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RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/15/22 12:58 a.m.

I've been neglecting this thing but it needs to get back together because the Yukon needs a break.  I thrashed on the turbo swap this weekend, I just have to swap the head light bulbs, reinstall the battery and get it registered.

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/16/22 2:41 p.m.

UNGOOD!

I started the Saab up last night, has a wild squeal that doesn't seem to be belt related, misfire like crazy too that's causing idle to jump from 1000-2300 rpm and the oil feed and water lines on the turbo leak.  I did a compression test with some depressing results.

  • Cyl #1 - 100psi (bumped up to 125psi with PB Blaster down the yap)
  • Cyl #2 - 145psi
  • Cyl #3 - 150psi
  • Cyl #4 - 125psi

I think rings are gone on it, I've called a couple places on car-part and they want at least $2-300 just in a core charge. Looks like the Yukon is getting front tires soon after all.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/16/22 3:11 p.m.

if it didn't make that noise when you drove it in, I'd recommend pulling it apart and finding the source.  vacuum whistle?  turbo bearing?

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/16/22 3:15 p.m.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

It did not, the misfire is new too. The compression test is a bit disheartening though.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/16/22 4:40 p.m.

In reply to RacetruckRon :

May I call you A-A-Ron?

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/16/22 7:16 p.m.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to RacetruckRon :

May I call you A-A-Ron?

I didn't know I have a drinking problem cheeky

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/16/22 7:18 p.m.

I found a sizable vacuum leak on the throttle body. Plugged that car is idling fine no misfires or squealing noises

Aaron_King
Aaron_King GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
8/16/22 7:34 p.m.

Fingers crossed. 

Mezzanine
Mezzanine Dork
8/16/22 7:40 p.m.

Time for a snake-oil soak for the rings? Some MMO in the cylinders overnight followed by some aggressive Italian tune-up for an hour the next day to get those rings loosened up? This engine is on the outside of my core SAAB knowledge, but I recall the T7 got "low friction" rings and they were more prone to coking. Anyone else know what I'm vaguely recalling? 

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/17/22 12:08 a.m.

Here's the "plugged" vacuum leak. A more permanent solution will be needed. The brake booster vacuum hose will not stay stuck in the intake so the brakes are a bit weak.

OBDLink SX and T7 Suite are doing the beeps and boops properly. I pulled the VIN and IMMO code and dumped the stock bin incase I brick the ECU.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/17/22 1:32 p.m.

Vacuum Whistle for the win!  i'm glad it turned out to be a simple fix.

Tony Sestito
Tony Sestito UltimaDork
8/17/22 4:06 p.m.

This thread makes me mad that a pine tree took out my 2003 9-5 Linear with the 2.3t and the slushbox right before I was going to put it on the road. Keep yours away from pine trees! I really like these cars and kinda want another one if I can find one on the ultra cheap. 

Also, hoping the compression thing is from boogered rings. Hopefully you can clean those out and be back in business! 

XLR99 (Forum Supporter)
XLR99 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/17/22 7:50 p.m.

That hose is impressive in it's crustiness!  It looks like you're in the process of swapping in silicone vac hoses anyway.  Fingers crossed that a bit of MMO frees up a ring to get back in business.

Where can one learn about T7 suite and what it can do for you?

And Tony yes, the attack of the tree was a bummer for sure.  I was in MA a couple weeks ago (with the beater 9-5 which got press-ganged into road trip duty) and I saw 4 9-5s while there, at least two of which were in decent shape.

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/17/22 8:45 p.m.

In reply to XLR99 (Forum Supporter) :

Waiting on a couple parts from FCP Euro before I finish the silicone hose swap. I just had those plugged up like that to get it running so I could put a few miles on it.

As for T7 Suite start on the TrionicTuning Forum here.  I have been doing a lot of reading there the last few weeks.  It is a deep, deep rabbit hole and a lot of very knowledgeable folks there.

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/17/22 9:08 p.m.

I flashed a bin from an '05 Aero onto the car and the wife and I took a little back road cruise over to her parents place to check our garden over there.  Put a little over 20 miles on it and it developed a slight misfire in the midrange under load and threw a code for bypass valve too. I think we still have a small vacuum or boost leak somewhere.  I can also see this in Open SID (Saab live data stream on the radio display) as the air requested and air received are off a bit in the range when boost starts building.  

There's a small leak on one of the turbo lines that isn't a problem yet but it's one of those things.  The oil light came on just as we pulled back up to our house and were idling so I will be pulling the oil pan before I drive it again. The car does not seem to like the 05 bin, it has a lot of lights on the dash with this file (TCS, ABS, Brake and Airbag) I think I can modify the stock file with the maps I need from the later Aero cars to take advantage of the TD04 turbo. 

I'm happy it is moving under it's own power. I am going to borrow a borescope from a buddy still and I found a cheap engine that I may pick up as a spare.  I will continue the Italian Tuneup treatment once we have the oil pan and vacuum system sorted.

Gambit
Gambit Reader
8/17/22 9:33 p.m.

There's at least 3-4 well modified saabs coupes/wagons that I see in the west STL area. Absolute missiles from my very short experiences of them on the highway.

dj06482 (Forum Supporter)
dj06482 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
8/18/22 12:10 a.m.

While you have the pan dropped, check out the oil level sensor if it's anything like the ones on the '03 and up 9-3 - they love to leak!

 

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/16/22 11:18 p.m.

The neglect this poor car received from the PO keeps showing up.  I drained the oil to pull the sump off this afternoon to check for sludge. 

Well the very old smelling oil was full of glitter.  I tried staying positive and told myself it must just be from the tore up journal bearing from the original turbo.  After much struggling I got the oil pan off and felt the rod caps to see if any bearings were on their way out.  Three out of the 4 rod caps had play in them so I pulled one off. Sadness.

Crank has a good scratch in it and is beyond what I can fix with emory cloth in the car. I'm trying to figure out the best course of action to fix the engine.  I could get a spare engine or donor car or get a replacement crank and bearings and maybe run into even more issues.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/17/22 11:03 p.m.

Ugh

Aaron_King
Aaron_King GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
10/18/22 10:07 a.m.

Man that sucks.

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/18/22 10:19 a.m.

I think I found a pile of parts and a good B234 longblock somewhat local.  I talked to the guy on the phone for half an hour last night, he's getting out of Saabs and wants his garage space back.  Going to see what kind of deal we can put together but the Yukon will stay on daily duty for a while now.

Dusterbd13-michael
Dusterbd13-michael MegaDork
10/18/22 10:23 a.m.

Dammit man

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/24/22 10:23 p.m.

Well apparently a used Milwaukee impact, battery  and charger are worth about this much Saab parts. 

I'm going to pull it apart some to verify some part numbers but allegedly it's a B234i with a T7 head, B234i cams and turbo that was pulled because it was pushing oil out of somewhere. It's pretty grimey so at first pass I'm suspecting the older PCV system. My other suspicion is a power steering leak that was poorly diagnosed.  If that is true this is about as strong as you can make a factory parts combo and should be able to handle close to 500whp. I have no intentions to hit those limits but this was also the closest and cheapest longblock I could find

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/24/22 10:54 p.m.

Got the valve cover off, which didn't seem like it was sealed very tight. Cam part numbers appear to be "T5" cams from a B205 which are still slightly more aggressive than the cams in my stock B235L engine. Sorry for all of the Saab talk for the uninitiated that follow this thread. 

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/24/22 11:38 p.m.

And one more update for tonight. There does not appear to be holes in the pistons from what I can tell from the borescope I borrowed from a buddy. I also measured the stroke through the spark plug hole and it is indeed a 2.3L crank. That's really all I needed was a good 2.3 crank. I'll get this on the engine stand tomorrow to pull the head and check out the bearings. 

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