Oil leak

I have a 1988A 9000i, with a B202I which seems to have developed a rather severe oil leak on the front left side of the engine. Should be expected after 339000 kilometers. The leak is somewhere above the water pump, as this is now covered in oil, and seems to extend towards the middle of the front of the engine, almost over the exhaust pipes. Where could this come from? Head gasket? I recently changed oil, and both the old and the new oil looks good, no sign of coolant in it. If it is the head gasket, could tightening the head bolts help, or are these so called stretch bolts? Are there any other known weak spots in the area I describe where oil could come from?

Kristian

It is worth finding the leak - however it could easily be observed that once you have one leak - you should look closely at doing most of the mating surfaces before it becomes a weekly tear down. Check that it isn't a power steering line or simply a main seal leak being spun around on the belts.

After than - carefully wash off the engine using a engine shampoo and hose (pressure washers are not good unless you know exactly what not to hit). Once dry, give the engine a light mist of oil or rust proofing spray (keep them off the exhaust manifold) - then power the block and bay with talcum powder. Fire up the engine (make sure you've closed your cabin air intake at the dash) and take it for a short spin - you should be able to fairly quickly trace all leaks in the talcum powder.

Most folks then rinse off and get the parts needed - but I tend to leave it on just in case I have a secondary weep somewhere else on the block that only presents when it's been run for a while. It all comes off the next time you go out in the rain anyway.

Best of luck and cheers.

FWIW, my understanding (from this newsgroup) is that the usual leak in this area is from the crankshaft seal rather than the gearbox. I'm not saying that the problem (in either Kristian's or Axel's case) isn't with the gearbox, just that the crankshaft seal is the normally cited culprit. If I'm wrong, then I'm sure SKS will correct me.

With an oil leak of any volume, it should be simple to discover which oil is leaking by monitoring both the engine dipstick and the gearbox dipstick.

HTH Adrian

Hi, I have the same kind of problem at my 9000i (1993), several drops of oil a day from the left side of the engine. While driving, the wind disperses the oil underneath the car. I went to my mechanic and he told me, that the oil runs from the gasket between gearbox and motor. The gasket is cheap, but it will take the mechanic about 2 hours to change the gasket and to remount the gearbox. So I decided to fill up the gearbox oil and will have the gasket changed next month.

If your are not shure, clean the motor (especially from underneath) wait one night and then follow the way of the oil ;-)

Greetings Axel

Then the problem is the engine is in backwards

If you say so... But what makes you think the end of the engine connected to the transmission should be the "back" if it's actually on the left (or right when facing it)?? So you say the front of the motor (it's actually an

*engine* BTW, not a MOTOR. But don't let that bother you...) is on the right side of the car, which is on the left if you face the front of the engine compartment? I guess it would be a lot simpler if the damn SAAB engineers would just orient their engines properly like a good ole' amurican car, right?

But I have to say, I've never heard of anyone referring to the orientation that way before in my life.

Either way, the reference to the waterpump gave me a clue as to where the leak was, and I already answered according to that.

Cheers,

-Fred W

I have to say that if someone said to me that there was a leak on the left, or that the washer bottle was on the left, I'd expect to lift the bonnet and look pretty much to the left (offside).

As far as i'm concerned, the front of the 9000 engine is where the turbo sits and the oil filter is at the back. :)

David.