9-5 NG Rescue project

[sgould]

I've only had a pad delamination on EBC Greenstuff.  I looked at the pictures and realised that was 20 years ago!!   I found out later that Greenstuff are only recommended for small cars of less than 200hp.  The previous owner had fitted them for their "low dust".  I lost one pad and the others were on their way.

I have used Pagid, Ferodo, Mintex and Brembo with no issues, as well as the OE ones which I think are ATE.  The 345mm Hirsch pads were Ferodo 4488 which I haven't come across on the aftermarket.

[carrera]

I have had at least two sets delaminate on OG 9-5's - on road cars I have tended to use Pagid (Mintex)

On the NG 9-5's this car arrived with one delaminated, and to get me through the MOT just chucked in one of the spares from the petrol NG. The disc was a little damaged already, because of the failure, so perhaps it was more grabby than usual, but not enough to show on the rollers.

I one tried EBC Greenstuff as an alternative to Mintex M144 (yes, that long ago). They were not as good, suffered from fade and apparently caused terror in the EBC technical department when they got to hear the application I had tried them on....

[carrera]

Today is going to be a less than successful day.

I decided to take a look at the light bar, with confidence that whatever the problem was I would be able to fix it. I mean, there's aven an invoice that says the light bar was removed, wiring was checked for burns / damage, then wiring repair made to harness an confirm wiring now OK. Followed by removal of the light bar again and carried out a further repair to stop it from working (apparently a BCM error was being triggered)

Removing the light bar showed this.

Someone has definitely been in here before, and I'm not sure about the quality of workmanship, as a part has been cut out that shouldn't have been 

[carrera]

Oh, well, never mind let's see what treats are in store

First to come off was the tank tape for the centre section. Oh, where's the circuit board, where's the boards that have the inner LED's mounted 

This is looking bad, so lets'have a look at the outer LED mounts. Even worse, no casing exists, the hole is filled with sealant, the flexi strips are gone, wires are snipped and the weatherproofing is of such high standard that there's a good degree of moisture & rust in there. 

The total on the invoice was £300, including £26 for two LED festoon bulb replacements (which I have already replaced with filament, as Saab specified)

I'll have to see if I can figure out a way to wire & fix some of the alternate LED's I have in place, with an appropriate resistor(s) to limit current and further LED failures, but that is not for today

To top it off, I replaced the tensioner pulley today and the drivebelt is still squeaking. Further investigation required. There's only alternator, steering pump & aircon compressor remaining to investigate, but nothing was obvious from first inspection

[sgould]

... and my friend (with a Peugeot 2008) thinks I'm strange to work on my own cars "when you can take it to a garage where a mechanic will know how to do the work properly"

[carrera]

Indeed 

I took the drivebelt off & started the engine, which was a success as the noise disappeared.

However, spinning the alternator, steering pump and compressor by hand failed to produce any unexpected noises or feeling of worn bearings. I was quite surprised that there was no warning of a lack of alternator output until I blipped the throttle and then a dash warning came up "Service generating system" or something like that. A simple warning light would have been much preferred.

On reassembly the noise was still there, and as usual, it got quieter as the engine warmed up. Stethoscope on both of the new pulleys confirmed that it wasn't a case of duff new parts either.

With that done I decided it was time to get the car back on the road & give her a quick wash before I failed at anything else 

[sgould]

If you try a spray of lube on each shaft/bearing in turn, the noise might stop. That would identify the culprit.

[carrera]

I sort of tried that already, but with the engine running & it is hard to get the lubricant into the right place.

Today, before a 250 mile trip I got some WD40 out & sprayed ot onto the back of the alternator & power steering pulleys in turn. No change.

Sherlock Holmes told me that the problem must be the aircon compressor, so the cunning part of my brain told me that I should go get the aircon system regassed. After all it's coming to that time of year.

Anyway, £30 poorer (Northern prices  ) I have an aircon system that passed the vacuum test, has 600g of gas and provides nice cool air for the cabin.

The tickover squeak remains, though it is much quieter above tickover speed, but you can't have everything...