90 Saab will not start

Are you getting fuel when you turn it over? I'd guess not. Turn it over for a while then remove a plug. Can you smell lots of fuel?

One possibility is that the water caused rapid cooling of the hot wire in the AMM and broke it.

I hear the fuel pump running and I smell some fuel. Not a real heavy smell. I put a new set of plugs in and added some more starting fluid to each cylinder. Still nothing. Could the water in the system cause it not to fire at all? What is a AMM??? all????

The AMM is the air mass meter - the part that meters incoming air and tells the ECU about it. It's a box that sits directly in the airflow just after the air filter.

Are you sure you're getting spark? If you've manually added starting fluid to the cylinders, it should at least cough/sputter. If it isn't, I doubt you have spark.

How did you add the starting fluid?

I found the AMM and checked the little wire and it appears to be OK. I sprayed it down with some cleaning fluid as well.

I checked each spark plug wire, right before the boot with a timing light. Each one showed spark.

I pulled each spark plug to add the starting fluid.

Aha! Getting a high enough voltage to trigger the timing light is *not the same* as getting a high enough voltage/current to get a decent spark. Pull the plugs one by one, connect plug to plug lead, earth the plug body and trun the engine over. Do you get spark?

That is in itself quite a bad idea - but it should result in the engine at least firing, if not running. Does it?

This is a really bad idea: you want no fluids/solvents/cleaners/etc on that wire.

The proper procedure is to free the AMM/MAF housing, turn on the ignition, and check to see if the wire glows. If it doesn't, then you need to check both voltage to and resistance across the connectors. A Bentley or other manual will help you in this test.

Also, not the best of ideas: by "starting fluid" do you mean ether? or some other fluid?

lycka till! GTr

I just checked the compression and found that two cylinders show less than 25 the other two are 75 and 90. I am going to assume that that is the real problem?!?!?!. Or is there something way different on a Saab??

No, that sounds quite serious.

What puzzles me is how so much water could possibly enter the cylinders following a burst hose.

With compression like that you're gonna have to pull the head, you really don't have any other choice.

Oh, no, that's pretty bad. Valves? Timing Chain? Rings? Crank? Really hard to say.

The readings are too low to even try an oil/air test to see if it is rings or valves. Can you verify your compression tester on another engine? i.e. did you use the correct adaptor? Did you screw it in all the way (due to the deep spark plug wells of the 16V engine, I usually put some anti-sieze on the threads of the adapter, insert the adapter and screw it in with the spark plug socket, then feed in and screw the compression tester hose onto the adapter). Is your compression tester accurate?

Someone had spliced the hose, right under the manifold. When it blew apart it was pretty much a straight shot to the air snorkel. When it happened she was going about 55. So I figured with the speed, RPM and the amount of water that went in so quick it soaked the air filter and right in to the motor. That is my guess anyway.

Well I guess that is that. Thanks for your help!

Hey brother Shawn - that does not sound very good at all and unless it's a faulty reading - you will be getting a peak inside the heart of the beast..

BEFORE you take the head off however - pull out all the plugs and do a leak down on each piston with a compressor hose (thread an airline into the spark plug hole) - you'll need to source an automotive stethoscope to sound the block and the head.. Rotate the main pulley so you move the piston through a complete cycle for both top and bottom end..

If you can put a gauge and a metering valve set to 75pds on the line you can get a better handle on max compression each piston can carry - but - what you are really trying to figure out is where pressurized air is leaking (it may well be both top and bottom)..

Repeat the cycle on all pistons several times checking for sound in the header and the intake manifold and across pistons..

The latter might be a blessing as it could mean you just have a squeaked gasket - but could also mean the rush of water cracked your head.. Conversely, if it's blowing air into the block - you might just need a ring job - or the block cracked..

Whatever the case it sounds to me like you have fairly serious problems with that engine - but in the worst case - you should be able to find a used power train for less than the cost of repair to the original engine.. It's actually a lot cheaper to pull the whole tranny and engine out and drop in another one as it kinda bolts in and out that way (be careful about matching up axles through)..

For what it's worth, your experience will have me looking more closely at changing the air intake around a bit to get it proud of the main rad hoses if I go ahead and restore mine.. Cold comfort I suppose, but thanks for the head up.