Nicole

I, too, have a Saab as a daily driver. It's a '95 900 with V6 and automatic. Not a sensational car, but very practical, comfortable, and well made. I just wish I had a turbo 4-cylinder instead of the V6 - that German made engine is the source of all trouble I had with the car (while I hear the turbos are no trouble at all).

Well, I had a "Big Dave" type experience with the V6: the key on the crankshaft that drives the timing belt gear sheared off, and the valves were toast. Thak god this happened at the dealer, after they misdiagnosed a bad rattle from the front of the engine as a "loud waterpump". I was lucky enough that this happened just before the end of the timing belt warranty, so Saab picked up most of the $7200 repair (I paid $1000 of it). Now I have everything updated and hopefully no more trouble other than the reocurring oil leaks.

As I said, the turbos don't seem to have this type of trouble, and I hear the new V6 engines don't have this either.

Best of luck, BigDave!!!

Big Dave

Update 9/12 @ 5:22 (got the laptop in da garage)

Compression test is complete. Here are the results: 3 of 8 cylinders produce no pressure.

OK.........BAD
OK.........OK
OK.........BAD
BAD.......OK
----front------

They may all have problems since i was getting varying pressure on the cylinder listed as "OK". The first one read 190 the first time I tried, but then never went over 30. Others never got past 30 except the last which made it as high as 160. Any of them listed as "BAD" never moved from 0.

Time to begin pulling the engine. Tiburon, I hope you still have those heads for me.

Thaddeus

Scheisse.

WesM951

Dave,
I just read through this post. Good Luck with the motor, if ya need any help some weekend, let me know, i'll swing up with the 951.

Kevin in Atlanta

"Tiburon, I hope you still have those heads for me."

Sure do. Just give me word and I'll start prepping them.

Gregg K

Oh well. That hurts.
Take a deep breath, and know it's worth doing. And you have the forum as company. I think that makes a huge difference. Hope all goes well...


Nicole, what a story! That's almost unbelievable. It also adds to the fact that 928's aren't the only ones succeptible to this problem.

FlyingDog

That was a huge problem with 900 2.5L V6s. They initially claimed 60k, then 30k, then most mechanics said 20k between changes. It is supposedly based on some Opel racing engine. The 9000 3.0L V6 didn't have any of those problems and has since been used in Cateras and Buicks. SAAB doesn't use either anymore.