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Stanky's Car Fixing Thread - New Car Update 16/3


Stanky

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  • 1 month later...

Did a quick oil and filter change on the Saab this afternoon, I slung some Gulf 5w/40 fully synth in (it was cheaper than the QXQXQX stuff from ECP) after draining the Asda 5w/30 out. I can confirm that the car has done a bit over 8k on the asda stuff and hasn't shat itself so Asda oil can't be that bad.

 

I'll change the new stuff in about another 10k or so.

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As you may have seen from Danthecapriman's Volvo thread, we got our wheels back from the powder coaters today. To say I'm chuffed by the fiished article is an understatement. This is how they looked before they went off on Monday morning

 

post-5525-0-57669500-1507912382_thumb.jpg

 

post-5525-0-90563000-1507912390_thumb.jpg

 

post-5525-0-71823500-1507912397_thumb.jpg

 

4 days later they have come back having been blasted and powder coated and they now look like this!

 

post-5525-0-59949800-1507912433_thumb.jpg

 

post-5525-0-35838900-1507912442_thumb.jpg

 

post-5525-0-12546800-1507912449_thumb.jpg

 

They are brilliant! I've got them in my garage curing for a few more days just to let the powder fully harden (fnarr) then after I next get paid I'll look for some suitable rubber for them. I'm really pleased, especially as the price was 25% cheaper than the cheapest quote I could get anywhere else. I'd fully recommend the outfit if anyone local needs anything doing.

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They do look stunning in the metal.

For the price, it's a no brainer I think to get them done. It's so much easier and the results are better than trying to rub down and paint yourself. These look like new again.

 

It's funny, I had these sat next to my Volvo wheels and these are huge compared to mine. They make mine look like toys!

 

Great to meet you Stanky btw!

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So, with the success of the wheel refurbishment I need to look at some suitable boots. The wheels are 17" which means that I need to look for 225/45 R17s to keep the same rolling circumference and keep the speedo accurate and odometer counting correctly. I'd prefer more sidewall, but there is bugger all in the way of 215/55/r17 or 215/50 r17 other than very expensive and dubiously named tyres of far eastern origin which I'm not all that keen on. I assume 225/45 r17 is a common OEM fitment as there seems to be loads of choice at reasonable prices?

 

Tyreleader seems to have plenty of choice between £50 and £60 a corner from names I've heard of, and reviews which are pretty reassuring. What does the assembled multitude think is the best best from the following options:

 

1. Toyo Proxes T1-R - £56.61 at time of writing https://www.tyrelead...zr17-94w-385175

I've heard good things about these in the past I think, though reviews seem to be lukewarm

 

2. Yokohama C.Drive 2 AC02 - £59.06 at time of writing https://www.tyrelead...-r17-94w-389563

I've had very good experience of Yokohama BluEarth's on my ex Almera, though again the reviews seem to be a bit lacklustre

 

3. Falken Ziex ZE914 - £60.37 at time of writing https://www.tyrelead...-r17-94w-428107

Doesn't Junkman rate Falkens highly? Again a name I know, and get good reviews

 

4. Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 K120 - £60.90 at time of writing https://www.tyrelead...zr17-94y-187980

These get glowing reviews, are they actually alright? I am suspicious due to all the letters and numbers in the name.

 

If it were your money which would you go for and why? Does anyone have any experience of any of the above on a 1500kg saloon car?

 

Saab lickers - how difficult is it to recalibrate the speedometer and odometer if I was to look at a taller sidewall?

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  • 2 months later...

Moved to the Modernz section since this mostly relates to post 2003 vehicles now.

 

I've booked the Saab in for an ATF flush and change, I've dithered over this since it's done 145k now and its going to be £200 of work, but if I do it myself I'll screw it up and scrap the gearbox - and i reckon with this done it should see out 200k so I'll get my money's worth I hope.

 

I've noticed that it is leaking oil from the vacuum pump on the side of the cylinderhead, this runs down the block and pools in the recesses of the gearbox housing. This isn't a major problem in itself - the leak is very minor and I just make sure it is topped up, the problem arises when you are stuck in traffic once the engine is warmed through, as the pool of oil smoulders/vapourises/cooks on the hot block and the fumes are drawn in by the fan and blow oily smoke at you inside the car. This is a bit grim, and makes the inside of the windscreen all oily really quickly which is a pain to keep cleaning off.

 

I can combat this by switching to recirculating air mode when at a standstill but its just masking the problem really.

 

I need to have a look at a replacement vacuum pump too really - it looks reasonably easy to get at, being at top of the cylinder head on the right-hand side. I think that I just need to remove the ionization unit (what the hell does this actually do?) which is bolted to the pump, then undo 3x bolts which hold it onto the side of the block.

 

I'll look at getting a secondhand one and a fresh gasket/seal thing while I'm at it. Probably around £70 for both bits from what I've seen which isn't brutal. Apparently it is a relatively common issue, caused by the pump internals braking down. I had hoped it might just be a perished seal or o-ring but it seems thats not the actual issue.

 

I'll post up about how I get on in due course. Might have to wait for payday, but it's been like this since at least september so other than the smell there seems to be no major problem with leaving it another few weeks.

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Ah, no different Saab - Mine came from Vantman and has no (known) problems with the gearbox, other than being a bit grumpy when cold and flicking between 1st and 2nd around slow, staggered junctions first thing in the morning. This is preventative maintenance since I'm already 4k miles over the recommended change interval...

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I remember when Kiltox or SIC got this Saab he went to town changing the auto box fluid about half a dozen times. Seems crazy to spend £200 changing it again so soon, specially when the box is known to have problems.

Not guilty - SiC had that and sold it to Hooli who I think still has it

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Not guilty - SiC had that and sold it to Hooli who I think still has it

 

I do indeed & it still has a dodgy gearbox when hot. I will* fix it one day, SiC even supplied the parts!

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So, with the success of the wheel refurbishment I need to look at some suitable boots. The wheels are 17" which means that I need to look for 225/45 R17s to keep the same rolling circumference and keep the speedo accurate and odometer counting correctly. I'd prefer more sidewall, but there is bugger all in the way of 215/55/r17 or 215/50 r17 other than very expensive and dubiously named tyres of far eastern origin which I'm not all that keen on. I assume 225/45 r17 is a common OEM fitment as there seems to be loads of choice at reasonable prices?

 

Tyreleader seems to have plenty of choice between £50 and £60 a corner from names I've heard of, and reviews which are pretty reassuring. What does the assembled multitude think is the best best from the following options:

 

1. Toyo Proxes T1-R - £56.61 at time of writing https://www.tyrelead...zr17-94w-385175

I've heard good things about these in the past I think, though reviews seem to be lukewarm

 

2. Yokohama C.Drive 2 AC02 - £59.06 at time of writing https://www.tyrelead...-r17-94w-389563

I've had very good experience of Yokohama BluEarth's on my ex Almera, though again the reviews seem to be a bit lacklustre

 

3. Falken Ziex ZE914 - £60.37 at time of writing https://www.tyrelead...-r17-94w-428107

Doesn't Junkman rate Falkens highly? Again a name I know, and get good reviews

 

4. Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 K120 - £60.90 at time of writing https://www.tyrelead...zr17-94y-187980

These get glowing reviews, are they actually alright? I am suspicious due to all the letters and numbers in the name.

 

If it were your money which would you go for and why? Does anyone have any experience of any of the above on a 1500kg saloon car?

 

Saab lickers - how difficult is it to recalibrate the speedometer and odometer if I was to look at a taller sidewall?

 

i'm surprised these didn't make your list as they are quite popliar on AS

https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/uniroyal/rainsport-3/225-45-r17-91y-187726

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I've got a set fitted to the front of both the Yaris and the Saab currently and they are utterly fantastic. I've had them on the Saab for about 8 months now, and ~15k miles and they are wearing OK. I reckon i can wring 20k out of them which is a lot better than I was given to understand they'd manage.

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The Saab has been smelling oily after a run for a little while now, closer inspection suggests oil has been escaping from the top right hand side of the cylinderhead and pooling in a recess in a strengthening rib in the block. Closer inspection suggested that this thing was the culprit

post-5525-0-77795100-1517141664_thumb.jpg

 

This is the Brake Vacuum Pump. These brake down internally and leak engine oil. This is what was wrong with mine. See the shiny bit down the dark recess? thats oil.

 

post-5525-0-06133100-1517141968_thumb.jpg

 

So, having looked at WIS it seems to be a fairly easy job. I ordered a replacment used one from Sarbkar and a new gasket from somewhere else and this morning I set to changing it. Here is an exciting* thread on what I did.

 

So, the pump is held in with 2 big bolts, but to get at these you have to remove the crypically named 'Ionization Module'. God knows what this is or does, but it has to come off. I unded the funny Saab clip things they use for everything electrical. I used to think these were bloody stupid but actually I've come round a bit and they do make sense

 

post-5525-0-57009800-1517141987_thumb.jpg

 

With the Ionization module removed, it exposed the mounting bracket

 

post-5525-0-14422300-1517142071_thumb.jpg

 

The vacuum hose unclipped really easily - press in the button and pull it away from the brass thing.

 

Then the whole lot levered off

 

post-5525-0-84779900-1517142112_thumb.jpg

 

I cleaned up the mating surface with an old pair of pants and some carb cleaner.

 

post-5525-0-51203500-1517142151_thumb.jpg

 

This is the new (to me) one - I carefully extracted the old rubber gasket and gave it a wipe off.

 

post-5525-0-57210700-1517142202_thumb.jpg

 

New gasket in place

 

post-5525-0-43801500-1517142248_thumb.jpg

 

Fitted to the block

 

post-5525-0-80005500-1517142263_thumb.jpg

 

Vacuum hose re-attached and bolts done up. Hooray! Except I'm a dinlo and hadn't fitted the Ionization Module bracket which uses the same 2 big bolts to hold it in, so iff the the vac hose and undo the two bolts again, fit the bracket and do it all back up again

 

post-5525-0-00058800-1517142347_thumb.jpg

 

Then Ionization module bolted in and connected back up. I took the time to whack some contact cleaner onto the spade connectors before I reconnected the clip.

 

post-5525-0-77795100-1517141664_thumb.jpg

 

Then I started the car up to see if I had any brakes. Since it's an auto, this was a bit more bum-clenchy than I'd have liked! I set off very gently and went round the block. The brakes seem to work as well as they used to, and hopefully the oil leak is fixed. I've kept the old part just in case, and I really need a way to get the old oil puddle off the block or it'll smoulder for a while more which I could do without. Unformtunately its easy to see, but bloody hard to actually get at so I'll have to have a think.

 

Thanks for reading, not terribly exciting but someone might appreciate it.

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In case anyone cares, the fix has been an actual proper fix - no more oil is leaking and its noticeably less stinky sat in traffic, as evidenced by spending 30 minutes at the bottom of the A3 tonight as motorists in front of grappled with, and ultimately failed to grasp the concept of merging in turn to get past the lane closure where something spilt a lot of liquid all over the right hand carriageway at some point this afternoon.

 

It still whiffs a bit, but this was to be expected until all the oil that escaped previously cooks off the block. Its way too fiddly to get at and way too close to electric things to risk squirting water and washing up liquid at so it can cook itself clean.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Most of the oil has smouldered off the block now which is a big improvement. It was booked in to have its ATF flushed through today - a job I probably could have done but was too scared of screwing up so paid a nice man to do it for me.

 

Its made a huge difference - changes are much smoother, and the box is a lot quieter too. The chap said the stuff that came out was quite dark so was definitely worth doing it. Also pleasingly cheaper than the quote - he quoted £220 for an hour of labour and 12 litres of ATF, but ended up only charging £110 plus VAT for half an hour plus 8 litres of ATF. He'll get more work from me in future I think!

 

He also had a 1970's (?) Saab 96 v4 in the showroom which apparently belonged to a customer and is awaiting collection. It was an almost AS beige colour, sort of "post marmalade toast binge vomit" colour. It had a towbar too for added win.

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  • 1 month later...

Possibly SQA fodder, but are there any ECUs that live in YS3F Saab 9-3 footwells? I'm seriously considering wet vac'ing the interior tomorrow (its supposed to be a nice day) and as well as the seats the carpets could do with a seeing to.

 

Anyone here know? Obvs a clean set of carpets and a buggered ECU is not the ideal situation to be in.

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Yes. There is definitely one under the passenger seat on the saloons that does the door speakers if you have fibre optic sound system. I think the engine ECU lives under a panel in the passenger footwell (or that might be another car I've forgotten...).

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Most of the oil has smouldered off the block now which is a big improvement. It was booked in to have its ATF flushed through today - a job I probably could have done but was too scared of screwing up so paid a nice man to do it for me.

 

Its made a huge difference - changes are much smoother, and the box is a lot quieter too. The chap said the stuff that came out was quite dark so was definitely worth doing it. Also pleasingly cheaper than the quote - he quoted £220 for an hour of labour and 12 litres of ATF, but ended up only charging £110 plus VAT for half an hour plus 8 litres of ATF. He'll get more work from me in future I think!

 

He also had a 1970's (?) Saab 96 v4 in the showroom which apparently belonged to a customer and is awaiting collection. It was an almost AS beige colour, sort of "post marmalade toast binge vomit" colour. It had a towbar too for added win.

post-19075-0-24024400-1521999950_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Plumbing new depths in an effort to avoid doing work on a Friday afternoon, it turns out I have the most economical 2004 Saab 9-3 Petrol Auto in THE WORLD (well, the part of the world that uses Fuelly).

 

There are a couple of identical spec ones in the US that manage low 30s to the (UK) gallon, but my stat of 35.5MPG over 42k miles is the highest on there. Not bad for a 150k mile auto car I reckon.

 

You can touch it for a quid. If you want to touch the car its 50p extra.

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