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81 900T woes

The trusty old 81 900T auto sedan failed to proceed for the first time in over three years. Started on 3 cylinders, ran for 300M and cut out completely half way round a roundabout. Coasted off. Turned over but no interest in firing, except occasionally on one cylinder. Plenty fuel & pump running. Gave up just before flattening battery & towed to local w/shop. One cracked fuel line and drowned plugs (funny that). Valves & timing chain seem ok, but compression *not* - 80, 65, *25*, 80. Now running basically ok again. Car uses *no* oil or coolant between changes. Ideas? Busted rings? Worth a pulldown or likely cheaper to just swap in a known good powertrain? Any advice welcome. Cheers

Reply to
hippo
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in article snipped-for-privacy@localhost.talkaboutautos.com, hippo at snipped-for-privacy@chopthis.shoal.net.au wrote on 02/07/2007 13:48:

I'd be inclined to pull the head off and see what that reveals.

Paul

1989 900 Turbo S
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Reply to
Paul Halliday

Have it driven it long enough? Long enough until the coolant warms up?

Is this an 8 or a 16 valve head?

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Trying to remember which 8 valve head cracked in cylinder no 3, mine (cracked) was on a 1983 car (not turbo, 8 valve). If 16 valve I don't know if the same problem applied.

To test the rings for compression, do the compression test again and put in through the sparking plug hole a teaspoon of oil. If compression returns to normal on 3, i.e. comparable to the other cylinders then the rings on 3 are gone.

If it helps a little.

Regards Charles

Reply to
Charles C.

Hi Hippo, surely that one compression number doesnt look good, but if the engine is running reasonably well then the problem is not that.

I suspect an ignition problem really... maybe some moisture got somewhere it should not be (coil, ignition leads ..) Combined with the bad fuel supply it is no surprise the cold engine had trouble running... If the sparks stop for a moment, the plugs will be wet and will not fire again for a while.

Richard

Reply to
Richard

And eventually a cracked head too -- like I did:-P

Frode

Reply to
Frode

in article snipped-for-privacy@news.broadpark.no, Frode at snipped-for-privacy@dynamica.no wrote on

04/07/2007 16:25:

The 8V head is certainly prone to cracking and could well lead to that bad compression on cylinder 3 with an intact head gasket keeping oil and water out of the equation.

Paul

1989 900 Turbo S
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Reply to
Paul Halliday

Thanks to everyone. Tomorrow is its last day of registration for the year so I'll take the offer I got to buy the turbo installation & my good set of wheels off me then upgrade to a nice 93 that just came along. No time to start doing a major teardown at the moment and need two operating cars in the family for the foreseeable future. Thanks again. Cheers

Reply to
hippo

I heard through the grape vine where the car might be going to. 8-) Nothing at all wrong with that since it's probably the best way to ensure as much of the car as possible is recycled.

How similar is your 81 turbo to my blue-coloured 81/82 turbo sedan? I should make up an excuse to drive down to Nowra for a visit since it's not that far from here...

Craig.

Reply to
Craig's Saab C900 Site

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