Kelvinators Boosted Moosewagon (Saab 93 Aero)
Discussion
I got bored, and when I get bored, I spend too much time on Trademe. Somehow I have ended up with yet another car from a defunct manufacturer.
I've been looking for another car for a while. Originally starting out wanting to buy something sub 2K, and only seeing rubbish, I slowly kept increasing the budget until I stopped wading in the ponds of sludge and finally seeing proper cars that weren't ruined.
The criteria started as either being something small, nippy and fun, or something that could haul some stuff around. After viewing a few cars, which involved interiors full of mould, swimming pools in footwells, clouds of oil smoke, and much cosmetic damage, I was starting to run out of ideas.
This car had been for sale for a bit, and I kinda discounted it originally because the photos were rubbish, and was it a car I really wanted? Well, turns out yes, it is a car I really wanted.
Its a 2006 Saab 93 Aero 2.8T in Chilli Red Metallic. Powered by a (Holden made) GM 2.8L V6 Turbo engine, driving the front wheels through a Japanese Aisin 6 Speed auto and built in Trollhättan, Sweden. This is the Aero model, so gets a spiffy bodykit, sports seats, sports suspension, and a better over all spec, featuring leather, auto climate control, parking sensors, and a sunroof. Oh, it also has some of the widest tyres I've had on a car, 235/45R17 all around.
The photos on the listing didn't inspire confidence. Nothing like photos of photos on a phone.
But it said the car had been regularly serviced, with new coils, plugs, bilsteins, air filter, mintex pads and rotors, and a trans service recently.
After reading up a bit about the car the day before viewing, I started to get excited about the car and couldn't wait to view it.
I viewed the car this morning, and after an extensive test drive and discussion with the owner, I had confidence the car had been looked after and that the condition was quite impressive for its age and mileage (179000km). The engine ran and responded well, the trans shifts smooth as silk, and it handled well. Interestingly, the seller neglected to mention on the listing the car has been flashed with a Maptun Stage 1 tune, which bumps the power from 250hp to 290hp.
I made an offer on the spot, which the seller accepted, and here we are. I now own a Saab 93. My first Saab. Yet another car from a company that no longer exists.
It's a pretty looking old bus, especially when the sun catches the flake in the paint.
The paint is in good shape, with only stone chipping on the front, and some clearcoat peeling on the front edge of the roof. Otherwise, it's very tidy. Headlights are starting to cloud, but I'll sort them when I do the Hondas.
The inside is also very good. Some wear and tear, but no rips and everything is there. There are soft touch surfaces, which aren't aging perfectly, but much better than other cars I've had it in, and the steering wheel has some wear under the cover (which will be removed, its gross to use).
The engine runs really well and pulls like a freight train. The wide tyres help keep it all in check, even if it is pushing all that power through the front wheels
It's an unusual setup, with a TD04-15T twin scroll turbo chilling out between the engine and battery. Each bank of the V6 engine powers one of the twin scrolls.
It's not all perfect though. Due to where the turbo lives, and how much heat there is in the engine bay, plastics and hoses don't last long. The coolant expansion tank lives on the firewall, directly above the turbo downpipe so gets cooked. The two hoses from it are showing their age and one is weeping. There is also an issue with the EVAP valve, which causes a hard start condition after filling the car with fuel (as I found out straight after picking the car up!). Thankfully these issues arent hard to sort, so will order some parts and see how we go.
On the road it's almost eerily quiet inside, with little road or wind noise. The exhaust makes nice noises when you step on it, but at cruise you can barely hear it. It could almost do with one less muffler, but unlikely I'd do that.
I bought this car as a nice weekend cruiser that I could use to head off with my Wife on the weekends over summer, instead of pushing too hard on the TVR once it's on the road. I don't intend to do much to the car, just the usual maintenance, some small changes (LED interior lights, BT for the headunit) and fixing a couple of the issues it has, such as the passengers front door intermittently not locking and unlocking with the central locking.
Should be some fun, surprising people at the lights when they get chopped by a Swedish wagon.
I've been looking for another car for a while. Originally starting out wanting to buy something sub 2K, and only seeing rubbish, I slowly kept increasing the budget until I stopped wading in the ponds of sludge and finally seeing proper cars that weren't ruined.
The criteria started as either being something small, nippy and fun, or something that could haul some stuff around. After viewing a few cars, which involved interiors full of mould, swimming pools in footwells, clouds of oil smoke, and much cosmetic damage, I was starting to run out of ideas.
This car had been for sale for a bit, and I kinda discounted it originally because the photos were rubbish, and was it a car I really wanted? Well, turns out yes, it is a car I really wanted.
Its a 2006 Saab 93 Aero 2.8T in Chilli Red Metallic. Powered by a (Holden made) GM 2.8L V6 Turbo engine, driving the front wheels through a Japanese Aisin 6 Speed auto and built in Trollhättan, Sweden. This is the Aero model, so gets a spiffy bodykit, sports seats, sports suspension, and a better over all spec, featuring leather, auto climate control, parking sensors, and a sunroof. Oh, it also has some of the widest tyres I've had on a car, 235/45R17 all around.
The photos on the listing didn't inspire confidence. Nothing like photos of photos on a phone.
But it said the car had been regularly serviced, with new coils, plugs, bilsteins, air filter, mintex pads and rotors, and a trans service recently.
After reading up a bit about the car the day before viewing, I started to get excited about the car and couldn't wait to view it.
I viewed the car this morning, and after an extensive test drive and discussion with the owner, I had confidence the car had been looked after and that the condition was quite impressive for its age and mileage (179000km). The engine ran and responded well, the trans shifts smooth as silk, and it handled well. Interestingly, the seller neglected to mention on the listing the car has been flashed with a Maptun Stage 1 tune, which bumps the power from 250hp to 290hp.
I made an offer on the spot, which the seller accepted, and here we are. I now own a Saab 93. My first Saab. Yet another car from a company that no longer exists.
It's a pretty looking old bus, especially when the sun catches the flake in the paint.
The paint is in good shape, with only stone chipping on the front, and some clearcoat peeling on the front edge of the roof. Otherwise, it's very tidy. Headlights are starting to cloud, but I'll sort them when I do the Hondas.
The inside is also very good. Some wear and tear, but no rips and everything is there. There are soft touch surfaces, which aren't aging perfectly, but much better than other cars I've had it in, and the steering wheel has some wear under the cover (which will be removed, its gross to use).
The engine runs really well and pulls like a freight train. The wide tyres help keep it all in check, even if it is pushing all that power through the front wheels
It's an unusual setup, with a TD04-15T twin scroll turbo chilling out between the engine and battery. Each bank of the V6 engine powers one of the twin scrolls.
It's not all perfect though. Due to where the turbo lives, and how much heat there is in the engine bay, plastics and hoses don't last long. The coolant expansion tank lives on the firewall, directly above the turbo downpipe so gets cooked. The two hoses from it are showing their age and one is weeping. There is also an issue with the EVAP valve, which causes a hard start condition after filling the car with fuel (as I found out straight after picking the car up!). Thankfully these issues arent hard to sort, so will order some parts and see how we go.
On the road it's almost eerily quiet inside, with little road or wind noise. The exhaust makes nice noises when you step on it, but at cruise you can barely hear it. It could almost do with one less muffler, but unlikely I'd do that.
I bought this car as a nice weekend cruiser that I could use to head off with my Wife on the weekends over summer, instead of pushing too hard on the TVR once it's on the road. I don't intend to do much to the car, just the usual maintenance, some small changes (LED interior lights, BT for the headunit) and fixing a couple of the issues it has, such as the passengers front door intermittently not locking and unlocking with the central locking.
Should be some fun, surprising people at the lights when they get chopped by a Swedish wagon.
To say I'm a little smitten with the Saab is an understatement, it's a very good all round car. I'm impressed.
Its been a couple of days, about 130km of pointless driving for-the-heck-of-it and already I'm getting a feel for the car. I can't help compare it to my last fast wagon, the http://www.tasteslikepetrol.net/cars/schnellwagon/.
The BMW was faster, and it should be with about 100hp over the Saab, and it was built better with less rattles, but the Saab has more character. It's weird, it's quirky, and an all-round more enjoyable car to drive. The BMW was serious, and all about getting from A-B as quickly as possible with no fuss. The Saab takes life less seriously and encourages you to play with the boost, seeing how quickly you can get from corner to corner, whilst seeing how far you can push the wide, sticky, front tyres and delivering you to B with a smile on your face.
The Saab is no rocket off the line, it's all about that mid-range punch. Once moving, it's deceptive how quickly the speedo climbs, as the car never really feels like it's going that quick until you look down. Passing is a breeze, just give the throttle a jab to kick down a gear and you're straight into boost and shooting by the slower automobile. With little to no turbo noises, and little lag, you could be forgiven for thinking the 2.8 was a larger displacement engine, rather than a small boosted lump.
The Bilsteins are Bilsteins.... They're a tad on the harsh side, but controls roll and bumps well. This has been a complaint about Bilsteins on NZ roads since the dawn of time (especially amongst the BMW groups), but it's the acceptable tradeoff for the superior control. Handling in the Saab won't set the world alight; there is body roll, the steering isn't that direct and is over-assisted, but the wide tires and firm suspension give you more confidence than expected, encouraging you to throw the car into corners and power out of them with gusto.
The interior of the Saab is a more interesting place to be than the BMW. It's softer and more old-school. No big I-Drive screen here, just a sea of buttons, all lit a pleasing shade of green at night. The displays have that retro green on black thing going on, like you're about to launch nukes from a bunker in the 70s.
And of course there is the NIGHTPANEL button, which kills all the illumination in the gauge cluster except for part of the speedo, turns off all the other dials, and kills the central displays. It's quite pleasing at night; less distractions and a darker interior.
I'm having a weird issue with not being able to get my mirrors in the right place; they always seem to be in a different position each time I drive the car. I'm sure that will work out eventually.
But it's not been all roses, there have been some quirks that I needed to iron out straight away.
First was the indicator. I don't know why, but for some reason there were clear bulbs in both front indicators at one point, maybe a cheap way to get rid of the fried egg look of an orange bulb? I don't know, but neither the previous owner or myself liked that. The previous owner had started the job by swapping the drivers side bulb out for a standard orange one, but didn't have the time to do the passengers side. He mentioned to me that it requires a lot of work to access the bulb, implying that you have to basically pull the front of the car off. As it turns out, it's much easier than that.
To gain access you only have to remove the filler neck for the washer bottle.
Make sure the level is below the neck, or just make a mess if it's not, and pull upwards on the neck. It's only held in my the friction of the O-Ring sealing it and maybe a little indent
This gives ample space to reach down there and twist the bulb holder out and remove it. The required bulb has offset pins, but the clear bulb had straight pins and had been jammed in. That was fun to remove.
Reassembly is the opposite. New bulb in holder, holder in lamp, bottle neck pressed back into place. Done.
Next was a niggling feeling I had, that the low speed radiator fans weren't working.
The two fans work at two different speeds (and either together, or alone), depending on coolant temps, and whether the AC is on or not. The fans should come on at a low speed when the AC is turned on. Mine didn't. The high speed did work, but I feel that by the time the coolant is that hot, its hotter than I want it to be. Anything to reduce coolant and under bonnet temps in the 2.8T is a good thing.
A quick check of the fuse box and it was immediately obvious why it wasn't working. The low speed fuse was AWOL. It's number 36, between the red and blue on the top row.
I contacted the previous owner asking if he might know why it was removed, but he had no idea it had been, so its anyones guess what's going on there.
I sourced another fuse (20A MAXI Blade fuse) and popped it in after work.
Thankfully with the AC on the smaller fan was spinning away happily. That's a good start, let's see what happens when we get the engine warm.
After a somewhat spirited drive to get some decent temperature into the engine I popped the bonnet to the lovely sight of both fans cooling everything off. So both fans work. Underbonnet temps seemed to be noticeably cooler too.
Interesting indeed. I need to test some more, as there is one more condition that the fans can run in that I haven't tested, and that's after run. If the coolant temp is over a certain value, the fans will continue to run for a period of time after the car has been shut off, to help reduce heatsoak.
I can only think of three reasons why the fuse might have been missing. Either it wasn't there from new; maybe some weird AUS thing (its an Australian import), or maybe a previous owner didn't like the fans running after shut off (or thought they were broken?) and pulled the fuse to kill them, or it blew and was removed before a replacement was sourced. I don't know, but at least for now the fuse hasn't blown, so its a win.
There's still some more things to fix, like a couple of weeping coolant hoses, an EVAP valve that has failed, oh and the wheel alignment its booked in for on Saturday to fix the off-centre steering wheel, but otherwise, the Saab is proving quite likeable.
Its been a couple of days, about 130km of pointless driving for-the-heck-of-it and already I'm getting a feel for the car. I can't help compare it to my last fast wagon, the http://www.tasteslikepetrol.net/cars/schnellwagon/.
The BMW was faster, and it should be with about 100hp over the Saab, and it was built better with less rattles, but the Saab has more character. It's weird, it's quirky, and an all-round more enjoyable car to drive. The BMW was serious, and all about getting from A-B as quickly as possible with no fuss. The Saab takes life less seriously and encourages you to play with the boost, seeing how quickly you can get from corner to corner, whilst seeing how far you can push the wide, sticky, front tyres and delivering you to B with a smile on your face.
The Saab is no rocket off the line, it's all about that mid-range punch. Once moving, it's deceptive how quickly the speedo climbs, as the car never really feels like it's going that quick until you look down. Passing is a breeze, just give the throttle a jab to kick down a gear and you're straight into boost and shooting by the slower automobile. With little to no turbo noises, and little lag, you could be forgiven for thinking the 2.8 was a larger displacement engine, rather than a small boosted lump.
The Bilsteins are Bilsteins.... They're a tad on the harsh side, but controls roll and bumps well. This has been a complaint about Bilsteins on NZ roads since the dawn of time (especially amongst the BMW groups), but it's the acceptable tradeoff for the superior control. Handling in the Saab won't set the world alight; there is body roll, the steering isn't that direct and is over-assisted, but the wide tires and firm suspension give you more confidence than expected, encouraging you to throw the car into corners and power out of them with gusto.
The interior of the Saab is a more interesting place to be than the BMW. It's softer and more old-school. No big I-Drive screen here, just a sea of buttons, all lit a pleasing shade of green at night. The displays have that retro green on black thing going on, like you're about to launch nukes from a bunker in the 70s.
And of course there is the NIGHTPANEL button, which kills all the illumination in the gauge cluster except for part of the speedo, turns off all the other dials, and kills the central displays. It's quite pleasing at night; less distractions and a darker interior.
I'm having a weird issue with not being able to get my mirrors in the right place; they always seem to be in a different position each time I drive the car. I'm sure that will work out eventually.
But it's not been all roses, there have been some quirks that I needed to iron out straight away.
First was the indicator. I don't know why, but for some reason there were clear bulbs in both front indicators at one point, maybe a cheap way to get rid of the fried egg look of an orange bulb? I don't know, but neither the previous owner or myself liked that. The previous owner had started the job by swapping the drivers side bulb out for a standard orange one, but didn't have the time to do the passengers side. He mentioned to me that it requires a lot of work to access the bulb, implying that you have to basically pull the front of the car off. As it turns out, it's much easier than that.
To gain access you only have to remove the filler neck for the washer bottle.
Make sure the level is below the neck, or just make a mess if it's not, and pull upwards on the neck. It's only held in my the friction of the O-Ring sealing it and maybe a little indent
This gives ample space to reach down there and twist the bulb holder out and remove it. The required bulb has offset pins, but the clear bulb had straight pins and had been jammed in. That was fun to remove.
Reassembly is the opposite. New bulb in holder, holder in lamp, bottle neck pressed back into place. Done.
Next was a niggling feeling I had, that the low speed radiator fans weren't working.
The two fans work at two different speeds (and either together, or alone), depending on coolant temps, and whether the AC is on or not. The fans should come on at a low speed when the AC is turned on. Mine didn't. The high speed did work, but I feel that by the time the coolant is that hot, its hotter than I want it to be. Anything to reduce coolant and under bonnet temps in the 2.8T is a good thing.
A quick check of the fuse box and it was immediately obvious why it wasn't working. The low speed fuse was AWOL. It's number 36, between the red and blue on the top row.
I contacted the previous owner asking if he might know why it was removed, but he had no idea it had been, so its anyones guess what's going on there.
I sourced another fuse (20A MAXI Blade fuse) and popped it in after work.
Thankfully with the AC on the smaller fan was spinning away happily. That's a good start, let's see what happens when we get the engine warm.
After a somewhat spirited drive to get some decent temperature into the engine I popped the bonnet to the lovely sight of both fans cooling everything off. So both fans work. Underbonnet temps seemed to be noticeably cooler too.
Interesting indeed. I need to test some more, as there is one more condition that the fans can run in that I haven't tested, and that's after run. If the coolant temp is over a certain value, the fans will continue to run for a period of time after the car has been shut off, to help reduce heatsoak.
I can only think of three reasons why the fuse might have been missing. Either it wasn't there from new; maybe some weird AUS thing (its an Australian import), or maybe a previous owner didn't like the fans running after shut off (or thought they were broken?) and pulled the fuse to kill them, or it blew and was removed before a replacement was sourced. I don't know, but at least for now the fuse hasn't blown, so its a win.
There's still some more things to fix, like a couple of weeping coolant hoses, an EVAP valve that has failed, oh and the wheel alignment its booked in for on Saturday to fix the off-centre steering wheel, but otherwise, the Saab is proving quite likeable.
Edited by KelvinatorNZ on Wednesday 20th November 08:32
Fairly rare i'd say, but I don't know production numbers. Haven't seen one around as far as I can recall. I don't know if they were ever sold new here, and this one is an Australian import, brought over when the owner emigrated to NZ.
The V6 turbo model seems fairly common in America, so at least there is decent supply of parts from there for it.
The V6 turbo model seems fairly common in America, so at least there is decent supply of parts from there for it.
I have a lovely facelift 2.8t wagon that I bought from a good friend that owned it for the last 6 years. After I bought it I replaced everything that needed replacing, installed bilstein b8, h&r springs, and refreshed the rest of the suspension. Refurnished alloys, installed Ps4 tyres, and had a custom remap with an upgraded actuator taking power to 315hp and a crazy amount of torque. Plus a lot more. Love the car and that's a lot to say when I am coming from an mk3 Superb with 560hp.
Edited by micloi on Wednesday 20th November 18:29
I forgot I had this thread. I've been trying not to work on this car much, but just get out and drive it. As with all cars though, there was always something to do.
Its been a few months since my last update, but the Saab had some love during this time.
First things first, I wasn't too sure when the car last had an oil and filter change. The sticker in the screen was ancient, but the oil wasn't too bad, so I guess the previous owner had done it without recording the mileage/date.
Regardless, this popped up, so I had no choice
Without the under trays fitted, an oil change on the Saab is super easy. First, get the front of the car in the air
Pop the oil cap out for easier drain
Now the oil filter housing and drain plug are right there, easy to get at. The filter housing is in the front (orange arrow), and takes a 24mm socket to remove. This should only be torqued to 25nm, but mine was so tight I was worried it would break. The drain plug is the at the back (green arrow).
I picked up a genuine ACDelco (GM) filter, along with a new rubber seal for the drain plug. ACDelco 19101310 (AC088)
Whilst the oil was draining I removed the existing rubber seal (which was stuck to the sump, be careful of this) and fit the replacement
And cracked the oil filter housing off
The old filter had done some miles and didn't look nice. Either the oil had been in there longer than expected, or the filter wasn't changed last time.
The replacement is much nicer. Don't forget the O-Ring on the top of the cap
Screw it back in, torque it to 25nm and that part is done. Now plug the drain plug back in, torque to 25nm, and it's time to fill.
I used ACDelco Dexos 1 Gen 2 5W30 full synthetic.
With the required amount of oil installed, a quick start saw the system quickly primed and the oil light gone. I then reset the service light via the SID (this can only be reset once it says a service is due, not before).
Next on the hit list was the coolant expansion tank hoses.
The tank its self is OK, and is holding good pressure with the new cap on it, but the hoses were showing their age. One had a 2008 date on it, which means it must have been replaced when the car was a couple of years old, but was still very old. The other has had been replaced before with a generic bit of heater hose (which has been rubbing on the bonnet insulation due to not being a proper moulded hose).
The original hose (with the writing and big R on it above) was the worst. This goes into a hard line on top of the turbo, and had been cooked. You could see it was weeping from the end
The two replacement hoses are both moulded
That original hose was worse than expected. The end split in a few places during removal and was as hard as plastic
The two new hoses fitted
I barely lost a couple of drops of coolant during this work, so didn't even need to top it up and the system is self bleeding. Very easy job to do.
Next on the service list was the cabin filter. This is tucked up under the scuttle trim on the passengers side, but fairly easy to get at. First, gently lift up and move the sealing strip on the front edge
Now remove the clip on the guard (far right in above photo, already removed) and lift the panel up. This exposes the splash tray under it. Lift that up and the filter will be exposed.
Before you can remove the filter there are two small retaining clips that need to be unclipped. They are released in this photo, but are shown by the arrows. They sit flat against the filter when locked, and lift up and out to unlock. The top of the filter comes forward and then up and out.
Now is a good time to get a vaccum in there and clean out any debris and make sure the area is nice and clean. Fit the new filter and lower the clips
The ACDelco genuine filter has these nice wings on it to help seal into the box at the top and bottom. I noticed the Sakura one that came out didn't.
Now refit the trims, clip and seal. Done.
Last on the list was to fix this
Ah yes, it wouldn't be a European car without a Check Engine Light. The engine ran and drove fine, but a check of the codes showed these
Bank 1 Sensor 2 - Stuck Rich and No Activity. Bums.
Well, how hard can it be to do? Oh, itls the sensor tucked down the back of the very well packed engine bay? Yay.
I tried clearing the codes but the CEL would come back after a decent drive.
Turns out it's not that hard. Just takes a few long extensions and a good socket. Remove the engine cover first, and get ready to kneel on the slam panel to reach back there.
This is where it lives. The hole (orange arrow) is where the sensor screws into. If you have nimble arms you can actually fit your whole arm down there to screw the sensor in by hand. The red arrow is a vacuum fitting that was broken and taped up. More on that later.
The old O2 sensor was tight but came out without issue. The new one also screwed back in and tightened up fine.
The sensor is working well and the CEL hasn't returned.
Returning to that red arrow, I read in the paperwork with the car that the local dealer had found and "Fixed" a leak in a vaccum pipe. I figure it was this mess.
I guess it kinda worked and maybe didn't leak, but god it was ugly and not something I can live with. Thankfully the previous owner included a replacement pipe, but it was slightly different. I ended up using a lighter to heat the pipe up (its hard plastic, not rubber) and swapping the good part of the new pipe onto the old pipework to makes two into one good one.
Refitted, and makes me much happier.
Overall the car runs exactly the same, but now I know its in good shape. Ready for its new owner.
Yes, the car is currently sold pending full payment and collection. The first person to view the car is the one buying it.
I'll be sad to see it go as its a cool car and really nice to drive, but it's just not nimble and this takes away the fun for me. Sure, it's fast and sticks well, but it rolls and really shows its size and weight in corners.
Not 100% on what I will replace it with yet, but time will tell.
Its been a few months since my last update, but the Saab had some love during this time.
First things first, I wasn't too sure when the car last had an oil and filter change. The sticker in the screen was ancient, but the oil wasn't too bad, so I guess the previous owner had done it without recording the mileage/date.
Regardless, this popped up, so I had no choice
Without the under trays fitted, an oil change on the Saab is super easy. First, get the front of the car in the air
Pop the oil cap out for easier drain
Now the oil filter housing and drain plug are right there, easy to get at. The filter housing is in the front (orange arrow), and takes a 24mm socket to remove. This should only be torqued to 25nm, but mine was so tight I was worried it would break. The drain plug is the at the back (green arrow).
I picked up a genuine ACDelco (GM) filter, along with a new rubber seal for the drain plug. ACDelco 19101310 (AC088)
Whilst the oil was draining I removed the existing rubber seal (which was stuck to the sump, be careful of this) and fit the replacement
And cracked the oil filter housing off
The old filter had done some miles and didn't look nice. Either the oil had been in there longer than expected, or the filter wasn't changed last time.
The replacement is much nicer. Don't forget the O-Ring on the top of the cap
Screw it back in, torque it to 25nm and that part is done. Now plug the drain plug back in, torque to 25nm, and it's time to fill.
I used ACDelco Dexos 1 Gen 2 5W30 full synthetic.
With the required amount of oil installed, a quick start saw the system quickly primed and the oil light gone. I then reset the service light via the SID (this can only be reset once it says a service is due, not before).
Next on the hit list was the coolant expansion tank hoses.
The tank its self is OK, and is holding good pressure with the new cap on it, but the hoses were showing their age. One had a 2008 date on it, which means it must have been replaced when the car was a couple of years old, but was still very old. The other has had been replaced before with a generic bit of heater hose (which has been rubbing on the bonnet insulation due to not being a proper moulded hose).
The original hose (with the writing and big R on it above) was the worst. This goes into a hard line on top of the turbo, and had been cooked. You could see it was weeping from the end
The two replacement hoses are both moulded
That original hose was worse than expected. The end split in a few places during removal and was as hard as plastic
The two new hoses fitted
I barely lost a couple of drops of coolant during this work, so didn't even need to top it up and the system is self bleeding. Very easy job to do.
Next on the service list was the cabin filter. This is tucked up under the scuttle trim on the passengers side, but fairly easy to get at. First, gently lift up and move the sealing strip on the front edge
Now remove the clip on the guard (far right in above photo, already removed) and lift the panel up. This exposes the splash tray under it. Lift that up and the filter will be exposed.
Before you can remove the filter there are two small retaining clips that need to be unclipped. They are released in this photo, but are shown by the arrows. They sit flat against the filter when locked, and lift up and out to unlock. The top of the filter comes forward and then up and out.
Now is a good time to get a vaccum in there and clean out any debris and make sure the area is nice and clean. Fit the new filter and lower the clips
The ACDelco genuine filter has these nice wings on it to help seal into the box at the top and bottom. I noticed the Sakura one that came out didn't.
Now refit the trims, clip and seal. Done.
Last on the list was to fix this
Ah yes, it wouldn't be a European car without a Check Engine Light. The engine ran and drove fine, but a check of the codes showed these
Bank 1 Sensor 2 - Stuck Rich and No Activity. Bums.
Well, how hard can it be to do? Oh, itls the sensor tucked down the back of the very well packed engine bay? Yay.
I tried clearing the codes but the CEL would come back after a decent drive.
Turns out it's not that hard. Just takes a few long extensions and a good socket. Remove the engine cover first, and get ready to kneel on the slam panel to reach back there.
This is where it lives. The hole (orange arrow) is where the sensor screws into. If you have nimble arms you can actually fit your whole arm down there to screw the sensor in by hand. The red arrow is a vacuum fitting that was broken and taped up. More on that later.
The old O2 sensor was tight but came out without issue. The new one also screwed back in and tightened up fine.
The sensor is working well and the CEL hasn't returned.
Returning to that red arrow, I read in the paperwork with the car that the local dealer had found and "Fixed" a leak in a vaccum pipe. I figure it was this mess.
I guess it kinda worked and maybe didn't leak, but god it was ugly and not something I can live with. Thankfully the previous owner included a replacement pipe, but it was slightly different. I ended up using a lighter to heat the pipe up (its hard plastic, not rubber) and swapping the good part of the new pipe onto the old pipework to makes two into one good one.
Refitted, and makes me much happier.
Overall the car runs exactly the same, but now I know its in good shape. Ready for its new owner.
Yes, the car is currently sold pending full payment and collection. The first person to view the car is the one buying it.
I'll be sad to see it go as its a cool car and really nice to drive, but it's just not nimble and this takes away the fun for me. Sure, it's fast and sticks well, but it rolls and really shows its size and weight in corners.
Not 100% on what I will replace it with yet, but time will tell.
Of course, nothing is ever simple. Try and sell a car, get messed around a bit, try and take it for a WOF to make it easier to sell, and oh hey, it failed. Thankfully nothing too major, just a couple of flogged arms.
With over a month still left on the WOF, I thought I would try and renew it anyway and see if it would help me get a sale. I've had a couple of people ask for an AA check, and TBH I don't put much faith into those checks, and it a big hassle for me to make the car available for it to be checked (since they won't do it on the roadside, where the car lives). I'm hoping a new WOF is enough to make people trust its a good car and not a junky jalopy.
Typically, the car failed the WOF inspection. It turns out the annoying clunking I could hear over bumps was actually something, and not just something I should've been ignoring. The rear upper "banana" arms had failed and had excessive play in their ball joints.
My awesome WOF guy took the time to show me what the issue was, and sure enough, if you unloaded the arms by lowering the car partly onto its wheels (not fully on its weight, and not hanging from a hoist as this loads the joints up and makes them unable to be tested), if you rock the top of the tyre back and forth not only could you see the movement in the joints, you could see and feel the top of the wheel physically move back and forth.
I guess its no surprise that I have been chasing an alignment issue with the car since I got it, and had been told the camber adjuster on one side was at its limit but the alignment was still out. The movement in the top of the wheel is the camber dynamically moving. There was also a solid clunk from the back end going over bumps, which I kinda just put down to top-notch GM build quality.
Anyway, I tracked a pair of pattern parts down from the local Autolign store and had them in my hands the next day. You can also get the genuine part from any local Holden dealer as its a common Vectra part, but it does cost significantly more for genuine.
Looking at the parts on the car it appears they might be the original arms. They have the original (not updated) GM part numbers on them
The rest of the car was looking great underneath. Dirty, but dry. Mmm polybushes.
Mmm Bilsteins
Having some time to spare this weekend I got stuck into replacing the arms. The sooner I replace them, the sooner I can renew the WOF and hopefully sell the car. I can't sell it in good faith unless it's fixed.
Whilst my Wife had the Honda out, I took over that side of the garage. Up went the Saab on the Quickjacks (with a sneaky TVR in reflection).
Off came the rear wheels
And I could see what I was dealing with. This is the inner bolt of the arm here (finger for pointing). Its a prick.
The outer bolt is just on the top of the hub. Nice and easy to access.
Now, in terms of tools, for the outer bolt you need an E20 E-Torx socket and a 21mm spanner. The inner bolt is smaller, so uses an E18 E-Torx socket, and an 18mm spanner. The inner bolt is horrible to access, and the RH side one is worse due to limited space.
I found if I slipped the spanner onto the nut and left it there it would hold the nut in place, but I didn't need to try and loosen that off. The majority of the work was on loosening the E-Torx side, as that was the only side that has access with a ratchet (the other side has no access, a spanner is the only thing that fits but there isn't enough space to actually turn it, as the bolt is bloody tight).
I used a flexible head ratchet, a 3/8-1/2" adaptor, and a short wobbly extension. The ratchet just fit between the subframe and exhaust. I had to extend the ratchet with a pipe to get enough leverage to crack the bolt.
Once cracked, unclip all the clips holding the wiring to the arm and tuck it off to the side
And then crack the big bolt on the other end. Remove the big bolt, and wiggle the arm to remove the inboard bolt (jacking the arm up and down can help to unload the bearings and make it easier to remove the bolts). Unclip the handbrake cable from the arm, towards the front of the car. You don't need to disconnect it from the caliper, unclipping it from the arm gives enough play to work with.
Outboard fixing with bolt removed. Hand brake cable runs over the arm.
Now with some wiggling and jiggling the arm should pull free of the car.
I shouldn't be able to deflect the bearing with just my thumb, at all, let alone to its limits. You can also feel a click when you move the bearing in the joint
In contrast, the new bearings are stiff and tight, only being able to be moved using leverage like a long screwdriver.
Removing the LH side arm is the same deal, except you can get a little more leverage with the ratchet by using a longer extension and passing it through the gap above the exhaust. Using a wobbly extension is a must though (in fact the whole job would be impossible without wobbly extensions).
Fitting the new arms is basically the reverse. Start by placing the new arm into the subframe and under the handbrake cable at the hub. Using lots of wiggling and jiggling slip the inboard bolt through. I found slipping a screwdriver through helped to line up the bearing.
The outboard bolt is a bit trickier. You will need to jack the arm up and down in order to line the arm up and get the bolt through. Once both bolts are through and the nuts are on, all that's left to do is tighten them and refit the wire clips.
To tighten the bolts up you must raise the arm to about ride height first. The inboard bolt should be torqued to 75NM+90 degrees, but I'm dammed if I could get a torque wrench in there, so just tightened it up to F'N tight. The outboard bolt is 125NM+135 degrees.
Now pop the wheels backs on, lower the car down and torque the wheels up to 110NM and that's the job done.
A test drive showed some very interesting results. First, the annoying knock is completely gone. The car is completely silent over bumps now. Quieter than expected.
Secondly, the road manners are much better. The tramlining, wandering and vague feeling is gone. The car feels a lot more solid, especially on the open road where it was always a bit floaty. Some of the harshness over bumps is gone too.
Good result I say. I'll be getting the WOF rechecked this week and then we should be good to go.
With over a month still left on the WOF, I thought I would try and renew it anyway and see if it would help me get a sale. I've had a couple of people ask for an AA check, and TBH I don't put much faith into those checks, and it a big hassle for me to make the car available for it to be checked (since they won't do it on the roadside, where the car lives). I'm hoping a new WOF is enough to make people trust its a good car and not a junky jalopy.
Typically, the car failed the WOF inspection. It turns out the annoying clunking I could hear over bumps was actually something, and not just something I should've been ignoring. The rear upper "banana" arms had failed and had excessive play in their ball joints.
My awesome WOF guy took the time to show me what the issue was, and sure enough, if you unloaded the arms by lowering the car partly onto its wheels (not fully on its weight, and not hanging from a hoist as this loads the joints up and makes them unable to be tested), if you rock the top of the tyre back and forth not only could you see the movement in the joints, you could see and feel the top of the wheel physically move back and forth.
I guess its no surprise that I have been chasing an alignment issue with the car since I got it, and had been told the camber adjuster on one side was at its limit but the alignment was still out. The movement in the top of the wheel is the camber dynamically moving. There was also a solid clunk from the back end going over bumps, which I kinda just put down to top-notch GM build quality.
Anyway, I tracked a pair of pattern parts down from the local Autolign store and had them in my hands the next day. You can also get the genuine part from any local Holden dealer as its a common Vectra part, but it does cost significantly more for genuine.
Looking at the parts on the car it appears they might be the original arms. They have the original (not updated) GM part numbers on them
The rest of the car was looking great underneath. Dirty, but dry. Mmm polybushes.
Mmm Bilsteins
Having some time to spare this weekend I got stuck into replacing the arms. The sooner I replace them, the sooner I can renew the WOF and hopefully sell the car. I can't sell it in good faith unless it's fixed.
Whilst my Wife had the Honda out, I took over that side of the garage. Up went the Saab on the Quickjacks (with a sneaky TVR in reflection).
Off came the rear wheels
And I could see what I was dealing with. This is the inner bolt of the arm here (finger for pointing). Its a prick.
The outer bolt is just on the top of the hub. Nice and easy to access.
Now, in terms of tools, for the outer bolt you need an E20 E-Torx socket and a 21mm spanner. The inner bolt is smaller, so uses an E18 E-Torx socket, and an 18mm spanner. The inner bolt is horrible to access, and the RH side one is worse due to limited space.
I found if I slipped the spanner onto the nut and left it there it would hold the nut in place, but I didn't need to try and loosen that off. The majority of the work was on loosening the E-Torx side, as that was the only side that has access with a ratchet (the other side has no access, a spanner is the only thing that fits but there isn't enough space to actually turn it, as the bolt is bloody tight).
I used a flexible head ratchet, a 3/8-1/2" adaptor, and a short wobbly extension. The ratchet just fit between the subframe and exhaust. I had to extend the ratchet with a pipe to get enough leverage to crack the bolt.
Once cracked, unclip all the clips holding the wiring to the arm and tuck it off to the side
And then crack the big bolt on the other end. Remove the big bolt, and wiggle the arm to remove the inboard bolt (jacking the arm up and down can help to unload the bearings and make it easier to remove the bolts). Unclip the handbrake cable from the arm, towards the front of the car. You don't need to disconnect it from the caliper, unclipping it from the arm gives enough play to work with.
Outboard fixing with bolt removed. Hand brake cable runs over the arm.
Now with some wiggling and jiggling the arm should pull free of the car.
I shouldn't be able to deflect the bearing with just my thumb, at all, let alone to its limits. You can also feel a click when you move the bearing in the joint
In contrast, the new bearings are stiff and tight, only being able to be moved using leverage like a long screwdriver.
Removing the LH side arm is the same deal, except you can get a little more leverage with the ratchet by using a longer extension and passing it through the gap above the exhaust. Using a wobbly extension is a must though (in fact the whole job would be impossible without wobbly extensions).
Fitting the new arms is basically the reverse. Start by placing the new arm into the subframe and under the handbrake cable at the hub. Using lots of wiggling and jiggling slip the inboard bolt through. I found slipping a screwdriver through helped to line up the bearing.
The outboard bolt is a bit trickier. You will need to jack the arm up and down in order to line the arm up and get the bolt through. Once both bolts are through and the nuts are on, all that's left to do is tighten them and refit the wire clips.
To tighten the bolts up you must raise the arm to about ride height first. The inboard bolt should be torqued to 75NM+90 degrees, but I'm dammed if I could get a torque wrench in there, so just tightened it up to F'N tight. The outboard bolt is 125NM+135 degrees.
Now pop the wheels backs on, lower the car down and torque the wheels up to 110NM and that's the job done.
A test drive showed some very interesting results. First, the annoying knock is completely gone. The car is completely silent over bumps now. Quieter than expected.
Secondly, the road manners are much better. The tramlining, wandering and vague feeling is gone. The car feels a lot more solid, especially on the open road where it was always a bit floaty. Some of the harshness over bumps is gone too.
Good result I say. I'll be getting the WOF rechecked this week and then we should be good to go.
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