'88 Saab 900i

dahamsta

Might be going to look at an old shape Saab 900i next week, what should I look out for? (I'll get a mechanic to look at it if the basics check out.) And will I be looking at big bills if something goes wrong or are there plenty of parts around?

adam

Armadillo

Hi d,


The following is from here.

What's Good
Eccentric, 'classic' SAAB looks. Much loved by the entertainment industry and often the car of the star. Convertibles best, despite scuttle shake. 185 bhp Ruby Turbo (last of the line) is now an appreciating classic. Understeer can be overcome by judicious left-foot braking. Heavy, solid and capable of mega mileages if looked after properly. Hatchback has long, flat luggage area. Rear bumper makes a good seat for events. Nice old cars with bags of desirable character. A late convertible or a Ruby Turbo could hold its value quite well and may even eventually appreciate.


Club www.saabclub.co.uk


What's Bad
Lots of understeer. Timing chains and tensioners tend to need replacing every 60,000 miles. Trend SAAB (0115 937 7200) has an economical technique for replacing timing chains of 4 cylinder SAAB engines in situ by re-threading the chains. Even non-turbos are fairly thirsty. Parking brake of pre-1988 cars worked on front discs and was never satisfactory - often an MOT failure point and expensive to fix. Autobox was only a three-speeder. High 7 point death rate from accidents in this model.

What to Watch Out For
Rattling timing chains, dirty oil, cracked cylinder heads (check for mayonnaise under the oil cap), cracked turbo manifolding (remember, it glows red hot), can be gear-selector problems, check suspension bushes, front hubs and driveshafts carefully. Make sure turbo not 'coked' as Saab-sourced replacements are expensive. Make sure big bumpers have not been used as buffers. Check that aircon blows cold.

Recalls
1996 (900 convertible 1993-1995: old shape): check for loss of steering control.

ps...i'm still intersted in that changer but my trip to cork is on hold. I'll let you know if i'll be down next week.

RicardoSmith

Where can you find out the death stats of car models? never seen that before.

mike65

No luck with the beemer then..?

Saabs are solid but thats part of the problem they can be abused so often are...if you want to know everything there is to know -

http://www.saabcentral.com/features/900_index.php

http://www.thesaabsite.com/900new/NG900faqs.htm

http://www.keme.co.uk/~stowupland/saab/ (pissed off owner!)

Mike.

dahamsta

Originally posted by mike65
No luck with the beemer then..?

I still have my eye out for one, but most I've seen are in the Dublin area, and it's a right pain in the arse getting them checked out and getting insured and the like. I'm moving shortly so I want to get a car sorted out asap, so I said I'd go and have a look at this fella.

Thanks for the links.

adam

Gerry

I bought one of these for a road trip round the west coasst of the US last summer, served me and a friend well, we put up about 5000 miles on it in 3 weeks. ( Then sold it for $50 more than purchase price )
The sites which mike65 lists are very useful, I read them extensively before purchase.
I can't remember everything, but the main things to look out for are:

* Oil leaks, particularly at the front of the gearbox where it joins the clutch. ( clutch is in front of it )
Look for cracks in the gearbox around the oil drain plug, very easy to crack it with too much force when tightening the oil plug.

* Warped front brake discs. Do a fair bit of braking, see how much vibration you get. See does the car pull to one side. Also have a look at the discs themselves, see how worn they are.

**** Brake master cylinder. ***
This is possibly the most important thing to look for.
The seals tend to go, meaning that under sustained braking, your foot will sink towards the floor. You can still stop the car, by standing on the pedal, but it is very dangerous Luckily this is not expensive to fix, so I wouldn't refuse an otherwise good car for this, but you could use it as a haggling point.
To test this, the car will need to be well warmed up, and on a cold day, it may not happen at all. Do plenty of braking to check this out. It will show up even with the car at a standstill, just keep your foot on the pedal and see does it sink. ( car will start slipping forward as well if on a slope, its rather disconcerting if this happens with your foot planted on the pedal )

* Wheel bearings.. the front wheel bearing was gone on our one, very annoying, but the car was only $650
This will present itself as a rumbling noise, and may be only apparent at high speed. Make sure you take the car up to at least the legal limit.

* Gears - the syncromesh tends to go, making it hard to get into gear. 5th was gone on our car, took a bit of a knack to get it engaged So make sure you check all gears. Also give the car a decent go in reverse, our one had a chipped reverse gear which made it hop out of reverse if you booted it backwards, not a major thing, but still annoying.

* Check the play in the steering, both behind the wheel, and by jacking the car up and trying to rock a front wheel. The suspension tie-rods can get loose, if they are, well the car wasn't well looked after.
* If you are getting the mechanic out, get them to do a compression test. Synthetic oil can wreck the head gasket.
* Give it plenty of boot, obviously don't redline it, but if you hear whining at higher revs, that will be the timing chain.
* Rear windows are hardly secure, I'd recommend fitting some sort of immobiliser, and don't leave anything valuable in it. ( Yeah, it got broken into in vancouver.. )

In my experience, the car has much to recommend it. It looks cool, and is full of little quirks. Very reliable, started first turn of the key at temps from 0c to 35c. Much more likeable than modern cars. I didn't find any problems with understeer, but I suppose I didn't really push it that hard, plus the roads in the US tend to be pretty straight
It feels very solid on the road, partially because it is quite heavy. Cruises nicely at 80mph+. The non-turbo version is not particularly fast, and as mentioned above, economy is not great, I'd reckon around 30mpg.

Lastly, check the service history. Ours had been looked after really well for most of its life, so we were lucky.
Repairs and parts will probably cost you a bit extra, but nothing crazy. You will lessen this bill by checking the car out well first.
I liked this car so much that I'll seriously consider buying one when I can afford my own car. /me runs off to buyandsell.net .. If you have any more questions give me a shout, hopefully it works out for you. If I think of more things, I'll post em up.

<edit>
The correct url for thesaabsite faq is
http://www.thesaabsite.com/900old/900&79to94faqs.htm

One of the things mentioned there is the engine mounts, the symptoms of this are very jerky gear changes ( even when you make your best effort ), and a lot of rocking of the engine side to side if you open the bonnet and blip the throttle. It is quite easy to notice, as the engine is mounted inline.
</edit>

dahamsta

Jaysus, loads of details, thanks for that Gerry!

$lash

is it a turbo??

dahamsta

Originally posted by $lash
is it a turbo??

Nope, it's a...

Originally posted by dahamsta
... 900i ...