Another blue v6 Saab 9-3 Aero Estate
Discussion
About time I did this, I've been keeping a thread running on the uk Saab forum but thought I'd run a thread on here too as it's turned into a bit of a project and I enjoy reading peoples threads.
I bought my car about a month or so ago, previous to that I've had a 2014 F31 320d and then a 2014 F31 330d but whilst they are fantastic do everything cars, they've never felt like "my car" and were just lacking the fun aspect to the way they drove. The last car to properly feel like mine was probably a 2008 Mazda 6 Sport that I had for 4 years and did 70k miles in.
Because of lockdown and a lot more of my projects being home based, we couldn't justify running my 3 series plus a 2016 L200. We have an alpaca farm as a hobby, so my wife's L200 is sadly the more useful car to have around so we decided to sell my car and cope with just the L200. The 330d was the only car I've ever sold for a profit.
The one car household thing lasted two weeks (and a couple of long journeys in the L200) before I decided to buy my own car again, it's weird but I just like having my own car. We had used most of the money from my car to pay off the outstanding finance on the L200, and to buy a stud apaca (yeah I know) so my budget was reduced £2k for my replacement.
This left not many "interesting" cars in budget and my final choice came down to a Lexus IS or a Saab Aero. I'd made enquiries into one the same as mine on ebay with 93k miles that is still there, but had no response from the seller at all. Good selling tactics...
This one popped up on ebay with 10 minutes left, it had minimal service history, 150k miles on it and heady 5 owners, but it looked pretty tidy considering that. I put a bid on and won it for 1750. Unfortunately the reserve was not met so I didn't get it. I messaged the seller and we agreed on £2k for it. In retrospect it is probably about right.
So on the April bank holiday Friday we drove down to Leighton Buzzard to collect, I paid and we were on our way back home. The seller kindly included a new purge valve as it didn't like starting after filling with fuel, some illegally spaced number plates and some exhaust hangers.
The car was a little tattier than it looked in the pictures, it needs the commonly bashed front splitter re-painting, there are quite a lot of dings that I'll get sorted at some point by a PDR place and surface rust is just starting to take hold on the front wings and rear arches. I'm not sure what route I'll take with that as ideally it needs the splitter, front bumper, wings, arches and tailgate painting so at that point I may as well get the whole thing done and fix the bad repair that's been done to two doors and the bad scratch on another. The interior is better than average, I know these cars wear badly, although it looked like someone with hooks for hands had tried to remove various pieces of interior trim.
On the journey home the car averaged 30+ mpg which I was ecstatic with for a 2.8 V6 and other than a few creaks and groans of the suspension and a very harsh change from 2-1 (which has gone since I've removed the battery for a while which resets the gearbox ECU) the car is very comfortable to drive.
Then it went downhill a bit, I showed my mum the car and took some picturesque pictures at her house,
then headed home via the fuel station, on the 5 minute journey the head unit froze and the car went into limp home mode... I filled up, got in the car and tried to start it, it turned over twice and then stopped. More attempts just got a click and nothing else. The 85 year old attendant helped push my car off the fuel court and into the car park of the coffee shop next door, where I abandoned it on some yellow hashes and raised the bonnet so that it didn't look totally abandoned. I checked the obvious stuff, and the guy who runs the coffee shop was kind enough to bring me a spare battery to help jump it but it didn't help. I messaged the seller and to his credit he called me and him and his dad tried to help out and diagnose the issue to no avail.
I logged a call out with the RAC and to their credit despite it being the first bank holiday that people were allowed out of their homes since lockdown they arrived 20 minutes later. The RAC guy noted a turbo overboost error from the ECU (unrelated but the cause of the limp home mode) but could not get the car to fire. Because the front of the car is too low to use the dolly we used the fixed bar to tow the car back to my parents (terrifying). The RAC guy jacked it up, crawled under without any axel stands and tapped on the started but could not get it to fire. He decided it was most likely the starter so we left it at my mums and I went home feeling sorry for myself.
cont...
I bought my car about a month or so ago, previous to that I've had a 2014 F31 320d and then a 2014 F31 330d but whilst they are fantastic do everything cars, they've never felt like "my car" and were just lacking the fun aspect to the way they drove. The last car to properly feel like mine was probably a 2008 Mazda 6 Sport that I had for 4 years and did 70k miles in.
Because of lockdown and a lot more of my projects being home based, we couldn't justify running my 3 series plus a 2016 L200. We have an alpaca farm as a hobby, so my wife's L200 is sadly the more useful car to have around so we decided to sell my car and cope with just the L200. The 330d was the only car I've ever sold for a profit.
The one car household thing lasted two weeks (and a couple of long journeys in the L200) before I decided to buy my own car again, it's weird but I just like having my own car. We had used most of the money from my car to pay off the outstanding finance on the L200, and to buy a stud apaca (yeah I know) so my budget was reduced £2k for my replacement.
This left not many "interesting" cars in budget and my final choice came down to a Lexus IS or a Saab Aero. I'd made enquiries into one the same as mine on ebay with 93k miles that is still there, but had no response from the seller at all. Good selling tactics...
This one popped up on ebay with 10 minutes left, it had minimal service history, 150k miles on it and heady 5 owners, but it looked pretty tidy considering that. I put a bid on and won it for 1750. Unfortunately the reserve was not met so I didn't get it. I messaged the seller and we agreed on £2k for it. In retrospect it is probably about right.
So on the April bank holiday Friday we drove down to Leighton Buzzard to collect, I paid and we were on our way back home. The seller kindly included a new purge valve as it didn't like starting after filling with fuel, some illegally spaced number plates and some exhaust hangers.
The car was a little tattier than it looked in the pictures, it needs the commonly bashed front splitter re-painting, there are quite a lot of dings that I'll get sorted at some point by a PDR place and surface rust is just starting to take hold on the front wings and rear arches. I'm not sure what route I'll take with that as ideally it needs the splitter, front bumper, wings, arches and tailgate painting so at that point I may as well get the whole thing done and fix the bad repair that's been done to two doors and the bad scratch on another. The interior is better than average, I know these cars wear badly, although it looked like someone with hooks for hands had tried to remove various pieces of interior trim.
On the journey home the car averaged 30+ mpg which I was ecstatic with for a 2.8 V6 and other than a few creaks and groans of the suspension and a very harsh change from 2-1 (which has gone since I've removed the battery for a while which resets the gearbox ECU) the car is very comfortable to drive.
Then it went downhill a bit, I showed my mum the car and took some picturesque pictures at her house,
then headed home via the fuel station, on the 5 minute journey the head unit froze and the car went into limp home mode... I filled up, got in the car and tried to start it, it turned over twice and then stopped. More attempts just got a click and nothing else. The 85 year old attendant helped push my car off the fuel court and into the car park of the coffee shop next door, where I abandoned it on some yellow hashes and raised the bonnet so that it didn't look totally abandoned. I checked the obvious stuff, and the guy who runs the coffee shop was kind enough to bring me a spare battery to help jump it but it didn't help. I messaged the seller and to his credit he called me and him and his dad tried to help out and diagnose the issue to no avail.
I logged a call out with the RAC and to their credit despite it being the first bank holiday that people were allowed out of their homes since lockdown they arrived 20 minutes later. The RAC guy noted a turbo overboost error from the ECU (unrelated but the cause of the limp home mode) but could not get the car to fire. Because the front of the car is too low to use the dolly we used the fixed bar to tow the car back to my parents (terrifying). The RAC guy jacked it up, crawled under without any axel stands and tapped on the started but could not get it to fire. He decided it was most likely the starter so we left it at my mums and I went home feeling sorry for myself.
cont...
I decided that the starter motor needed replacing, but seeing as I'd just send every penny to my name on the damn car I was reluctant to spend £80 on a second hand motor.
I did some more investigation and it turns out that the terminal on the cable that runs to the starter likes to corrode off and this was most likely the issue.
I went back over to my parents house the following morning and set about getting to the starter. It was a horrible job and had to remove some intercooler hoses and the secondary air pump (no idea what that does other than pump air) to get to it. The pump only had one bolt holding it in so someone had been there before me. Unfortunately I'm having to re-do a lot of the jobs that have previously been done to the car as I'm finding stuff butchered, broken or put back wrong. I'm at least a DIY mechanic with standards!
On inspection the terminal had indeed corroded off and had been repaired by our "mechanic" friend using a piece of copper pipe and a load of solder that hadn't really soldered onto anything other than the plastic shielding.
I couldn't find any terminals locally on a bank holiday weekend so I had to admit defeat and give up. I ordered a selection of massive terminals and a hydraulic crimping tool from ebay.
The following weekend I was there nice and early, on the 5th attempt I got the new terminal on and crimped correctly
Then it was putting it all back together...or not. It turned out that the pipe on the secondary air pump had just snapped off, so back into town I went to get some araldite. I got the good stuff so had to wait until the next day to fit it.
Then all back together, the car fired first time!
While it was partially in pieces I changed the vacuum purge valve thingy which has resolved the starting when the fuel cap has been removed and also fitted a new turbo boost valve as I decided that was the cause of the limp home mode. Turns out I was right.
So a week later I finally managed to get it home, gave it a clean and a semi-deep clean of the interior.
I was still having the freezing head unit issue, anyone looking at these will know what a terrible system the earlier 9-3's run. It's optical but run on a ring loop that is almost proprietary. This pretty much means that you can't upgrade the pre-07 cars audio and if it fails you are in a whole world of pain. Luckily my car had an extra amp and nav unit in the boot, the previous owner explained that the head unit didn't work when he got it and he fixed it. From investigation the drain under the windscreen gets blocked and the water cascades into the car which blows the amp under the drivers seat. I can confirm this as it's pretty mingin under there. I guess the prev owner had replaced both the nav unit in the boot and the amp under the seat when trying to resolve the issue (I could tell this by the mashed boot floor brackets that looked like they had been torn out in anger), I put the old nav unit back in and it's worked fine since.
I did some more investigation and it turns out that the terminal on the cable that runs to the starter likes to corrode off and this was most likely the issue.
I went back over to my parents house the following morning and set about getting to the starter. It was a horrible job and had to remove some intercooler hoses and the secondary air pump (no idea what that does other than pump air) to get to it. The pump only had one bolt holding it in so someone had been there before me. Unfortunately I'm having to re-do a lot of the jobs that have previously been done to the car as I'm finding stuff butchered, broken or put back wrong. I'm at least a DIY mechanic with standards!
On inspection the terminal had indeed corroded off and had been repaired by our "mechanic" friend using a piece of copper pipe and a load of solder that hadn't really soldered onto anything other than the plastic shielding.
I couldn't find any terminals locally on a bank holiday weekend so I had to admit defeat and give up. I ordered a selection of massive terminals and a hydraulic crimping tool from ebay.
The following weekend I was there nice and early, on the 5th attempt I got the new terminal on and crimped correctly
Then it was putting it all back together...or not. It turned out that the pipe on the secondary air pump had just snapped off, so back into town I went to get some araldite. I got the good stuff so had to wait until the next day to fit it.
Then all back together, the car fired first time!
While it was partially in pieces I changed the vacuum purge valve thingy which has resolved the starting when the fuel cap has been removed and also fitted a new turbo boost valve as I decided that was the cause of the limp home mode. Turns out I was right.
So a week later I finally managed to get it home, gave it a clean and a semi-deep clean of the interior.
I was still having the freezing head unit issue, anyone looking at these will know what a terrible system the earlier 9-3's run. It's optical but run on a ring loop that is almost proprietary. This pretty much means that you can't upgrade the pre-07 cars audio and if it fails you are in a whole world of pain. Luckily my car had an extra amp and nav unit in the boot, the previous owner explained that the head unit didn't work when he got it and he fixed it. From investigation the drain under the windscreen gets blocked and the water cascades into the car which blows the amp under the drivers seat. I can confirm this as it's pretty mingin under there. I guess the prev owner had replaced both the nav unit in the boot and the amp under the seat when trying to resolve the issue (I could tell this by the mashed boot floor brackets that looked like they had been torn out in anger), I put the old nav unit back in and it's worked fine since.
Cambs_Stuart said:
I've also my my eye on these thanks to other reader's cars threads. There was a black 2.8 V6 wagon for sale in Stamford that I think I've missed out on, but once I've sold my family barge I'll be looking more seriously. They look great VFM.
Good luck with yours.
Thank you. I'm pretty sure my car has everything that breaks on one of these broken, so just keep reading for what to look for!Good luck with yours.
Seriously though, I actually really like the car. The steering is light but has so much more feel than modern electrically power steering cars.
The engine is great too, not that fast compared to a 330d but is lovely and smooth and much more rewarding to drive.
Some people say that the 2.0T is a better engine, but I wouldn't go back to a 4 cylinder if I could help it
ZiggyNiva said:
Big fan of these. I had a Vectra 2.8 Elite which I loved (mapped to 310bhp and 400 lbft). MPG was crap around town, but I found it was pretty good on a run. I really fancy a new shape 9-5, but can't manage with a saloon.
Yeah, my parents had a new 05 reg 1.9 TiD Vector Sport for a few years and I've fancied one ever since.I'm the same, I need an estate for the dogs (and occasional bike). I didn't realise they didn't do the new shape 9-5 in an estate.
Ok, so my next thing to tackle was sound quality.
The sound system is a massive part of a car for me, call me picky, snobby etc., but I've found that if a car has a crap stereo I eventually come to hate the car (I'm looking at you R56 mini and Peugeot 207). You just can't enjoy driving around in the sunshine with loud music on if it sounds horrible.
Pre 07 Saab 9-3 stereos, whilst using alpine parts, are terrible. You can't upgrade the head unit as it's built in behind the dash so you have to live with what's there really.
There are 3 audio options (these are the wagon systems, saloons and convertibles are slightly different):
4 speaker, 70w system which consists of 2x 3.5" dash speakers and 2x 3.5" tailgate speakers (yes, that's it). If you are looking at a Saab and it has the head unit without a screen it will have this system. It's not easily upgradeable to anything better, the speaker signals are filtered so you can't amplify the signals or anything useful.
7 speaker, 150w system that has the same as above, plus a centre dash speaker and then 2x mid-low range speakers in the door. It's better but still rubbish, this is what my car has.
12 speaker, 300w system which is the above, plus a sub under the boot floor, two tweeters in the tailgate (why?!) and then separate speakers in the dash. This is supposed to sound half decent as the sub is dual coil and provides quite a kick. Unfortunately I'd have to change the under the seat amp, then add the wiring and the boot amp to fit the sub and it's probably not worth it.
So I'm stuck with crappy sound that due to being under powered sounds really harsh at higher volumes. Eventually I'm going to take a line out from the door bass speakers and send it to an old sub that I've already got in the garage (I'll fit it in the car, not leave it in the garage). It should remove some of the distortion but probably won't make it sound less harsh. I reckon my long term plan if I keep the car for a while is to just add a bluetooth enabled 6 channel amp and mostly ignore the head unit. I use spotify all the time anyway.
On the 15 minute drive between my mums house and mine I managed to blow one of the dash speakers! So the first step of the upgrade was moved up the list.
Speakers are difficult to find for the doors as they are 2 ohm. This isn't partic common but they will sound louder than the normal 4 ohm ones so I ordered some JBL components and some 3.5" coaxial speakers
On taking the cards off (I always add some sound proofing too to help stop rattles and add bass) I noticed that the door speakers had already been changed. They were 4 ohm ones, so I decided to fit mine anyway, plus if there is one thing I don't need it is more treble! It turns out the rubbish job of soldering the wires directly to the speakers had come off on the passenger side, so I'm glad I did it.
I then moved onto the dash speakers which had also been changed, but thankfully not soldered directly to the speakers this time. You can see how the left hand one is blown.
All back together I'd say it now sounds okay. Even a little bit of bass rattles the electric window switches and distorts, but there is at least bass and no blown speaker.
I've ordered the parts for the sub install, so that'll be happening this weekend I think. I went to do it on Monday, but the amp that I thought that I had with the speaker line in adaptor is unfortunately in our mongol Rally car that we gave to a guy on a horse in Krgystan when the clutch went! The Vibe amp I have doesn't have one so I've ordered a line out adaptor.
Oh, and I'm using this TaoTronic bluetooth receiver currently, it's plugged into the AUX port, and other than the stereo having to be set to aux every time I turn the car off and on again it works great
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-TaoTronics-Hand...
The sound system is a massive part of a car for me, call me picky, snobby etc., but I've found that if a car has a crap stereo I eventually come to hate the car (I'm looking at you R56 mini and Peugeot 207). You just can't enjoy driving around in the sunshine with loud music on if it sounds horrible.
Pre 07 Saab 9-3 stereos, whilst using alpine parts, are terrible. You can't upgrade the head unit as it's built in behind the dash so you have to live with what's there really.
There are 3 audio options (these are the wagon systems, saloons and convertibles are slightly different):
4 speaker, 70w system which consists of 2x 3.5" dash speakers and 2x 3.5" tailgate speakers (yes, that's it). If you are looking at a Saab and it has the head unit without a screen it will have this system. It's not easily upgradeable to anything better, the speaker signals are filtered so you can't amplify the signals or anything useful.
7 speaker, 150w system that has the same as above, plus a centre dash speaker and then 2x mid-low range speakers in the door. It's better but still rubbish, this is what my car has.
12 speaker, 300w system which is the above, plus a sub under the boot floor, two tweeters in the tailgate (why?!) and then separate speakers in the dash. This is supposed to sound half decent as the sub is dual coil and provides quite a kick. Unfortunately I'd have to change the under the seat amp, then add the wiring and the boot amp to fit the sub and it's probably not worth it.
So I'm stuck with crappy sound that due to being under powered sounds really harsh at higher volumes. Eventually I'm going to take a line out from the door bass speakers and send it to an old sub that I've already got in the garage (I'll fit it in the car, not leave it in the garage). It should remove some of the distortion but probably won't make it sound less harsh. I reckon my long term plan if I keep the car for a while is to just add a bluetooth enabled 6 channel amp and mostly ignore the head unit. I use spotify all the time anyway.
On the 15 minute drive between my mums house and mine I managed to blow one of the dash speakers! So the first step of the upgrade was moved up the list.
Speakers are difficult to find for the doors as they are 2 ohm. This isn't partic common but they will sound louder than the normal 4 ohm ones so I ordered some JBL components and some 3.5" coaxial speakers
On taking the cards off (I always add some sound proofing too to help stop rattles and add bass) I noticed that the door speakers had already been changed. They were 4 ohm ones, so I decided to fit mine anyway, plus if there is one thing I don't need it is more treble! It turns out the rubbish job of soldering the wires directly to the speakers had come off on the passenger side, so I'm glad I did it.
I then moved onto the dash speakers which had also been changed, but thankfully not soldered directly to the speakers this time. You can see how the left hand one is blown.
All back together I'd say it now sounds okay. Even a little bit of bass rattles the electric window switches and distorts, but there is at least bass and no blown speaker.
I've ordered the parts for the sub install, so that'll be happening this weekend I think. I went to do it on Monday, but the amp that I thought that I had with the speaker line in adaptor is unfortunately in our mongol Rally car that we gave to a guy on a horse in Krgystan when the clutch went! The Vibe amp I have doesn't have one so I've ordered a line out adaptor.
Oh, and I'm using this TaoTronic bluetooth receiver currently, it's plugged into the AUX port, and other than the stereo having to be set to aux every time I turn the car off and on again it works great
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-TaoTronics-Hand...
Next I decided to try my hand at car trimming.
None of the car trim restoration people I've found do steering wheel repair (guess it's hard to get perfect) so I decided to do it myself.
Because of the silver insert in my wheel (I'm still not sure on it) the leather can't wrap around so I guess it just glued on, which comes off over time. Mine had a habit of catching my palm skin in it!
So I bunged a load of araldate inside it, and taped it up.
Actually came out better than I expected. The marks on the wheel are where the previous owner had cable ties around it...bet that felt nice in the hand.
What I've done has stayed on nicely, but there are a couple of bits on the back that creak so I'll do them at some point.
I'm still tempted to get a wheel with the gear change buttons fitted to it, though I'd have to find someone to program them in for me. You can't get them in silver though, so it'd be a standard black wheel.
None of the car trim restoration people I've found do steering wheel repair (guess it's hard to get perfect) so I decided to do it myself.
Because of the silver insert in my wheel (I'm still not sure on it) the leather can't wrap around so I guess it just glued on, which comes off over time. Mine had a habit of catching my palm skin in it!
So I bunged a load of araldate inside it, and taped it up.
Actually came out better than I expected. The marks on the wheel are where the previous owner had cable ties around it...bet that felt nice in the hand.
What I've done has stayed on nicely, but there are a couple of bits on the back that creak so I'll do them at some point.
I'm still tempted to get a wheel with the gear change buttons fitted to it, though I'd have to find someone to program them in for me. You can't get them in silver though, so it'd be a standard black wheel.
I've been having an ongoing saga with the dash since a couple of weeks into ownership. Just a bad coincidence I think.
For some reason when you turn the car off and on again the temp gauge and the fuel gauge don't zero. So when you turn the car back on the dials go up...
It's a known issue where the stepper motors die. I'm not sure why they only tend to do it on fuel and temp, my theory is they don't like being static all the time.
I ordered a replacement cluster from ebay for £25 and set to taking the dash apart, the worst part is removing the vents, the rest is easy. Interesting note that if the head unit isn't plugged in the car won't start!
Unfortunately on disassembling, the cluster that I bought is from a slightly newer car and is completely different inside.
Old on the left, newer style on the right
I tried to fix the motors by taking them apart, putting some graphite in the gears and gluing in the little stopper ball which stops them from going too far. They did work for a couple of weeks but then died again.
So I spent days trawling google and found someone recommending SEI-X65-589 stepper motors. I could only find these from a company in Italy, so £26 in delivery later and a white lie about me being a company so I could actually order them post brexit and 3 motors were on their way to me.
Unfortunately they were the same as the ones in the later Bosch unit and didn't fit
. The difference is only a couple of mm each side in the pins and the locator thingies but enough to mean I can't force them in.
So if anyone recognises these, they don't even seem to have a part number, the please let me know.
My only option is to burgle one off ebay for the motors now, or get another dash programmed in somewhere
For some reason when you turn the car off and on again the temp gauge and the fuel gauge don't zero. So when you turn the car back on the dials go up...
It's a known issue where the stepper motors die. I'm not sure why they only tend to do it on fuel and temp, my theory is they don't like being static all the time.
I ordered a replacement cluster from ebay for £25 and set to taking the dash apart, the worst part is removing the vents, the rest is easy. Interesting note that if the head unit isn't plugged in the car won't start!
Unfortunately on disassembling, the cluster that I bought is from a slightly newer car and is completely different inside.
Old on the left, newer style on the right
I tried to fix the motors by taking them apart, putting some graphite in the gears and gluing in the little stopper ball which stops them from going too far. They did work for a couple of weeks but then died again.
So I spent days trawling google and found someone recommending SEI-X65-589 stepper motors. I could only find these from a company in Italy, so £26 in delivery later and a white lie about me being a company so I could actually order them post brexit and 3 motors were on their way to me.
Unfortunately they were the same as the ones in the later Bosch unit and didn't fit
. The difference is only a couple of mm each side in the pins and the locator thingies but enough to mean I can't force them in.So if anyone recognises these, they don't even seem to have a part number, the please let me know.
My only option is to burgle one off ebay for the motors now, or get another dash programmed in somewhere
Edited by james6546 on Wednesday 5th May 17:40
Final update and I'm all up to date, this is a fun one...
When first started my car would misfire. It'd clear up after a minute or so, but wasn't ideal.
Me being me, I'd obsessively read everything about it and decided it was either spark plugs or the coil packs. I started with the plugs as they were the cheapest option and this car has a patchy at best service history. Plus the coil packs are £80 each and it needs 6! I'll eventually be getting a stage 2 tune so I'll have to do them eventually, but hopefully they will last for now.
All was going fine, I changed the front three. It was nice to see that the ones that I was taking out were also NGK iridium plugs, shows that the car hasn't just had the cheapest parts put on all the time. A couple had petrol on them and they were dirty but not horrible (I'm a spark plug novice).
When I got to the back I had to remove a lot more. It is possible to do without removing the plenum but very fiddly and I had to remove my newly fitted vac purge valve, the ecu and a load of other stuff. Weirdly two of the rear plugs were just finger tight, I think this may have been the cause for the misfire as I guess when they warm up they seal properly.
On reassembly I managed to snap off a pipe on what I now know is the brake boost valve. Not ideal! And whilst this car shares the engine with the Vectra VXR it doesn't share this part. Because the engine bay on these is a very hot place the plastics become brittle so you have to be careful.
I then panicked and removed the plenum which didn't help at all!
I finally managed to find a replacement part, but the only one in stock was in the Netherlands. £90 later and it was on its way to me. Unfortunately the L200 had also started making a grinding noice when accelerating (turned out to be a heat shield) so we were without a working car and had a meal planned for the Friday...
Fortunately the valve came a couple of hours before we needed to leave and the car was back together in time. I'm pleased to say it has resolved the misfire
I've also painted some brackets, put a new washer bottle cap on, replaced the expansion tank cap as it'd blow out water when I really push on and also fitted the hirsch grille properly including 6 new clips to replace the 1 wrong size clip that was there!
You'll notice I'm not using the plastic engine cover. The reason for that is that a prev owner had managed to cross thread the oil filler cap into the neck which destroyed the neck when I was removing it. If I'd known how hard they were to get hold of I'd have probably destroyed the filler cap instead! That is the reason that there is oil all over the engine, when the prev owner filled with oil they would remove the cover, pipe and cap, fill up and then just pushed it back together loosely!
When first started my car would misfire. It'd clear up after a minute or so, but wasn't ideal.
Me being me, I'd obsessively read everything about it and decided it was either spark plugs or the coil packs. I started with the plugs as they were the cheapest option and this car has a patchy at best service history. Plus the coil packs are £80 each and it needs 6! I'll eventually be getting a stage 2 tune so I'll have to do them eventually, but hopefully they will last for now.
All was going fine, I changed the front three. It was nice to see that the ones that I was taking out were also NGK iridium plugs, shows that the car hasn't just had the cheapest parts put on all the time. A couple had petrol on them and they were dirty but not horrible (I'm a spark plug novice).
When I got to the back I had to remove a lot more. It is possible to do without removing the plenum but very fiddly and I had to remove my newly fitted vac purge valve, the ecu and a load of other stuff. Weirdly two of the rear plugs were just finger tight, I think this may have been the cause for the misfire as I guess when they warm up they seal properly.
On reassembly I managed to snap off a pipe on what I now know is the brake boost valve. Not ideal! And whilst this car shares the engine with the Vectra VXR it doesn't share this part. Because the engine bay on these is a very hot place the plastics become brittle so you have to be careful.
I then panicked and removed the plenum which didn't help at all!
I finally managed to find a replacement part, but the only one in stock was in the Netherlands. £90 later and it was on its way to me. Unfortunately the L200 had also started making a grinding noice when accelerating (turned out to be a heat shield) so we were without a working car and had a meal planned for the Friday...
Fortunately the valve came a couple of hours before we needed to leave and the car was back together in time. I'm pleased to say it has resolved the misfire
I've also painted some brackets, put a new washer bottle cap on, replaced the expansion tank cap as it'd blow out water when I really push on and also fitted the hirsch grille properly including 6 new clips to replace the 1 wrong size clip that was there!
You'll notice I'm not using the plastic engine cover. The reason for that is that a prev owner had managed to cross thread the oil filler cap into the neck which destroyed the neck when I was removing it. If I'd known how hard they were to get hold of I'd have probably destroyed the filler cap instead! That is the reason that there is oil all over the engine, when the prev owner filled with oil they would remove the cover, pipe and cap, fill up and then just pushed it back together loosely!
Edited by james6546 on Wednesday 5th May 17:38
So what's the plan now?
I've got a list of stuff that doesn't work:
- Electric mirror switch
- Full beam (probably the stalk)
- Windscreen washer (unless you count the dribble from one jet)
- Air Con (I think)
So those will have to be looked at.
The next major job on the list is a full suspension overhaul. I ordered as many suspension components as I could find from Autodoc including bolts and new brake flexi's. I've also got polybushes for the sway bars and for the rear subframe which will be coming out and being painted. I wanted to go with eibach springs and Bilstein B8's but the budget wouldn't allow it, so I've just got some Bilstein B4's for now which I'll use with the current springs and lower later if I feel it needs it.
The only bushes on the car that won't have been done will be the front subframe ones as I'm not sure it's coming out yet, plus the engine and gearbox mounts which will be done at a later date.
The brake fluid will also be changed as it's black and the brakes have a lot of travel. I'll also paint the callipers yellow while they are off. The previous owner changed the discs and pads all around so assuming they aren't bodged will just be going back in and maybe being replaced with EBC yellow at a later date.
After that I need to change the auto box fluid. It's supposed to be changed every 30k miles as there isn't a filter, but judging by the battery box bolts (battery box is removed to fill the oil) it hasn't been done in years. I think I'm going to remove the front of the car, that way I can change the xenon bulbs as they don't do much, fit a new coolant temp sensor, re-seal or replace the fogs, fit a new washer bottle and maybe pump, polish the headlights and maybe have a go at painting the splitter.
I think that's most of the main jobs. I'm trying to keep the spend low as the car is never going to be worth much, but everything I touch seems to need replacing!
I've got a list of stuff that doesn't work:
- Electric mirror switch
- Full beam (probably the stalk)
- Windscreen washer (unless you count the dribble from one jet)
- Air Con (I think)
So those will have to be looked at.
The next major job on the list is a full suspension overhaul. I ordered as many suspension components as I could find from Autodoc including bolts and new brake flexi's. I've also got polybushes for the sway bars and for the rear subframe which will be coming out and being painted. I wanted to go with eibach springs and Bilstein B8's but the budget wouldn't allow it, so I've just got some Bilstein B4's for now which I'll use with the current springs and lower later if I feel it needs it.
The only bushes on the car that won't have been done will be the front subframe ones as I'm not sure it's coming out yet, plus the engine and gearbox mounts which will be done at a later date.
The brake fluid will also be changed as it's black and the brakes have a lot of travel. I'll also paint the callipers yellow while they are off. The previous owner changed the discs and pads all around so assuming they aren't bodged will just be going back in and maybe being replaced with EBC yellow at a later date.
After that I need to change the auto box fluid. It's supposed to be changed every 30k miles as there isn't a filter, but judging by the battery box bolts (battery box is removed to fill the oil) it hasn't been done in years. I think I'm going to remove the front of the car, that way I can change the xenon bulbs as they don't do much, fit a new coolant temp sensor, re-seal or replace the fogs, fit a new washer bottle and maybe pump, polish the headlights and maybe have a go at painting the splitter.
I think that's most of the main jobs. I'm trying to keep the spend low as the car is never going to be worth much, but everything I touch seems to need replacing!
Yep the clusters a right pita on these, my temp gauge used to settle around 3/4 when it was actually normal. Never got as high as yours but still worrying when you first see it! I used to disconnect the battery for 15 mins and it reset itself, great when your stuck in Tesco with the missis screaming “Just get rid of this f
king thing” 
Might not happen again for a while or just keep coming back every journey. Hit & miss.
Not sure what the best fix is these days but back then it was a new cluster around £350iirc?? Was next on my to do list before it went bang.
Music side you could run an independent system, a decent single din where the old CD player lives, 6.5” woofers in the doors, coaxials in the dash and sub(s) in the boot, nice 6 channel amp and it’ll sound miles better. Not an easy job your basically starting fresh but it’s doable.
I can’t remember what size rear speakers the wagon had, saloon’s had 6x9’s in the shelf. I just whacked a load on silent coat above & below the shelf and swapped the speakers for Genesis P69 subs (6x9 subs) disconnected the other speakers and it sounded a lot better even on the standard set up.
king thing” Might not happen again for a while or just keep coming back every journey. Hit & miss.
Not sure what the best fix is these days but back then it was a new cluster around £350iirc?? Was next on my to do list before it went bang.
Music side you could run an independent system, a decent single din where the old CD player lives, 6.5” woofers in the doors, coaxials in the dash and sub(s) in the boot, nice 6 channel amp and it’ll sound miles better. Not an easy job your basically starting fresh but it’s doable.
I can’t remember what size rear speakers the wagon had, saloon’s had 6x9’s in the shelf. I just whacked a load on silent coat above & below the shelf and swapped the speakers for Genesis P69 subs (6x9 subs) disconnected the other speakers and it sounded a lot better even on the standard set up.
These:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184277560544?hash=item2...
I’m sure some Mini’s came with these so they might be sat in a scrapper somewhere!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184277560544?hash=item2...
I’m sure some Mini’s came with these so they might be sat in a scrapper somewhere!
griffin dai said:
Yep the clusters a right pita on these, my temp gauge used to settle around 3/4 when it was actually normal. Never got as high as yours but still worrying when you first see it! I used to disconnect the battery for 15 mins and it reset itself, great when your stuck in Tesco with the missis screaming “Just get rid of this fking thing”
Might not happen again for a while or just keep coming back every journey. Hit & miss.
Not sure what the best fix is these days but back then it was a new cluster around £350iirc?? Was next on my to do list before it went bang.
Music side you could run an independent system, a decent single din where the old CD player lives, 6.5” woofers in the doors, coaxials in the dash and sub(s) in the boot, nice 6 channel amp and it’ll sound miles better. Not an easy job your basically starting fresh but it’s doable.
I can’t remember what size rear speakers the wagon had, saloon’s had 6x9’s in the shelf. I just whacked a load on silent coat above & below the shelf and swapped the speakers for Genesis P69 subs (6x9 subs) disconnected the other speakers and it sounded a lot better even on the standard set up.
Cheers dude, I've read through your car thread, you did a hell of a lot of work to yours.king thing” Might not happen again for a while or just keep coming back every journey. Hit & miss.
Not sure what the best fix is these days but back then it was a new cluster around £350iirc?? Was next on my to do list before it went bang.
Music side you could run an independent system, a decent single din where the old CD player lives, 6.5” woofers in the doors, coaxials in the dash and sub(s) in the boot, nice 6 channel amp and it’ll sound miles better. Not an easy job your basically starting fresh but it’s doable.
I can’t remember what size rear speakers the wagon had, saloon’s had 6x9’s in the shelf. I just whacked a load on silent coat above & below the shelf and swapped the speakers for Genesis P69 subs (6x9 subs) disconnected the other speakers and it sounded a lot better even on the standard set up.
Unfortunately taking the battery off doesn't reset my dials. I'm going to get a bluetooth obd reader and an app so I can keep an eye on temps, and the DTE indicator is ok for fuel, although not ideal.
I've not seen new clusters anywhere, so I'm just going to get another one off ebay at some point. I'm not sure if it's possible to program in one of the newer Bosch clusters using tech 2 or not. The replacement Bosch cluster I bought worked fine, but the car wouldn't start.
The wagon has a sub under the boot floor in the top spec stereo rather than the 6x9's. I'll probably get one at some point as they are supposed to be good, and amplify using my own amp. For now it'll be getting the no expense spared option of an old JBL sub from the garage.
I've seen people put the single din where the CD is, but I don't like the idea of the standard head unit being there but not working. For some reason I don't use the 2005 satnav, but it's nice to know it at least works.
Haaha, call to Volsaa in Derby (Saab and Volvo specialist):
Me: Hi, can you give me a price for a gearbox oil change on a Saab 9-3 V6 Auto please?
Volsaa: What year?
Me: 2006, a 6 speed
Volsaa: No, sorry we don't have the tool to suck the gearbox oil out
Me: Right...ok. Have you had any dealings with the dashes in my car?
Volsaa: Why, what is wrong with it?
Me: I think the stepper motors have failed and it probably needs a new cluster.
Volsaa: No, we haven't done anything like that, and I don't know anyone who would
Me: OK...thanks...
So it looks like I'm on my own.
I'm tempted to buy a Tech 2 so I can program a replacement cluster in myself but it looks massively complicated. I apparently need the scanner tool, a security key, a saab specific memory card and a laptop with windows XP and a serial port...
Me: Hi, can you give me a price for a gearbox oil change on a Saab 9-3 V6 Auto please?
Volsaa: What year?
Me: 2006, a 6 speed
Volsaa: No, sorry we don't have the tool to suck the gearbox oil out
Me: Right...ok. Have you had any dealings with the dashes in my car?
Volsaa: Why, what is wrong with it?
Me: I think the stepper motors have failed and it probably needs a new cluster.
Volsaa: No, we haven't done anything like that, and I don't know anyone who would
Me: OK...thanks...
So it looks like I'm on my own.
I'm tempted to buy a Tech 2 so I can program a replacement cluster in myself but it looks massively complicated. I apparently need the scanner tool, a security key, a saab specific memory card and a laptop with windows XP and a serial port...
Nice car and good to see you working through the gremilns. I had a 2006 2.0 aero 5 speed and loved it. Bought it for £1k, used it 3 years and sold it for £1k. I can't be sure, but I think a previous owner must have remapped it as it was properly quick and felt a lot faster than the 210bhp it was meant to have. It was great fun! I was lucky in that it never went wrong in the time I had it, but it did have a fragile feeling about it.
I just came on here to say there's a great Saab specialist in Stevenage called Leelac. They serviced my car and they know everything about all Saabs. If you ever get stuck, need help or advice then give them a call. Really helpful, decent and honest people and all they do is Saabs
I just came on here to say there's a great Saab specialist in Stevenage called Leelac. They serviced my car and they know everything about all Saabs. If you ever get stuck, need help or advice then give them a call. Really helpful, decent and honest people and all they do is Saabs
croissant said:
Nice car and good to see you working through the gremilns. I had a 2006 2.0 aero 5 speed and loved it. Bought it for £1k, used it 3 years and sold it for £1k. I can't be sure, but I think a previous owner must have remapped it as it was properly quick and felt a lot faster than the 210bhp it was meant to have. It was great fun! I was lucky in that it never went wrong in the time I had it, but it did have a fragile feeling about it.
I just came on here to say there's a great Saab specialist in Stevenage called Leelac. They serviced my car and they know everything about all Saabs. If you ever get stuck, need help or advice then give them a call. Really helpful, decent and honest people and all they do is Saabs
Thank you, that's good to know.I just came on here to say there's a great Saab specialist in Stevenage called Leelac. They serviced my car and they know everything about all Saabs. If you ever get stuck, need help or advice then give them a call. Really helpful, decent and honest people and all they do is Saabs
Yeah, I understand your point about them feeling fragile, I'm hoping the suspension project will help that. You do get a massive amount of car for your money though.
The guy I bought mine off reckoned it had been remapped as it felt faster than his dads v6 convertible. I'm not sure though as my 330d felt faster and on paper they have the same bhp.
james6546 said:
Haaha, call to Volsaa in Derby (Saab and Volvo specialist):
Me: Hi, can you give me a price for a gearbox oil change on a Saab 9-3 V6 Auto please?
Volsaa: What year?
Me: 2006, a 6 speed
Volsaa: No, sorry we don't have the tool to suck the gearbox oil out
A bit strange for them to say that as it's the same unit as used in the Phase 2 Volvo S60/V70 and later cars so you'd expect them to know the script. There is no dipstick on the 6-speeder so no idea where they plan to suck the oil out. It has a big hollow drain plug on the bottom with a smaller level checking bolt fitted inside that, I did a quick drop of fluid through the level checker on my old Vectra 2.8T Elite and got 1.2L out, so put 1.2L back in. I had intended on doing further drop and fills that way but only managed the one before my (now ex-) wife left with the car.Me: Hi, can you give me a price for a gearbox oil change on a Saab 9-3 V6 Auto please?
Volsaa: What year?
Me: 2006, a 6 speed
Volsaa: No, sorry we don't have the tool to suck the gearbox oil out
I know the official procedure was to warm it all up and run through the gear positions etc but I did it cold and put back exactly what came out. I think I removed the upper heatshield to get to the fill plug as it's pretty much right under the primary cat. One other thing I noticed was that the fill plug was a lot tighter than expected to release it compared to the tightening torque.
This was what came out at 117k miles, the fluid was dark but didn't smell burnt, nor did it have any particles obvious to touch between the fingertips.
new vs old:
- edited to add*
Edited by csd19 on Thursday 6th May 17:45
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