Damn you, UKSaabs classifieds!! 99t buys another £350 Saab!!
Discussion
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!!
My MOT is looming on mine mid October and I already known it needs a new exhaust flexi (£80 from pfs) and I’ve got a load of bushes the replace as well as a cv boot and lower ball joint, etc.
Rear arches are also rusty, not an mot issue but it narks me.
It’s so difficult not to tinker, I find it rewarding but it does rob me of evenifs and weekends in a way a lease car never did
Rear arches are also rusty, not an mot issue but it narks me.
It’s so difficult not to tinker, I find it rewarding but it does rob me of evenifs and weekends in a way a lease car never did
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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