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Car Forum / Saab Cars / September 200499 9-5 Turbo questions
It appears that mine is going. Car has 100K on it. It's making a blue puff on startup and has recently started knocking alot when the car is getting warmed up. The dealer said that the seals on the turbo were going and it would need to be replaced. 1: how hard is it to change this thing? Do you have to take half the car apart to get it out or will it fit out without (for example) taking the radiator out? I did the turbo in my Volvo 242T a few years back and it wasn't all that bad. Other than the turbo, what else do I have to have on hand to do the job? 2: Are there aftermarket sources for the turbo? It's made by Garrett so I suspect that someone sells these things. 3: Can they be rebuilt? I know that lots of turbos, especially for trucks, are rebuilt all the time. Can this one be rebuilt? I can live without the car for a few weeks if I have to send the turbo off to be rebuilt, so that's not an issue. > It appears that mine is going. Car has 100K on it. It's making a blue puff > on startup and has recently started knocking alot when the car is getting > warmed up. The dealer said that the seals on the turbo were going and it > would need to be replaced. I'm not sure how that correlates with "knocking", if you mean predetonation. > 1: how hard is it to change this thing? Do you have to take half the car > apart to get it out or will it fit out without (for example) taking the > radiator out? Assuming you mean the 2.3 Liter 4-cyl engine, it's right there, but yes the radiator probably has to come out. Shouldn't be a biggie. > I did the turbo in my Volvo 242T a few years back and it > wasn't all that bad. Other than the turbo, what else do I have to have on > hand to do the job? Get some penetrating oil (Kroil if you can find it) on those bolts _now_, give it time to get in there. Re-apply every couple days; might as well make them as easy to get out as you can. > 2: Are there aftermarket sources for the turbo? It's made by Garrett so I > suspect that someone sells these things. A neighbor just had a tractor turbo (also a Garrett) rebuilt by a place in Chicago - I have the impression it was a Garrett authorized shop. I've rebuilt Garrett turbos; if your comfortable with, say, a brake master cylinder, it's about that complicated and uses mostly the same tools (snap ring pliers, that sort of thing). > 3: Can they be rebuilt? I know that lots of turbos, especially for trucks, > are rebuilt all the time. Can this one be rebuilt? See above. > I can live without the car for a few weeks if I have to send the turbo off > to be rebuilt, so that's not an issue. Sounds like pulling it, shipping it to a rebuilder, and re-installing it is the plan then? Seems solid, if in fact it needs rebuilding. Can you describe the "knocking"? Is it a whine or a howl coming from the turbo, related to boost, or what? Knocking doesn't reconcile with a turbo failure, I can't imagine. Dave Hinz > > I can live without the car for a few weeks if I have to send the turbo off > > to be rebuilt, so that's not an issue. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > related to boost, or what? Knocking doesn't reconcile with a turbo > failure, I can't imagine. see other post on knocking I don't get any whining or howl from the turbo, did get that on the volvo that I did years back. The car seems to run strong and otherwise is performing great. > It appears that mine is going. Car has 100K on it. It's making a blue > puff > on startup and has recently started knocking alot when the car is getting > warmed up. The dealer said that the seals on the turbo were going and it > would need to be replaced. Have you checked your crankcase-ventilation isn't clugged. It's a very common error on the early 9-5's. Saab has a fix for this, a new oiltrap on the crankcase ventilationhose.... Cheers! More info.... Today the "check engine" light came on and at about the same time the temp gauge on the dash went dead. At the same time,t he knocking stopped. Me thinks that the knocking is unrelated to the possible turbo failure and probably I lost a temp sensor or something like that. Mid day, the temp gauge started working again and the knocking came back. Odd.... As for the questions on the turbo,yes I'm comfortable with a rebuild of master cyl. I've even done entire engines in the past. But I was under the impression that turbos were something that you had to have special tools to rebuild and balance. Finally, I did check the PCV one time in the past when I read about the TSB to no end. The dealer told me the blue puffs were the need for a turbo, but the car runs very strong and has no real indication otherwise that anything is wrong. What else should I check before I go tearing the turbo out and sending it off for repair. I found a place on the net that says that they'll rebuild a turbo that needs only bearings and seals for $275 plus shipping. (www.turbochargers.com of all places) Sounds reasonable. If I did it myself, what would that cost? > It appears that mine is going. Car has 100K on it. It's making a blue puff > on startup and has recently started knocking alot when the car is getting [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > I can live without the car for a few weeks if I have to send the turbo off > to be rebuilt, so that's not an issue. > More info.... > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > probably I lost a temp sensor or something like that. Mid day, the temp > gauge started working again and the knocking came back. Odd.... Yes, sounds like you have more than one problem going on at the same time which is getting the symptoms all inter-confuzzled. > As for the questions on the turbo,yes I'm comfortable with a rebuild of > master cyl. I've even done entire engines in the past. But I was under the > impression that turbos were something that you had to have special tools to > rebuild and balance. Well, the rebuild on the Garrett up to at least the mid 1980s is just snaprings and wrenches, and about the balance thing - if you put together all of the rotating parts in the same orientation as they're currently together, it'll be as balanced as it was before you took it apart, right? Unless I'm overlooking something, only the 2 impellers, the shaft, and the nuts on each end rotate, and only the 2 impellers and the hot-end nut have anything that involves balancing. I seem to recall the procedure included removing the nut from the cold side and pulling the shaft/hot impeller out the hot side, but it's been a decade... > Finally, I did check the PCV one time in the past when I read about the TSB > to no end. The dealer told me the blue puffs were the need for a turbo, but > the car runs very strong and has no real indication otherwise that anything > is wrong. I'd put the turbo at the end of the list, a bit of blue smoke isn't a good reason to dump a couple hundred bucks just yet. > What else should I check before I go tearing the turbo out and sending it > off for repair. I found a place on the net that says that they'll rebuild a > turbo that needs only bearings and seals for $275 plus shipping. > (www.turbochargers.com of all places) Sounds reasonable. If I did it > myself, what would that cost? Not too much less that letting them do it, and if you factor in hassle, it's worth having it done by them it sounds like. Good to know. Someone else here suggested something about an oil breather valve or something, which might deal with the blue smoke, but the knocking and the temp gague (especially in relation to each other) isn't making sense yet. |
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