Cant believe it! 1994 Saab AERO 9000 (TURBO) - Smoke problems after replacing head gasket- NOW IT IS THE TURBO!!

First off - I picked up a 93 aero recently and, as I like to comment every so often - 'they are real and they are spectacular'.. :) ..

Secondly - you may have got boned at the shop. It may be time to develop a new relationship elsewhere or see if the wrench-meister in question is open to your picking up a manual for him and sending him some good links as repairs come up.

Basically - the head gasket and turbo failure are most likely related in that almost all head gasket failures are related to over heating. If you do not see a new thermostat and three-way thermo-switch on your bill - your shop doesn't handle this sort of work often enough.

Once the engine was overheated (which is usually a couple of times in a row before the end comes) - the turbo bearing and seal are starved for cooling fluid in the right range and deform. The next time the engine lights up - zap - whatever was holding the liquids out of your turbo is released and - it's so long hoopy overtaking maneuverers and hello police officer - yes I'm waiting for parts but needed to move the car - thank you for the warning - I should be able to get it fixed next week and I'll park the car until then.. :) ..

The sad part is that the shop may well have been able to rebuild the turbo with fresh seals and bearing at the time - but I fear is may be too late as running like that for a short time will damage the impeller and housing so that it is cheaper to get a fresh turbo.

Normally - (well since the mid 80's at least) the SAAB turbo bearing is water and oil jacketed and requires no 'one minute' cool down period at shutdown - which is not to say that it might not be good for it - but it is not required. It would concern me greatly if my wrench-meister didn't know that.

Where you appear to have got shafted is that the shop should have known to pull the turbo and inspected it at the time as it may have saved you considerable labor and costs to simply replace the whole power unit with one from a wrecked model of similar vintage.

As it is, you have simply paid for a single heat related gasket failure and will now pay again for the same heat related failure - with likely a few more to come.

127,000 miles is not new - but assuming the body is good - I would have pulled the block and done *all* the gaskets, seals, pumps and timing chain gear at once (which is considerably cheaper than working on things as they fail). I also would have costed that job against a known good engine and turbo out of a wreck and picked the one that looked best choice at the time. Cheaper to pick up a known good power unit - vs - I know everything vital is done in my original engine.

I will be pulling mine from the aero and doing much the same thing when it needs something heavy like a a clutch, additionally dynamically balancing the crank and pistons so I can then pull the balance shafts. Longevity is important to me and work like that in an aero can be recouped if you have to sell it.

Sorry brother FU - the silver lining here is that once you do that more encompassing job at a shop that knows the machine, you can be fairly comfortable that the body will rust away long before the motive unit needs serious attention again.

Reply to
Dexter J
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A dead turbo can be caused by 2 things. 1) not often enough oil changes. The manual states 7500 mi or so. This is not often enough 2) letting a head gasket go for too long without repairing it. If water gets into the oil, a turbo bearing can be wiped pretty quickly.

Find a good shop that knows these cars. There should be an independent Saab specialist in your area. a turbo can be rebuilt, period. Do a google on turbo rebuilders. Turbo City and dallas turbo come to mind. They can rebuild these. It is NOT a garrett turbo. It is a Mitsubishi TD04. I have a Mitsu Te03 in a wrecked car. I acknowledged that it has a bad exhaust impeller and a bent shaft. I was quoted 400.00 for a rebuild. Another source would be a used turbo. Only get one off an Aero if you want to preserve the performance. A Garrett is not the same. It was used on the CS and CSE and does not flow as much air and therefore does not make as much power.

KeithG

FEDUP wrote:

Reply to
KeithG

Find a new SAAB wrench. This guy doesn't know what he is talking about. You do not have to idle for the turbo to cool down since they started water cooling them, many years before your 9000 was built. The turbo failure was likely caused by your prior overheating incidents.

Yes. Find another specialist and get a turbo installed, then make sure it doesn't overheat anymore.

-Fred W

Reply to
Fred W.

Are you sure its oil that is burning? White smoke usually means coolent. Starting somewhere around 1990 Saab started using water cooled turbo bearings and they stopped telling drivers to let the engine idle for 30 seconds before turning it off. Before that only the oil supply cooled the bearing and if shut down hot and spinning the oil tends to caramalize. It is still a good habit to let the engine idle a bit before shuting down. This gives time for the turbo to spin down before the oil supply is cut off.

Good luck and I belive there are rebuilt turbos somewhere.

R. Frist

Reply to
R. Frist

I posted earlier "This is a 94 Saab (Turbo) AERO 9000 with 125K miles. I have replaced the headgasket couple of weeks ago. Since then white smoke (oil burning) comes out when the car comes to a stop or when it is starting. " Here is what happened since then- The mechanic diagnosed the problem as a turbo leaking oil into the exhaust. As we send out the turbo for a rebuild- the guy says- cant be done. A new turbo unit (Garret TB25) costs $660. They say that these turbos get shot when the driver does not idle after coming to a stop and park. Apparently, according to him, when you pull into the garage or a parking spot, one needs to let the engine idle for a minute or so before turning it off. This- I have never heard. The instruction manual does not say anything like this. I am so pissed off- I have spent $1500 for head gasket job- looks like the turbo fiasco is going to add another $1000. This car already has 125K miles. Is this really worth it? What has been your experience with this car?

Reply to
FEDUP

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