replacing Crank Position sensor

A few weeks ago I bought a 1993 SAAB 9000 CDE, non-turbo, I got a good deal because the previous owner said the engine dies when you run it for more than about 20 minutes at normal engine temperature. He was told by a mechanic that it is a crank position sensor malfunction. The car runs great most of the time, but once in a while (every few days) it just dies will not start for 20-90 min. The car does seem to run a little hot, with a lot of range on the gauge. This might be normal, the car is new to me and it is my first Saab do I'm not sure what is normal. I did replace the coolant thermostat with a new OEM Saab one. This did not make much difference in the temp. The car does usually die at a normal operating temp (half way up the gauge). After listening to quite a few people's suggestions as to what the problem likely is and inspecting the crank pulley , I hope we have correctly diagnosed the problem as the crank pulley and or sensor. The crank pulley has over 50% of the rubber gone, and it is very loose. I have bought parts and am ready to change them out, however the wire from the sensor disappears into an area behind the alternator and below the intake that I can not even see into, much less get a hand into. Can anyone advise me on routing the wire and hooking up the plug? This can't be as difficult as it looks. From which direction should I approach this? What must be disassembled to get to the wiring and plug? Any suggestions appreciated Randy

Reply to
Saab1993
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These cars were notorious for running hot and over-heating. In the event they do overheat you can eventually expect to have to replace the head gasket, which is a chore.

To prevent that from happening, you want to replace the thermostat (again) with a lower temperature one. The stock SAAB t-stat was an 89 degree C (192F) type. There are replacements (even OE SAAB) 82C (180F) degree ones available.

The second, perhaps even more important modification is to replace the fan thermostatic switch with a lower temp model. The problem here is that when the car is not moving, or only moving slowly, there is not enough air to keep the coolant in the radiator cool. The original switch doesn't turn the fan on (or to high speed on 2 speed fans) until too late, when the coolant is already hotter than the temp we want to cool the engine down to.

There is a bunch of good info on the cooling systems for these cars (including the lower temp switches) here:

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I made these mods to 2 9000's of this vintage and they both had zero cooling problems afterwards.

Reply to
Fred W

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