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Prized 1980 Saab 5 door turbo

There are several things i'd like to correct on my 1980 5 door turbo. It has 90,000 miles, no rust, owned since 1983, etc. The car was used summer only then parked for 7 years and rolled out 2 years ago for year round use.

  1. The car used to start on the first turn of the key and run smoothly without being goosed. Now it is necessary to start and let it die two times. On the third try it starts and runs smoothly as in the past. My guess there is an adjustment that might correct this. It also MAY be running rich until wawrmed up. Anybody know what to check?

  1. Oil pressure used to stay pegged about 50 pounds, hot or cold. Today oil pressure is 50 lbs cold but warm oil is 35 lbs underway and

15 lbs at idle on warm oil. I would like to restore the original pressure to protect the newly rebuilt turbo. (I have heard there may be an over pressure valve somewhere in the system that could be stuck partly open.) Any suggestions about improving oil pressure in this car?

  1. In past years the after market vacuum/boost guage showed the car idling at 20 inchs vacuum. Today the norm is 16 inches. What is the smart way to check for vacuum leaks in this car?

I prize this car the usual Saab addict motives and for the five door

900 coach with turbo and 5 speed. (There were no more 900 5 doors after 1980.) I find nothing out there to replace it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Charlie

Reply to
charlie3
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I'm afraid you may be looking at an engine rebuild. The lower vacuum and oil pressure point to bottom end wear, this may well lead to the starting problem as it will be down on compression. You could try a thicker oil to keep the pressure up, won't do a lot but will make you feel better when you look at the gauge ;-)

Matt

Reply to
**-**

Engine wear in the block has been considered and you may be right but compression tested fine after the head was rebuilt so the lower vacuum vay be caused by something else. I'm still looking for the best way to check for vacuum leaks that aren't caused by low compression

Loose bearings in the block might be causing low oil pressure but I am not noticing any knock. Before going to the expense of rebuiding the block I'm trying to be sure other possible causes are eliminated.

The turbocharger was also recently rebuilt. When the car is in its groove (50 to 80 mph), its a besat.

Reply to
charlie3

any hissing that can be heard anywhere? when the engine is running? After a layup, I would suggest a check over of all the vacuum hoses in the engine bay first.

Did you give it as full service and fluid change when you pulled it from storage? Just wonder if old oil/low oil is underperforming?

Once you have ascertained that it isn't mechanically bad, give it a good swedish tune up (run it at about 70-80 for about 1-2 hours, and run some decent fuel through incase the old stuff has gone stale).

Reply to
MeatballTurbo

With my C900 (late 1982 build) I need to plant my foot right to the floor on the throttle when starting and hold the starter engaged for about 5 seconds until there is enough fuel pressure at the injectors. I'm suspecting the cold-start switch might not be working properly, but once the fuel flow to the injectors is happening, the engine runs fine.

I need to pull out the injectors and check they're not blocked, and also check the spark plugs to see if their fouled up, but I don't think they are.

I might take out the fuel distributor and check it too.

Can't offer advice since my C900 is a non-turbo model.

My C900 has the 3-spd auto transmission. It works fine but when engaging 'drive' after the engine has been warmed up the engagement is very 'strong'. There's plenty of transmission fluid and it's not contaminated so it might just be a band adjustment issue.

Craig.

-- Craig Ian Dewick ( snipped-for-privacy@lios.apana.org.au).

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APANA Sydney Regional Co-ordinator. Operator of Jedi (an APANA Sydney POP). Always striving for a secure long-term future in an insecure short-term world Have you exported a crypto system today? Do your bit to undermine the NSA.

Reply to
Craig Ian Dewick

use 5w 50

or 0w 40 oil

Reply to
Mark Plumlee

Thanks for the tips. The cold start valve is worth a look. I suspect the oil pressure is adquate and i'll get used to it.

Reply to
charlie3

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