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addey said:
That makes interesting reading. I'm on my 2nd aero estate, and in the 8 months / 10k miles I've owned it have got through 10+ litres of oil.
The turbo has been out and refurbished but that didn't solve the oil usage and smoking. Its just been back to my local saab specialist this week and they have diagnosed piston rings and possible scoring of the crankshaft - so basically similar to your experiences. Similar quote of £1300+VAT to sort so I'm probably going to continue with topping up the oil! Good to know that the work sorted yours though, my guy is concerned that he'll do the work and it won't solve the issue...
They will have to strip the bottom end of the engine to do the piston rings. With crank shaft shells only a couple of quid each, only a fool would put it back together without replacing them. It might need a crankshaft regrind - ask him to take photos of the scoring, if there is any, for your interest. Of my £500 plus of parts, the head gasket kit, head skim, valve re-lapping, and timing kit were a 2/3rds of the bill. The piston rings, sump gasket and crank shells were only a small proportion, so your £1300 quote sounds about right. By the way, my guy did the entire job without removing the engine from the car. The turbo has been out and refurbished but that didn't solve the oil usage and smoking. Its just been back to my local saab specialist this week and they have diagnosed piston rings and possible scoring of the crankshaft - so basically similar to your experiences. Similar quote of £1300+VAT to sort so I'm probably going to continue with topping up the oil! Good to know that the work sorted yours though, my guy is concerned that he'll do the work and it won't solve the issue...
I am only selling it now because my daughter can no longer drive her Volvo XC90 due to disability, so is in a Motability car. Her Volvo has two irritating faults which cannot be cleared off the dashboard and thus make it effectively impossible to sell - so i have taken over that car as my daily driver.
A few years ago I had a 2.3 T SE. When it got to 150,000 miles it started to smoke on start-up. To avoid having clouds of embarrassing smoke outside clients' offices at 5.30 pm, I found that I could stop it happening by using absolutely the best quality, thick (so 0W-30), fully synthetic oil - definitely not the cheap stuff. However, the problem with that car was worn valve guides/seals, not piston rings.
Here is my recently acquired 9-5 (2005 model). 
Having spent a fortune modifying a Saab 9000 some years ago, I decided to seek one where the modifications I wanted had been done. And I love it.
Noobtune Stage 3 map, Abbott 3 inch downpipe and exhaust, Maptun calipers and discs, Bilstein shocks and springs, and 18 inch alloys.
Having spent a fortune modifying a Saab 9000 some years ago, I decided to seek one where the modifications I wanted had been done. And I love it.
Noobtune Stage 3 map, Abbott 3 inch downpipe and exhaust, Maptun calipers and discs, Bilstein shocks and springs, and 18 inch alloys.
Here's my saab 9-5 aero manual. Spent the weeks after buying it replacing all the worn out suspension bushes with either new oem or powerflex bolybushes (basically if there was a polybush available I fitted it)
Engine mounts all new and it has a 3" stainless downpipe (200 cell sports cat built in) mated to a refurbished stock cat back exhaust.
I've done all the usual bits you need to do to a 9-5 (sump drop, check the chains, new pcv etc etc) and I'll be sending the ecu away for a stage 3 remap with Mr. Noob in the new year.
really pleased with it, it's fast, comfy, handles fairly well and the boot is bigger than my old 9-3 estate!
BlimeyCharlie said:
Not my car, but my mate's 2000 or 2001 Aero. He runs Hammerhead alloys in the winter and these deep dish wheels in the summer. I've never seen an original 95 HOT Aero in bright red. I think it is Laser Red.
after this happened to it......long story........
Before the 9-3 there was my much loved Abbott'd 9000 Aero - should never have sold that car!
and before that another 9000,
and before that a c900i vert.....
and before that another 9000
Have to say that there isn't much love for the 9-5 - I really want to get rid and get another 9000! Anyone up for swap??
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/JbMvhsc4.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/SsKyy91M" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/SsKyy91M.jpg)
Thanks, but I shall hold out for a 9000 for a while yet, though suspect I may have to go back to a 9-5 if one doesn't crop up. I had a 9-5 saloon after a H-plate 9000 many years ago, but have since had another four 9000s so know which I prefer. Typically, there'd been quite a nice 9000 Aero for sale for a few months up in Scotland, but when I phoned him in the afternoon after my crash last week he'd taken a deposit on it that day! Grrr!
I took it to a Saab specialist for a service.
Phone call, "has the sump been dropped and cleaned out recently." Me, "no idea, only bought it three months ago". Him, "we'd better do it then". Me, "ok"
Collected car that evening. Bill over £600, of which £260 was the sump job.
Paid the bill, hands me the keys "by the way, we think you might have a head gasket problem, there's signs of it in the coolant tank".
b
d.
I took it to my TVR specialist for an opinion I could trust. He inspected it thoroughly.
Him "definitely head gasket gone. bds. They did the sump and changed the oil, knowing it would all have to come apart again. How much oil is it using?" Me, "about 1.5 litres per 1000 miles - I am told it is the turbo failing". Him " nothing wrong with the turbo, I think the piston rings are worn out. They should have known that."
So he found the head gasket failure and replaced it with the entire kit. Replaced the piston rings and honed the bores, did the crankshaft shells while he was in there anyway, and replaced the entire timing chain kit which was as loose as a tart's knickers. New plugs, new oil, new coolant.
Gotbtge car back, and I discovered that the car has real performance now. Uses a teaspoon of oil per 1000 miles (1/4 litre per 18,000 miles). Shame is I need to sell it, because my daughter's XC90 has too many faults to sell, even though none of them stop it bring driven. She is disabled and can no longer get into the car. Such is life. Done 20,000 miles in the Volvo. Now that is going wrong. Perhaps I had better keep the Saab after all.
My fault for buying old Swedish cars.
Strange thing is my wife's 1999 2.3 SE 9-5 keeps going, No issues apart from an occasional aircon regas. So they aren't all bad.
.
Phone call, "has the sump been dropped and cleaned out recently." Me, "no idea, only bought it three months ago". Him, "we'd better do it then". Me, "ok"
Collected car that evening. Bill over £600, of which £260 was the sump job.
Paid the bill, hands me the keys "by the way, we think you might have a head gasket problem, there's signs of it in the coolant tank".
b
d.I took it to my TVR specialist for an opinion I could trust. He inspected it thoroughly.
Him "definitely head gasket gone. b
ds. They did the sump and changed the oil, knowing it would all have to come apart again. How much oil is it using?" Me, "about 1.5 litres per 1000 miles - I am told it is the turbo failing". Him " nothing wrong with the turbo, I think the piston rings are worn out. They should have known that."So he found the head gasket failure and replaced it with the entire kit. Replaced the piston rings and honed the bores, did the crankshaft shells while he was in there anyway, and replaced the entire timing chain kit which was as loose as a tart's knickers. New plugs, new oil, new coolant.
Gotbtge car back, and I discovered that the car has real performance now. Uses a teaspoon of oil per 1000 miles (1/4 litre per 18,000 miles). Shame is I need to sell it, because my daughter's XC90 has too many faults to sell, even though none of them stop it bring driven. She is disabled and can no longer get into the car. Such is life. Done 20,000 miles in the Volvo. Now that is going wrong. Perhaps I had better keep the Saab after all.
My fault for buying old Swedish cars.
Strange thing is my wife's 1999 2.3 SE 9-5 keeps going, No issues apart from an occasional aircon regas. So they aren't all bad.
.
Man, this thread makes me sad.
I owned several Saabs back in the nineties. A 2-door 900 turbo, a 9000 turbo (which I bought when it had 192000 miles on the clock), a 9000 non turbo, another 900 (3-door non-turbo). But the one I miss most was my 900 T16S that looked exactly like this:
It was my dream car (probably still is...) and I owned it for less than a month before it was stolen. I never saw it again.
I owned several Saabs back in the nineties. A 2-door 900 turbo, a 9000 turbo (which I bought when it had 192000 miles on the clock), a 9000 non turbo, another 900 (3-door non-turbo). But the one I miss most was my 900 T16S that looked exactly like this:
It was my dream car (probably still is...) and I owned it for less than a month before it was stolen. I never saw it again.
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