"Get it out of my yard": 2003 Saab 9-5 Linear Rehab Thread

Continued from here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/learn-me-2003-saab-9-5-linear-edition/128048/page1/

In the long standing GRM Tradition of acquiring near-free Saabs, I decided to join in on the fun.

It's a pretty basic 2003 Saab 9-5 "Linear", which means it's the base model. And a base model 9-5 is still pretty loaded up: it has leather, heated seats, 4-wheel discs, and a lot more. This one has the "low pressure" turbo 2.3L with the 5-speed auto with Sport Mode and shifter button thingys on the steering wheel.

Some history:

My buddy and fellow GRM'er Pseudosport's sister bought this thing a few years ago for a decent chunk of change. The car was in great shape at the time, real clean. She drove it for a while and fixed some things on it, but decided she wanted a different car, and gave it to her brother. He drove it for a while, fixed some more stuff, but decided that he wanted a truck instead, so he parked it and it sat for 2 years, until last night. Some pics:

Before it sat, it got a host of new parts: Fuel pump, alternator, water pump (actually twice), brakes, and more. It has 125k on it, which is less than anything currently in my driveway. The rusty bits are on the front of the rear wheel wells on either side, and from what I can see, they shouldn't be too bad to repair.

After jumping it, adding some oil and coolant, and hosing it off, I drove the thing about 25 miles back to my house. Some observations from its maiden voyage:

-There's an exhaust leak up front, which started after I gave it the ol' "Italian Tune-Up". I'm thinking a flex joint blew out. Hopefully it's the cheap one and not the cat pipe. Side note about "Italian Tune-Ups": last time I did that to a car that had been sitting, it was my mom's dearly departed 1996 Maxima, and it shot stuff out the muffler. I need to stick to regular tune-ups.

-It is leaking oil from somewhere.

-The SID (Saab Info Display?) is missing pixels. From what I gather, this is a ribbon cable that gets gross that causes this. New ones are cheap. Also, on the way home, the date on the display started doing it's best Delorean Time Machine impression and started going back in time at a rapid rate. I got it to stop, but it doesn't do much else. Maybe I'm using it wrong? What is it even supposed to do?

-The stereo doesn't work right now. Might be a fuse, because I guess it used to work fine. If not, I'll toss in an aftermarket unit w/Bluetooth.

-The car was overheating after we first started it, but after adding coolant, it was fine all the way home. Heat works, as does the heated seats, but the A/C needs a recharge.

-Car actually rides really nice, with no clunks or rattles at all!

-Automatic transmission isn't as fun-sapping as I thought. This car scoots, and it has a "sport mode" and paddles, too.

-Passenger side front window likes to fall off the track. New OEM regulator bushings are sitting in the glove box already.

Goals for the car are to fix the rust, exhaust, and other annoyances and share it with the wife. A mild tune and some upgrades here and there aren't out of the question.

I've secretly always wanted a Saab, and I grew up around them (another friend's parents always had turbo Saabs growing up, and I actually learned to drive a manual in my friend's mom's 2000 9-5) Originally, the car came from Shaw Saab in my hometown of Hingham, MA, which was right up the street from my old house, so that's pretty cool. Still has the dealer badging on the back!

Nice,

I have had a number of Saabs. I had a 99 9-5 with a 5 speed it was a great cruising car. I think you will enjoy it.

Soooo - what did you pay for this beauty?

(and definitely DON'T setup a standing local CL search for saabs under $500)

In reply to Robbie:

Scrap value. That way I can get my money back if it goes south.

I think it was less then what I could have scraped it for but whatever, lol.

My brother bought a new truck and was going to sell the Saab. He never got around to it so the car just sat. For the past year my family has been bugging me to get rid of it even though its not my car or problem. Tried selling it for $500 on CL once ended up with way too many questions to no real interest. Everyone wants a perfect car with working A/C that they can drive across country for $500. So $100 and the car leaves, I don't have to do anything, and my family stops bugging me. Sounds like a great deal.

excellent!

So, is there a "noob site" for learning about open source tuning for these? My Google-Fu is failing me. So far, I've seen people say that to tune, you need some external interface box and you have to build your own cables, and I've also seen that you can use a typical $15 CANBUS interface cable to flash tunes.

Miraculously, the CEL is NOT on, even with the exhaust leak. I was thinking that a "stage 1" tune might be fun once I get things sorted.

I go on trionictuning.com.

Although the traffic there seems sparse, the folks REALLY know what they are talking about. Searching is hard too, but I can generally find what I need with a little effort.

Also, many of the "how-tos" were written 5-10 years ago now, so they are not necessarily up to date with the current easiest method. Unfortunately.

I used to look at Saabnet.com Saabscene.com

Challenge car?

Tony Sestito wrote: So, is there a "noob site" for learning about open source tuning for these? My Google-Fu is failing me. So far, I've seen people say that to tune, you need some external interface box and you have to build your own cables, and I've also seen that you can use a typical $15 CANBUS interface cable to flash tunes. Miraculously, the CEL is NOT on, even with the exhaust leak. I was thinking that a "stage 1" tune might be fun once I get things sorted.

This makes it look like if you have T7 (you should) or T8 engine management, a usb-OBD cable should be all you need to flash.

http://www.txsuite.org/guides/trionic-can-flasher/

Dusterbd13 wrote: Challenge car?

No, this one is going to be a commuter/dog hauler.

Will you at least bring the spirit back since you won't be bringing the saab?

Dusterbd13 wrote: Will you at least bring the spirit back since you won't be bringing the saab?

If we go to the Challenge this year, I have no idea what we are bringing. The Spirit might be back, but we are not sure yet. It needs a few things.

I've been doing some research on the Saab, which is really flexing my analytical research muscles, as there's a ton of info out there on the interwebs, yet it's largely disjointed and outdated. I have confirmed that the car has the Saab Trionic 7 engine management/ECU, which theoretically means I can reflash a tune with a cheap CANBUS cable. Also, without even looking at it, I am pretty sure the oil leak is the Oil Sending Unit, which is a cheap fix.

Also, the car actually started last night after sitting all day. This is significant, because we thought the battery was complete toast after sitting for 2 YEARS hooked up to the car. A new battery in the correct group size for this car is like $160ish, so not having to buy one right away would be nice.

I'm hoping to poke around the car tonight and see what I can find out.

After work, I had a little time to take a quick look under the car. I wanted to see where the exhaust leak was coming from, as well as pinpoint that oil leak.

First I thought the leak was here. This is the flex joint on the cat pipe. The steel mesh was torn a little, but the actual flex joint wasn't leaking.

Cars don't like sitting in New England. This happens. It's not as bad as it looks.

BOOM HOLE!!! I think I found my exhaust leak. Luckily this is the cheap part of the exhaust.

If I am reading this right, the oil hasn't been changed in 5 years. I better get on that.

I also started to clean the car out real quick while dusk set in. I popped the trunk and found this:

Uhh, ok! There's 2 OG Xbox consoles, a "fat" Playstation 2, a Xbox 360 fishing reel, and a pile of controllers. The old owner said that they come with the car. Nice.

Because i like to literally polish turds, I also gave it the world's fastest car wash, and tossed some Plast-X at the headlights super quick. Pics suck because it was getting dark, but this is the best looking $100 car I've ever seen. There are some chips missing and a few dents, but with some light work, I can have it looking great. The wheels aren't even curbed, and are in better shape than the ones on my Mazda!

And as I tucked it in for the night, the CEL kicked on! What took it so long?

I haven't even looked them up yet, but I bet it's got something to do with the giant hole in the exhaust. Just a hunch.

Another thing: how do you use the SID? None of the buttons do anything. Stereo doesn't work, either. I checked some fuses, and they all seem fine. I will dig into this more later on.

Edit: codes are related to the Direct Ignition Cassette. Looks like a tune-up and a trip to the boneyard is in order.

I have a set of new rotors, I think they are fronts, sitting in my garage for that car if you want them. Rockauto sent me non Aero rotors a couple of years ago and I never sent them back. Yours for the cost of shipping.

Front flex pipe purchased. Should hopefully be here next week.

You have a PM on those rotors.

Small update: I had about 5 minutes to poke around the car last night, and I found that the fuse for the stereo amplifier was blown. I went out and picked up some fuses, and I'll try replacing it tonight. I'm guessing it got fried when we were trying to jump start the car.

I also picked up an oil filter and a gallon of Shell Rotella T6 5W40 Synthetic oil meant for diesels. I used to run that stuff in my similar vintage 2002 WRX with great results, and with all the sludging stories I've heard about the 2.3L Turbo Saabs, the extra detergents should help out.

Another miniscule update: pulled and replaced the amp fuse in hopes of getting the SID and radio going. Still nothing. Also pulled and inspected every other fuse in the box and they were all good. Then, I read that there might be one in the back of the radio.

I picked up a radio removal tool to pull it out and check the fuse in the back of the radio. I pulled the radio, and yeah, it was toast. Radio works now!!! The SID, however, still does not do what it's supposed to do, and the display is missing pixels, so I will have to order a new ribbon.

I also found PDF files of the service manual and the owners manual online. I'm going to need those!

Also realized tonight that I now own cars from two brands that GM unceremoniously murdered. Now I need an Olds and a Saturn to complete the deal.

Pics of last night's fun, because everyone likes pics:

Blown fuses. One on the left was for the amp and the one on the right is for the stereo unit itself.

Pioneer made this one, which makes this the "Premium" stereo. Saab had 3 stereo options in 2003: Popular, Premium, and Prestige. Popular got 4 speakers and no amp, and the Prestige got an amp and extra bass speakers in the parcel shelf (or in other areas if it is a wagon) for a total of 9-10 speakers. This one is the Premium, which means it has 7 speakers and an amplifier, and everything runs at an annoying 2 ohms.

Look, it sorta works! I also found coins inside of it when I took the radio out. Someone used the tape slot as a coin holder. As you can see, the SID is berked. The buttons do nothing, and pixels are missing. Every once in a while, it will start cycling through dates on its own.

Another curious thing is that this stereo has a Weather Band. I've never seen that on a passenger car. I sat there for 5 minutes listening to info on the height of sea swells off of Cape Cod.

Tomorrow, I'll be doing a junkyard tour of southeastern MA. I haven't been this pumped to go to the junkyard in years. I'm not sure what it is about this car, but it's making turning wrenches fun for me again. Sometimes you need a series of small victories to get you rolling.

Looking good so far.

My 90's vintage BMW's have weather band on the stereo. Handy for going out in the boat.

Cool Saab, I've almost purchased one of these on two different occasions. Both times I thought they were too nice for a second car. Seems like a dumb reason in hindsight.

If you want a SID and stereo, I have one for an 03 sitting in the basement. Yours for the price of shipping. I powered the car up once, and I can't remember the condition of the SID pixels, but IIRC the buttons actually worked. Shoot me a PM, I'm not on the boards as often as usual lately.

Before you drop $$ on a new DI, try changing the plugs; these seem pretty sensitive to having the correct NKG plugs in them. In MA you can probably get stuff from eEuroparts in a day or so.

ninja edit - I also have a set of NGK linear plugs that I won't be needing.