2009 Saab 9-3 1.9 TTiD DPF issue

Schnooks

Hi Folks

I was wondering if I could run something by the good people of the Motoring forum.

My car went into "limited performance" mode last week. it is intermittent and occurs if I push the engine into accelerating hard, black smoke shoots out the back and the turbos are then disabled until I switch the car off and on again. There are no engine management alarms of any sort and my code reader is clean when I hook it up. Just the "limited performance" message on the console, and all turbo activity shuts down completely.

I am able to drive the car without it going into this state if I am very gentle with it i.e. very slow acceleration through the gears with minimal turbo demand. Obviously this is not a feasible solution long-term.

Soon after I bought the car (100K miles on it) I had a similar issue and this eventually led to the DPF being replaced under guarantee from the dealer I bought it from. Now with approx 178K miles on the car, I would be paying probably 700-800 minimum for this.

I did try a 40 mile motorway run with JLM DPF cleaner in the tank at 130 kph to see if it would force a re-gen, no luck, still the same.

Before I go back to the dealer, who would most likely try a re-gen first by hooking it up to the Saab specialist console, followed by a replacement if that is not successful, does anyone think that this crowd might be worth a try?

http://www.thedpfclinic.ie/

They seem to talk a good fight and at 250(ish) it would be a lot cheaper than a possible replacement. Any opinions welcome thanks!

S.

Toyotafanboi

This may not have anything to do with the DPF.

Schnooks

Hmm that's what it was last time and there are no engine management warning lights. What other issues could it be? Any suggestions welcome before I go down the dealer route.

Toyotafanboi

Schnooks wrote: »

Hmm that's what it was last time and there are no engine management warning lights. What other issues could it be?

Any one of a hundred.

I was actually going to recommend going to a dealer or a good independent and getting someone who knows what they are looking at to tell you what's wrong.

I definitely wouldn't be spending €250 on a DPF rinse when my only symptom is an intermittent loss of power under load.

dieselbug

"There are no engine management alarms of any sort and my code reader is clean when I hook it up."

What kind of code reader? You will need at minimum, Op Com or even better Tech 2 with Saab card to get accurate info as to what codes may be stored. There's no point in wasting your money on guessing.

selectamatic

Sounds alot like a fairly bad boost leak issue. Especially since you're having black smoke under hard acceleration followed by limp mode.

Whatever it is it'll probably require a trip to the dealer or an indy mechanic to sort it

Schnooks

Ok dealer it is so. You guys are correct, no point in guessing and spending money when the DPF might not be the issue. Thanks for the advice.

Waterson

Some.of these generic code readers won't give you factory specific fault codes but only the ones logged by the OBD2 protocol.
As above a plug in with OPCOM and viewing differential pressure sensor data will tell.you straight away whether your dpf is blocked.

StevenE

Similar to my Zafira that has the same engine as your SAAB, it was the EGR Valve that was stuck open. It needed a good clean and all performance was restored. A common fault with these engines and many have the EGR blanked off and programmed out. I just clean mine every 6 months, about an hour's work on a Sunday!

Schnooks

That would be a possibility alright StevenE, but my EGR valve was replaced with a brand new one about 6 months ago.

It's booked into the Saab specialist for tomorrow morning. I will let ye know what they find. Fingers crossed it is nothing major, but I am nervous!

StevenE

So was mine! I cleaned it out only last week, a good 2 teaspoons of soot. Some say supermarket fuel is worse but I've not seen evidence to support this theory. I had literally no power off boost and had to resort to the sport switch to get power.
It has to be said that most problems with these engines is either the EGR or the swirl flaps, usually the former.

Good luck tomorrow, let's hope it's not too expensive!

Schnooks

selectamatic wrote: »

Sounds alot like a fairly bad boost leak issue. Especially since you're having black smoke under hard acceleration followed by limp mode.

Whatever it is it'll probably require a trip to the dealer or an indy mechanic to sort it

Bingo if you are saying that it is turbo-related!

It was the big pipe between the turbo and the intercooler that was damaged and had to be replaced. I should have spotted this myself as it went about 3 years ago also. That time there was no limited performance problems and it whistled when under load.

Anyway all's well that ends well and we are back in business. Thanks to all who helped, very much appreciated!! I was right to take your advice and not jump in with the DPF cleaning.