Galaxy Garage

A complaint of no heat in the 9-5 resulted in me driving it to Akron and back in the snow this week. On the trip I discovered that the heat really was not working. I also found that the car never got up to temperature.

Since the water temperature could have been the problem with no heat, I decided to tackle that first. With some help from the SaabCentral Forum and EconMancer.com’s writeups on the 9-5 I was able to determine that the problems were only mildly related.

The 9-5 blend door fix that I had done over the summer was a botched job. Due to the fact that I did the repair in 100 degree heat, I didn’t notice that I had merely jammed the blend door into the “cold air” position. After last night though, I could actually tell you how the whole thing works. Clocking the arm and the gear on the motor properly fixed my no heat problem.

I am still having an issue with it taking a long time to warm up. I found that the 9-5′s temp gauge is not really a gauge at all though. It simply tells you when things are cold, normal, or bad. If the car doesn’t come up to temp in a given period of time (I think 15 min) the needle drops to cold to tell you something needs fixed. I had replaced the thermostat over the summer when it was stuck closed. I used one that sticks open when it fails. I think it failed already because around town I don’t have an issue, but at highway speeds that car cannot maintain water temperature. I also bought a coolant temp sensor to replace while I’m at it.

With this done and some other little things fixed the 9-5 should be a great commuter for a while to come!

With new federal regulations as well as compatibility issues with catalytic converters, the oils of yesteryear are gone. What this means is that the additives once found in high end oils are gone. These additives provided protection at the point when oil is the thinnest: the power stroke. While normal cars do not approach the same level of need that diesel and turbocharged applications require. Modern engines have less of a need for this added protection with today’s tighter tolerences to bearing surfaces.

ZDDP is the substance beign removed from oils. Modern car owners have the complaint that ZDDP damages catalytic converters over time. It is also toxic. Older car owners though need the added level of protection in their engines to keep bearing wear at a minimum.

Maintaining 6 cars with very picky oil requirements and related horror stories means I need to know about this stuff. The Saab T7 engines found in some 2000 to 2004 Saabs are notorius for engine sludge. There are a number of reasons why, but it most likely points to the catalytic converter being directly under the oil pan. The current mechanic suggestion is to use full synthetic 5W40 oil. Good luck finding that. After much reading, I went with Shell Rotella T Synthetic 0W40 found at Wal-Mart. Sicen all of the oils are changing due to regulations, you need to read the labels. Saab is standing by the Group III standard, although Group IV would by just as well if you can find it in the correct weight (Shell Rotella T Synthetic)

Check out the wikipedia page on Rotella: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_Rotella_T

I have recieved a ton of traffic stemming from my post about repairing the SID. Because of this, I will soon be putting together a detailed e-book on repairing the Saab SID panel. The problems that people have all stem to the same design flaw and the same weak plastic parts. I will be selling it on ebay, and on this site at a discounted rate.

I will also be starting a Saab 9-3 (NG900) stereo upgrade ebook/blog series as work begins on my own project. It won’t be anything wild, but a significant upgrade from the late 90′s CD and ONSTAR technology. This will be MP3 and possibly HD.

Like many other European cars of the last 2 decades, my Saab 9-3 faced the troublesome pixelation of the onboard computer. Mine was missing most of the middle section, but I’ve seen it happen all through the display on other cars.

I happened to stuble upon a direction set on ebay of all places detailing the repair of this on my saab.

The jist of it is that the ribbon cable leading from the motherboard of the SID to the LCD panel is glued to the motherboard. Over time and through various hot and cold climate changes, the glue dries and separates. The real fix to this problem would be to take it all apart and use something like a circuit writer to fix it. Not being very good at that kind of delicate work, I instead followed the manual and sanwhiched a piece of foam between the vertical LCD panel and the motherboard where the ribbon cable attaches. It took me two tries with various thicknesses of foam, but I got it and now have a full display.

I also managed to replace my broken cup holder at the same time, so for under $30 I got a new cupholder and fixed my SID bfore winter!