Saab 93 the second - Auspuff

[dozeydustman]

New front pads and an oil change today. What is worrying is over the 4.3 litres of oil came out of this, total volume was nearer 5.5, and it only took 3.5 litres before it hit max on the dipstick. I know suction pump won’t remove all the oil but leaving a litre? Other possibilities include the suction pump wasn’t completely empty despite managing to fill a gallon container with waste oil before starting.

The oil filter is also an utter pain in the arse to get to. Took longer than anything else with my chunky arms. Again I had some assistance from @Scrap who is keen to learn on how to keep cars in some kind of decent health. It was done up mega tight, needing my 1m ratchet to just crack it off.

Hit a problem with the brakes, as the 2 disc retaining screws had turned to cheese. I’ve drilled these out in the past on other cars but these were stubborn. It’s a 6mm thread on this IIRC, and was hoping a 5.5mm drill would suffice, gradually building up from 3mm.

Nope. 4.5 mm was the largest drill bit from a new set which was sharp, so they’re going back. Even the 10mm, which is marginally smaller than the screw head didn’t do owt. Put in my pillar drill and while they went through hard wood all bits from 6mm and above struggled with mild steel. Supposedly HSS.

N/S calliper pin was partially seized not allowing the pads to release fully. I had 4-5mm remaining on both pads for O/S, but N/s was 3mm and ~1.5mm. All buttoned up and bled and no more brake pulsing and gentle tug to the left. I’ll order another set of pads and some cobalt drill bits and do the brakes again in a few months. If that doesn’t work friendly garage can have the job.

Also found the cause of the lack of turbo boost last weekend, the vacuum pump for the wastegate actuator had a tiny tear in one end. I’ve made this good but ordered up some fresh tube 1mm larger as it was a tight fit over the end of the plastic pipe which runs along the top of the engine.

Also found the problem with number plate light failure warning on dash. Old bulb was past its best as the glass was starting to blacken, but one end of the festoon was crusty. New part and warning has gone.

Car is much quieter, service indicator is reset and showing 50% oil quality, as there’s probably half to a litre of old in there.

[GeordieInExile]

On 23/02/2022 at 19:05, Fraz said:

Looks great - I still miss my old one. 
 

id have a TTID AERO estate in a heartbeat 

I'm looking at a couple of these at the moment with immense interest. There's also a TTiD "sport edition" which seems to have the same 180bhp engine as the Aero. 

[Popsicle]

4 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

total volume was nearer 5.5, and it only took 3.5 litres before it hit max

Forgive my ignorance, is this a diesel, with  DPF? It sounds like it from the battle to remove the awkward oil filter. If it is they are well known for diesel going into the oil if it fails any dpf regens. I think TADTS regarding the oil filter housing tightness, a socket ratchet with an adjustable angle on the head makes it a bit easier to get to.

[dozeydustman]

11 hours ago, Popsicle said:

Forgive my ignorance, is this a diesel, with  DPF? It sounds like it from the battle to remove the awkward oil filter. If it is they are well known for diesel going into the oil if it fails any dpf regens. I think TADTS regarding the oil filter housing tightness, a socket ratchet with an adjustable angle on the head makes it a bit easier to get to.

Yes it's the 1.9 Fiat diesel. I've not known it fail a region for ages and the oil level when checked has always been between the high and low marks of the dipstick. It didn't smell of diesel either.

Unfortunately I don't have an angled or floppy-head ratchet, but a 1m bar shouldn't be a struggle on a plastic oil filter housing. It was a little overdue by 3-4000 miles, but every other filter, even well overdue, has cracked off very easily, albeit not in such a shitty position. In the end the socket end was being held on by my assistant from underneath while I operated the ratchet - I had to put a hell of a lot of my ample bulk behind it.

[Popsicle]

11 hours ago, dozeydustman said:

Yes it's the 1.9 Fiat diesel. I've not known it fail a region for ages and the oil level when checked has always been between the high and low marks of the dipstick. It didn't smell of diesel either.

Unfortunately I don't have an angled or floppy-head ratchet, but a 1m bar shouldn't be a struggle on a plastic oil filter housing. It was a little overdue by 3-4000 miles, but every other filter, even well overdue, has cracked off very easily, albeit not in such a shitty position. In the end the socket end was being held on by my assistant from underneath while I operated the ratchet - I had to put a hell of a lot of my ample bulk behind it.

I've always found the oil filter a bit tight to remove on that engine, even if torqued up correctly on the previous change, the angle is against you which doesn't help and it seems to have some self tightening properties going on.

I know its a marmite engine, but I put over 500k miles on the 150 version between a Saab 93, Zafira and Vectra and think its a good strong unit if serviced regularly.

[dozeydustman]

On 28/01/2024 at 20:57, GeordieInExile said:

I'm looking at a couple of these at the moment with immense interest. There's also a TTiD "sport edition" which seems to have the same 180bhp engine as the Aero. 

All the time you don’t need to go in a CAZ/ULEZ they are great old barges, pretty good on juice if you drive with a bit of care - managed to squeeze just under 60mpg out of the blue one I owned a few years back. This one has more oomph than the blue one ever did but is a bit juicier, my best being 54mpg between the South coast and Manchester.

I’ve not driven a hot petrol version yet, one is on my bucket list.

[dozeydustman]

9 hours ago, Popsicle said:

I know its a marmite engine

I have no problems with the engine from a driving point of view. Decent torque and power, it’s just a sod to service lol

[Split_Pin]

Some engines don't like oil extractors and the lance is unable to reach the bottom of the sump. My petrol 93 has something in the way, like a baffle in the sump, so I need to do the oil change the traditional way.

What are you using to undo the filter?

TTiD engines are a bit of a liability and also have some hard to find Saab specific parts. You may also hate the fuel consumption of a petrol example, especially an auto.

[dozeydustman]

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

What are you using to undo the filter?

32mm shallow socket for oil filters.

2 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Some engines don't like oil extractors

Possibly there is a baffle or something, but as the sump plug is so badly chewed up I will probably need to get a really grippy set of pump pliers on it. I do have a new plug waiting to go in but as the old one is forming a very good seal I’ll do more frequent changes than spec until such time I have managed to get the old plug out.

The few bits and pieces I have changed on this car so far have been ridiculously tight, some well over their specified torque - when I had the Uniroyals fitted a couple of years back even the tyre place’s rattle gun couldn’t get the wheel bolts off, they had to use a breaker bar and scaffold pole.

[lexi]

When drilling out screws, you will find most are hardened, so only the best drill bit and proper speed will deal with them.  

[dozeydustman]

A run up to my folks and back had shown better fuel economy after the mini service and brake pad replacement and also the repair (albeit temporary) to the vacuum pipe for the wastegate actuator.

I was averaging 47-49mpg indicated for the overall run, on return yesterday I had averaged an indicated 52.3mpg.

I still need to change the vacuum lines between the vac pump and the wastegate actuator. What is annoying is the barbs on both take a 3mm internal diameter rubber hose. The metal and plastic pipes they connect to have 4mm and 5mm barbs so the official rubber hoses are 3mm ID at one end and 5mm ID at the other. I did order some supposedly 3mm ID silicone heatproof pipe but it’s a loose fit on the 3mm barbs and a tight, almost impossible fit on the 5mm barbed swan neck. I don’t want to tear the ends of the hose, so I’m thinking of replacing the plastic lines with 3mm OD metal pipe, putting a barb or bead at each end with a flaring tool and joining the ends to the actuator and vac pump with heatproof hose.

Or I could internet search for the correct parts….

[dozeydustman]

The back box arrived this morning but sadly I also need a centre pipe from the DPF-back. Thankfully Neo Bros came up trumps again on their eBay store, worked out cheaper than GSF and ECP. And will more than likely fit correctly.

[dozeydustman]

Exhaust is here so that is a job for this afternoon. Having had a quick look under the car it would appear many of the exhaust hangers are in a poor condition. I picked up 4 this morning, I hope it's enough.

Also the new system is in 3 pieces with a butt joint between the two parts of the middle section (between the DPF and back box) and a long sleeve joiner. I cannot see a similar joint from my preliminary look but I'll need to get the car up and on the stands, which I shall do after lunch. I really don't fancy trying to prise a crappy old bit of pipe off the back of the DPF as it's an overlap (sleeve?) joint. It may mean deploying the ANGERY WILL OF DEAF to get that off or halve the pipe.

[dozeydustman]

I put the car up on stands but due to the uneven concrete outside the garage the car wasn't that stable, just jacking the car on the other side caused the whole vehicle to move over and the stand sway on 4-leg stands. I tried my 3-leg stands and these weren't much better. Didn't want to risk this so I've ordered a pair of ramps from Halfrauds with a nice 5% discount being a member of their club. Waiting to hear from click & collect.

Whether I remove the entire centre section or just graft the rearmost part of the middle section, I gotta remove the DPF or possibly the whole system from the car. Given the relative decent condition of the system save the back box and the tail end of the middle pipe, I may just slice'n'splice.

I'll crack on with this tomorrow, I've been using the 205 daily and the bearing really sounds bad now.

[dozeydustman]

Car is up on ramps and I’m struggling with this exhaust. I think slice and splice is the way forward.

Where would I need to make the cut? Right next to the fuel tank.

FML.

But I had a go anyway.

Sliced….

Spliced. I did tidy up the burred end with a flapwheel. Sadly I couldn’t find any fire putty/assembly paste so it’s currently dry fitted, which will allow me to more easily adjust it if it’s knocking against any part of the underside of the car.

I cannot find leaks around the joints either, which is good. Another job jobbed!