toastedpickles Saab 9-5 2.3t SE build

dgt

greasepalm wrote: »

you mentioned you have to drop the sump again on the saab,you should not have to do that with mobil oil as the fe or esp blend have a cleaner in the oil to keep engines cleaner but change at half the time with filter,

It's called preemptive maintenance dropping the sump as even if the oil was liquid gold shards could escape the filter and block the pickup pipe. Can't have that now!

greasepalm wrote: »

we had an option for going with a cheaper brand of oil which we did not and heard someone using it and getting problems with engines later,even the taxi men are going to halfords and buying 3 esp at reduced price 5litre cans.

Heard or know? That's pretty lousy advising someone based on hearsay rather than what you know....

toastedpickles

Changed the ball joints today

So the wonder of K frame cars, you can jack it from the front, you just need a rather large jack

Take off the wheel



Undo the main screw, you need an 18mm socket and spanner for this, one to stop the nut from turning



Undo the three screws below the wishbone and pry the balljoint out



And its out



You shouldn't be able to do this with your thumb, clear sign its buggered




Fitting is the same as removal, job done!

Kaiser D

Just getting around to looking at this thread now.

Coming along very nicely tp.

Might do a Legend build thread if I ever decide to do something interesting with it.

toastedpickles

Kaiser D wrote: »

Just getting around to looking at this thread now.

Coming along very nicely tp.

Might do a Legend build thread if I ever decide to do something interesting with it.

Thank you it's odd to say that i look forward to working on it, you should do something with it!

quietsailor

Brilliant thread - your making it into an online Haynes manual.

For the sump plug - you don't need tape, just make sure the copper washer is mallable - you can measure one and buy spares on ebay or carefully heat the old one to glowing red colour and then quench quickly in water.

toastedpickles

quietsailor wrote: »

Brilliant thread - your making it into an online Haynes manual.

For the sump plug - you don't need tape, just make sure the copper washer is mallable - you can measure one and buy spares on ebay or carefully heat the old one to glowing red colour and then quench quickly in water.

That's the idea not many people have a saab and thef ew that do probably spend a fortune on services, so this might help i guess, I know you don't but the plug fell out once, so just a precaution

L-M

There's a kit of seals etc. you can get for these engines.

There's a lot more too it than just cleaning the sump!

Unfortunatly I had a 93 Aero that we caught too late. Well, it was actually engine flush that ruined my engine





Absolute bollox of a job, I'd never go near anything like it again!

A friend of mine had this absolute animal,




You can see how he made the air intake come over through the headlight, the rattle of the turbo out through that actually made people walking on the road grab their kids out of fear! He had that car so well tuned it would spin in 4th in the wet, they're an animal of a car!

quietsailor

toastedpickles wrote: »

That's the idea not many people have a saab and thef ew that do probably spend a fortune on services, so this might help i guess, I know you don't but the plug fell out once, so just a precaution

You know that expensive "suck-air-in-through-the-teeth" sound mechanics make? I made something like that when I read about the sump plug going walkabout. That shouldn't happen (i know preaching to the converted here) - did you check the threads in the sump weren't damaged or worn thin or are you absolutely sure it was a loose plug?

After seeing all the work you've done I think I'd cry if you blew the engine, I think a lot of people on boards would be gutted as well - and we don't even have a stake in her

toastedpickles

quietsailor wrote: »

You know that expensive "suck-air-in-through-the-teeth" sound mechanics make? I made something like that when I read about the sump plug going walkabout. That shouldn't happen (i know preaching to the converted here) - did you check the threads in the sump weren't damaged or worn thin or are you absolutely sure it was a loose plug?

After seeing all the work you've done I think I'd cry if you blew the engine, I think a lot of people on boards would be gutted as well - and we don't even have a stake in her

Haha oops, ah no it was on my behalf it fell out, I only tightened it by hand when it was back in, major mistake i know, it was 3am and i was just about functioing, I'm taking every stepi can to make sure the engine doesn't sh1t itself, because i'd cry if i did ruin it, along with a few on here, but as always there'd be a few smirking faces too

Limerick man that car looks an absolute animal!could you link me these seals at all?? Hopefully I'll have something like that at the end of all this, but looking as bland as feck on the outside, the alloys are the only exterior modification I have planned, the rest is all engine, suspension, brakes, transmission and so on, the end result i want is a 3/400bhp+ sleeper

JimmyCrackCorn

300bhp on them is a relitivly easy prospect. But seriously do something with the breaks and suspension.

I'm convincened that most engine sludge issues were just down to not dropping the oil and filter every 5k miles or so.

I have a friend here I convinced to buy an Aero convertible and he loves it.

The synthetic semi synthetic Oil argument falls apart if you just change it regularly and don't drive rally stages.

Only reason I didn't buy one myself is I wanted rwd.

toastedpickles

JimmyCrackCorn wrote: »

300bhp on them is a relitivly easy prospect. But seriously do something with the breaks and suspension.

I'm convincened that most engine sludge issues were just down to not dropping the oil and filter every 5k miles or so.

I have a friend here I convinced to buy an Aero convertible and he loves it.

The synthetic semi synthetic Oil argument falls apart if you just change it regularly and don't drive rally stages.

Only reason I didn't buy one myself is I wanted rwd.

The power comes last, getting new drop links soon, once i have some moneys coming in, then I can go to town on the suspension, brakes, and clutch, like a good friend on here once told me, you can have all the power in the world, but it has to be stopped just as good

L-M

There are forums that say not to change the oil in them as frequent!

I'll try find that kit tomorrow but AFAIR it's nearly 600 euro

He had a cheap tuning box in his and an Air box from a sprinter iirc, I'll ask him tomorrow and let you know Any easy mods.

toastedpickles

Limerick man wrote: »

There are forums that say not to change the oil in them as frequent!

I'll try find that kit tomorrow but AFAIR it's nearly 600 euro

He had a cheap tuning box in his and an Air box from a sprinter iirc, I'll ask him tomorrow and let you know Any easy mods.

I've seen them, some say 6k others 10k but there's a workshop website i go onto every now and again, full of ex saab mechanics and the rule of thumb is 5k intervals with 5w30

Also the kit is a bit pricey but i'd say its worth it, and I'd greatly appreciate it if you did ask

L-M

I almost bought a 03 95 Aero with 63k miles and a full Saab history and it still had the dreaded top end knock! Couldn't believe it.

toastedpickles

Limerick man wrote: »

I almost bought a 03 95 Aero with 63k miles and a full Saab history and it still had the dreaded top end knock! Couldn't believe it.

There was a few aeros I went to look at before getting my one and they were nearly all or close to being buggered which is a pity really

L-M

http://www.partsforsaabs.com/product_info.php?products_id=3135

I think that's the kit I could have sworn it was much much dearer, but this was three years ago.

toastedpickles

Limerick man wrote: »

http://www.partsforsaabs.com/product_info.php?products_id=3135

I think that's the kit I could have sworn it was much much dearer, but this was three years ago.

Ahhhh pcv#6 I have half of it on the car :pac: the rest is slowly failing so I'm getting a new one put in, have it here in the house, got it from good ol neo brothers for something like 40/50 quid

toastedpickles

So i suppose a bit of an ol update is in order, one drop link has been fitted courtesy of micks garage screwing up my order, picked up another one from the local guys today for 12 quid, last time I'll ever use that website, Got a new crankcase breather kit fitted on friday/saturday and the car is running a heap better now have a thermostat and another droplink to be fitted along with a new throttle body and gear oil change which is happening friday, the thermo I'll do myself, the others not so much, getting new plates, interior bulbs and headlights too

toastedpickles

So what started out as a meh day turned into a fairly busy one

Without further rabble, Got the throttle body changed, seriously owe the guy for this, he stopped halfway through a gearbox removal to help with this

I somewhat helped, and heres what pics I could get!

Piping off



Disconnect the hoses and connections, watch out for coolant spitting out

Throttle body out



Then after the new one was fitted, and the car was going straight into limp mode, so out with the computer and after a while, it was running right as rain

After this I paid a visit to a fellow boardsie, last weekend due to a fecked up order I only got one droplink, so we fitted it and got the other done today so hurrah!

For those who don't know what a droplink is it's this



Anyways, cheap and cheerful to fix but a bit of willpower is needed to undo the nuts, but basically you have your socket for the nut and a spanner to hold the thing in place, like so



Keep doing this until the nut is off and repeat either side, stick in the new and do the same in reverse new droplinks!

The old and the new



And a sure sign the old one is buggered



And that's how you do droplinks kids!

toastedpickles

The thermostat was also attacked today, which was not fun to say the least, but now I have a fully functioning cooling system, yay!

So the first challenge is finding the thing, after a bit of research i found it

Located on the left side of the engine block in at the back :rolleyes: great






Cheers saab!

So to business, remove the front undertray you'l need a T20 bit, 8, and 10mm sockets for the screws



Once thats off you should be able to see this, and have access to drain the coolant



Again showing the wonder that is the K frame

Drain the coolant, reuse if necessary,



Disconnect the hosing from the thermostat housing, undo the clip and away you go





Once you have this done disconnect this wire, which goes to the battery, 10mm socket for this and a 13 or spanner for the bigger nuts in the picture



One or two of these are absolute pigs to get to, once you have it all undone, you might need a screwdriver to pry it off gently, heres what came out of mine



Rightly fecked!



The seal had seen better days too



Again refitting is the same as reversal, if theres any paste or anything left on the housing, scrape it off with a sharp knife/blade, make sure to get all the nuts back into the housing and refill the coolant and let it idle for a few minutes

So there you have it! Next on the list, new bulbs, gaskets, plates, and various other stuff to be fitted

Alanstrainor

Awesome work going into that car. Great thread.

toastedpickles

Once again its the little things with the big difference put in some led number plate lights so we'l see what happens later on



after this is a new coilpack and cps sensor, there's an engine light that just wont quit and its all pointing towards these two pieces, with a bit of luck thats all it is

toastedpickles

So today I was bored/annoyed from last nights events with the 9-5 misfiring, and going into limp mode, and not starting up again, again cheers to the guy who towed me the hundred meters or so back home, So I decided to change the crankshaft positioning sensor myself because I was bored, and i can't afford to get a mechanic to do it

Cps sensors are apparently a common enough part to break on 9-5 around the 100K mark along with a few other bits, so I'll probably replace them too

So the cps sensor is located at the front of the engine block just beside the gearbox and its covered by a tiny little heat shield with one one screw, get a t30 bit at it and loosen it enough to undo it by hand, what i done was made up a good long extension and dropped it down the front, with the help of brother pickles and undone it that way





So once you have the shield off you're left with this



Simply pull it out and that's the easy part done :pac: Also stick your finger in and pull out the old o-ring too, forget this and you're gona have a bad time



After the sensor is out retrace where it connects to, it should follow a path along a pipe and up to a terminal at the back of the engine bay, it's clipped in with a metal bracket of sorts to the pipe so remove that



Then follow it back to the terminal



Disconnect it and that's that done!


Then pull it all out!

The old sensor





Looks a bit rusted! It's seen better days anyway that's for sure

And the new one



Then do the above in reverse, when you're fitting the sensor make sure you hear it click into position otherwise it's not in right, feed it back up to the terminal and then clip it back to the hose, connect it at the terminal and reconnect the little heat shield, again using the help of brother pickles/ and or loved one/ friend

Job done!

toyotaavensis

Did it sort the car or is she still in limp home mode?

toastedpickles

toyotaavensis wrote: »

Did it sort the car or is she still in limp home mode?

It's still in limp mode, ran a fault code reader on it and it was throwing up a p0327 code, knock sensors, or something like that, after a bit of stalking its the coilpack or di cassette as its called, getting a compression test done later on i think so that's something

greasepalm

ouch coilpack from saab dealer stealer only i think?
hate to ask how much you are spending,no stone left unturned in this labour of love.:D

toastedpickles

greasepalm wrote: »

ouch coilpack from saab dealer stealer only i think?
hate to ask how much you are spending,no stone left unturned in this labour of love.:D

Nope you can get em second hand too, which is what im doing, apart from tyres it's cost me very little to be honest

greasepalm

if they have them ,went looking for left hand mirror for toyato avensis 3 wire,nope only 5 wire,chance you take with electrical items been second hand.

toastedpickles

greasepalm wrote: »

if they have them ,went looking for left hand mirror for toyato avensis 3 wire,nope only 5 wire,chance you take with electrical items been second hand.

True, but these things i'm after are fairly generic, so i shouldn't have a problem with em

greasepalm

were the plugs changed if not through a set in.