Info to keep your turbo running A1?

You might want to make sure it's not the crankshaft pulley that's squeaking. It's a common failure point on these cars.

The squeaky clutch could be superficial, or it could be a master cylinder problem.

I've never used slick 50 or any other additive, but people say bad things about it. I'd steer clear of it. You might want to consider switching to synthetic oil though, especially since you have a turbo to cool.

c900 gearboxes stopped having drain plugs at some point, though I'm not sure exactly when. I'm sure someone here knows. Regarding gear lube: the factory lube is 10w30 engine oil. I would recommend a synthetic MTF to replace it. I'm currently running BG SynchroShift, which works well.

You might want to get yourself a copy of the Bentley shop manual (search for it on Amazon.com).

John

John,

Thank you for the tip on slick 50. I use the fuel system cleaner religiously, and it seems to work wonders on my normally asperated engines. I hate to be assumptious, but I figured if 1 slick 50 product worked, the other should be just as good. Then again, you know what you get for assumptions.

I wanted to re-comment about the things you said might be wrong with the vehicle...

1. The squeaking is coming from inside the vehicle, not in the engine compartment, so I'm assuming a superficial nature of the sound. Also.. The clutch pedal travel is normal, and It didn't miss a shift, or pop out of gear, anything out of the ordinary.
2. The squealing of the alternator belt went away after about 5-6 (if that) minutes of driving time 10 minutes total runtime. It wasn't even a loud squeal either.. just a small noise for a second or two, and then nothing.) I tend to get paranoid too damned easily. Especially with used cars. As I said earlier, it's been really wet here, and even my wife's 2003 neon has had its belts squealing a ton, and those are at least somewhat covered.

Being a turbo idiot, I'm curious if your crankcase oil is also what lubricates and cools the turbo? If so, I'm definitely switching to a synthetic, or at least a syn/conv. blend.

I appreciate your suggestions, and look forward to hearing from you all more in the future.

Great car, sounds like a heck of a deal too.

2-3 minutes is probably excessive, give it 15-20 seconds after typical driving, a minute or so if you've just run it really hard. If the turbo is water cooled then just a few seconds is enough.

Slick-50 is snake oil, there's a number of teflon containing oil additives out there and they're all junk. If there was a magical ingredient that made oil better then you can bet oil companies would offer premium overpriced oils containing them. Plain old full synthetic changed at reasonable intervals will help ensure long life of your engine and turbo. I recommend quality oil filters as well, personally I use Mann W917's, but OEM Saab filters are quite good as well. Avoid Fram, they're about as crummy as they get.

The clutch master cylinder spans the firewall, so it could be audible from inside. But that said, if it's working fine, no need to mess with it I guess. Maybe you could try lubricating the pivot point where the clutch pedal attached to the master cylinder.

That would be typical of the crankshaft pulley separating. But if you think it's a belt, you could try tightening or replacing the belts, and see if it goes away. No harm in that.

I drive a naturally aspirated 900, but I am led to believe that the turbo is oil-cooled, with additional cooling by water in the later models. People on this group generally seem to suggest synthetic for turbos.

Sure, no problem.

John

Sounds like a great car and a good buy.

Nope, the only thing Slick-50 and it's relatives are good at is separating money from your wallet. If it helped with mileage, Saab and all the other automakers would use it from the factory, with the federal mileage requirements being what they are. If it cut down on wear, then DuPont (makers of Teflon) wouldn't have told Slick-50 to stop claiming that their product would help that.

It's at the far back, bottom of course, on the gearbox. Back where the driveshafts come in the sides to the differential. Should have a magnet on it; a little filings on there is normal, big chunks of gears would not be but it sounds like yours is healthy.

It's a great car, and you're going to love it. I'm driving an '85 900 for the winter, and to be honest, I think I enjoy driving it more than I enjoy driving my '99 9-5.

You'll have more questions, and there are a bunch of people here who know an awful lot about the c900.

Dave Hinz (near Milwaukee)

To be fair, a master cylinder is about a 15-minute job on this car. So that's not all that major either.

Yes. The Haynes is, well, not nearly as good. Bentley manuals are also (or were, at least) sold by Saab dealerships.

Try using Chevron Techron fuel system cleaner instead. It works much better IMO. The Slick in Slick 50 refers to their marketing IMO. It is snake oil.

-Fred W

John,

Yikes! Okay.. so you've scared me a bit, and I'm somewhat reconcidering the car. I know what my wife would do if I bought another car and it broke down on me right away! I'd be sleeping alone for the next 6 weeks. I have a few questions for you about the crankshaft pulley problem. I'm not sure if the owner had it replaced or not. He told me he was pretty certain the belts were getting loose. He's a saab guy, and belongs to saabnet They are also 5 yrs. old.

1. What causes the pulley to seperate? Can anything be done to prevent it?
2. How hard of a job is this as a DIY? (Remember, you're talking to a computer geek here)
3. How much should I expect to pay someone to do it?
4. What is the worst that could happen if I don't do it right away?

The owner is adamant that there are no fluid, oil, trans fluid, etc. leaks whatsoever. Looking in his driveway and under the car after driving it, I didn't see anything. I read something about when replacing crank pulley, there is a point where you replace some oil pump O-Rings, and reseat the pump, etc? Shouldn't there be an oil leak of some type that goes along with this problem?

Thanks for your help!

-LC

Age. Oil contamination.

Make sure that the oil seal is not leaking.

It's a bit tricky for a home DIY guy to do. The nut on the ned of the crank is pretty tight, so you need big tools and a way to hold the crank from turning. You also need a big torque wrench for reassembly.

Dunno. I'v enever paid anyone. Just did it myself.

If it goes completely slack you will not drive the alternator or water pump.

Nope. There does not have to be a leak. Hey, who knows, maybe it is just a loose belt?

-Fred W

I talked with him today. He left out of town thursday, and won't be back until next week. He wrote me as he checked it out after I drove it the other day, and here's what he said.

---- From owner -------

I think the hb/Crankshaft pulley was replaced at some point around 100K (I'll have to check the records to be sure) The belts were definitely loose. I did tighten up the steering belt but wasn't exactly sure how to do the alt belt. The sqeaul did temporarily disappear after the steering belt tightening so I didn't follow up on it.

--------- END ------

So I think the problem may be solved. To make refrence to your questions... there are no oil leaks. After looking at the guy's driveway and how clean it was would be a testament to that. Besides, I figured if it was going to leak, I'd see something on the ground at one point or another. I stopped twice to check the ground at other various points.. nothing on the ground. So if the pulley is damaged, it's due to just pure age, and nothing else. Otherwise, I just need to get the belts tighter, and hope for the best. I love the turbo, and hoping I'll get a good car for a decent price. =)

100k miles is about right for the crankshaft pulley in my experience.

John

The squealing sound I heard was just a loose belt. The owner tightened it up and voila... a week later, and still no sound.

Thanks for the help guys!

-LC

Sounds good. Just so he didn't overtighten it putting too much axial load on the alternator bearings... Would be a good thing to have checked next time it's in.

Dave,

True. However, there's a difference between tight/taut and super tight. The belt deflection looked fine to me.

Thanks guys!

-LC

I'm just trying to help. It's an important point. New belts and proper tensioning are cheaper than a new alternator, is all I'm saying.

Dave,

Sorry if I came off wrong. I seriously do appreciate the help you give on this forum. And believe me, I know the cost of a new alternator. Thanks again for all your help!

-Larry