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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / August 20051990 SAAB Brakes
My brother-in-law picked up a 1990 SAAB 900 (non-Turbo) that, among other things has some apparent brake issues. It seems to run well enough, but it needs an a half shaft and some work done on the brakes. All other things being equal, I think I would have passed on this car. He only paid $400, but I have this bad feeling that he's going to have well over $1000 into before he gets it entirely road worthy. Although I have to admit that this car will probably be far more reliable than a comparable US car of the same vintage. I'm a VW affcionado, myself, and he thought that the Saab was of German origin. It's not, but it seems to share at least a number of similar type control systems of european origin. I took a look at it for him and it is apparent that the brake booster isn't working, so you have to stand on the brakes hard to stop. Is this a common thing for older Saabs? Out under the hood, the master cylinder looks like nothing I've ever seen, with a number of sensors into various ports on the cylinder. After doing a little reading, I think the car might have some sort of ABS on it. It has a little globe shaped tank on top of the cylinder that found pictures of in reference to being an ABS pressure accumulator. Where would one begin to troubleshoot this? > My brother-in-law picked up a 1990 SAAB 900 (non-Turbo) that, among > other things has some apparent brake issues. It seems to run well [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > reference to being an ABS pressure accumulator. Where would one begin > to troubleshoot this? I dont know... I owned a SAAB a few years ago, and found it to be solid dependable transportation. It did everything pretty well. The Swedes can make some pretty good autos, and in some cases they may even do better than the Germans. The braking system sounds sickeningly like a Teves system. If so, you could be in deep doodie. My Reatta has a Teves system, and if I ever have to replace the master cylinder, a new one runs about $2800 and a rebuilt will take the better part of a grand. That little cannister, if it is a Teves, is a pressure accumulator and it has to be changed occasionally. The brake fluid needs to be changed religiously . Get a manual, or see if Alldata.com can help. I was in no way impuning Swedish autos. I know that many of the control systems come from the same sources as the Germans, and the the europeans design things to last longer than in the US. The downside of this is that while they tend to be more reliable, when they do break, parts can sometimes be pricier. The reason I would have passed on this car has nothing to do with its Swedish roots. It has more to do with the level of things that it needs and the fact that my brother in law is in no way a gear head. He doesn't do much himself, and he'll be sorely pressed to afford to have someone work on this car properly. I don't trust the average Chevy mechanic to do the proper sort of work that needs to be done on foreigh cars. FWIW, prior to its acquisition by GM, I might have considered a Saab. I like cars with personality. > I took a look at it for him and it is apparent that the brake booster > isn't working, so you have to stand on the brakes hard to stop. Is [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > reference to being an ABS pressure accumulator. Where would one begin > to troubleshoot this? No diagram for 900 in Chilton's Import Car Manual 1983-1990. Says power booster and master cylinder are removed together and that 3 of the four bolts are accessable under the dash "after removal of the screen section and parts of the dash panel insulation". The 4th bolt is accessable from the engine compartment. Otherwise removeal instructions look straight forward - 2 electrical connections on the brake light switch - vacuum hose on non-return valve on booster - brake lines and electrical connections for brake warning switch on master cylinder - line to clutch master cylinder from fluid reservoir -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned Bruce, I just managed to confirm that SAAB did, in fact, use the Teves system in some of their models, and I would bet this is what you have. They are excellent when they are working, a PITA when they are not, and quite expensive to fix. You MUST regularly change out the brake fluid, once every two years or more often, if you want to stave off the expenditure. There is a special procedure to do this. In my case, mine still work fine, but I can imagine they will eventually go. When they do, I will either part out the car, or replace the Teves with a standard GM system. |
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