Saab 93 the second - Auspuff

[dozeydustman]

If your Alternator is only charging at 13.05 volts, then you have a problem. It should charge at a minimum of 14.00 volts, otherwise there is not enough of a gradient so that the energy can flow into the battery and keep it fully charged. At rest, a fully charged battery will show 12.7 to 12.8volts.Charge state can also be verified by a hydrometer test on a lead acid type battery. Not possible to test a sealed Calcium type with a hydrometer for obvious reasons.

 

Battery is brand new and is not discharging when the car is off. When I got home an hour ago I started the car up, went fine, then eventually managed to get my test probe onto the B+ terminal of the alternator. Again reads 13.08v direct at the alternator's terminal. It's not chucking out enough juice.

 

the big worry is the guy I bought it from won't get back to me and ignores my calls.

[SiC]

the big worry is the guy I bought it from won't get back to me and ignores my calls.

Did you pay by credit card?

[alf892]

Hang on.........

 

If you have a nice fully charged battery the alternator is not going to charge much because it does not need to.

 

Switch loads of stuff on to get a demand on the battery then test output

[dozeydustman]

Hang on.........

 

If you have a nice fully charged battery the alternator is not going to charge much because it does not need to.

 

Switch loads of stuff on to get a demand on the battery then test output

 

 

Everything is electrically powered on this car with the exception of the engine and gearbox - it has quite a heavy load without lights, fan, air con etc running Went to get some diesel yesterday afternoon so I can run it to the garage over the weekend or next week, on way back no charge light came on along with the steering cutting out. Pretty much proof it's shagged.

 

 

 

EDIT 2 - I have his home address, if you feel like popping round and sticking the alternator where the sun doesn't shine  or at least asking him if you can return the alternator to that address when you leave your next voicemail. Might kick him into action.

 

 

That might be an option. I'll try the two e-mail addresses after work later. If no joy I'll go down there armed with my heaviest hammer. something in writing from trading standards.

[dozeydustman]

Right, one of the fitters at work took a peek at it today as he said he'd swap it over for me in the workshop at work if I got another unit. Fully loaded the electrics up with the engine running and the volts dropped to 12.7-12.8 and fluctuated. Same at the terminal. Warning light came on and steering went heavy.

 

Switched everything off leaving the engine running, and all of a sudden the dashboard lights got brighter and the voltage at the battery shot up to 13.8 and the B+ terminal read 14v - both remained steady under load. Just been for an A27 blast for half an hour and no issues, voltage remains at 13.6 at idle with or without a heavy load.

 

I'm now wondering if there is a fault with the SID unit or some other computerised component that might be failing, a bad earth, but still not ruling out a dodgy rectifier, diode or regulator knowing these Denso units aren't the best.

[dozeydustman]

Took stepdaughter to work this morning and the bloody light came on again. I've had a fiddle, remade connections and didn't make much difference.

 

Then just as a test I connected a jump lead from the engine block to battery negative. Light goes out, full voltage restored. Same between engine and body, so I have a poor earth somewhere, I'm going to fit an extra bonding strap between the engine and body.

 

As an aside I'm still quite disappointed that the alternator man still hasn't replied to my phone calls or my e-mails. You'd have thought he'd want to rule out his workmanship as being shoddy.

[MikeR]

is it worth just pulling out the earthing leads , and the power leads to the battery and engine , and just check they are not corroded etc .

 

reason I ask is that you are measuring the battery terminal voltage , volts could of been dropped over the earth and power leads , and given the way things are changing it could be a corroded earth lead ( had one myself ) , in my case it was a one piece lead that started at the engine and went to the battery with a clamp for the body at the mid point , this bit had corroded , messing up the car electrics !!!!  , and as the car is moving the poor joint gets shaken .

[dozeydustman]

That's my plan of action for tomorrow. It's currently pouring down and I'm off out this arvo

[dozeydustman]

Pleased to say since cleaning a few earth connections around the car, aside from a really bad tank of fuel last weekend making the old wagon a little* smokey, I've had a month of 1500 miles trouble free motoring, everything is working as it should.

 

MoT booked on Wednesday, I'm having a trip to my folks in Kent this afternoon, hopefully that'll clear out the last of the smokey chod. My only concerns are a tyre with a bad looking sidewall and the numberplates - advisory at last MoT as they're pressed aluminium not perspex, even though they're fully reflective in standard post 2000 font, and have a BS kitemark.

 

It was given the once over in January when it had a major service and new EGR, DPF etc, and nothing major showed up then so I'm hoping for the all clear for another 13 months!

[dozeydustman]

Pleased to say the Saab passed the MoT with 1 advisory on the rear brake caliper. Nothing major just a small imbalance. That'll do nicely ta very muchly.

[Noel Tidybeard]

MoT booked on Wednesday, I'm having a trip to my folks in Kent this afternoon, hopefully that'll clear out the last of the smokey chod. My only concerns are a tyre with a bad looking sidewall and the numberplates - advisory at last MoT as they're pressed aluminium not perspex, even though they're fully reflective in standard post 2000 font, and have a BS kitemark.

 

taken from dvsa website:

Rules for number plates

Your number plates should:

• be made from a reflective material
• display black characters on a white background (front plate)
• display black characters on a yellow background (rear plate)
• not have a background pattern

Characters on a number plate can be 3D.

 

so no mention of "being of perspex construction"

[dozeydustman]

taken from dvsa website:

Rules for number plates

Your number plates should:

• be made from a reflective material
• display black characters on a white background (front plate)
• display black characters on a yellow background (rear plate)
• not have a background pattern

Characters on a number plate can be 3D.

 

so no mention of "being of perspex construction"

 

 

That's exactly what mine are, but aluminium not perspex. The examiner yesterday said as long as they're in the correct font, have the plate maker's name and a BS Kitemark they can't even be an advisory, unless they are just worn out. No one batted an eyelid when I fitted period plates to my Scimitar (reflective with riveted on plastic numbers/letters)

[dozeydustman]

After a dreadful day at work (cos people have decided to mow all their lawns and fill their green waste bins up over the previous weekend) I missed the Portsmouth mini-meet, which was a bummer.

 

4:15 left to go to Chichester to pick Mrs D up from work, then onto Chichester College to see how stepdaughter was getting on with her Motor Mechanics course (she's 2nd in the class, average of 94%), and then come back home for home made (slimming world friendly) fish & chips.

 

Car starts a DPF regeneration on way home, first for 6 weeks or so, get onto A27 at the junction with A285, and as soon as mileage hits 198k the EML comes on, the regeneration stops and goes into limp mode.

 

I hope that dodgy fuel from a few weeks back hasn't buggered up a new DPF & EGR.

 

Fannyflaps.

[Wingz123]

Where are you? If anywhere near Birmingham my friend can plug it in and do a forced regen for you if need be....

[dozeydustman]

Thanks for the offer wingz but i’m on the Sussex coast. Going to have a chat with the friendly fitter at work tomorrow he might be able to do stuff for me

[xkjagnz]

Will this help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qni9aBAdkFI

[dozeydustman]

Will this help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qni9aBAdkFI

 

 

Normally what I do when it does regen. Was fine on way to work this morning, not at full power but certainly not limp mode. Been out this evening for a long run to Pompey then to Bognor town centre and it did the full regeneration on its own. Goes almost up to full power now but can't hear the whoosh of the EGR system when it's open. Read somewhere the JTD family of engines are prone to EGR failure. Stupid bloody idea.

 

Going to take it to the Saab specialist in Bracklesham as I sort of know the bloke there and hopefully he'll diagnose and possibly force another regeneration. It's only a 3 month old DPF so I doubt that is the main cause of the issue. Still can't help but think it was the tank full of Texaco that made the car excessively smokey and run rough.

[Wingz123]

Does it have the flaps? Could the actuator have failed?

[dozeydustman]

I believe it has flaps, i was thinking of having them removed or a replacement fannymould put on. Emissions gear sucks.

 

As much as I LOVE Driving this car (it is genuinely a peasurable steer) I’m never buying anything post 2000 again. XUD, Simca Poissy or suitcase engines next time around.

[Wingz123]

I hear you but I suspect as time goes on they will ramp up the tax on older cars to clear them off tge road....I really hope that doesn’t bloody happen but I’ve got a feeling when I see and receive all these updates from TFL about what they have planned in London...sooner or later they’ll role it out in other areas around the country.....

[dozeydustman]

I hear you but I suspect as time goes on they will ramp up the tax on older cars to clear them off tge road....I really hope that doesn’t bloody happen but I’ve got a feeling when I see and receive all these updates from TFL about what they have planned in London...sooner or later they’ll role it out in other areas around the country.....

 

 

I'm moving house soon so my monthly mileage will be considerably reduced, from a 30 miles daily commute to walking/pushbike distance, so any future car will be to go shopping in or visit the family, so the lower annual mileage wouldn't be too much of a stress on an older car.

 

TFL suck, but in all honesty the best 2 ways I find of getting around London are tube and foot. It's a pox to drive around at the best of times.

 

I'm going to investigate the swirl flaps tomorrow both time and weather permitting and see if the rod moves. Or doesn't. Looks like a fannymold off job to remove or repair them, which is hassle I don't want while preparing for upheaval of moving. At least I can give it a bloody good de-coke if this is the way of doing it. I still think the EGR working overtime on really bad fuel has caused a lot of this problem, as the gunge that makes them stick is a result of this. Must get the HBOL for this wagon. Owned it 3 years and up until I temporarily replaced it with the Focus, was as good as gold!

[dozeydustman]

trying to find friends or family with a code reader to see what the fault is with this bloody car is has been a sodding nightmare. I even took it to a Saab specialist whose Tech-2 kept saying "car not recognised". Same with the local garage my wife's been using for years.

 

I was up mum & dad's for a couple of days bringing stuff I have stored there down to Sussex, while I was there I popped round to my mate's dad who is a mobile mechanic of 30+ years. Asked him if he could take a look.

 

Thankfully his tablet thing read the code.

 

 

P1530. Sounds like Crank position sensor, but googling a bit and on GM cars including Saabs this could also be pedal sensor.

 

Given more recent electrical weirdness with this car (not just alternator & battery) I'm inclined to see the year out without doing a thing to it until the MoT expires. Mrs D is giving the corolla to madam when she's passed her test, I can walk or pushbike to work now so we may just save up and get something decent* next April.

[dozeydustman]

And for those of you not in Australia

 

 

[dozeydustman]

Now the dust has settled from house moving etc, the wife and I don't need 2 cars any more as neither of us are driving to work.

We are thinking about selling my Saab and keeping the Corolla - we don't do much milage in either now, and given the Toyota's tendency to just keep going only needing an annual service and the normal brakes, tyres and such consumables, we think it's the one to keep.

 

This said, the Saab is much more suitable for me to drive as it has a much more generous cabin for my ample frame, but has the EML fault and is now getting very very smokey at 199200 miles and only just scraped the emissions when MoT'd in April. The exhaust has also started to sound boomy as well, so may have a leak/hole somewhere.

 

If I go down the repair route, is it just a case of changing pedal sensor, clean EGR and manifold, or would I need injectors and/or a turbo as well? (It smokes when spooling up)

 

The alternative would be see if there is any interest in a sale/swap/roffle here after I've removed the private plate.

[dozeydustman]

As stepdaughter is not far off taking her driving test Mrs D and I have decided to give her the Corolla if/when she passes, giving the Saab a stay of execution as we'll still need a family car, especially if our fertility treatment works. So I have decided to tidy the old girl up a bit and see if I can get it to an MoTable standard for 10 months time.

 

Known issues:

1. P1530 fault code - faulty accelerator pedal? Also read somewhere it could be swirl flaps.
2. Excessive smoke (especially on Sainsbury's diesel) - clean the manifold, EGR & turbo?
3. Headlamp washer jets piss water everywhere when washer reservoir is full.
4. Ditchfinder rear tyre.
5. Dashboard mounted cupholder is broken (this is high on the wife's priorities, not mine, but worth mentioning)
6. Few bits of interior trim missing.
7. Sluggish starting, though possibly caused by not having had a good run for at least a month now and glow plugs are kaput.
8. Air Con buggered (pump)
9. Exhaust is boomy when hot.

 

This is going to be a long-term project so I'm not in any real hurry to do items 3-7. I'm hoping a £25 throttle pedal I've found on the intermanet would cure the first job (it is intermittent), and a known working used air con pump would sort number 8 out. Number 9 I think is just a bad baffle as I can't find any blows or holes in the system.

 

Advice sought for item 2 -  the excessive smoke, especially if I use Sainsbury's diesel or the Texaco up the road. It's just coming up to 200k now, and I don't think the manifold and turbo have ever been cleaned out, so I'm hoping just remove, give a real good decoke and refit would cure most of the smoke issues. Is it worth removing the swirl flaps? Do I need to get the system re-mapped?

Alternative would be remove the DPF and remap the ECU instead to get round the new diesel emissions rules for DPF fitted cars?

[N Dentressangle]

https://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254643

 

It sounds like a good clean of the throttle body might help.

 

In fact, it all sounds EGR / throttle body related. I'd be inclined to go cheap early, buy a couple of cans of carb cleaner and do the EGR and throttle body and see what that does.

 

Shame you can't just bin the EGR on these engines without a remap.

[stonedagain]

There's a boost sensor at the front of the inlet manifold. They carbon up, dead easy to remove & clean.

[dozeydustman]

Thanks guys, if this saves me buying a new pedal assembly that'll be nice. I'll get some generic carb & throttle cleaner spray and give the aforementioned parts a good clean up, then get the code wiped off and see what happens.

[dozeydustman]

I've had a day of very strange happenings with the Saab today. Alarm keeps triggering, so I set to door only mode. Alarm triggers again, this time with "Theft protection failure" notice on the dash display. When I checked, car had reset itself to "full protection". Went shopping. Parked up, checked settings, still on door only mode, so I armed the system, popped in to get a much needed fan, as I came out the shop, alarm started up again. Disarmed, checked settings, back to full protection.

 

Went to shop No. 2. wife stayed in car as no spaces available, so didn't arm system and left wife in car with window open and key in ignition switch so she could listen to radio and move car when space available. Alarm goes off when space became available and engine cranked.d

 

It keeps resetting the protection select mode. I'm wondering if it's because the car hasn't had a good run for a while the battery is getting a little low on charge and forgetting things it has been programmed to store. Also seen the siren has a battery of its own somewhere. Could also be a bad earth. I'll consult HBoL before I run it down to nearest place with a Tech 2.

 

On the plus side, on way home the engine management light went out while driving along.

[Stanky]

The cheapest place for carb cleaner is toolstation, about £2 a can there. I buy it for mowers.

 

That does sound like dying battery related lolz to me, get a secondhand one from a breakers with a 3 month warranty. How much is it to plug into the tech2 at the local place? If its >£10 then buy a knock-off op-com from ebay and I'll bring my 'dirty' laptop for diagnostics over and we can play about with seeing what codes it has?