Buying a 2002 Saab 9-5 Vector 2.2 TiD 170k miles - any tips?

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I've got my eye on a 2002 Saab 9-5 Vector estate manual 2.2 TiD with 170k miles for £1000. I'm going to see it tonight. It's an appealingly rare alternative to the Mondeo that I figured I'd end up with for hacking about in the winter with my kids or a mountain bike in. We did 60k trouble-free miles in a '97 900 convertible until 3 years ago, so I've got a soft spot for Saabs.

Can anybody give me any tips on what I should be checking when I see and drive this 9-5 please?

I know the 2.2 has a chain-driven cam, so that's good. I'm assuming it won't have a perfect service record at this age and mileage; I can live with that. The seller has been very honest about some of the car's faults (damaged door card and sticking interior handle on front passenger door; non-functioning electric mirrors; dodgy DIS pixels) but he says the AC is cold and overall it's a good car. New clutch a couple of years ago, apparently, and a long MOT.

Thoughts?

[MrC986]

EGR issues, front sub frame bushes (plus possible clonks from the suspension) as well as things like the remote locking working are all issues I've overcome as a newbie to 9.5 2.2 tid ownership. ...I'm 8 months & 17k into my ownership with an 03 manual. l don't regret it one bit

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Thanks MrC986. I went ahead with the deal and drove it home on Friday evening. So far, so good. No sign of any noise from the suspension but I've a feeling the EGR might need cleaning because all the way home from the seller the engine light was on and I had no boost.

Fingers crossed.

[MrC986]

That sounds suspiciously like the EGR....l wanted to do mine yesterday & didn't have the right socket though some diesel cleaner in a full tank of fuel & miraculously the light has gone off! Good luck, they are great motoring for the £s IMHO

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MrC986 said:

That sounds suspiciously like the EGR....l wanted to do mine yesterday & didn't have the right socket though some diesel cleaner in a full tank of fuel & miraculously the light has gone off! Good luck, they are great motoring for the £s IMHO

Good luck! Any chance you could take some photos of the main steps if you have chance please? I haven't yet looked to see where the EGR valve is on the 2.2 engine but I hope it's easily accessible at the front of the engine like it apparently is on the 1.9.

[pewe]

Suggest you check/renew the pollen filter as a first step to resurrecting the A/C.
This is behind the passenger glove box - not the easiest of jobs but if it's blocked and the A/C is working the moisture in the car can drain down into the passenger foot-well and kill the ECU which is under the passenger seat.
Thought you should know that.....
Cheers, Pewe.

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pewe said:

Thought you should know that.....

Thanks pewe. I'm grateful for the advice.
I think I'm going to buy a complete filter/oil service kit from Neo Bros that includes the pollen filter. I've booked in for an AC re-gas/service on Saturday morning to refresh the lubrication in the system.

[tonyvid]

The climate control can through some funny errors with sticking flaps or stepper motors. There is a procedure for doing a fault code check on the a/c panel and that will give you an error code(can't remember which two buttons to press or what the codes mean but 5 mins on Google should sort that) A common fault is the stepper motors and flaps coming loose - mine did this and it had a freezing drivers side footwell as it was in the middle of winter.

It was fairly easy to cure, next to the clutch pedal is a cover and inside that you can remove the stepper motor that faces into the centre of the car. The flap had come loose on the shaft so just needed pushing back on gently. You put it all back together again, press the two buttons for a diagnostic chack and it should sort itself out...

Be careful with the footwell light as it's live all the time and very easy to short to earth...

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tonyvid said:

The climate control can through some funny errors with sticking flaps or stepper motors. There is a procedure for doing a fault code check on the a/c panel and that will give you an error code(can't remember which two buttons to press or what the codes mean but 5 mins on Google should sort that) A common fault is the stepper motors and flaps coming loose - mine did this and it had a freezing drivers side footwell as it was in the middle of winter.

Thanks for the tips, tonyvid.
I've had the AC regassed (and therefore relubed) as a preventative measure, and the specialist said there was still plenty of gas in the system so I'm hoping it's fundamentally OK. It seems to work OK.