.
Cost- a lot. As much as buying a replacement car BUT I'd then be buying an unknown. At least with mine I know what any issues are.
My auto box is still OK at the moment. Where did you get the work done? Was it the guys in Aylesbury that I approached years ago when the old car started to get jerky?
No, not them, I found they were a bit unhelpful last time I spoke to them. I found another firm in Aylesbury, AJ Automatics. Top bloke, really knows his stuff.
Thanks!
Fitted a new door lock to the 2010 9-3 Carlsson. BIt of a saga. Went for a secondhand one in the end, despite previous bad experiences with the same thing a few years ago on the old 1.8t. I would have bought a new lock, but the Orio price has now escalated to £386 - for one lock!! It was less than half that earlier in the year... :o
Passenger or driver side? The passenger is waaaay more troublesome.
Driver's side. Having spent most of the week checking voltages and things out, I confirmed it was the lock itself. Putting in the in"new" secondhand one only took 15 minutes. :)
I haven't been into the passenger side door in this car. I went into that door in the old 1,8t to change a window regulator. What's the big difference? The key mechanism, etc.?
I saw the thread in UKSaabs and couldn't reply there as I am boycotting that site (although I visit I no longer have an account - it was becoming all about Espin99T)...
Anyway, what I would've said would a generic GM part been possible for the lock?. The facelift 9-3s were fitted IIRC with 'normal' handles/locks rather than the groovy items that were fitted to Saabs between 1993 and 2010 (9k excepted), although I thin Cabrios still had the original style all the way to the end....
I think that having the NG9-5 isn't quite the handicap unless you mash up the visible bits, everything mechanical and electrical is pure GM and it sounds like parts for older models are becoming increasingly problematic (that was the case 10 years ago when I lost the drivers side mirror and could not get a direct replacement - Orio denied autodimming exterior mirrors did not exist).
I had a brief look at GM parts, but I didn't find any that are similar in shape.. The lock I have is a Valeo one. That's the name moulded into one side, with Saab on the other. Not sure of any other part numbers, there were no paper label on the item.
Quote from: sgould on 06 October 2022, 01:15:00 PM
What's the big difference? The key mechanism, etc.?
Yes, having the key there means another rod attached to the lock mechanism and it gets very fiddly to manoeuvre it all around
Couple of MOT's today, having done the prep last weekend
Grey & green ones, both passed with no advisories :)
Not bad for 19 & 20 year old cars :thumbsup:
I hope mine passes. It's due by the end of the month. It needs a run over, but I've developed something like a sprained wrist and a swollen hand :(
Which one, the 9-5?
The simple stuff like lights, wipers, horn, tyres, handbrake are still all within a 15 minute easy check.
Bottom ball joints would I say be next most common failure point, after that it's CV boots, rear bushes, the last of those not being on the easy DIY list, even with uninjured hands
It will be booked in through Joes Repair Shop. So it will be serviced as well.
MOT and Service day, decided to try indysaab in Rushden, about £580 down, major service, back box and mot done and a customer supplied headlamp washer fitted. Can highly recommend them! Front of house staff knew what they were talking about which gives me great confidence in their abilities, busy workshop too.
Replaced the failed cabin blower on the estate. Took a while to get it out and even longer to get the new one in - Haynes says to flex the bulkhead with a ratchet strap. It is possible... eventually. Took about 3 hours, though that involved a lot of stopping to let cars go past and learning where all the screws are. All back together by 5, now has a nice quiet fan. I was very pleased until I remembered the windscreen wiper motor connection! So back in tomorrow. At least the wiper arms have been cracked off, so it shouldn't take long.
Yesterday actually.
trying to investigate why there was a lot of frosted condensation in the Golf and my NG....
Followed some youtube vids for checking the 9-3SS and given they are both 'GM' cars thought what would apply to 9-3 applies also to the NG.... And found the rubber gasket beneath the bulkhead without having to remove the scuttle....thankfully no debris clogging it up. Car is parked outside all the time...
The Golf has a sunroof. Anyone with VAG cars know the issues with sunroof drainage, apparently wasn't cured on Golf 7, and we had problems on the Golf 4 we had...unfortunately VW has wisely hidden the drainage behind the scuttle (whereas on the 4 it was in the door aperture.... I need to find a long piece of flex to check that none of the channels are blocked... I suspect car has had a replacement screen at one time (we bought it at 4 years old)....
Washed both cars today.. First time since the summer. :o
Well that didn't end well!!!! I have previously tried to remove the centre vent on my dash with the intention to remove the ICM2 audio unit and try to fit an ICM3 unit I have had waiting in the wings for a while. But each time I have tried to do it, I could never release the vent from the fascia.
I was watching a youtube video where the guy used a number of old store cards wedged in around the vent to release the various clips, so I thought I'd give that a go. The three clips at the top of the vent released relatively easily. Then the two on the bottom seemed to free up - bingo!!
However, as I gently pulled the vent forward, the front part broke away from the rear, and the various grille parts inside disintegrated, and fell onto the centre console and footwells!!!!!
Not sure what happened, but it looks like some clips have snapped off the front section (presumeably where it clips to the rear section). Either way, I'm now going to need another vent!!!!
On the bright side, at least I should now be able to try to fit the ICM3 unit and see if it works!!!!!!
The grilles can come apart, and be put back together.. But it does looks as if one clip has broken off the frame that holds the two halves of the frame together.
Well as I am bereft of a centre vent at the moment, I thought I'd finally fit that ICM3 head unit I've had in the garage for 2 or 3 years, but never seen working.
It went in very easily, and I was worried the screen might be knackered or missing loads of pixels, but no, it works and all looks good.
At first when I turned the ignition on there was no display on the SiD, but soon after it appeared as normal.
Someone else who had put an ICM3 head unit in their car to replace an ICM1 unit, said it worked but then the radio would cut out every 10 minutes or so, and he needed Tech2 to tell the car/audio system what features were/were not on the car, and then it worked without any issues.
So I went out for a run to see if I had the same issue, and I don't. The radio behaved itself throughout. However, if I select CD (screen says CDX), it says no CD is present, even though it is.
The aux input does work though, thankfully.
When I got back I noticed the rear park assist didn't seem to be working, so I looked through the menus on the SiD but it isn't there at all.
So it seems I will need a little bit of Tech2 intervention after all.
The rear parking sensors were one of the first upgrades I did on the car after I got it 5 years back, and I got a specialist to fit it for me and do all the Tech2 stuff.
I was wondering whether it was worth getting the 6 CD changer as another simple upgrade (are the changers less reliable than the single CD?), and would the ICM3 recognise it without Tech2?
Yup, you will need a Tech2 session to get everything married up and recognised.
Today I stripped the front bumper on the Carlsson. The grey trim needs repainting. Tomorrow I will find out if I can still operate a spray can. It's been years since I did anything like that.
And now they are painted. Land Rover Corris Grey Code: 873. A bit more sparkle than the original, but the sparkles are green & purple which is much the same as the Jet Black body.
And in a fit of enthusiasm, I managed to refit it all this evening...
How frequently do these need to be done?
My DE glasses are very much second hand. I could go full drug dealer look by painting them Jet Black, but are there alternatives ???
Never looked into the plastidip option
My Dame is coming up to 17 years old and 182.000 miles. I haven't bothered to do anything to the chrome trim, and it looks OK after a polish. The picture is from the Carlsson and the trims on that are painted plastic. The paint has been bubbling and flaking off for a while, but I waited for a spell of warm weather to do the repaint. The car was built in 2010 and spent the first three years of its life around Lancashire. Owner in Wigan, but it has a North East registration.
The other issue with painting the 9-3 Carlsson/TurboX is that Saab have never released the colour code. So I had to guess and the LandRover colour looked OK, so I bought the spray can. It matches quite well and is a bit more sparkly than original, but not by much. And SWMBO thinks it looks nice, which is all that matters!! :)
Perhaps too late now, but you can take something over to a local motor factor that does paint & get an aerosol to match anything
I was doing some work on a Kymco moped, the carrier on the back was scratched/damaged. Took it to the local factor & they declared it was a Mazda colour & made one up for me
I know that paint can be matched, and it would have worked in this case. However, I have seen matched paint, and the suppliers seem to use their standard paint as a base, but over time the fade differs when the substrate is not the same, but it's OK for a whole job rather than just a panel. But having made the effort to find a close match, i just went for it!
Today I decided to finally take a look at the mirror cover which I had to duct tape so it stayed mostly in place on the 9-3 after she had an "incident" in a car park. I pulled the glass off and confirmed all the tabs which hold the mirror cover in place were broken , however there is conveniently 2 small holes in the plastic which you can screw into through the frame, so after 20 minutes of searching in the spare screws box I have now reattached the mirror cover without having to fork out ?50 for a cover and paint.
I have changed the covers a few times. Almost all of the legs have broken to some extent. The screw holes were added to replacement covers at an early stage. Our 2002/3 launch model cracked a cover. It had no holes for fixing screws, but the one i got from Saab in 2005 had holes.
It's the little things!! I finally got round to fitting the replacement centre dash vent to replace the one that disintegrated when I tried to remove it a few weeks back!!!! ;) :)
Finally managed to repair tilt/turn actuator in the passenger side mirror. The wee nylon linear gears had worn down so mirror would tilt down for reverse parking but not come back up without a shove. Have a car with memory function so didn't fancy dropping ?120+ on a replacement unit, bought the standard actuator and dismantled it to get the bits & bobs I needed and swapped them with the ones fitted to the mirror on the car.
W
Prompted by an MOT fail (handbrake imbalance)/advisory (low rear pads), a complete rear brake replacement on the 9-5. Disc, pads, shoes. Whoever designed the shoe retaining spring arrangement should be forced to listen to Black Lace for the rest of their lives!
I'd bought what was apparently a suitable tool from Amazon, but it was too big. Everything else went really quite easily, just getting those pesky springs back on was a real pig. If you've ever tired it, I'm you'll sympathise.
The good news was I found the cause of the imbalance- the O/S return spring had corroded/fallen off so the shoes were dragging and wearing. The N/S had also snapped- I presume recently. Anyway, new ones on order and the car will stay up in the air until I get them.
Worryingly the friction material fell off the backing plate on one of the pads as I removed it, despite the fact that they were only just under the minimum 4mm at service thickness.
I have done two sets of handbrake shoes oer the past few months.
I have a very old screwdrive whih has a 7/8mm hex end on it, a bit like a small socket. I have used that many times to remove the springs on various models. It's all about getting some purchase on the cup to rotate while having a finget at the back to stop the pin rotating. I found you need to do the springs first.
My grey car is up in the air, one of the springs has broken, which i suspected because the handbrake didn't return to rest as quickly as it should
The rear pads are probably about 4mm, I'm in two minds whether to do them now, or wait until later, after the MOT, at which point I'll be doing the discs too as they appear to have some high points. This cause vibration on the black car
I've had two sets of pads have the material separate from the backing this year
Other work for the MOT consisted of a bit of an exhaust repair, there was a minor blow & some brake pipe cleaning & painting. The Bilt Hamber I did last year has done well, so she got an application of hammerite smooth just to top things off.
I have also started putting treatment on the inside of the McPherson strut turrets. They tend to be showing their age now, also treating the front inner wings, but that is mainly cosmetic
A couple of MOT's today
Grey Aero got a clean ticket
Green Aero got a couple of advisories, reversing lamp (both are working) and a bit of wear on a front disc
I'll call that a win, especially as the current MOT's expire on Saturday & Sunday :thumbsup:
Well done! :)
My 9-5 goes for a service and MOT in 10 days. I don't think there will be a problem with the MOT, apart from the airbag, but there's a long list of other things that need looking at. Mostly fiddly things that I'm avoiding these days as my fingers are getting arthritic and sore. Cold weather doesn't help with that either.
I though you had sorted the airbag problem ?
Now the MOT's are over I need to try another SID repair on the grey one and a geabox oil change on the green one. It's a bit whiny when cold. This will involve removing the battery box & engine mount so that I can access the drain holes with a proper bit. I don't know how long the special tool is, but last time I did this I needed the full torque of a 1/2" drive ratchet to break the threadlock
The drivers airbag was replaced in the spring, and all was fine for a while. Then in early July I got the "bing bong" when I pulled away from the ticket barrier at the Channel Tunnel as we headed for France. The current codes show a failure in both the driver and passenger side wiring.
Since the return from France in late July, life has got in the way, and I haven't had a chance to spend much time on the cars, apart from taking advantage of a couple of days of warmer weather to apply the underseal to the 9-5.
I had an intermittent airbag problem that was due to the connector under the steering wheel airbag not always mating correctly and then working just a tiny bit loose. had to pop the airbag off every now and then and re-seat it.
Meanwhile I've just had the 9-5 back and got it though the MOT with brakes fixed. Must then get round to the list of advisories...
Today I finished off the gearbox oil change and attempted a ribbon repair on SID, which this time I had the soldering iron head with rubber protection to help bond the ribbon to the glass / circuit board
There's a thread on the oil change at http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=4559.new#new
The SID repair was almost perfect, but I just couldn't get the minutes on the clock to display correctly. More practice or cleanliness clearly needed. Though the connections for the circuit board & ribbon do seem to be slightly off
One question on the SID units. There's reference in WIS to Tech II programming. Is that more about some capabilities / model differences. I have discovered that the units I have on the 2003 cars are a different part because the voltages from the steering wheel controls are diffferent s a consequence of the introduction of flappy paddles on the auto gearbox cars. I have assumed so far that the loaded software version in SID is fixed, and forward compatability will be not possible ???
Late this afternoon, I received my new antifreeze tester. So I went out to check the anti-freeze in the 9-5. I wanted to check it as I topped the system up with plain water in France when it boiled up, and frost is forecast this weekend. I had expected to replace the thermostat and coolant before now, but life and family got in the way. The work will be done next week when the car is in for the service, airbag, and MOT...
It was a simple job. The instrument came with a pipette to remove a small amount of coolant for the tester. Then the wind blew the pipette off the top of the battery and down into the area above the washer bottle and out of sight. So SWMBO was roused to hold the torch and we got the bumper off and managed to recover the pipette. By the time it was refitted, it was dark. I can't remember the last time I worked on a car in the cold and dark...
Anyway, the coolant is a bit diluted, but shows to be still OK to -10ºC which is marginal in our garden, but should be OK until next week. We work on our garden being 4ºC below the forecast temperature. We are 75m (250 ft) above sea level but in the bottom of a valley.
If you are really worried, a 60W incandescant light can provide a surprising amount of extra protection
Old School ;D
If really desperate< I have a low-rise oil heater somewhere! :D It might need a new wick and a fill of oil. I wouldn't use it indoors though...
In the daylight today, I thought that is would be remiss to not check the antifreeze in the Carlsson. It's fine. The tester says it's good to -37ºC.
Good for a trip to Sweden then
Not sure about the Museum Festival this year. It may be a bridge or three too far. We went last year, but we had four people, all drivers, in the 9-5. That isn't an option this time. If I go, I may fly. But it will be June and probably above -37...
When we took the Carlsson four years ago, we were accosted in the street and waved down by people who had only heard of them. There was also Isak who had built his own LHD version in Sweden from a V6 Aero XWD.
Had to SORN the 9000. It's MOT lapsed a couple of months ago but I have been using is or had the time to get it re-tested. Today, prompted by the fact that tax was due next month, I decided to prep it for MOT.
Pesky thing burst the heater matrix whilst it was idling to dry out the damp >:(. I won't be getting that fixed before the end of the week!!
Oh dear, that's somewhat of a disappointment.
I would suggest pulling the SRS module out before that becomes a casualty of the heater matrix bursting.
At least it happened when the car was at home, a slight positive
That's messy. I had a bad leak on the heater in the Carlsson a couple of years back. Fortunately the workshop manual was written for LHD and the nightmare I was expecting did not materialise.
Slightly worried now about the lack of antifreeze in the car- when it happened I ran a load of water from the hose through the header tank to cool the engine so the antifreeze will be very diluted and there's cold weather on the way this week.
Obvious alternative, you could always simply drain it off, but then you lose the anti-corrosion properties
I got lucky. When the car boiled in France in July I filled with plain water, and it got us home. I planned to renew the antifreeze when I changed the thermostat but family matters got in the way and it wasn't done. I bought an antifreeze tester which showed it was OK to -10°C. We were away over the weekend in balmy Devon. Fortunately the temperature only went down to -6°C while we were away. It will all be sorted at the garage tomorrow.
Quote from: carrera on 28 November 2023, 08:32:23 AM
Obvious alternative, you could always simply drain it off, but then you lose the anti-corrosion properties
Yes, I did contemplate that but feared the same about corrosion. I chucked 2l of neat antifreeze in (cue more water coming out of matrix) last night. Hopefully that might have reached the parts it needs to.
Well not mine, but hers. Failed MOT on a broken rear coil spring (Eibach, only a couple of years old too) and upper rear control arm play.
Springs are not too bad provided you take more off than the manual suggests- I take the upper and lower control arms off, and move the brake a caliper out of the way to allow access to the spring compressor.
Upper control arm was rather less fun. Nearside so there was very little room over the top the the exhaust and hard against the wheel well. 250mm extension on a ratchet and luckily it moved without needed a breaker bar. Still took around 30 mins of moving the ratchet just one notch at a time and it was stiff all the way. That was some work out!
This is not the time of year to be enjoying that type of work
Personally, as we have had some snow for the past few days, two of the cars have had rim changes, so now on winter tyres
Have you sorted the 9000, or is that on the slow burner pile ?
The 9000 is still sitting under a cover until I get round to it- possibly over the Xmas break if it's warm enough. I want to do a bit of work researching which is the best heater matrix. I put the current one on about 8 years ago: it shouldn't really have failed in the time.
Not today as my logon details are on my work computer....
Last week, discovered the battery in NG was completely flat, could not open doors without the proper key... Waited until Saturday to boost it courtesy of the Golf so I could take it up and down the A316 to charge it. Deduced that the resident Poltergeist opened the boot and that resulted in a drain of charge...car asks me to open and close each window in turn so it must have been an anti-theft issue.... after two day I started the car this morning without issue...
But I did do my twice yearly wheel and tyre swap. The 19" turbines with Eagle F1 have now been replaced by my 18" Carves with GoodYear 4Seasons AW tyres. Car is so much more settled on the 18"s.... They do look small in the NG arches (would hate to see one with optional 16") but I think I chose well with the Carves.
Annual winter check at Ian Allan Motors...see if they tell me anything...
Yesterday was service and MOT time at Indysaab in Rushden. MOT was passed with the expected advisories (headlamp is cloudy, I have the repair kit just not had the right weather or the round tuits to do the job) and front numberplate is getting a bit worn. Service time was just an intermediate and aux belt and plugs. They also quoted me for a new aircon compressor as the old one is rattling and attended to a few other little bits and bobs, front tyre was losing pressure so they resealed it, refitted a heat shield or engine cover, found a slightly worn engine mount (there's a clunk from the front of the car sometimes which they had a look at).
Again, have to highly recommend Indysaab as they know their stuff and did all of that for just over £300 which seems like a very keen price to me, I just hope they are charging enough as I would hate to lose them.
That is very good indeed. I know what you mean about the ambivalence, with a good small company like that, of being simultaneously relieved at the low cost and worrying that they aren't charging enough to stay in business.
Sounds like good news: another year of use & not too much to do to keep her in tip top condition :thumbsup:
Quote from: carrera on 25 January 2024, 09:18:41 PM
Sounds like good news: another year of use & not too much to do to keep her in tip top condition :thumbsup:
Totally agree with that, I was looking recently at what I could replace the 9-3 with that would be objectively better and an upgrade and it was looking like I needed to spend a big chunk of cash in excess of £10k+ really. That's a lot of maintenance and repairs for the Aero even with paying £700 a year in VED.
Absolutely agreed. When faced with that annual quandary I always remember sgould's mantra: "the cheapest car is invariably the one you've got" ...
Quote from: TomPaine on 26 January 2024, 09:28:52 AM
Absolutely agreed. When faced with that annual quandary I always remember sgould's mantra: "the cheapest car is invariably the one you've got" ...
Totally, I just looked it up and bought this one 27th January 2016 with an view to replacing it in around 4 years! With the way I now work from home, covid and the price of newer cars it's just ticking along nicely.
Booked into Ian Allan for annual service and MOT.
Although I have had good service from Joe's in Epsom, and the cafe round the corner was excellent, Epsom was a right royal pain to get to (3 trains) which Virginia Water is on my way to work (but the old 9-5s Nav did used to say it was on the M3..) and I've used IA satisfactorily for 13-14 years now.
My other go to option was Now Vauxhall in Kingston, which became Robins & Day, then Stellantis & You so became concerned that the Insignia/GM expertise was becoming diluted, even if I distrusted the 'Saab Expert' massively the equivalent VX parts were always cheaper.
Let's see what Ian Allan say, winter check gave it a clean bill of health. Now had the car 7 years!, 2 more months and I will have had the car longer than I owned Dame Edna and already 15 months longer than I owned Sabine. By the time I come to make the choice to sell, there will have to be a low mileage 9-3 for sale or I will have to succumbed to a Neckarsulm made car.
I replaced the top hoses from the header tank. There has been a slow coolant leak and there were signs of staining on the tanlk and the heat shields. I used the cheaper option replacements from Saabits, mainly to see how they fare. The metal pipe end on the turbo/engine ends are a bit pitted, but a bit of rubbing down got rid of most of it.
Got an invitation from Stellantis and You Wimbledon. Guess they have taken on the Vauxhall business from Kingston (which I believe were part of different groups before Saab went bust).
Anyway completely ignored it.
I have previous with them.
In 2009 when I was returning to the UK with my red 9-3SS Aero I needed an MOT to get the V5C and UK reg plates. Because the car was mostly being used in NL the headlamp beams were flat - I bought a RHD UK-spec car in Germany in 2004. A 2003 9-3 with Xenons had little tabs behind the units that allowed you to deflect the beams if you drove on the continent. This meant arguments at the Dutch Saab dealer I used for servicing as these tabs were not a well-known feature... Anyway, I explain to the receptionist that the technicians had to be aware that the headlights had been modified for right hand driving (Sabine was still on dutch plates at the time) and she started saying it was illegal, you won't get passed it's not compliant with VOSA which is a part of the MINISTRY OF DEFENCE... Well! I went into full Ian Paisley/Alex Ferguson/Karen hairdryer mode telling her I won't talk to someone as clueless bring me the manager. The car did pass but the technicians did not know how to adjust the lamps for left-hand running or change the fog lights (2 days later I had to change them back!!).
Rant over!
A saga...
I've been buying tyres from Costco as they are the closest and much cheaper than others. But they refused to sell and fit two all-season tyres, like Michelin Cross Climate, to the Carlsson, saying that I had to have either two summer tyres to match the ones that are still OK, or four all-season. I planned to go to all season, they have been fine on my 9-5 for the last two years, and I'm getting too old to keep swapping wheels from summer to winter. But I wanted to swap the Carlsson in stages.
I decided to put two of the winter tyres on the Carlsson as a temporary measure (not to be driven on) while I took two loose wheels in to get two new tyres. Then things got out of hand.
Yesterday I got everything ready, but it's her car and the wheel lock wasn't in the usual place. SWMBO looked everywhere, she said, and it wasn't found. So we packed up and I went to order a new key. I had one last look, and the locking key was there. I don't know how she missed it...
So, today we started again. I decided to use the trolley jack. Took it out and a couple of joints looked a bit rusty, so I went to service the jack. All went well until I came to grease the main pivot. The grease gun was solid with old grease, so that was cleaned and got working. Then I put it on the grease nipple which wobbled and fell out. The nipple was clearly something cheap as there was hardly any thread on it. But in the way of having a stash of "things that might be useful one day", I found a proper nipple which fitted. It was in a box with a Mercedes logo on it. It was brand new and unused. So now I am, I hope, all ready to change the wheels.
And we sold the Mercedes in 1978 :o :D
Brilliant punchline Will!
Spring is in the air and the sap is rising... which is when the fun on fixing cars can commence again. It'll get easier from here Will ;D
I've got the toolkit from a Bentley which somebody gave me a couple of decades ago. It includes a quite useful pair of adjustable grips. Not quite 1978 though
Quote from: welshwizard on 16 February 2024, 10:43:08 AM
Got an invitation from Stellantis and You Wimbledon. Guess they have taken on the Vauxhall business from Kingston (which I believe were part of different groups before Saab went bust).
Anyway completely ignored it.
I have previous with them.
In 2009 when I was returning to the UK with my red 9-3SS Aero I needed an MOT to get the V5C and UK reg plates. Because the car was mostly being used in NL the headlamp beams were flat - I bought a RHD UK-spec car in Germany in 2004. A 2003 9-3 with Xenons had little tabs behind the units that allowed you to deflect the beams if you drove on the continent. This meant arguments at the Dutch Saab dealer I used for servicing as these tabs were not a well-known feature... Anyway, I explain to the receptionist that the technicians had to be aware that the headlights had been modified for right hand driving (Sabine was still on dutch plates at the time) and she started saying it was illegal, you won't get passed it's not compliant with VOSA which is a part of the MINISTRY OF DEFENCE... Well! I went into full Ian Paisley/Alex Ferguson/Karen hairdryer mode telling her I won't talk to someone as clueless bring me the manager. The car did pass but the technicians did not know how to adjust the lamps for left-hand running or change the fog lights (2 days later I had to change them back!!).
Rant over!
Well, bit late but better than never. Clean bill of health. No advisories either - interesting considering Joe Pugh gave me a long list last year and I have done nothing to the car, including the exhaust, since..
Car goes as well as ever, looking forward to the long drive from Bracknell to North Wales tonight. Did see a forlorn looking NG in the car park at the back - let's hope that one can be resurrected.
Quote from: welshwizard on 08 March 2024, 10:54:07 AMWell, bit late but better than never. Clean bill of health. No advisories either - interesting considering Joe Pugh gave me a long list last year and I have done nothing to the car, including the exhaust, since..
Happy days. And yes, the MOT advisory hokey-cokey is always interesting. I've also had some items appear as advisories one year and then disappear the next without them being attended to, which does underline that tester discretion must be fairly wide.
Quote from: TomPaine on 08 March 2024, 03:10:19 PM
Quote from: welshwizard on 08 March 2024, 10:54:07 AMWell, bit late but better than never. Clean bill of health. No advisories either - interesting considering Joe Pugh gave me a long list last year and I have done nothing to the car, including the exhaust, since..
Happy days. And yes, the MOT advisory hokey-cokey is always interesting. I've also had some items appear as advisories one year and then disappear the next without them being attended to, which does underline that tester discretion must be fairly wide.
Robins and Day Kingston (local 'Saab Service Centre') 2 years ago said my front sub-frame was severely corroded. Perhaps it's because we've had some mild winters the condition hasn't deteriorated..It's the exhaust that surprised me this time.
I've ordered the new tyres from Costco. They will be here on Monday. In the meantime, as she needed her car, I fitted all four of the 18 inch winter tyres. I think they have been stored in covers in the shed for at least two years. The tyres were all fully inflated before storage. The rear pair are Nokian A4, dated 2016, and they had retained almost all the pressure. The fronts are Nokian A3, dated 2014, and the pressure in both had reduced to under 10psi. Both the same. They were pumped up to pressure and have held all the pressure overnight.
New tyres from Costco fitted. A good price on a pair of Bridgestone WeatherControl tyres.
I will have to get around to fitting them back on the car at some point. The 18 inch winter tyres seem to be holding up well at the moment.
Given the nice warm temperatures experienced today, it's time for me to swap back onto Summer tyres I think...
Carves with GoodYear Vector 4 seasons off and cleaned and stored.
Turbines with GoodYear Eagle F1, all clean, back on.
After sticking a bottle of Forte in the Carlsson, I took the rear LH door card off and cleaned all the contacts in an attempt to cure the intermittent door lock failure. It seems to be better, but still not 100%. Getting the front door locks out is easy, getting at the rear door locks is much more difficult. You have to remove the window mechanism first...
Took the black 2006 Dame Edna for an MOT
The tester remarked that I did a lot of miles in her, as he checked the MOT history. Then he gave me a clean ticket :thumbsup:
Always a euphoric moment. Congrats. Mine (2004) is due next month.
Today I gave the 9-5 a good clean and polish. First time for nearly a year! Lots of greenery growing in the crevices. Saturday is the Saab meet at the Ace Cafe, and Sunday is Swedish Day in Somerset. It's a bit depressing how many small dents and stone chips there are after nearly 18 years and 185,000 miles...
Mine - MY04 9-5 Aero auto estate - passed its MOT, yay. And therefore had its annual service. It didn't need too much extra doing (at least by recent standards): handbrake cables needed lubricating; new anti-roll bar drop link; brake fluid; new side repeater bulb. Lots of advisories as ever; I think it will need some attention and welding on the underside before next year since the rust on the dog-legs is starting to travel along the sills. But the green tick is a big relief.
Well done! :)
The Carlsson goes in for the MOT in 10 days.
Good news on the MOT, another year of life extension.
I suggest you get some Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 & apply that to the rusty areas. Following Will's recommendation there was a phase where this was pretty much a pre-MOT exercise, but now the chassis side hardly ever needs work on my cars. :thumbsup:
Back to Indysaab in Rushden, the aircon compressor on the 9-3 Aero has been noisy for ages and won't be doing the aircon system any good at a guess putting bits of metal through the system so got that replaced and also had a leak on the exhaust system so got them to sort that too at the same time. Also had them read the fault codes as I'd had a couple of ESP failure warnings a couple of months ago but they said no codes were stored, will have to keep an eye on that but I suspect it's a CIM module that is slowly failing. Once again a big thumbs up for Indysaab as they did the job in a few hours and charged a fair price for the work and contacted me as soon as it was done which saved a lot of waiting around.
Really pushed the boat out this evening. I fitted new wiper blades to the 9-5. :)
I've finally got a clear test on the Covid. Had a couple of quiet days, and so today I fitted a bumper protector that i managed to get hold of.
Think you need to get out an old tooth brush Will and clean up your badges....you're letting the side down ;) ;D
If I get the chance it will be done tomorrow. I wasn't going to take the 9-5 to Saabfest, but the 9-3 needs more prep to be presentable.
Does this meet the standard? I have to drive 400 miles before I get to Saabfest and it will be raining on the way, so it won't look like this when I arrive...
where's the like button?
Just arrived at the Travelodge in Tewkesbury ready for Saabfest tomorrow, and the car is filthy again. :(
Today I drove my Saab around a roundabout...
...unfortunately for me and the Saab a lorry driver decided that the give way lines on his entry to the roundabout didn't apply to him and he managed to hit the rear quarter of the car and spin me 180' around and resulting in the rear quarter panel, rear wheel arch liner, rear wheel and bumper sustaining what is ceratinly going to be deemed to be "uneconomical to repair" levels of damage. I'm a bit sad, I liked that car. I'll put up a separate post at some point with the dashcam footage and pictures but I'm already wondering if that was my last time in a Saab. :'(
That's a shame. It does sound to be uneconomic to repair.
Oh dear, that's a real shame, sorry to hear your news
As you know, beyond economic repair doesn't mean unrepairable, the economics can be very much driven by car hire costs etc
There's alsao an argument that the obligation of the other party is to repair your car, regardless of cost, but the write off route is a method that your insurer prefers
Proper assessment required, and there are still good Saabs around :thumbsup:
Oh, I made the assessment when the lorry hit me and I knew the situation straight away before the car was stationary, the hit was right into the rear electrical center, I didn't even look at the damage as I got out of the car as I knew everything I needed to know from the sound at that point I was already moving on and thinking while spinning 180' that "please don't clip that kerb or hit those road signs" as if I had it could have easily been a rollover or side airbag moment.
It's time to let this one go, the HGV was Italian registered and with an Italian driver, I can't see that Aviva are going to even think about entertaining an argument here over repairing the car and I don't have the bandwidth for that either.
Sad emoji required
:(
Very sorry to read this Audax.
Here's the picture https://imgur.com/a/saab-vs-scania-RhKj3Jo (https://imgur.com/a/saab-vs-scania-RhKj3Jo)
From a distance it doesn't look disastrous. The door shuts still look even, but the dent in the roof might be the real problem in deciding to write the car off.
the number of electrical warnings when I started it up though would be the bigger issue, the REC is now in the boot... Aviva already offered me £1832 for the car which isn't a bad starting offer, I said I wanted a bit more so I'm waiting for them to phone me back.
Yes, I forgot about the RER :(
Sorry to see this Audax. Another one off the DVLA records. Good luck with the negotiations with Aviva.
Quote from: Audax on 27 July 2024, 11:04:08 PM
Today I drove my Saab around a roundabout...
...unfortunately for me and the Saab a lorry driver decided that the give way lines on his entry to the roundabout didn't apply to him and he managed to hit the rear quarter of the car and spin me 180' around and resulting in the rear quarter panel, rear wheel arch liner, rear wheel and bumper sustaining what is ceratinly going to be deemed to be "uneconomical to repair" levels of damage. I'm a bit sad, I liked that car. I'll put up a separate post at some point with the dashcam footage and pictures but I'm already wondering if that was my last time in a Saab. :'(
that truly sucks, looks like a left-hander too, but the excuse that he couldn't see you is his problem. Just hope that you are ok and you are fixed up with another car soon. Looks like a 2007 Aero Anni?
It was indeed the 2007 aero anniversary, the best year imo as you got the new dash but the older body style which was my favourite!
but did it get the full Aero look, there were 2006-7 Aero 2.0T sportwagons that had the look of a Vector (and no exposed exhaust tips), with only the ALU50s and Aero badge giving away the fact it is a 2.0T HOT...
Quote from: welshwizard on 31 July 2024, 09:54:43 AM
but did it get the full Aero look, there were 2006-7 Aero 2.0T sportwagons that had the look of a Vector (and no exposed exhaust tips), with only the ALU50s and Aero badge giving away the fact it is a 2.0T HOT...
It had the front Aero bumper but not the rest of the kit, weirdly it had a sunroof and not heated seats. I only bought it when the old 9-5 was struggling with lots of oil leaks and water leaks and a rattly timing chain. I was at Saabtech welwyn asking them to confirm that the 9-5 was a basket case and the guy said "what are you going to do?" and I said "I think I'll start looking for a 9-3 Aero like that one" and pointed at a car on the ramp in their workshop... he turned around and said it was for sale so I asked if it was auto, the mileage and price and just said "I'll buy it then" - he was a bit shocked that I didn't want to test drive it, I pointed out he just told me they would stand against their warranty so that if there was anything wrong I'd know about it.
(I would have done the same thing with Ian @ Saabtech / Cartech, he's honest as the day is long. My car is at Welwyn now having the rust on the dog-legs and sills attended to, which reminds me to try and upload some pics to my previous thread on this.)
I'm back in a Saab, I agreed a value with the insurance yesterday of £2004 for the old 9-3, 2007 2.0T Auto Aero Anniversary at 145k... today I put that money towards buying the new one which is a 2009 2.0T Auto Aero XWD with 105k on it... Spent £3900 on it and got it home this evening!
Well done! Sounds like fun. Our 2.8 XWD has been pretty reliable. The only major expense was a replacement oil seal on the rear diff which popped out.
The Haldex diff is now recommended for a service - fluid and filter change - every 35,000 miles. When the car was sold, it was "sealed for life" ...
Yes, this car has a spotty history and quite a few owners, the guy I bought it off had it just over 3 years and had done a lot of sensible maintenance, it seems to go well (apparently it is hirsched, I need to check this). I will get it into indysaab for a checkover at some point but to be honest I had a look at how many 2.0T Aero XWD were sold and it seems that only 6 exist so I didn't have much choice!
Yes, I heard that there were very few 2.0T XWD compared to the sales of the TurboX and Carlsson. Almost as rare as the non-turbo 9-3 1.8. I know of one of those in Oxfordshire.
The only other 2.0T XWD i know of is a Laser Red one owned by a guy who lives near Ipswich. I haven't seen it for a while.
I used to service and have driven a non turbo 1.8 9-3... there was a lot of space in the engine bay ;D
Great to have you back, it's almost like you never left :thumbsup: ;D
Looking forward to your comments on the XWD difference
The XWD is exceptionally good, I was driving cautiously as I don't want to have another claim so soon but going around a couple of roundabouts last night this new car is noticeably faster at moving around them... Changing lane at high speed too is also quick.
The most intimidating part of the drive yesterday though was driving to the same friends house to pick up all my stuff from the old car... as I was going around the same roundabout where the accident happened there was a large lorry approaching the same way as the previous accident and I was just thinking "oh ****"
Quote from: Audax on 01 August 2024, 10:58:32 PM
I used to service and have driven a non turbo 1.8 9-3... there was a lot of space in the engine bay ;D
That is the one thing I recall about it! :)
I have heard that the 1.8 was popular in markets that still pay vehicle taxes based on displacement? howmanyleft said about 100 were sold here.
Quote from: sgould on 02 August 2024, 09:50:33 AM
Quote from: Audax on 01 August 2024, 10:58:32 PM
I used to service and have driven a non turbo 1.8 9-3... there was a lot of space in the engine bay ;D
That is the one thing I recall about it! :)
The (lack of) acceleration was the most noticeable thing in the one I had as a courtesy car for a day.
Today I decided to put the summer tyres back on. Well the rear ones are all-weather. I was going to run the set of Nokian winter tyres until they were worn right down, but the front ones are a bit frayed and now one has a puncture. All set up and I set to. Then the issues started to build up...
I was hoping to just splash a bit of Bilt Hamber underseal around the wheel arches where I could see, and I managed that. But it's thrown up two issues...
One is the rear self-levelling shock absorbers is leaking. They were £500 each at the last time of asking :(
And the the oil seal on the other side in the rear differential has failed. :(
We plan to take the car to Germany in four weeks...
Has anyone got any experience, first or seondhand of this kit? £450. A single self levelling shock absorber is £564 :o
https://www.partsforsaabs.com/product_info.php?products_id=5669
I'm tempted.
No direct experience, but I'm confused.
Surely the purpose of self levelling dampers is to maintain the ride height when loaded, but the description says otherwise
Bilstein are generally good, though I found with my blue 9-5 that the rear dampers were only lasting 20-30k, until I replaced them with the Sachs self levelling & 280k miles later they are still in place
I have a set on the shelf that I did a bit of negotiating with the former main dealer to procure - I gave £300 for the set
Good luck with the oil seal
I'm going to discuss the whole lot with Joe tomorrow, unless he's gone to Denmark for the Saab International. I'm really tempted by the conversion. It's popular in the states. It's the second self-leveller that has failed on this car.
Sadly changing the wheels has brought home to me that I'm really getting too old to attempt any really heavy work. So, I won't be attempting the suspension change, or the oil seal, which involves removing the whole rear suspension on one side.
Sorry to hear that, hope the chat with Joe goes well
Quote from: sgould on 07 August 2024, 08:25:43 PM
Has anyone got any experience, first or seondhand of this kit? £450. A single self levelling shock absorber is £564 :o
Yes, these are what are fitted to my new 9-3, not 100% sure on the dampers, I was told they were B6 but also that the kit came from PFS... The springs are certainly red. No problems to report other than when going over big "rollercoaster" bumps at speed (think 70mph) then the transition in the deflection of the car body feels a little bit "odd" and I suspect it's just due to the way the setup would have worked with nivomat.
Thanks for that. I'll discuss with SWMBO and Joe today.
I've spoken to Joe. He will not fit a single shock absorber, only a pair. So that's nearly £1200 plus labour.
I will be getting the PFS kit for £450. With her low mileage and only occasional long journeys, so, unlikely to be a big issue..
I don't have an issue with the Bilsteins. The 9-5 is notorious for getting through rear shock absorbers. The Hirsch ones were from Sachs and they lasted about 50,000 miles. I kept them on long after that, and the replacement made me realise that I should have done it a lot, lot sooner.
The guy who sold me mine said he had a warning on the MOT of misting oil on one shock, apparently it failed suddenly and meant he had to pay the full amount to get it replaced as he was away on holiday. Then at the next service he got told the other side was misting so he got the kit from PFS and did it proactively as it was cheaper.
Well a couple of little jobs that I've been meaning to do for a while. I finally got round to fitting the ECU heatshield kit I got from Karl at Noobtune a while ago.
And, I'd recently got some Saab logo puddle lights from RTJ on Ebay. They are the plain black and white type rather than the blue logo. Too sunny at the moment to see them, but hope to check them out when it gets dark later ;)
DHL arrived this lunchtime...
These recent posts remind me of the old saying, Will. The cheapest car to buy is the one you already own.
I hope so! Our son has just bought a Hyundai i20 to replace his old one. There was nothing wrong with the old (11 reg) car apart from some rust on the tailgate, which had been repaired badly. So he's now some £15k poorer and no better off, apart from a few toys, like a modern audio with bluetooth. He doesn't need the bluetooth, the car only really does a two mile commute each day. He said he didn't want to waste money respraying an old car. So he's taken £5k depreciation this year instead...
A car just to do a 2 mile commute?
My OH worries about people thinking why do we have 2 cars....at least both cover a minimum of 10k miles annually.
A 2 mile commute calls for either a bicycle or some nice shoes, not a car!
Has has got a bike, but he only uses it in good weather...
I think most miles are done on the odd trip to Nottingham and Sheffield for his gaming hobbies :)
Well, there's a sort of "plus" on the underbody stuff. I still need to replace the rear suspension, but the oil leaks are not too serious. The rear driveshaft seal that was replaced two years ago is fine. It's the inner drive shaft boot that has split. Hopefully Joe can find one. I think he's done one there before about five years ago.
And the suspected front oil leak is in fact a shiny black tin box, that has not been covered in road dirt at the back :-[ :-[ . It looks like an oil cooler or something like that. I'm feeling a bit more confident about the German trip now.
Now the winter wheels are off, they have been given a bath to see if they are leaking. And they are. Both front wheels are leaking around the bead...
The saloon has been pretending she's a BMW but I cured that with a new (to me) indicator stalk. Sure enough, the ears had snapped off. Weirdly, she would latch the indicator on if she was turning the opposite direction. Contrary little madam.
I plan to attempt a repair on her original stalk, with a fallback of another white cover (from a non-cruise stalk).
Been there and done that. Then a couple of years later, it went again and I bought a brand new stalk. That one has now failed and sometimes it won't go all the way to latch, sometimes it does. I'll try and sort it when I get around to fixing the airbag...
One tip if you are dismantling the plastic bits. I find old credits cards and similar are great to keep the clips open while you work on the next clip.
Yes, old credit cards and guitar picks are part of my computer repair kit!
Today, I have mostly been car shuffling, which has involved messing around with disconnected / discharged batteries
"Old faithful", the 329k Cosmic Blue Aero got a quick blast off with the pressure washer. Best of all, despite not running for probably over 12 months she started just as quickly as the cars that are in daily use.
The little 2.0t in Glacier Blue lined up alongside for a photo. Glacier Blue is also a nice colour, but I still don't think Cosmic can be beaten.
The 08 Black Aero saloon also had a little run, along with the 9000 CSE :thumbsup:
Back to the Carlsson. It seems that the rear drive shaft boot has been discontinued by Hedin/Orio/SaabParts :( Even though the part number was recently "upgraded" to a GM number. But Joe reckons that he will have no trouble sourcing an alternative.
As of this evening, the Carlsson is on the ground and on the road.:)
All undersealed and a couple of rattles identified and, hopefully, fixed. Just the headlight to finish polishing and the repairs at Joe's next week.
Oh, that's a relief, SWMBO will be happy, I hope ;)
Fingers Crossed. I may have sorted a loose connection on the 9-5 airbag. First time I've risked removing an airbag. :o
We will find out on a longer drive tomorrow.
That looks very familiar :)
I was extremely apprehensive the first time I attacked one, not helped by how tight the connectars are when you try to remove them
Hope it's sorted
Doing some routine checks today, including a check of the wheel nuts after changing the wheels last week. As I was putting the torque wrench away, i found a screw on the floor. it had fallen out of the torque wrench :( A special shouldered bolt, but it needs some threads to repair it. There aren't any. It must be 50 years old. New wrench ordered.
Today I finally got round to crawling under the Aero to wire brush those subframes, and treat them with rustkiller - in this case, the trusty Bilthamber Hydrate 80.
The front subframe was not too bad at all, but the rear was very crusty!!! Might need a rear one at some point, but hopefully I've extended its life!! :thumbsup:
The rear subframes do get crusty, but they seem to retain structural integrity. Front ones do actually fail, so you'll probably be fine.
While I was under the car before we went away, I painted and sprayed the underside with Bilt Hamber Dynax UB, and sprayed the insides of all the hollow sections with Dynax S50. When we get back I will try and find time to spray the insides of the doors.
I took the new 9-3 into indysaab yesterday for a checkover, they identified a few minor issues that need sorting.
The Y part of the twin exit exhaust is starting to blow, they recommended it gets welded up before it fails as this part is no longer supplied by Saab. There's a nail in the NSR tyre which is repairable (I hope this explains why it's got a slow leak), NSR diff seal is leaking and NSR CV joint boot is insecure. They also noted that the headlight washers are not working, I'll take it back to them and get it all sorted in the next couple of months.
Also got to say that indysaab are still a great place to take a Saab, honestly some of the most knowledgable and trustworthy people out there. They also had a very nice 9000 Carlsson there yesterday, not seen one of them in a long time!
Encouraging praise :thumbsup:
Took the grey 9-5 Aero for an MOT yesterday
MOT man referred to it as a tank
Then he gave it a clean ticket.... mustn't complain :)
That reminds me that I have to get my 9-5 MOT'd before the end of Nov.
Mine wasn't actually due until 19th November, it was ready last weekend, but if I had done it then it would have been one day outside the 13 month period
I have another one booked for next Saturday morning, the graphite green one. New front discs & pads done yesterday, but the most difficult part was drilling out the remainder of the disc retaining screw in the hub & re-tapping in situ for the replacement. It was harder than expected, still, I managed not to break the tap, M10 x 1.25 thread, should anybody need to know
I have a better brake pedal on it now
Good luck with yours
Removed the bumper and changed parking sensors on the saloon so she once again knows when she close to something. Emptied the captured gravel and treated some starting rust spots. Last weekend actually, but given the estate only worked for two journeys before park assist failure came on again (suspect a loose connector), I wanted to know it was successful.
Another MOT, another pass, the Steel Grey estate this time, happy days
Now I have to tax her :thumbdown:
Quote from: Audax on 20 September 2024, 10:02:30 AM
I took the new 9-3 into indysaab yesterday for a checkover, they identified a few minor issues that need sorting.
The Y part of the twin exit exhaust is starting to blow, they recommended it gets welded up before it fails as this part is no longer supplied by Saab. There's a nail in the NSR tyre which is repairable (I hope this explains why it's got a slow leak), NSR diff seal is leaking and NSR CV joint boot is insecure. They also noted that the headlight washers are not working, I'll take it back to them and get it all sorted in the next couple of months.
I finally got a chance to take the car back yesterday, all of the above got sorted and the oil leak from the brake servo pump was fixed so hopefully that's it until MOT and service time. Indysaab are also asking Hirsch if my car has one of their mods, I was told it was Hirsch when I bought it but have no way of verifying this... fingers crossed.
I've noticed that the 9-3 is running slightly off and holding back under acceleration... I figure that it's most likely a faulty coil pack so had a look at a set of coil packs online as my OBD reader can't read misfire status but it's almost as cheap to just replace them all than find the time to get the car hooked up to Tech2 by the time I've booked it in etc. etc. Before I bought the coils I figured I'd check the service history to see when the plugs were last done and noticed that in the service history for my car there's no record of them *ever* being replaced although there is a bit of a gap in the service history around the time they were due, because of this I've ordered a set of plugs and coil packs from neo bros on ebay for £200. I'm hopeful this sorts the problem as if not it'll need a tech2 session.
Quote from: Audax on 09 December 2024, 08:50:53 AM
I've noticed that the 9-3 is running slightly off and holding back under acceleration... I figure that it's most likely a faulty coil pack so had a look at a set of coil packs online as my OBD reader can't read misfire status but it's almost as cheap to just replace them all than find the time to get the car hooked up to Tech2 by the time I've booked it in etc. etc. Before I bought the coils I figured I'd check the service history to see when the plugs were last done and noticed that in the service history for my car there's no record of them *ever* being replaced although there is a bit of a gap in the service history around the time they were due, because of this I've ordered a set of plugs and coil packs from neo bros on ebay for £200. I'm hopeful this sorts the problem as if not it'll need a tech2 session.
Funnily enough I've had similar symptoms, though probably more muted. The car feels completely normal around town but a bit down on power on the open road; and often it (auto) feels like it's one gear too low and you have to boot it to provoke an upshift. I've also had some occasional eggy whiffs, so I've been wondering if it was running too rich and the cat was having issues.
Probably time to equip myself with an OBD. But yes at that price new DI and plugs for peace of mind is a no-brainer.
Went to buy a Chrismas Tree today. All packed up, and the 9-5 decided is wasn't going to start. Plenty of battery, turning over merrily, but just not catching. Left for a while but suddenly it came back to life and ran the 15 miles home quite happily. I suspect it's the well-known DIC so it'll get a new one this week anfd a new set of plugs. Nothing on the codes of course.
That's life. Then it's on to the external temperature sensor and the brake lights. No peace for the wicked, time to sell up and buy a Skoda ...
Quote from: steventon95 on 09 December 2024, 09:15:04 PM
...
That's life. Then it's on to the external temperature sensor and the brake lights. No peace for the wicked, time to sell up and buy a Skoda ...
I've had three Skodas and latterly an Audi (all with previous owners) since I said goodbye to my 9-5, which I've just realised was ten years ago in August. How time flies. I've had an awful lot of peace of mind since then, I must admit.
Quote from: Audax on 09 December 2024, 08:50:53 AM
Before I bought the coils I figured I'd check the service history to see when the plugs were last done and noticed that in the service history for my car there's no record of them *ever* being replaced
Well, I went to do the job today and there is evidence that someone has been in there before, the cover over the coils has some cut marks in it around the screw holes and the screws holding the coils in were overtight to the point that one of them needed a bit of aluminium cleaning from it so it would thread back in... Worst of all I couldn't get the plugs to budge in the slightest, my ratchet and socket were only 3/8" and I couldn't get good leverage but I also backed off as I don't want to break a plug in the head, I guess I'll have to give indysaab a call and see if they can fit me in one day soon. Coils are changed though so that's something and I will assume the plugs have been done given the evidence that someone has been in there before but I just hope they are the right ones!
I am beginning to give up. Last week I removed the rear lights, replaced the rear/stop bulbs and cleaned up all the contacts. Lo and behold, still getting "brake light failure", back to the drawing board. And still getting random "air bag failure" despite changing out the clockspring twice ...
On the older 9-5 it's very easy to push the twin filament bulb in too far before you twist it. If you do it twists and shorts out between the brake and tail light. I had to bend the bottom contacts up to get the bulb in the correct position. This doesn't apply to the Dame Edna estate. I haven't looked at the saloon.
Thanks, I'll give that a try, weather permitting ...
Tried the Simon solution and that has worked for the brake lights. Still getting the air bag light very intermittantly. That is really annoying as it suggests a wonky connection not just the clockspring.
Well done on sorting the brake lights. :)
I had an intermittent airbag light. Did it happen before or after the clock spring was replaced, or both. Mine was both. In the end it was so regular and "bonging" every time I turned the wheel, I took the airbag out and the steering wheel, and disconnected and reconnected all the airbag and clock spring connections. The pins are very delicate and I pushed the connectors home a bit "off line" in an attempt to move the pins a tiny bit. It seems to have worked with no airbag light since August (madly touching wood!!).
Before I started I did check the fault codes and got ones related to the driver's airbag. They were B0026, B0042, B0044 & B0077.
Cleaned it ready for tomorrrow's BBH meet at Ace Cafe. Gave the Hydro stuff a go, with the Karcher - still some persistent bits of grime that won't let go of the bodywork...
Drove to work yesterday - noticed the driver's side windscreen wiper was smearing and upon inspection that the blade was perishing.
One think I have noticed that in the short production run of the NG there were two types of windscreen wiper, the flat blade and the older suspended blade. There was no logic as to which type was fitted to each car because:
I have come across older NG's (earlier build) with flat blade while my NG has the older type.
And the last of the OG's IIRC were all fitted with flat blades.
So cut a long story short I travelled to Ian Allan to get a replacement pair (right part numbers), right fitment, at considerable cost. They agreed there was no logic as to why the cars have different wiper blades....
Anyway, new blades fitted there and then, no more smears. All good.
Changed the thermostat on the 9-5. Quite fiddly. I did it once before, but that was ages ago. The one I removed is less than two years old and looks exactly like the replacement. The old one is definitely not closing when cold. Lets hope that the new "Saab Part" is better than the old one.,
MOT day today....
As my regular garage, Ian Allan in Virginia Water, is no more I have gone back to Joe's in Epsom. He's aware that I had gone to IA simply because Epson Down (only 9-10 miles as crow flies) takes best part of 45-50 minutes to reach and an absolute nightmare by public transport. Joe kindly took me to Epson station in his own Aero TTID 9-3 SW.
Hopefully get through with few advisories. Full service too.
Got a call..
It's going to be expensive... new springs needed at rear, new mounts at the front...
Is this the NG 9-5 ?
Rear springs were not expensive, I think they cost me less that £20 each, not that hard to do either, on a ramp with the right tools
I went out today in the 9-5. Opened the tailgate and realised that the rear wiper rubber had split. Nothing specific in Halford, so I got a refill. I will try and fit it later.
Champion AP37 if you are going top buy another
They're quite difficult to find, I think I have a few in stock...
I'll see how i get on. It's raining at the moment...
It seems that the rear wiper blade changed for the DAme edna in 2006. None in stock at the main suppliers, so a replacement rubber seems the best try.
Oh, well as I don't have a DE estate I didn't know that.
Hopefully the rear wiper washer doesn't rust up & stop working like the earlier ones
No, it can't. It's plastic and above the window!! :)
Today was service and MOT day, took it to the (as always) excellent Indysaab in Rushden. I also asked them to look at replacing the spark plugs as when I got coil packs a few months ago I was struggling to get the plugs out but as it was 2 days before I went to Thailand I left them in... Anyway, got a message saying car was done this afternoon but that they'd not done the plugs and would explain in person... turns out they couldn't get the plugs out either and they didn't want to risk stripping a thread or breaking a plug as they wanted to give me the car back so it will need to go back for that at some point and it also picked up 2 advisories on MOT (inner tie rod ends have a bit of play and a split driveshaft gaiter at the back). Other than that service and MOT all done for a very good price and I'm waiting for some estimates on the other work.
Can't fault them though for the service, they did exactly what I would have done in those circumstances! I wouldn't take my Saab anywhere else as they are so trustworthy and have a very good eye for detail.
That's good to hear, both on service quality & MOT
Obvious question, who put that tight set of plugs in ?
Also, did you try with an hot engine ?
Well, it's unknown who put the plugs in as I had a failing ignition coil in December so I got a set from Neo brothers and while doing this I went through the service history that I have and found that it never mentions the plugs being done so I figured I'd drop a set in at the same time. There is a bit of a gap in the history from around 70k-90k where some work was done including a set of timing chains but apparently there was an issue with the balance chain so the owner before me had the chains done again after he got the car.
I just didn't have the time or inclination to tackle the job myself and needed the car hence giving it to indysaab, they did get it hot and managed to remove 1 plug and they said it was in OK condition hence why we think there's no rush on this.
I did the V6 plugs and coils a couple of weeks ago. I did them before about 7 years ago. This time I found two of the plugs were very tight to remove. I knew that they were not cross threaded as I has wound them right in to finger tight, just using the plug socket. I got them out, but they were tight all the way. It was the two furthest from the turbo. The other four were OK.
Quote from: carrera on 12 March 2025, 01:50:29 PM
Is this the NG 9-5 ?
Rear springs were not expensive, I think they cost me less that £20 each, not that hard to do either, on a ramp with the right tools
Yes, it is the NG.
Just got a call to say the car is ready. Now to figure out how to get to Tattenham Corner in time for breakfast tomorrow.
Epsom is the quickest. Then a bus. A train to Tattenham Corner takes an hour longer!! Almost quicker from Watford :D
Rear wiper blade repaired with a refill. Halfords refills are too long, so it was cut down to fit. `rear wiper on a Dame Edna is 12 inches long. All now installed and working.
Quote from: sgould on 13 March 2025, 06:31:27 PM
Epsom is the quickest. Then a bus. A train to Tattenham Corner takes an hour longer!! Almost quicker from Watford :D
I actually did go to Tattenham Corner, time seemed to fly. I just could not get rid of 'that earworm' as I stood on the platform of Purley station, those of you of a certain might know what I mean....
Lovely Daimler V8 parked just outside the station, had to take photos. Paid the hefty bill to Joe's and then decamped to Pattinson's for a Jumbo breakfast and coffee. One of the best fry-ups I've ever had. £9 with a coffee. I then proceeded to the office only to find getting to the M25 such a grind, only to crawl through the roadworks around J10 (A3) and wondering whether I had my security pass with me, that instead of heading towards Brackhell I turned towards Richmond and home instead.
I think Helga is riding a bit high at the back, most probably due to the new springs but the ride and handling were much improved.
Today I fitted new xenon headlamp bulbs to the 9-5.
What did you fit ?
Given the trials & tribulations I had with the NG 9-5, I expect that the 9-5 was quite straightforward & the bulb colour was fine
The bulbs are labelled "Philips" and they fit!! I think they are genuine but I've had them in stock for a while. I dropped the front bumper and removed the headlamp. Quite a quick job overall. I'll check the bulb colour next time it's dark. Just as a first impression, the right hand beam is a bit high, but I thought that before I changed the bulbs. The old RH bulb was beginning to flash as i drove along.
Today I taxed the TTiD
No great shakes, except that I was going to do it on Friday, which is when I realised that the MOT ran out on the 4th ::)
With a ~ 10 day wait at the MOT place, it was a good job that I already had an MOT slot booked for the 107 yesterday afternoon which I could recycle. I have her a look over on Sunday, took her in & got a pass.
One advisory on a tyre, close to the limit. I knew it was low, and saw the MOT man with his depth gauge being deployed, so said to him "what was it, about 2mm?". "Yeah" was the response
So, as I had some part worn in stock it was off to the tyre place to get a fit & balance
Not today, but yesterday....
Washed Helga, bought the Hydro snow foam gear as part of black friday deals last year. Complete waste of money... Car was still totally mucky after the pressure wash, the chamois was totally manky.
Went to Goodwood, usually check out the book stores on Saab or NSU related books... Hudson Books had a copy of a book about the 900 Turbo (3,4 and 5 doors, plus the 99) for £35. Never knew such a book existed. Written by Graham Robson presumably around 1984 as no mention of the 2-door 900s.... Another one for the collection. :D
Today I collected the Carlsson after a service, MOT and a routine Haldex service. All fine. :)
Good news on the car.
Care to explain the "Haldex service". I have heard the phrase many times, know it is to do with the AWD system but never looked into what the extent or frequency should be.
I think mine may be due....
The Haldex diff is the first of the rear diffs. It's the one that the prop shaft connects to. Internally, it's a series of plates in "oil". And there's a small filter inside. Originally Saab claimed it was sealed for life.
However, it soon became clear that after around 50,000 miles it stopped working correctly and the take-up of the drive would get clunky. The Saab fix was to replace the whole unit at a cost of £3,500, plus labour.
Outside of the Saab franchises, independents developed a service procedure. Then Saab offered a "service kit". With a recommended service interval of 35,000 miles.
The service is straightforward, if fiddly. The side cover of the unit is removed (I'm not sure if it can be drained first) and the inside cleaned of all the sludge that's formed of worn bits from the internal clutch plates. The filter is also changed. The cover is refitted with a new gasket, and the unit filled with fluid.
The fiddly bits are that you may need to lower and hang the exhaust out of the way a bit, and that filling with fluid needs two or three goes. Fill until it reaches the hole in the side. Run the car around the block to get the fluid to all the places it should go. Undo the plug and top up. Run the car again around the block. Come back and add another 10 to 15ml of fluid through the vent pipe on the top of the diff. If you don't, it's almost certain that, about 10 miles down the road, you will get a "bing bong" and a message on the dash saying "XWD failure. Contact service", or similar.
The symptom we had in the Carlsson the first time it was serviced was a jerk at takeoff from a standing start when warm. Most noticeable on a Sunday evening in the stop-start traffic jam on the M25 after a run up the M3 from a visit to the grandchildren in Southampton. The road surface was smooth, but when trickling along at 1 or 2 mph, the rear jerked slightly when you touched the accelerator to go faster. It felt like it does when you drive over a joint in a concrete road. The service cured it, but it was in the early days, and I had to go back to get the 10ml top-up.
You can also get judder from a Haldex when reversing uphill around a corner. This is another sign of the need for a service.
I got the Haldex service done this time as I had just started to feel the odd "clunk" and recognised the symptoms. I didn't want to find it became a real problem when we go to IntSaab in the Alps in August.
The small filter and gasket set is available at a typical SaabParts "finger in the air" price, as is the special Haldex fluid, which is rumoured to be derived from unicorn pee. No doubt available outside the SaabParts supply chain, but because of the warranties, etc. my guy will, quite reasonably, only use official parts.
Thanks for the most extensive reply
Seems do-able, provided I get the right gear in advance. This sounds like a bit like a rebuild of a limited slip differential, without the pain of setting the backlash.
The symptoms I am experiencing are that when pushing on at the exit of a roundabout I had feel the power being transferred in an on /off/on/off way, like cornering around a thre'penny piece. I exagerrate of course
I meant to check the history yesterday, but the Dame Edna was in for MOT & she failed. Front ARB drop link. :( My fault, I didn't check that side before taking it in.
30 minutes later I had a pass ticket - this involved driving back to the unit, jacking the car up, fitting a new Meyle drop link that was on the shelf & driving back before they closed :thumbsup:
Jerky cornering does seem like a Haldex issue. When the worn bits start to build up, I think it jams a bit, rather than engaging smoothly. So a bit all or nothing. It may be more pronounced reversing around a corner uphill. If it is, it's almost certainly the time to clean out the Haldex.
I've done a few bits recently, replaced the mats with some new genuine mats (which incidently are not quite the right size or the same thickness as the ones that came out of the car...) and I've ordered an ECU heatshield.
I've replaced the front left and right in dash speakers with some Hertz DCX 87.3 from Amazon which cost £45 for the pair. Rather than butcher the existing wiring (I hate it when people do that!) I made a short loom and when I removed the old speakers I drilled out the rivet holding the speaker connector and removed it from the old speakers and attached it to my home made loom. Certainly the speakers sound way better now and while doing that job I removed the hanging cover for the OBD port as the car has an Esid 3 fitted.
If that wasn't enough the car is going in to Indysaab this week to have the exhaust welded, replacement driveshaft gaiter, replacement inner steering rods, remove the locking wheel nuts and replace with standard and have a replacement steering wheel fitted as mine is very tatty and they are going to remove the stuck spark plugs. I was wondering about replacing some of the other speakers too, but I think I'll wait for the bill on that lot first.
I forgot to mention that while the Carlsson was in for te service, I got Joe to check over the new stainless exhaust that was installed at the end of January. He said it was a good job and solid.
Today I took a deep breath breath and decided to replace the rear door lock on the 9-3 Carlsson. It's not a straightforward job, you have to remove the window and door seals first. The two side window runners are held in with screwed plates. WIS says that there are more screws than I found, and whats there is definitely factory fit.
it took a while, but it's done and the rear door locks and unlocks...
Picture of all the bits removed and replaced before I got to the lock. The glass is safe elsewhere!!
Replaced the boot latch on the estate. I couldn't get the original to reliably unlock and release, so bought one from an earlier car (with the key operated release mechanism). I bent the key operation disengage lever up so it fits without cutting a hole in the tailgate. (I won't be using it, there's no key barrel to link to.) After much fiddling and muttering, I have a nearly straight release rod, she locks/unlocks, and the handle releases the boot latch.
Many thanks for the advice on fixing this.
Got a price on getting the rear NS door of my NG9-5 repainted. Same guys who fixed my older Saabs after self-inflicted mishaps in the past.
This one is to repair a 'historical' 'bodge'. When I picked up Helga in early 2017 I was aware the door was a slightly darker shade compared to rear NS quarter and front door. Never bothered me, it is only in the last year that the lacquer had deteriorated such that the finish was rough and the door looked pretty dire (same as my old 99)... So it's a repaint job with blending will be done late summer/early autumn just to make the car more saleable when the dreaded day comes. Just under £800.
Got a stonechip on my NG9-5 windscreen. Repair job I thought but National Windscreens thought it was replacement. Photos sent to 'control' let's see what they say. Let's hope they don't beat Autoglass's record of 14 months!
Removed rear bumper, wheel arch liners, and side skirts from the estate. Horrified by how much rust was hidden from view - poked holes in a couple of places (one into the boot floor underneath a plastic side cubby). The side supports for the rear bumper are practically floating. Sadly, she won't last many more years without professional restoration which is not affordable, so a lot of rust removal, Hydrate 80. filling and underbody sealant. Not completed, waiting on some of the bits to dry/cure.
Plan to do the same for her younger sister - hopefully before it reaches this state.
The 2003 9-5 has been having a little bit of a rest, and has been suffering from non starts from a low battery.
The passenger window was dropping so time to dig one of my green runners off the shelf & fit that to allow a return to normal window operation. As usual, the rubber seal from the rear of the door was displaced & in the bottom. I cleaned up the runner, sprayed with silicone & reassembled
As part of testing I noticed that sometimes the radio was staying on. Oh, so here goes with another of the usual repairs.
I found my special home made tool that allows the removal of the ignition barrel. Literally 2 minutes & she was out. There followed a couple of hours of cleaning the barrel, filing some of the pins to make the rotation operation smoother & manually operating the return mechanism so that it sprang back correctly.
I'm hoping this solves the non starts, a battery test said that the battery was weak, but still OK to use, the voltage drop wasn't too bad at all.
I suppose we'll find out soon enough if it is the battery or not
Today i started polishing the the lenses on the spare headlamp units on the 9-5. They are badly pitted and I changed both lamp units for a pair I got cheaply through the Saab forums, over ayear ago.
The ones in the car now have one beam looking odd and the bulb may have slipped, but polishing the spare pair will give me options if the current unit is broken rather than the bulb falling out,
The beams are now fine. I fitted a pair of second-hand headlamps a bit over a year ago. I don't drive in the dark these days unless I have to, so it's only recently that I noticed the problem.
It turns out that the lamps I bought and fitted, are fine, but someone previously has fitted one of the xenon bulbs 180 degrees out. The connector is at the top and not the bottom. It wasn't locked in correctly. I should have checked, but I never thought of that issue...
New bulbs fitted and looking good. I will have to adjust the alignment when it's dark.
Two new tyres on Tuesday. Now one of the tyre pressure monitors isn't working. New ones are £72 from SaabParts. Fortunately I picked up a brand new set of 4 at the NEVS parts sell-off in Trollhättan last year for £20. Just need to get it fitted.
Fitted new power steering pipe to the NG9-5 TTiD, together with a set of front discs & pads
All good
Been a while since I posted on this thread, but today I finally got round to taking the pollen filter housing off, cleaning off the crumbly old seal, fitting a new one, adding silicone sealant as well, and then refitting it. Just like Cyclone Syd does it!!!
Also took the opportunity to lubricate the fan bearing. Been meaning to do it for a while, but done now👍 Will see how it holds up, because it had started squeaking again. I need to remove the fan from inside and take a better look at it at some point.
National Windscreens have just been to fix 2 chips in my NG9-5 windscreen - at least I did not need a replacement this time.
20 min job.
My 9-5 estate got an MOT for another year. 190,000 miles and 19 years old. Two minor advisories.
They just keep on going don't they.
With the help of a little TLC along the way. mechanical & corrosion prevention.
I had two Saab passes this month, plus a pre test on a family related Peugeot 108. I predicted two advisories. There were two advisories, from Kwik Fit no less, one day after the MOT expiry date ::)
New tyres this week, a complete set of Michelin Crossclimates, 235/45 R18 98Y XL for £592 fitted at Costco. I had to get these on short notice as I had got lazy with checking tread depths as ideally I should have replaced them a few months ago really as one of the fronts was borderline on getting me 3 points... At least now the weird handling issue has gone.
Other jobs I need to complete soon are put the ECU heat shield on as it's been sitting in the boot for several months, I also have a spare engine ECU from ebay which has also been sitting around for a few months. I have all the tools to take a copy of the current software and will put it on this spare and test it, I just hope it's OK but that's on me for not testing it as soon as I got it.
I also had a weird fault code the other day (P1682 ECM - Plausibility Fault between voltage feed from +15 and main relay) so need to clean up the earth points at a guess although this could be ignition switch or something else, I also have some new door speakers to fit but I want warmer weather first as I'm recovering from flu and coughing a lot.
Quote from: Audax on 01 January 2026, 06:36:33 PMP1682 ECM - Plausibility Fault between voltage feed from +15 and main relay
If this is a T8 ecu this sometimes appears when the ecu is about to go/gone south..
Quote from: aerojon on 03 January 2026, 07:26:23 PM
Quote from: Audax on 01 January 2026, 06:36:33 PMP1682 ECM - Plausibility Fault between voltage feed from +15 and main relay
If this is a T8 ecu this sometimes appears when the ecu is about to go/gone south..
I'm aware of that, it's why I have the spare ECU sitting around although this code has been randomly appearing in the car since I got it 18 months ago with no signs of it getting worse.
We had some snow yesterday,more today & the forecast suggests we are going to have an extended cold period
Time to swap onto the Winter tyres / Insignia rims on the 9-5 TTiD.
All done, pressures checked, much improved grip levels, so I can tackle whatever the weather throws at me :Fawlty:
Not a huge task, but it brought a big smile to my face
My 9000 quasi Aero was looking a bit sad & forlorn, with tyres that had lost much of their air. I don't think I had run it for over a year, but having got my Combiadapter working I recently took an image of the bin file, which meant I would reunite the ECU with the car.
Fitted the ECU and checked the disconnected battery. 12.54V, that was the first smile
I then got the keys, switched the ignition on & pressed the fob to get the immobilisor off. The LED ceased flashing.
Turned the key and she immediately started as though I had only parked her up yesterday. ;D :Fawlty:
After that I inflated the tyres while she warmed up to full operating temperature. She needs a run really, but a good warm up cycle will be good enough for now
The battery in the 9-5 TTiD decided that it didn't want to work after a period of little use & an error leaving the boot unlocked (= lights on)
After a couple of days using the jump starter in the morning I did a battery test & concluded it was never going to recover, so had to dig deep & buy another
They're big ones, an 019, longer & higher than the 110 in the petrol cars, with 900 CCA
So the Yuasa is ready for weighing in, while the Exide has replaced it, 4 year warranty, rather than the 5 on the Yuasa.
Yuasa £175 in Halfrauds, £146 on special offer while the Exide was £80, next day delivery on ebay
Reliability has returned & she starts better
No the Saab - the horn is waiting for the better weather - but the Golf.
Mk 7 Golfs are notorious for water ingress issues. Especially via the drainage tube in the tailgate. Other areas of potential entry are the door cards via the speakers (although our passenger compartment is dry so that is ok) and the air vents in the rear bumper that get loose and water trickles in to form two lakes below the rear lights, need to get under car to remove two grommits for that...
So, £10 drainage tube comes from China, 4 trim panels removed plus lots of skin. Tube replaced and trim replaced. Lots of rain since but no new water. Carpet cleaned and drying out. I hope I do not have to a) remove bumper to fix the vents and b) continuously microwave the silica gel pouches.
Apparantely rear tail lights are another weak point on the cars.
I'm currently working on a 107, for which water ingress is a similar feature. Multiple areas of weakness, mainly via the void for the rear light connections
Quote from: carrera on 16 February 2026, 11:33:56 AM
I'm currently working on a 107, for which water ingress is a similar feature. ...
As is my wife's VW Up. Paddling pool in the driver side footwell.
As for the silica pouches, I leave them on a radiator in the kitchen. They dry out better than in the microwave.
Looks like there's not many working on their Saabs at the moment, partly because they're working on their other cars.
Meanwhile, Will seems to be the only one with a leaking Saab. Perhaps
I neglected to post that over the holidays I worked on the '04 estate, thanks to the use of an empty unit at work. I stripped down the tailgate which was in a much worse state than I thought, removed/treated (as best I could) the rust on the tailgate and the arches, filled, resprayed and polished the rear quarters and tailgate. The lacquer on the doors was rubbed down and resprayed, which has hidden most of the scratches. The headlights were clouding again, so they were polished and given the UV treatment. So no bubbling paintwork or peeling lacquer at the rear. My spraying is not the best, I couldn't get it fully wet without runs and then I ran out of time. So come the spring I will try to flat it and polish it better. I've made numerous mistakes, but she looks a lot better than before.
Sadly, she does appear to have a leak onto the parcel shelf. I think it's the rear washer hose as it was really damp after I had been trying to get the jet working, and we haven't seen any more since despite torrential rain. So that's another spring job: remove the lining and fix the washer pipe!
I still have the "long bronchitis", so I have only checked the car on a couple of occasions. The blue tissue I trapped around the edge of the parcel shelf has remained dry, even though there has been continual rain. The floor was dry the first time I checked, but there was a small wet l patch on the floor the second time I looked. I am planning to check again today as it's going to be sunny.
I went out in the sun and checked the car after several days of rain. It was dry. I'm wondering if the tailgate was not fully shut.
But I took the opportunity to go to Tesco.... and found that the handbrake had stuck on snd the wheel just dragged!! :( A quick to and fro and it freed off. It won't be going on again soon....
I put a battery on the grey 9-5 estate yesterday, I was a bit concerned as she had been left standing since passing her MOT.
Started first time, but there had been condensation inside so I had to go round with the Mr Sheen removing the early signs of mould
No handbrake problem, as I didn't put it on, and a few moves forwards & backwards got the brake discs cleaned of rust
These rims don't have any leakage problems :thumbsup:
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... :thumbsup:
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.
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
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....
Quote from: welshwizard on 18 February 2026, 01:04:42 PM
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.
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
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
Today, I started stripping the engine for a HG change :(
https://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=4813.new#new (https://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=4813.new#new)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
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.
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.
I finished treating the rust on the wheel arch, and painted it. I tried the Saab touch-up as it's a smallish area but the colour match was poor. So I tried with some spray paint I bought from "Paints4u" to spray the roof spoiler... in 2016!! It still worked and the colour match was very good. :)
[edit] Picture of finished paint to show colour match. Surface should have had more rubbing down, but I had to get it done and touch dry before the rain came. I really need a new wheel arch trim ::)
IMG_6775.jpeg
While on the subject of "paint", I was close up to the rear wheel and saw evidence of why I don't like most powder coating. If a proper primer is not used under the powder, it chips off. When I was working, we powder coated a lot of iron fittings and used many others. The proper primed ones were fine, but the unprimed stuff we used, rarely survived manhandling on site without damage.
Perhaps wheels should be properly painted rather than powder coated?
IMG_6771.jpeg
Hi Will, is that the 9-3 front of LHS rear wheelarch at the emd of the sill. Mine is going there too from what I remember :o
No. It's the front of the 9-5 LH side rear wheel arch. It's the common "dogleg" area. I was afraid that it was rotting from the back, which would probably mean a welding job, but it turned out to be surface rust that had crept up from the bottom. So just a scrape, treat with Hydrate 80, fill sand and paint.
I'm keeping an eye on the 9-3, but I gave it a spray behind the wheel arches a couple of years ago and I give it a top-up if I have the spray out. I use the Bilt Hamber Dynax UB and the Dynax S50.
https://bilthamber.com
Also worth a look, even though it's quite old... https://www.cleanstore.co.uk/pdf/Bilt%20Hamber%20Dynax-S50%20-%20Independent%20Testing%20vs%20Other%20Cavity%20Waxes.pdf
A lot of people use Lanogard, but I've heard that it's quite runny, so easily applied, but needs to be regularly "refreshed".
Today I removed the glued on mount for the old Nextbase 312 dash cam (the hot weather helped) and fitted a mount for the replacement Nextbase 522GW. Then I set the camera going. It seems to work OK.
The old 312 camera failed on Tuesday. It was nine years old.