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Saab 9-5 Oil sludge

I recently fell victim to the 'oil sludge' problem with my 9-5 engine -

124,000 kms. ( 4,000 kms out of a major service ) Had noticed a buzzing noise on cold starts and thought it was a sqeaky fan belt - later discovered this was the oil pump struggling to get oil from the sump. Then 2 weeks ago a vibration from the front, and later that day the oil light stayed on while starting and I knew it was major.

Diagnosis was a thrown timing belt ( had been replaced previously at

60K kms ) and a blocked oil pump. In the end, had to replace the engine block.

Have had my car dealer serviced at the correct intervals for all but one service when I went 3,000 kms over. SAAB(GM) knocked me back on compensation for the new engine because of this.

Motto: Don't believe the service intervals from the dealer - they should be halved for oil changes especially with city cars. Find a specialist SAAB mechanic who know the car.

Have to recommend the guys at SAAB Tech at Mona Vale ( Sydney ) for a great job. Much better service than the dealers and at half the price.

cheers, Peter

Reply to
gw.mail
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3000 km ? Where are you ? Hard to say from headers in your case. Ahh Ok - OZ - I got it now. It was Sydney that was the give-away.

What oil have you been using ?

I find it curious that European drivers of the same cars apparently don't suffer much.

Graham

Reply to
Pooh Bear

I was surprised when I got a letter from Saab USA adding a sludge damage warranty up to 200,000 miles with NO !!! NO time limit.

But the letter did stress frequent oil changes and I use Saab oil from the Saab dealer. It is very cheap insurance.

Malcolm

Reply to
Malcolm William Mason

How often do you change it ?

Graham

Reply to
Pooh Bear

Every 15,000 kms according to the recommended service schedule - which is approx 9 months for me.

Reply to
Peter Oates

Previously I hadn't taken much notice when serviced at the dealer - I think it was Castrol Magnatec. The independent guys who replaced my engine recommend Elf or Motul for SAAB turbo engines.

Reply to
Peter Oates

I don't get it, something does not smell right. If you threw the timing belt, then that means you have the V6 engine, which is not known to have the sludge problem, AFAIK. If you do have the 2.3L 4 cylinder engine, which has been suffering the oil sludge problem, then you have a timing chain, not a belt.

I'd fight it. One oil change 3,000 k past due would not have caused this problem on a properly designed engine. They are just looking for reasons to avoid paying-out on warranty issues that are obviously their responsibility.

Funny, but that has always been the case (reduced change intervals for frequent short trips). I don't see how having a service interval reminder on the dashboard would negate that.

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

Motul oil is very good.

Reply to
Sleeker GT Phwoar

"Peter Oates" skrev i en meddelelse news:42c64e23$0$10101$ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au...

Sounds to as if you're driving a lot of short trips. I would deffinately go down to 10,000 km and/or six month intervals!!

Reply to
Henrik B.

skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

A thrown timingbelt? Sounds to that you're driving a Saab V6, as Saab's own I4-engine uses timing-chains...

Reply to
Henrik B.

"Malcolm William Mason" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Buy some Mobil1 0W-40 instead. It's cheaper than the Saab "original" turbo-oil, but it's the same thing. Mobil1 0W-40 is also Saab factory-fill.

Reply to
Henrik B.

"Peter Oates" skrev i en meddelelse news:42c655f5$0$9733$ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au...

Millions and millions of miles of Saabs in Denmark and Sweden, show that Mobil1 fully-synth is a darn good oil, for the Saab turbo-engines. Besides that, it is factory-fill on all new Saabs.

Reply to
Henrik B.

Will Saab accept this as equal?

Malcolm

Reply to
Malcolm William Mason

This is not my reply to the above post by me. I am in the USA and change every 5000 mi. (about 8000 km.). Mostly city so I may increase to 4000 mi. (about 6400 km.).

Malcolm

Reply to
Malcolm William Mason

"Malcolm William Mason" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Yes they will.

Reply to
Henrik B.

Yes - you're right the 4 cylinder uses a timing chain (not a belt). It was the guide on the chain that snapped. This may or may not be related to the oil problem. The previous repair at 60K kms was for a leaking timing case ( also unrelated ).

Reply to
Peter Oates

Thank you,

Malcolm

Reply to
Malcolm William Mason

Generally, you only have guide problems after the car has had some serious overheating or the oil has been neglected for a *very* long time. If neither of these possibilities have occured in your car's past then you just had some random bad luck.

-Fred W

Reply to
Malt_Hound

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