Roffle SAAB - WBOD PRICE DROP £295 or £5 a ticket, 12 Months MOT - WEDS DRAW! SOLD OUT!

[Guest Hooli]

Aye it deserves to be looked after as it tries to be good and is a damn nice car. Exactly unlike my goona that deserved to die because it was an untrustworthy hateful pile of shite.

[Guest Hooli]

Pipes arrived at work today, I'll try to get them fitted this evening.

[Guest Hooli]

Pipes fitted, the clips on the matrix are right cunt to get to buried down the back of the engine with brake pipes in the way of the pilers. Seems water tight when run up on the drive to get the air out. I'll use it thurs & know for sure. Not using it tomorrow as going straight to a bike night from work.

 

Oh & interestingly* this isn't the first set of heater hoses it's had fitted. The ones that came off had that yellow paint on scrappers always mark parts with.

[Guest Hooli]

Well it seems possible that the leaky hose had a tiny hole there forever* there has always been water marks on the underside of the bonnet where it was spraying & since fitting the new hoses the car doesn't appear to be using any water. I'll keep an eye on it for a bit longer & treat it to fresh anti-freeze (it's got some currently but only about 25% not the 33% I like to run) before winter if so.

[Guest Hooli]

Due to the new squeeze doing something rather painful to her knee so we couldn't go out on the bike much the Saab has seen a lot of use over the last couple of weeks. About 7-800miles done & not a drop of water missing, so I declare the leak fixed.

 

Just the oil leak & gearbox to fix now...

[Guest Hooli]

My replacement DAB adapter thingy turned up yesterday, so as typical with royal fail I traipsed miles across town to the post office they prefer to hide parcels at rather than the one 100yards across the road.

Anyway, it works unlike the last one. About 90% of the trip to/from work has decent reception and it's pretty good too  so most of the trip was done with classic rock blasting out. There does seem to be an annoying whistle on it, but I think that's down to the FM transmission to the car so I will now read a few guides on how to add an Aux-in.

 

First thing is to check if the radio has a code, or just coded to the car. I'll read WIS over the weekend unless SiC knows off the top of his head....

[SiC]

My replacement DAB adapter thingy turned up yesterday, so as typical with royal fail I traipsed miles across town to the post office they prefer to hide parcels at rather than the one 100yards across the road.

 

Anyway, it works unlike the last one. About 90% of the trip to/from work has decent reception and it's pretty good too so most of the trip was done with classic rock blasting out. There does seem to be an annoying whistle on it, but I think that's down to the FM transmission to the car so I will now read a few guides on how to add an Aux-in.

 

First thing is to check if the radio has a code, or just coded to the car. I'll read WIS over the weekend unless SiC knows off the top of his head....

95% sure it's coded to the car. When I first got it the radio didn't work. So removed it and replaced the fuse on the back that had popped. I can't remember entering a code back in again after.

[Guest Hooli]

I thought you'd know! Thanks.

[Guest Hooli]

As those of us who got to shitefest know I had a couple of issues on the way there.

 

One I got a puncture on a wheel I can't remove due to the locking bolts being buggered, I now have new wheel bolts from Saabnut & will get them fitted soon. I survived it but pumping the tyre up every 15miles till I got to a garage to fill it with tyre seal.

 

Then not much further down the road the exhaust blew. The flexi pipe just behind the gearbox has let go, I think it's had a slight leak for ages as it's always sounded like a slight blow in that area. Best price I've found for the part so far is £130! so I'll be ringing a few prices for a fitted price as I've often found that's cheaper than doing an exhaust myself.

 

Other than that, it's ticked over 226k & I've still not fixed the gearbox....

[Guest Hooli]

Exhaust booked in to be fitted saturday afternoon. I can't get the part for less than £130, but I can get a quote to fit the same thing for £129.99.... daft to do it myself really.

 

I can't grumble, it's still cost bugger all to maintain since I got it.

[Guest Hooli]

Updatings...

 

The exhaust got fixed today & they cracked off the two buggered locking bolts so I can now remove my wheels if I need too. The car is quieter than it's ever been, I've always thought it had a bit of a drone under load & remember mentioning it to SiC on the test drive. Guess that flexipipe had a small leak since before I got it that finally gave way.

 

One day I should fix the clonk at the front & the gearbox...

[SiC]

I did always think it sounded pretty beefy. Just assumed it was a characteristic of them.

[Guest Hooli]

Loudest thing when driving normally now is the gearbox, most bizarre.

[Guest Hooli]

I actually did something to this today. The headlights had got more & more murky this year, with a noticeable reduction in light output. So using a Lidl's finest polishing kit & some Autosol I gave them 20mins of surgery today. Being my first time with a polishing kit I held the drill a bit to square to start with & left some marks with the metal bit in the middle of the disc, but most of them polished out again quite quickly so I'm happy for a first attempt.

 

[Guest Hooli]

A new windscreen was booked for today as when I called the insurance they said over four chips had to be replaced. Bloke came out & said it's fine to repair so that's what they did. Turns out there was five chips too, I only spotted one this morning.

 

So that's £60 saved compared to a screen

[mrbenn]

Gearbox still mostly behaving?

[Guest Hooli]

Gearbox still mostly behaving?

 

Yup, except in busy town traffic for ages (30mins or so) then it starts to sulk. I don't drive in town very much though so it's not enough of an issue to fit the new part SiC supplied (& is still in the boot where he put it).

[Guest Hooli]

Oh yeah, apart from getting caught by a camera last night it was the first time I'd driven at night since the Saab got eye surgery. The headlights are a lot better than before which is a good result as they weren't bad previously.

[mrbenn]

Yup, except in busy town traffic for ages (30mins or so) then it starts to sulk.

 

Don't blame it. I start to sulk when stuck in traffic, too.

[Ohdearme]

Oh yeah, apart from getting caught by a camera last night it was the first time I'd driven at night since the Saab got eye surgery. The headlights are a lot better than before which is a good result as they weren't bad previously.

Bloody camera magnets these things!

 

How much was the Lidl polishing kit?

 

And how much were you quoted for a new windscreen?

[Guest Hooli]

Polishing kit was under a fiver I think. But I've owned it longer than my house so not sure.

 

Screen was £85 excess via insurance but as they could fix it I only paid £25.

[Guest Hooli]

This bloody thing has obviously been listening when I've said about selling it next month. I went to Leeds today for a work thing & as I got the A1 it stopped boosting & the EML came on.

 

When I got there I checked the codes - P1105, intake air flow error, or something similar. A google showed this is normally a vacuum pipe, dodgy sensor or the wastegate arm fallen off.

 

Once I got home I had a cup of tea to let it cool down & the took a look, this is what I saw when I looked at the wastegate. Explains the lack of power etc then. Surprisingly even the nut on the manifold holding the headshield came undone fine after a squirt of WD40.

 

 

One new circlip later & all is restored, a short test drive has proved the boost has come back and no more codes.

 

[Guest Hooli]

Right then, roll up boys & girls. Grab a bargain while you can, there aren't many of these to go around.

 

I'll get some pics at the weekend or next week when I've hoovered it out. Just imagine it from older pics here & in SiC's previous thread on it for now.

 

Details -

 

Good...

 

2004 (54 plate) silver 9-5 2.3t Vector (187bhp when new) auto

229k (almost)

Flappy paddles for 'race car'

All the buttons work, even the aircon

SID works with no dead pixels

Both keys

Handbooks etc

Loads of history till SiC got it, not sure it's FSH but it's a lot

Decent tread tyres all round, can't remember makes but I can check if you care

Full size spare on an odd alloy, also has the original space saver

No sunroof

Interior doesn't look it's mileage apart from a few tears in the driver's seat squab

Recent windscreen repair so no cracks, although a fixed one is still visible it's well out of your eye line and passed the last MOT with just an advisory

MOT is out late October, so next week when it's down to a month left I'll put a new one on as I'm sure it'll pass

 

Bad...

 

Still has the funny* gearbox SiC sold it with, but it's about 75-80% better than it was. You can drive the length of the country in it without issue, as proved by how many times I've taken it to Scotland. But drive around town for 20 mins and it gets rough selecting 1st & 2nd. It's never been worse than an average driver who's got poor clutch control in the last year. I've done nearly 18k in it & the gearbox has slowly improved. I think this is as all the fresh fluid SiC put in has flushed dirt out of the control unit. PROBABLY WORKING REPLACEMENT CONTROL UNIT SUPPLIED (still in the boot where SiC supplied it! as the gearbox isn't bad enough to annoy me to the point of fixing it).

 

The heater goes cold about the same time around town, it's lack of coolant flow to the matrix & I've traced it back to the feed out of the water pump. I suspect the S shaped hose behind the waterpump as I've found traces of radweld in other pipes. It's not the matrix as I've flushed that & it's clear. Getting back on fast roads & keeping the revs over 2k or so restores heat in 5mins or so.

 

Slight oil leak on the timing chain (not belt) end of the block, not enough to ever drip though. Uses about 2ltr every 10k I think, I know it's not huge amounts anyway.

 

Clunk I've never traced under the front on some bumps, I suspect drop links (although it passed the last MOT like it) or anti-roll bar bushes as it doesn't seem to affect the handling.

 

Various grazes & scratches commensurate with the age of this fine automobile

 

Other...

 

I'm selling as I've got another car inbound that'll be on the road from Oct & I refuse to run two when I could waste* the money on running several bikes instead.

 

Collection towards the end of the month is possible (after I MOT it of course) taxed till you get home if you collect in Sept (I'm SORNing it in OCT). I need it tomorrow with all the rain forecast

 

Located just off the A1 near Doncaster, collection from the railway station is possible for the discerning used car enthusiast.

 

Price £350 to a shitter & that includes the new MOT I'm putting on it.

 

 

[SiC]

239k (almost)

 

I've done nearly 18k in it & the gearbox has slowly improved.

 

Actually I think you've done nearly 29k in it. This is the last picture I took of the Speedo which would have been around when you bought it. See Hoolis update below.

 

I didn't put many miles on it. About 1k or so.

 

 

I think this is as all the fresh fluid SiC put in has flushed dirt out of the control unit. KNOWN WORKING REPLACEMENT CONTROL UNIT SUPPLIED (still in the boot where SiC supplied it! as the gearbox isn't bad enough to annoy me to the point of fixing it).

 

I wonder if the Lucas Transmission Fix/Snake Oil may have helped too.

 

The guy who I bought it off was a colleague who used it to commute all over the country when contracting. He put the vast majority of the miles on it. Always fully serviced and anything needed doing it got done. Unfortunately none of garages who serviced it told him that the gearbox fluid needed changing. So it never got done.

 

I won't say that the valve body is known good though! Got it off a Saab 9-3 with an AW55 box in the scrapyard. Fluid was pretty clean though and the mileage on the car was low.

 

 

Price £350 to a shitter & that includes the new MOT I'm putting on it.

Pretty darn cheap way into Saab ownership. Probably quite easily and quickly break this for parts and get your money back on it. Especially with fully working SID, air con display, coilpack and turbo.

 

Especially being the bigger 2.3t engine. Basically the same lump as the 250bhp Aero just with a smaller turbo and the valves aren't sodium filled. However the smaller turbo makes it zippier at legal speeds. My colleague who owned it also had a Aero. Off the traffic light GP line with his wife driving the Aero, this was quicker upto around 50mph when the Aero bigger turbo and more BHP gave bigger shove.

 

They can however be remapped cheaply and very well by Noobtune (Google it). I think they can get a good 230bhp or so out of this setup pretty easily.

 

Awful lot of power, comfort and performance for the money. A great WBOD. I think you even got the Aircon regassed and working again?

 

A good car this one.

[Guest Hooli]

 

Stuff

 

A good car this one.

 

I've just checked & thanks for pointing out my error, mileage corrected to 229k nearly.

 

Cheers for the review, it's been a good motor but I'm missing my favourite make of barge so getting back into one. I did indeed get the aircon fixed the first spring I had & it's worked fine ever since.

[jonathan_dyane]

Barg! Saab's are for winnahs.

[Fabergé Greggs]

My want for a turbo Saab is hotting up. Sadly I spend loads of time in traffic so this one ain’t for me.

[Guest Hooli]

In fact just for entertainment I'll offer tickets at £6 each as well.

 

I'd rather a straight sale for simplicity but I know you lot well enough to expect a roffle to sellout pretty quick.

[yes oui si]

In for three randoms

[Guest Hooli]

I knew it wouldn't take long!