Turbo on it's way out!?

[maniman]

Hi all,

I wonder if there's anyone out there with an answer for me!
I have a 2001 93 Aero. Since I've had it (Bought with 52k on the clock), it uses about 2-3 litres of additional oil between services. It now has 76k on the clock.

The neither the garage or I have ever found an oil leak or any sign of oil burn for that matter. Anyway the chief tech at my local dealership had a look and thinks it may be the oil seals in the turbo.

After all that, my question being does anyone know how much a new turbo fitted would be?!

Thanks for your help

[Prof Beard]

maniman said:

Hi all,

I wonder if there's anyone out there with an answer for me!
I have a 2001 93 Aero. Since I've had it (Bought with 52k on the clock), it uses about 2-3 litres of additional oil between services. It now has 76k on the clock.

The neither the garage or I have ever found an oil leak or any sign of oil burn for that matter. Anyway the chief tech at my local dealership had a look and thinks it may be the oil seals in the turbo.

After all that, my question being does anyone know how much a new turbo fitted would be?!

Thanks for your help

Any sign of reduced boost? Or smoking?

[maniman]

Doesn't seem to be any loss in power at the moment, Don't ever notice any smoke myself to be honest.

Never seen any on start up or even changing down and booting it!

No issues what so ever apart from the fact that the oil level drops so much in such a short space of time.

I've had the car for just over two years and have put an extra 7ltrs in, in that time. It's been serviced twice and checked for leaks three times now.

Hi BTW

Edited by maniman on Thursday 5th October 13:59

Edited by maniman on Thursday 5th October 14:01

[Prof Beard]

maniman said:

Doesn't seem to be any loss in power at the moment, Don't ever notice any smoke myself to be honest.

Never seen any on start up or even changing down and booting it!

No issues what so ever apart from the fact that the oil level drops so much in such a short space of time.

I've had the car for just over two years and have put an extra 7ltrs in, in that time. It's been serviced twice and checked for leaks three times now.

Hi BTW

Edited by maniman on Thursday 5th October 13:59

Edited by maniman on Thursday 5th October 14:01

I've not (as yet) experienced turbo failure, but I believe it is forewarned by white smoke? I'm sure others can confirm/deny.

[maniman]

Hmm, I'll keep an eye on it.

Well at the moment, I'm waiting for the dealership to come back to me with regards to cost etc. The chief tech I was talking to said that they would contact Saab and see if they would pay towards the cost?! Don't know why they would pay towards the cost mind (Maybe something to do with a full service history with a dealership?!). But I'll just have to see what happens.

Will keep you posted!

[ylee coyote]

Typicall symptom of a turbo bearing going is smoke out the back on engine braking (usually white) or the same on load

Btw if you are loosing oil out through this it will probably goose your cat ....(oooeeer)

[maniman]

ylee coyote said:

Btw if you are loosing oil out through this it will probably goose your cat ....(oooeeer)

Yeah that had crossed my mind, I'm still waiting for the dealership to get back to me. I'll see what they say about the cost etc. Could be a bit painful on the bank account!

[rikroblou]

this is not uncommon nearly all 95 93 i service come in with no oil unfortunatly you need to check regularly
engines are nearly always dry!
you will only realy see small puff on start up and if you want some where to look for turbo leaking oil removre
plastic trim from around oil dip stick tube and check around boost pipe to throtle body for oil starting to leak
new turbos are around £500 at the mo
be care full!

[maniman]

rikroblou said:

this is not uncommon nearly all 95 93 i service come in with no oil unfortunatly you need to check regularly
engines are nearly always dry!
you will only realy see small puff on start up and if you want some where to look for turbo leaking oil removre
plastic trim from around oil dip stick tube and check around boost pipe to throtle body for oil starting to leak
new turbos are around £500 at the mo
be care full!

Thanks for the info.

Spoke to my Saab dealership who said that they would speak to Saab Customer Relations to see if they would cover some of the cost. Umm they said no, the car is too old! Considering the dealership has checked the car over, three times since I bought it two years ago, for the reason behind the oil usage. Each time they said that nothing was wrong, no leaks, it just uses a lot of oil.

To cut a long story short, took it to the guy who works on my TVR (Independent who mainly works on high power cars), he came back to me with some interesting information about turbo cooling systems for Saabs and how they have been modified over the past few years, but Saab won't admit to design defects.

Saab want £1000 to fit a new turbo unit.

My mechanic is looking to charge a maximum of £900. Gulp!!!

Love my car, think it's awesome, may just have to fork out the money.

[maniman]

Hi all,

In case anyone was interested, I had the Turbo reconditioned. Saw the gasket and you could see where the oil was seeping through. A couple of the bolts that hold it together had apparently broken/sheered which in turn let the oil seep through.

Oil levels have been fine since, so this must have been the cause.

Total cost £962

[k321]

Hi..

maniman. i can get it cheaper

My stepbrother bought a saab turbo and he managed to buy a new turbo and fit it Himself in the garage at his house. the cost was 450£ straight from elk parts


too bad I couldnt answer this post for you soooner...962£ is expensive. Next time you got a saab question, email me and i will try to answer. I have a Saab. whilst.my stepbrother has replaced a turbo himself on a 9-3 saab 2.0 turbo 2001 model and my father is one of the directors at Saab in Sweden, i can even get saab parts direct from factory at factory cost.

Edited by k321 on Tuesday 28th November 21:16

Edited by k321 on Tuesday 28th November 21:17

[maniman]

Cheers K321,

It was expensive, but hey ho.

I do have one small question, one of the bulbs has gone behind the speedo. Most people mention taking the whole top off the dash to get to the gauges. Do you know of any way of just removing the gauge surround to get to the gauges?

Thanks again

Mani

[k321]

maniman..i myself do not

however..you should register on www.saabcentral.com

if you register there..and go to the forum bit..and ask this same question..witbin one hour you will get your answer..they are very helpful..i went to a saab meeting there..and they managed to fix my roof there for free

[maniman]

Cheers,

I'll try that, Have tried Saab Scene a couple of times, but will try saab central.

Mani

[k321]

maniman..i hope you got your answer

saabcentral.com is the place to go...there are loads of people there with a mechanical background and they even give you diagrams on how to fix the problem

let me know if they could help you out

cheers
k