Saab 900 T16S "The Exxon Valdez"
Discussion
Seeing as how my 99 turbo is unlikely to see the road any time soon, I was feeling the need for something Saab in my life again. Allow me to introduce my new purchase to you, purchased from the UK Saabs classifieds having been owned by two or three members over there previously.
The naming comes from the humungous oil leak (made clear in the advert BTW, not unexpectd) that pretty much emptied the gearbox during the 135 mile trip home from Lincoln, a journey that was otherwise uneventful, enjoyable and very comfortable in the superb 9000 Aero seats that have been retro fitted.
First impressions are that this is a very straight, clean car with a strong engine that drives very well despite having done over 220k miles.
The oil leak is obviously priority one, after that the exhaust needs some attention and from the drive home I suspect that the replacement of a couple of ball joints and maybe the rear torque arm bushes wouldn't go amiss..
Pics of the old girl as she arrived home.
For SOTW money, I'm pretty happy so far
The naming comes from the humungous oil leak (made clear in the advert BTW, not unexpectd) that pretty much emptied the gearbox during the 135 mile trip home from Lincoln, a journey that was otherwise uneventful, enjoyable and very comfortable in the superb 9000 Aero seats that have been retro fitted.
First impressions are that this is a very straight, clean car with a strong engine that drives very well despite having done over 220k miles.
The oil leak is obviously priority one, after that the exhaust needs some attention and from the drive home I suspect that the replacement of a couple of ball joints and maybe the rear torque arm bushes wouldn't go amiss..
Pics of the old girl as she arrived home.
For SOTW money, I'm pretty happy so far
Cheers all for the kind comments
Clutch shaft oil seal is on order, will update when I try to fit it - apparently they are a bit of a bugger!!
kwak said:
I love it! Didn't know the 9000 aero seats fitted without compromising space too much either, nice to know.
They're fine for front seat passengers, but of course coming from a 4-door 9000, they don't tilt for access to the rear. The electrics are all hooked up though so it should be possible to set up one of the memory settings as fully forward with the back fully upright...Clutch shaft oil seal is on order, will update when I try to fit it - apparently they are a bit of a bugger!!
iva cosworth said:
Shouldn't be too difficult.
Remove clutch,lever out seal,tap in a new one.
Remove clutch,lever out seal,tap in a new one.
In essence, yes, doddle, how hard can it be...Slightly concerned that the PO has already replaced the seal once without curing the problem, however upon removing the clutch I found one of the slave cylinder bolts to be missing.
I'm not sure if the slave bolt holes go all the way through the chain casing? Could it be as simple as the missing bolt being the cause of the leak?
lovely looking motor you have there, the 16" Aeros really suit them. I realy miss my 900T16S's..gotta have another soon and scratch that itch. They look so cool, I love watching them in motion. If I see one on the motorway I always adjust myself to the cars speed and just look at it for a while..Corrado VR6s and Saab Classic T16s, without them in my life I would be so much financialy richer
If oil leak was that bad, you should not have driven it on the road IMO. You could inadvertently have a biker off when it rains tomorrow!
If you don't want to pay for it to be towed, at least get some AA cover or equivalent that allows you cover for any car you are in, then drive it off the guys drive and call them.
Of course it may not be that bad and you may be embellishing a bit dornartsitic effect, but driving a car with a known serious oil leak is out of order in my book.
It's slippery stuff and our two wheeled friends ( motorised and not) have one more slick to deal with now, a 135 mile long one!
Car looks nice though.
If you don't want to pay for it to be towed, at least get some AA cover or equivalent that allows you cover for any car you are in, then drive it off the guys drive and call them.
Of course it may not be that bad and you may be embellishing a bit dornartsitic effect, but driving a car with a known serious oil leak is out of order in my book.
It's slippery stuff and our two wheeled friends ( motorised and not) have one more slick to deal with now, a 135 mile long one!
Car looks nice though.
99t said:
Seeing as how my 99 turbo is unlikely to see the road any time soon, I was feeling the need for something Saab in my life again. Allow me to introduce my new purchase to you, purchased from the UK Saabs classifieds having been owned by two or three members over there previously.
The naming comes from the humungous oil leak (made clear in the advert BTW, not unexpectd) that pretty much emptied the gearbox during the 135 mile trip home from Lincoln, a journey that was otherwise uneventful, enjoyable and very comfortable in the superb 9000 Aero seats that have been retro fitted.
First impressions are that this is a very straight, clean car with a strong engine that drives very well despite having done over 220k miles.
The oil leak is obviously priority one, after that the exhaust needs some attention and from the drive home I suspect that the replacement of a couple of ball joints and maybe the rear torque arm bushes wouldn't go amiss..
Pics of the old girl as she arrived home.
Lovely car....
For SOTW money, I'm pretty happy so far
The naming comes from the humungous oil leak (made clear in the advert BTW, not unexpectd) that pretty much emptied the gearbox during the 135 mile trip home from Lincoln, a journey that was otherwise uneventful, enjoyable and very comfortable in the superb 9000 Aero seats that have been retro fitted.
First impressions are that this is a very straight, clean car with a strong engine that drives very well despite having done over 220k miles.
The oil leak is obviously priority one, after that the exhaust needs some attention and from the drive home I suspect that the replacement of a couple of ball joints and maybe the rear torque arm bushes wouldn't go amiss..
Pics of the old girl as she arrived home.
Lovely car....
For SOTW money, I'm pretty happy so far
s3fella said:
If oil leak was that bad, you should not have driven it on the road IMO. You could inadvertently have a biker off when it rains tomorrow!
If you don't want to pay for it to be towed, at least get some AA cover or equivalent that allows you cover for any car you are in, then drive it off the guys drive and call them.
Of course it may not be that bad and you may be embellishing a bit dornartsitic effect, but driving a car with a known serious oil leak is out of order in my book.
It's slippery stuff and our two wheeled friends ( motorised and not) have one more slick to deal with now, a 135 mile long one!
I agree, driving a vehicle with any sort of known fluid leak isn't ideal.If you don't want to pay for it to be towed, at least get some AA cover or equivalent that allows you cover for any car you are in, then drive it off the guys drive and call them.
Of course it may not be that bad and you may be embellishing a bit dornartsitic effect, but driving a car with a known serious oil leak is out of order in my book.
It's slippery stuff and our two wheeled friends ( motorised and not) have one more slick to deal with now, a 135 mile long one!
My understanding upon purchasing the vehicle was that there was indeed a leak which required attention, but that the previous owner had been using the vehicle in that condition for several months, only needing to top the gearbox up once during that period and again just before collection to make sure I had no issues on the journey home. Clearly the leak is now worse than that degree of topping up would suggest.
The missing bolt from the clutch slave may be a factor in that, since at least one (web) source suggests that slightly loose bolts can weep, so it would seem logical that an entirely missing one would piddle!
In naming the car as I have, obviously I am intentionally conjuring up images of a giant oil slick.
However, realistically, even to go from full to empty on the gearbox dipstick is about one litre of oil, which works out as about a teaspoon and a half per mile!!
And quite possibly half of that is still in the engine bay and coating the underside of the car anyway...
s3fella said:
Car looks nice though.
Cheers! GRRRR!!!! 
Spent last night thoroughly degreasing the clutch components, gearbox and engine bay from the oil spillage (and spray from the flywheel). Luckily the pressure plate appears to have avoided any contamination although how, I'm not really sure...
Clutch and slave are both new so refitted everything carefully, pressure bled the clutch and went to test it - no pedal pressure. Pumped a few times, nothing.
Went back to look, slave cylinder peeing fluid out everywhere - including this time into the pressure plate by the looks of it. Not a happy bunny, closed the bonnet and went off to kick the cat!!
Spent last night thoroughly degreasing the clutch components, gearbox and engine bay from the oil spillage (and spray from the flywheel). Luckily the pressure plate appears to have avoided any contamination although how, I'm not really sure...
Clutch and slave are both new so refitted everything carefully, pressure bled the clutch and went to test it - no pedal pressure. Pumped a few times, nothing.
Went back to look, slave cylinder peeing fluid out everywhere - including this time into the pressure plate by the looks of it. Not a happy bunny, closed the bonnet and went off to kick the cat!!
99t said:
GRRRR!!!!
Spent last night thoroughly degreasing the clutch components, gearbox and engine bay from the oil spillage (and spray from the flywheel). Luckily the pressure plate appears to have avoided any contamination although how, I'm not really sure...
Clutch and slave are both new so refitted everything carefully, pressure bled the clutch and went to test it - no pedal pressure. Pumped a few times, nothing.
Went back to look, slave cylinder peeing fluid out everywhere - including this time into the pressure plate by the looks of it. Not a happy bunny, closed the bonnet and went off to kick the cat!!
Bad luck.Spent last night thoroughly degreasing the clutch components, gearbox and engine bay from the oil spillage (and spray from the flywheel). Luckily the pressure plate appears to have avoided any contamination although how, I'm not really sure...
Clutch and slave are both new so refitted everything carefully, pressure bled the clutch and went to test it - no pedal pressure. Pumped a few times, nothing.
Went back to look, slave cylinder peeing fluid out everywhere - including this time into the pressure plate by the looks of it. Not a happy bunny, closed the bonnet and went off to kick the cat!!
Just looking at the photographs above should make you feel better though. Beautiful car. My first car was a C900 and it was great until the almost inevitable gearbox failure.
99t said:
iva cosworth said:
Shouldn't be too difficult.
Remove clutch,lever out seal,tap in a new one.
Remove clutch,lever out seal,tap in a new one.
In essence, yes, doddle, how hard can it be...Slightly concerned that the PO has already replaced the seal once without curing the problem, however upon removing the clutch I found one of the slave cylinder bolts to be missing.
I'm not sure if the slave bolt holes go all the way through the chain casing? Could it be as simple as the missing bolt being the cause of the leak?
to casing.I THINK they did,so missing bolt would cause a leak.
iva cosworth said:
I stripped down plenty of these boxes BITD but can't remember if bolts go right through
to casing.I THINK they did,so missing bolt would cause a leak.
Yes, they do go right through, and on that basis I had elected not to replace the (already new) seal again, just visually inspected it, ran a fingertip around the inside etc. Looks and feels fine.to casing.I THINK they did,so missing bolt would cause a leak.
However! I'm starting to think this car hates me!
Began stripping it back down again last night and the second bolt holding the pressure plate to the flywheel snapped clean off at the head! I didn't overtighten them - honest! Probably not the end of the world, just an added nuisance. Closed the bonnet and went off to kick the cat, again!!
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