Damn you, UKSaabs classifieds!! 99t buys another £350 Saab!!
Discussion
Came home from a couple of days away (took the train, disappointed no Spandau Ballet background music, bloody awful seats, did not enjoy) to find the wheel pictured above to be somewhat flat. Only at the bottom mind, but still!! 
A quick dunk in the bath showed the value stem to be leaking, so a quick word in the refurbist's shell-like and hopefully it is now sorted...
Next jobs on the hit-list were replacing the thermostat and coolant, finding and fixing the coolant weep in the vicinity of the 'stat and then changing the oil and filter.
The weep was traced to a slightly weak spring clip on the 'stat outlet, so replaced with a more manly Jubilee clip. Ran up to temp and all appears dry.
Whilst working under the bonnet, I also spotted one of the Lambda wires resting on and merrily rubbing itself away against the cat!
Fortunately only the outer heat shield was damaged so re-routed and cable tied it away from danger! A future error code avoided hopefully.
The old girl is taxed and insured from 1st April so have to wait until then to find out if my efforts have yielded any improvement...
A quick dunk in the bath showed the value stem to be leaking, so a quick word in the refurbist's shell-like and hopefully it is now sorted...
Next jobs on the hit-list were replacing the thermostat and coolant, finding and fixing the coolant weep in the vicinity of the 'stat and then changing the oil and filter.
The weep was traced to a slightly weak spring clip on the 'stat outlet, so replaced with a more manly Jubilee clip. Ran up to temp and all appears dry.
Whilst working under the bonnet, I also spotted one of the Lambda wires resting on and merrily rubbing itself away against the cat!
Fortunately only the outer heat shield was damaged so re-routed and cable tied it away from danger! A future error code avoided hopefully.
The old girl is taxed and insured from 1st April so have to wait until then to find out if my efforts have yielded any improvement...
A couple of weeks commuting done now and all seems well with the work done. The front end feels miles tighter although it does now show up the wear in the rear which is still on the to-do list!
I did have to top up the coolant after a couple of days, only about 300ml, and the level hasn't moved since so I assume it just burped a bit of air out after the coolant was replaced.
Only other niggle is that one of the rear tyres is losing air at a fair rate so that needs to be investigated, but the rim looks pretty grotty so I'm guessing bead corrosion to be the issue. The tyres have plenty of life left so I'll see if the local garage can get it to seal any better...
I did have to top up the coolant after a couple of days, only about 300ml, and the level hasn't moved since so I assume it just burped a bit of air out after the coolant was replaced.
Only other niggle is that one of the rear tyres is losing air at a fair rate so that needs to be investigated, but the rim looks pretty grotty so I'm guessing bead corrosion to be the issue. The tyres have plenty of life left so I'll see if the local garage can get it to seal any better...
A smidge of excitement on the way to work this morning.
A light touch of the brakes brought up a warning chime combined with the TCS, ABS, brake warning and warning triangle lights all doing their thing. That little lot combined almost woke me up!
They all went out as quickly as they lit although the cruise control was inop. for the rest of the journey, although it appears to be back now after a "reboot".
Cracked reluctor rings are pretty common so probably one of those on the way out or maybe a wheel speed sensor. See how long it takes to recur...
A light touch of the brakes brought up a warning chime combined with the TCS, ABS, brake warning and warning triangle lights all doing their thing. That little lot combined almost woke me up!
They all went out as quickly as they lit although the cruise control was inop. for the rest of the journey, although it appears to be back now after a "reboot".
Cracked reluctor rings are pretty common so probably one of those on the way out or maybe a wheel speed sensor. See how long it takes to recur...
Struggled to find time to diagnose further during the last week, during that time the warning lights have come on increasingly often and for increasing durations.
Then tonight they were accompanied by a complete lack of speedo and a check engine light!
That at least gave me a code to check - P1625 which is a bus communication error, lack of speed signal from abs unit.
Then used Tech II to graph the wheel speed sensors whilst driving and they all appear consistently present and correct (and read the same speed) whilst the error came and went and the speedo dropped out and returned.
Seems likely the abs electronic unit needs a trip to BBA Reman then, although I'll check the connectors for corrosion when I remove it as that isn't unheard of and make sure there is no obvious wiring damage...
Then tonight they were accompanied by a complete lack of speedo and a check engine light!
That at least gave me a code to check - P1625 which is a bus communication error, lack of speed signal from abs unit.
Then used Tech II to graph the wheel speed sensors whilst driving and they all appear consistently present and correct (and read the same speed) whilst the error came and went and the speedo dropped out and returned.
Seems likely the abs electronic unit needs a trip to BBA Reman then, although I'll check the connectors for corrosion when I remove it as that isn't unheard of and make sure there is no obvious wiring damage...
Went to remove the battery for access and found this
Thought I might have solved it but unfortunately the lead is still tight as anything on the terminal, absolutely wouldn't move or wiggle loose. Not ideal obviously so will replace, but don't think it is the issue here.
Cleaned up three earth points, one of which had slight corrosion although it tested ok on the multimeter. Removed the ABS unit connectors looking for damage or corrosion but all looked like new.
Finally split the main harness joint on the bulkhead looking for corrosion. Dry as a bone, no corrosion but quite dusty internally. Blew it out thoroughly with compressed air and reconnected it.
Battery back on, re-ran Tech II diagnostics on the main instrument panel - doing this yesterday produced a chime and a bus error pretty much every time. Ran it three times and no warning.
Went for a short drive, waiting for the "bing bong" and light show - didn't happen.
Will see how it goes for a bit then. Not convinced I've fixed anything just yet...
Thought I might have solved it but unfortunately the lead is still tight as anything on the terminal, absolutely wouldn't move or wiggle loose. Not ideal obviously so will replace, but don't think it is the issue here.
Cleaned up three earth points, one of which had slight corrosion although it tested ok on the multimeter. Removed the ABS unit connectors looking for damage or corrosion but all looked like new.
Finally split the main harness joint on the bulkhead looking for corrosion. Dry as a bone, no corrosion but quite dusty internally. Blew it out thoroughly with compressed air and reconnected it.
Battery back on, re-ran Tech II diagnostics on the main instrument panel - doing this yesterday produced a chime and a bus error pretty much every time. Ran it three times and no warning.
Went for a short drive, waiting for the "bing bong" and light show - didn't happen.
Will see how it goes for a bit then. Not convinced I've fixed anything just yet...
I said:
Not convinced I've fixed anything just yet...
...and I was correct to think that, next drive, a full house of dash lights and the error code.Removed the ABS controller, which wasn't a bad job - battery and battery tray out, move a coolant hose without disconnecting it, two connectors and six torx screws.
The controller...
...and the gubbins left behind
Sent the electronic bit off to ECU Testing based on a recommendation on another forum. They kept me well informed of progress, confirmed it was faulty, repaired and returned it in two working days (four days total including time in the post).
Refitted and all seems well, subject to a longer test drive!
Amused by the above exchange! 
That said, I don't see cars pop up on there that cheaply very often, unless described as being on their last legs. So whilst the bargains are out there, I wouldn't say they are an every day event!
BlameItOnGT2 said:
Not on UKSaabs but how often do great bargains like this come up?
Well I've had two £350 Saabs from the classifieds on there and both turned out to be far better cars than the price would suggest.That said, I don't see cars pop up on there that cheaply very often, unless described as being on their last legs. So whilst the bargains are out there, I wouldn't say they are an every day event!
stewjohnst said:
BlameItOnGT2 said:
I wish I had some cash to splash on a shed.
You do know the idea isn’t supposed to be to ‘splash cash’ on a shed...they just end up getting under your skin 
Honestly I don't think I could do bangernomics, I have too much mechanical sympathy to drive around ignoring nasty noises and waiting for something to go bang!
stewjohnst said:
Which reminds me - 99t if you like the oem look for your stereo but would like to connect an iPod, etc. there is a hack you can do by hijacking the telephone in line and fitting a 3.5mm jack.
You just need the right part/cable (I have one spare you can have for free) and a little time on your hands to take a dash side panel off and plug it into the amplifier gubbins - it’s a standard SAAB part.
It isn’t brilliant and plays mini but it beats swapping in a new head unit from a looks perspective.
It’s similar to this but allows you to use the cable to play the feed down the ‘phone audio’ instead of faffing soldering the circuit boards.
One for a rainy day, il Larry to dig out the pdf full instructions if you want it.
http://saabworld.net/showthread.php?t=28000
Cheers for that, although since I've just sold my newest and bestest car (Z4) which needed no work whatsoever and bought another old American heap that will need plenty, I don't think I'll have any time on my hands ever again!! You just need the right part/cable (I have one spare you can have for free) and a little time on your hands to take a dash side panel off and plug it into the amplifier gubbins - it’s a standard SAAB part.
It isn’t brilliant and plays mini but it beats swapping in a new head unit from a looks perspective.
It’s similar to this but allows you to use the cable to play the feed down the ‘phone audio’ instead of faffing soldering the circuit boards.
One for a rainy day, il Larry to dig out the pdf full instructions if you want it.
http://saabworld.net/showthread.php?t=28000
One month on and no recurrence of the ABS warning lights so I'll call that fixed
As a reward, I treated the old bus to a replacement rear bumper in the correct colour as the old one had an ugly cut out for a non-existent tow bar, a deep dent and numerous scuffs and scratches down to the plastic
I'd like to say getting the old bumper off was easy, but that would be a lie.
Nowhere seemed to mention just what an utter b
d the four nuts located inside the rear end of the chassis rails would be to get at! It was bloody hot too so much sweating and swearing ensued.
Ended up deploying a long extension with a flex joint and a long socket to access them, combined with a piece of string tied around the socket to allow it to be manoeuvred onto the nut as finger access was an absolute no-no.
Finally
My mood was improved when I saw that, once again, the old girl is remarkably clean in her hidden places!
Reassembly was slightly less of a pain and the end result a small improvement in tidying up the rear end.
However, the tidy bumper just makes the dent in the tailgate look even more noticeable, so I will have to spend some money getting that done soon.
Plus a new number-plate and perhaps a less weedy looking tailpipe!! One step at a time though!
As a reward, I treated the old bus to a replacement rear bumper in the correct colour as the old one had an ugly cut out for a non-existent tow bar, a deep dent and numerous scuffs and scratches down to the plastic
I'd like to say getting the old bumper off was easy, but that would be a lie.
Nowhere seemed to mention just what an utter b
d the four nuts located inside the rear end of the chassis rails would be to get at! It was bloody hot too so much sweating and swearing ensued.Ended up deploying a long extension with a flex joint and a long socket to access them, combined with a piece of string tied around the socket to allow it to be manoeuvred onto the nut as finger access was an absolute no-no.
Finally
My mood was improved when I saw that, once again, the old girl is remarkably clean in her hidden places!
Reassembly was slightly less of a pain and the end result a small improvement in tidying up the rear end.
However, the tidy bumper just makes the dent in the tailgate look even more noticeable, so I will have to spend some money getting that done soon.
Plus a new number-plate and perhaps a less weedy looking tailpipe!! One step at a time though!
Two hundred and forty mile round trip yesterday, Preston to a bit south of Birmingham.
Steady cruise all the way as it was on work time(!) plus plenty of 50mph sections of course.
Brimmed the tank before joining the M6 and again upon my return.
Computer reckoned 41.8mpg for the round trip, I calculated 41.2mpg
Not bad at all for a big thirsty bus with an old school auto.
Of course my Octavia VRS used to average over 48mpg on the same trip and driven in much the same way, with a manual box and 500cc less. Worth the extra fuel spend in my opinion to arrive home without backache!
Steady cruise all the way as it was on work time(!) plus plenty of 50mph sections of course.
Brimmed the tank before joining the M6 and again upon my return.
Computer reckoned 41.8mpg for the round trip, I calculated 41.2mpg
Not bad at all for a big thirsty bus with an old school auto.
Of course my Octavia VRS used to average over 48mpg on the same trip and driven in much the same way, with a manual box and 500cc less. Worth the extra fuel spend in my opinion to arrive home without backache!
A year and a day since I picked the Saab up, all currently working well
The only failure during the year was the ABS controller which was rebuilt at sensible cost.
Two tyres and associated wheel refurbs, two lower arms, two drop links, the gearbox torque rod and gearbox mount were the only other costs as part of planned maintenance, along with a thermostat, oil, filter and coolant.
That little lot came to a smidgen over £700 (or double the purchase price!)
However having covered 6,000 comfortable and effortless miles (and assuming zero depreciation), then just under 12p per mile (excluding fuel, RFL etc) doesn't feel too bad and may well drop to under 10p before the next round of scheduled maintenance come the winter when I will rebuild the rear suspension as necessary...
The only failure during the year was the ABS controller which was rebuilt at sensible cost.
Two tyres and associated wheel refurbs, two lower arms, two drop links, the gearbox torque rod and gearbox mount were the only other costs as part of planned maintenance, along with a thermostat, oil, filter and coolant.
That little lot came to a smidgen over £700 (or double the purchase price!)
However having covered 6,000 comfortable and effortless miles (and assuming zero depreciation), then just under 12p per mile (excluding fuel, RFL etc) doesn't feel too bad and may well drop to under 10p before the next round of scheduled maintenance come the winter when I will rebuild the rear suspension as necessary...
Commuting this morning, some sort of strange fluffy rope caught on the rear wiper and started flapping against the rear screen.
Assumed it was a bit of rubbish blowing around in the gales that had got caught there, and since it disappeared soon after I thought little more of it.
Until I got to work and realised that the exhaust pipe had grown a 15 foot raccoon tail of fibreglass rope that was obviously trying to escape from the back box!!
I must have been dragging it behind me for the majority of my commute, I did wonder at one point why nobody was tailgating as much as usual this morning!!
Pulled it free (plus about another ten feet from within the exhaust). Not sounding or running any differently, so will see how it goes.
Planning on taking the 9-5 off the road when the MOT is due next month to refresh the rear suspension and do a few other little bits and bobs, may have to add an exhaust to the to-do list!!
Assumed it was a bit of rubbish blowing around in the gales that had got caught there, and since it disappeared soon after I thought little more of it.
Until I got to work and realised that the exhaust pipe had grown a 15 foot raccoon tail of fibreglass rope that was obviously trying to escape from the back box!!
I must have been dragging it behind me for the majority of my commute, I did wonder at one point why nobody was tailgating as much as usual this morning!!
Pulled it free (plus about another ten feet from within the exhaust). Not sounding or running any differently, so will see how it goes.
Planning on taking the 9-5 off the road when the MOT is due next month to refresh the rear suspension and do a few other little bits and bobs, may have to add an exhaust to the to-do list!!
Quick update, the cheap old Saab has continued to perform daily duties beautifully despite the recent exhaust wadding incident!
That said, the rear suspension is feeling increasingly tired as the mileage rapidly approaches 180k, and it surprised me the other night by flashing up a "check coolant" message for the first time, which indeed proved to be slightly low. A quick scan of the engine bay revealed a weeping seam on one of the radiator end tanks so I've added that to the to-do list.
My insurance is due 1st November, so as per last year, that is the ideal time to SORN the Saab for the various works, and go back to the Octavia for winter commuting duties - assuming of course that it still runs after being stood untouched in a field since March.
To that end, I re-connected the battery on the Skoda and turned the key - it would have started first time too, had I just held the key at "start" for a fraction longer. Fired up and ran second time like I had only just driven it!!
The brakes were another matter, they were due for renewal prior to being laid up and one rear caliper was sticking. By now they were, of course, utterly rusted solid and it took a fair bit of clutch abuse to rock the car free, well semi-free as one rear wheel was dragged across the grass before reluctantly turning when it reached tarmac!
So one new caliper, new discs and pads all round, a flush of the brake fluid and a damn good clean up, and the Skoda should be ready for an MOT...
Not a Saab rear brake...
... and some of the nastyness that came off
That said, the rear suspension is feeling increasingly tired as the mileage rapidly approaches 180k, and it surprised me the other night by flashing up a "check coolant" message for the first time, which indeed proved to be slightly low. A quick scan of the engine bay revealed a weeping seam on one of the radiator end tanks so I've added that to the to-do list.
My insurance is due 1st November, so as per last year, that is the ideal time to SORN the Saab for the various works, and go back to the Octavia for winter commuting duties - assuming of course that it still runs after being stood untouched in a field since March.
To that end, I re-connected the battery on the Skoda and turned the key - it would have started first time too, had I just held the key at "start" for a fraction longer. Fired up and ran second time like I had only just driven it!!
The brakes were another matter, they were due for renewal prior to being laid up and one rear caliper was sticking. By now they were, of course, utterly rusted solid and it took a fair bit of clutch abuse to rock the car free, well semi-free as one rear wheel was dragged across the grass before reluctantly turning when it reached tarmac!
So one new caliper, new discs and pads all round, a flush of the brake fluid and a damn good clean up, and the Skoda should be ready for an MOT...
Not a Saab rear brake...
... and some of the nastyness that came off
BlameItOnGT2 said:
Not on UKSaabs but how often do great bargains like this come up?
Not very often. There is one on UKS now for the same asking price as mine, same year but a manual Don't know the car or the seller and it has a few issues, but it sounds like it comes with parts ready to fit that are worth the asking price, pretty much!!
Please note this is not a recommendation!! Please do your own DD if interested!!
Little bit of progress, I suspected December and January wouldn't see much work done on the old 9-5, and I was right!
The weather didn't really make crawling around particularly appealing
Yesterday wasn't bad here, so cracked on stripping the rear trailing arms. My cordless impact made short work of every single nut and bolt, so it soon looked like this both sides
I think I will probably stop there as the inner bushes holding the lateral arms all feel nice and tight when tugging on the arms, with no obvious play in any direction. Equally the subframe bushes look fine and a bit of levering didn't produce any real movement in the subframe.
Trailing arm bushes looked as expected, maybe not quite as bad as they could have been...
Some have reported the large bush literally falling out when removed from the car, my ones didn't give up without a fight
Two big bushes removed, four little ones to go...
To be continued...
The weather didn't really make crawling around particularly appealing
Yesterday wasn't bad here, so cracked on stripping the rear trailing arms. My cordless impact made short work of every single nut and bolt, so it soon looked like this both sides
I think I will probably stop there as the inner bushes holding the lateral arms all feel nice and tight when tugging on the arms, with no obvious play in any direction. Equally the subframe bushes look fine and a bit of levering didn't produce any real movement in the subframe.
Trailing arm bushes looked as expected, maybe not quite as bad as they could have been...
Some have reported the large bush literally falling out when removed from the car, my ones didn't give up without a fight
Two big bushes removed, four little ones to go...
To be continued...
JGTTDI said:
Just read through the whole thread. Great write up.
Nice to see you giving the car some love. Look forward to further updates.
Thanks Jonathan.
Thanks very much, most kind Nice to see you giving the car some love. Look forward to further updates.
Thanks Jonathan.
Cambs_Stuart said:
I think that's the first rust I've seen on this car...
Like any old Not to say my previous photos were in any way deceitful, this car is definitely a good one, but that does make it easier to flatter!!
Long overdue update on this - finally got round to fitting the new bushes and putting the old girl back together. Will need a decent 4-wheel alignment now to set the rear toe properly.
Reconnected the battery and she did exactly what a good old Saab does, started first time after the best part of eight months laid up outdoors over winter and ran perfectly
Put her in for an MOT and was rewarded with a pass with just two advisories, slight blow from front flexi pipe and rear tyres low on tread.
Unfortunately this pretty much marks the end of the road for my custodianship of the 9-5. Having had my head turned by an ST250 estate a couple of months back, I really can't justify keeping three nippy estates on the road - I've still got my Octavia vRS which is pretty much a station / tip car at this point and the 9-5 is too good inside to ruin using as an occasional van, so that'll be the one that moves on.
I'll probably run it as a daily for a week or two just to ensure there are no lurking issues from the recent lay up first...
Reconnected the battery and she did exactly what a good old Saab does, started first time after the best part of eight months laid up outdoors over winter and ran perfectly
Put her in for an MOT and was rewarded with a pass with just two advisories, slight blow from front flexi pipe and rear tyres low on tread.
Unfortunately this pretty much marks the end of the road for my custodianship of the 9-5. Having had my head turned by an ST250 estate a couple of months back, I really can't justify keeping three nippy estates on the road - I've still got my Octavia vRS which is pretty much a station / tip car at this point and the 9-5 is too good inside to ruin using as an occasional van, so that'll be the one that moves on.
I'll probably run it as a daily for a week or two just to ensure there are no lurking issues from the recent lay up first...
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