I made another post on here about a car I looked at, and am still planning on buying..
It had some noisy belts when I checked it out. It feels like seattle here in indianapolis as of late, where the rain just seems to be non-stop. The belts squeaked a little for a second or two, then would stop, and randomly start again for a second or two then stop. After I got going on the road,
5-6 mins later(with traffic and all), and I got up to speed, it stopped totally. The owner told me they were a little loose.
My question is.. what causes the failure? It it hard to fix? What should I expect to pay someone to fix it for me?
Ok, everything I'm about to write is based on the assumption that it is the crankshaft pulley (as I suggested in another thread). But you should first check the belts and make sure they're not the source the noise, since that's easy and cheap to fix.
The crank pulley has inner and outer parts joined by rubber, which dampens vibration. When it gets old, the outer part begins to slip relative to the inner part, which squeaks. This is generally worse when the engine is cold; when it warms up the rubber gets sticky and slips less. Eventually it will fail altogether and you will be stranded somewhere.
Replacing it involves removing the belts, maybe moving the AC compressor aside, blocking the engine flywheel so it can't spin, and getting the relevant nut loose. I tried this repair once and failed, due to lacking the proper tool (a shallow socket, 27 mm I think). There isn't much room to work between the engine and the firewall. If you want to try it yourself, make sure you have the right tools and the Bentley manual. Also take a look at the documents on the townsendimports.com site.
Currently: http://68.155.228.235/engine_folder/front_crank_seal900.htm ... but it's on a dynamic IP.
If you pay someone to do it, I think it'll cost you at least a few hundred dollars (US). The replacement pulley alone is around $80 if memory serves.
Based on what I'm reading here, it does sound like a crankshaft pully. I had this happen on two different C900s, one an '85 900, and the 2nd an '88 900SPG. The 1st time it took me by surprise and like you I suspected belts as the noise maker. Boy was I wrong. It went out and caused me no means of frustration and $$$. If I were you I'd have it looked at by a Knowledgeable Saab mechanic, either indy or at a dealer. In fact I'd get a pre-buy inspection.
It may cost a few dollars, but the piece of mind is well worth it.
One other thing to look for on those older C900s is the front A-Arm. It holds the wheel to the body. I've had two of them go out and it is a common occurance with that generation of Saab. Not expensive to replace, but a PITA when it happens.
No. The problem he is describing is the inner and out parts of the crankshaft pulley (aka harmonic balancer) assembly. The pulley fits on the end of the crankshaft and there is a seal that fits in the timing chain cover that mates to this assembly, but the rubber he is talking about is sandwiched between the two press fit parts of the pulley.
But before you go overboard here, just get some white-out (typing correction fluid) and paint a line across the face (like the diameter) of the 2 piece pully assembly. Drive it and make it squeek. Stop the engine and see if the white-out line is no longer continuous. If it is still continuous it is not slipping. If the line no longer lines up on the inner and outer portions you have diagnosed your problem.
This explains why crankshaft pulleys are so expensive! 8-) Also a good reason to only buy new ones, unless it's possible to repair old ones to be as good as new? I saw a new one on Ebay recently (probably for a 16V engine - mine are 8V so I think the pulleys are different) which was priced over US$100.
Could be better just to go whole-hog and remove the engine from the car to do this sort of thing. That way it's a lot safer, and it allows other things to be done to the engine which may be possible with the engine in-situ, but are much safer and easier to do with the engine out. Opinions?
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