1996/7 Saab 9000

Firsly walk away from any car that hasnt a full saab main dealer service history and lots of receipts of same. These cars will do huge mileages but need specialist care- else it will bannkrupt you later in life!

Look out for:

1) DI ignition cassettes fail now and then.- fact of owning a Saab! They go suddenly and either the car dies altogether or you're down to 2 or 3 cylinders- carry a spare. 2) Any blue smoke from the exhuast under acceleration- the turbo seals aren't or blue smoke after idling /over run- you have valve seals which need replacing at the least.- an engine showing either of these blue smoke problems means its been neglected or has done 150k+. 3) HG's can fail but again lack of maintanance or very high mileage.- the bottom end of these engines will happily do 200k with ease. 4) Manual boxes synchro on 2nd fails first on cars that have been thrashed. 5) Auto boxes- look for any slowness to drop into drive or reverse, and any slurring between changes indicating worn bands. ATF should be replaced every year or 20k- look for evidence this has been done. Both the manual and auto boxes are tough, but stressed highly with the 2.3HOT and Aero spec engines. 6) Make sure all the electrical gizmo's work- especially the leccie seats, dash illumination on all clocks / switches and the climate works as it should. The control panel sometimes fails. Check the a/c blows cold- though at this time of year thats going to be tricky. If the evaporator is burst its a dash out job. 7) other normal checks for crash damage- un even tyre wear, strange noises etc etc etc apply as with any other car. Check rear tyres for wear- if they're uneven then the rear geomnetry probably needs adjusting.

Tim..

Does HG mean Head gasket ? If so, what maintenance stops head gaskets failing ? If not, what is an HG ?

Steve

HG = HeadGasket.

Preventitive maintanance would be changing the coolant every couple of years and ensuring you run ~50% antifreeze in it all the time, keep a wary eye on the temp gauge for any sign of strange goings on, making sure the cooling fan runs when its meant to, and mainly you don't overheat the engine, that its not pinking or running lead or excessive boost in the case of a turbo will hopefully prevent HGF.

On something like a Rover K series, which has precious little coolant capacity, when you see the needle in the red 8 times out of 10 the HG will have popped anyways.

Tim..

Interesting - I agree about coolant changes - bl**dy main dealers only do this at inspection 2 on my car which works out at 4-5 years of average miles ( 12k a year )

Steve

Hi...

Thanks for your response...

Are DI ignition cassettes expensive and are they easily changable? Is this something that a person could easily do themselves?

Thanks Paul.

By inspection I presume it's a BMW? Doesn't the little clock symbol denote time to change it?

From ECP the DI cassettes for 90-98 cars (red) are £79+ vat + shipping and may require an adapter cable and the 98 onwards (black and alot more reliable) cassettes are £89 +vat etc.

Replacement is a 5 minute job requiring a torx screwdriver bit of the correct size.

Tim..

Thanks for the info... What are the symptoms of the the DI cassettes failing?

Thanks Paul

they told me the clock was for the brake fluid - every two years. That got done at the last Inspection I and then (partially) again when I sorted out the seized front caliper.

bmw have never changed the coolant - according to the Bentley manual that happens at Inspection II. I also suspect the engine air filter will be filthy judging by the state of the engine bay - again, they change it at Inspection II.

Plugs are due at 100k miles - I notice some independants schedule them in for 1/2 that mileage......

I strongly suspect that more frequent fluid and filter changes would benefit the conditions under which my car is run.

My next big decision is whether to de-value the car by a non-bmw or even DIY Inspection II - since the cost in the south can easily be £1000.

Steve

50% of the time you get an engine running on 3 cylinders, sometimes 2 usually when hot, but ok when cold. The other 50% of the time the car just dies altogether with no warning. Testing them is fruitless- the best way to spot a failed one, is to look at the black epoxy resin on the underside next to the spark plug boots. Look for tiny grey pin-pricks or mini geezers where gas has been forced out. If you see any, its failed.

Tim..