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Car Forum / Saab Cars / March 2007SAAB 9-5 fluid changes
How often do 9-5 v6 owners change their oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, and coolant? I adhere to the old 3000 mile or 3 month oil/filter change. Transmission fluid- every 6000 miles. Coolant- once a year. I use SAAB approved everything...Not sure if this is a sensible schedule, but I feel better doing it. Rich > How often do 9-5 v6 owners change their oil, transmission fluid, brake > fluid, and coolant? I adhere to the old 3000 mile or 3 month oil/filter [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Rich I can assure you that it is not. Sensible that is... You are changing things at least twice too often. But you knew that when you cast out that bait, didn't you?  Signature-Fred W >> How often do 9-5 v6 owners change their oil, transmission fluid, brake >> fluid, and coolant? I adhere to the old 3000 mile or 3 month oil/filter [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > You are changing things at least twice too often. But you knew that when > you cast out that bait, didn't you? No I did not. I know what the owner's manual says about the oil change, but some SAAB owners say that that is too long a time to go without changing the oil. Although I'm sure you don't believe it.. I do own a SAAB 9-5. Rich > >> How often do 9-5 v6 owners change their oil, transmission fluid, brake > >> fluid, and coolant? I adhere to the old 3000 mile or 3 month oil/filter [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Rich Fair enough, there is also the economical consideration that oil change is relative inexpensive compared to fuel change over the same mileage, so it's not a big deal to have peace of mind. However, transmission fluid hardly gets polluted, it can easily last 100,000 miles (manual box) or probably forever, it only needs topping up. > Fair enough, there is also the economical consideration that oil change is > relative inexpensive compared to fuel change over the same mileage, so [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > forever, > it only needs topping up. Thanks. To give an example of how contentious the question of frequency of oil change is ..here is what Deanna Sclar has to say in Auto Repair for Dummies (Please no jokes)..."If you do a lot of stop-and-go driving in city or rush-hour traffic, change your oil as often as every 1000 miles. Your engine rarely gets hot enough to evaporate the water that forms in the crankcase and builds up sludge in the engine. Some auto repair experts believe that it's more accurate to determine how often you should change your oil by the number of cold starts your engine experiences than by the number of miles it's driven." If she is right, and I have no idea if she is, that adds up to a lot oil. On Coolant she says " You should definitely change your coolant in two situations. The first is if you haven't changed it a year or in the past 20,000 miles." Additionally she seems to be suspicious of the manufacturer's recommended intervals for oil changes for the simple reason that the manufacturer wants you to buy another car, and steps to lengthen the life of your present car are not in the manufacturer's interest. Keep in mind that many people have Sclar's book and it has become a kind of bible for car owners. I am not holding this book up as a shining example of truth. She might be right and she might be wrong. Rich Sauer >> forever, >> it only needs topping up. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >number of miles it's driven." If she is right, and I have no idea if she >is, that adds up to a lot oil. Nonsense. While short trips to require more frequent change intervals, no one with a clue suggests 1K changes. If you want some scientific facts, go out to bobistheoilguy.com and look into the guys actually testing their oil in labs. There are Saab engines running over 300K miles without major rebuilds on 3K dino and 5K synthetic changes. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that even that is more frequent than needed - see the guys testing oil (above). >On Coolant she says " You should definitely >change your coolant in two situations. The first is if you haven't changed >it a year or in the past 20,000 miles." A little shy, but not as bad as her oil claim. 2 years or 24K miles. The reason is that the anti-corrosive compounds can break down. Use Saab coolant. >Additionally she seems to be >suspicious of the manufacturer's recommended intervals for oil changes for >the simple reason that the manufacturer wants you to buy another car, and >steps to lengthen the life of your present car are not in the manufacturer's >interest. Total BS. Warranties are 100K on a lot of motors these days. They want them to last. Plus, if she was right, why don't the oil companies promote shorter change intervals ? Why don't auto mechanics working on their own cars go with shorter intervals ? > Keep in mind that many people have Sclar's book and it has become >a kind of bible for car owners. I am not holding this book up as a shining >example of truth. She might be right and she might be wrong. She's wrong. In fact she so easily promotes total supposition in the face of actual science that I would question anything else she says. Bob wrote: (Good info snipped) >>On Coolant she says " You should definitely >>change your coolant in two situations. The first is if you haven't changed [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > The reason is that the anti-corrosive compounds can break down. Use > Saab coolant. I read that somwhere..probably here..and had the old coolant (whatever it was) flushed and Saab coolant added. Your response was most interesting. Thanks for taking the time to counter Ms. Sclar's statements. Rich Sauer One more statement from Sclar's book: "When you start your car in the morning, do you warm it up before you drive off? If you do, no good! Most manuals caution you not to indulge in lengthy warm-ups. They waste fuel, pollute the air, and increase wear on your vehicle." pg. 510 True or False? I always imagined that letting your car warm up would allow the fluids to circulate, but that might be an old-wive's tale. Rich > One more statement from Sclar's book: > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Rich The book is right, just drive off (gently) is better. But don't put your foot down before engine has reached normal temp. >One more statement from Sclar's book: > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Rich Mostly true. Let it warm up enough that the oil is flowing. That's maybe a minute at most in very cold weather. I've seen some guys who have it in gear before the starter has even stopped spinning... not good. I have a manual, I like to let the tranny spin in neutral for a ten seconds to flow the oil before engaging a gear. But, not much time either way. > >> forever, > >> it only needs topping up. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > suggest that even that is more frequent than needed - see the guys > testing oil (above). Yes, 1000 miles interval is definitely too short. I change at around 4000 miles with a lot of motorway driving. It feels like the engine sounds better after a change. > >On Coolant she says " You should definitely > >change your coolant in two situations. The first is if you haven't changed [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > The reason is that the anti-corrosive compounds can break down. Use > Saab coolant. Depends on what it says on the tin. You can now get 3 or 5 years lifetime for coolant products. Naturally, it needs topping up if the level goes down. > >Additionally she seems to be > >suspicious of the manufacturer's recommended intervals for oil changes for [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > promote shorter change intervals ? Why don't auto mechanics working on > their own cars go with shorter intervals ? However, I still think manufacturers are short sighted. Companies often replace their cars after 3 years (uk) because they expect everything to be totally reliable during that period. An older car is seen as a hazard as it could break down on the way to an important meeting or function. A three year old car has depreciated to about ~40% , but this gives us a nice supply of excellent secondhand cars. But around that time the car gets a kind of mid-life crisis; clutch, brakes, timing belts, drive belts, bulbs and other niggles, it's almost as if this was designed that way. > Additionally she seems to be > suspicious of the manufacturer's recommended intervals for oil changes for > the simple reason that the manufacturer wants you to buy another car Typical American conspiracy theory ! So I assume you've missed the single most important thing which is to use synthetic oil ? Graham >> Additionally she seems to be >> suspicious of the manufacturer's recommended intervals for oil changes [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Graham Don't assume that I've missed something. Assume that Ms Sclar did. Rich > >> How often do 9-5 v6 owners change their oil, transmission fluid, brake > >> fluid, and coolant? I adhere to the old 3000 mile or 3 month oil/filter [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > some SAAB owners say that that is too long a time to go without changing the > oil. Although I'm sure you don't believe it.. I do own a SAAB 9-5. synthetic oil "should" last a long time - which is one reason they charge so much for it..... i have a V6 diesel - it gets changed on the recommended intervals (12k miles) - but that twice a year for me. The petrol engines here (UK) have a longer recommended interval. > Rich > SignatureRegards stephen_hope@xyzworld.com - replace xyz with ntl >>>How often do 9-5 v6 owners change their oil, transmission fluid, brake >>>fluid, and coolant? I adhere to the old 3000 mile or 3 month oil/filter [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Rich OK, I'm sorry then. But your schedule is the most agressive I have ever heard of. You can easily go 6k miles between oil/filter services. Longer if it is highway miles. Coolant is a 2 or 3 year deal. ATF should only need refreshing every 30k miles. Signature-Fred W The suggested interval in my 97 900S manual is 7500. I routinely go about 6000 between oil changes. In 235K miles I have changed the antifreeze once (last summer) and the manual trans oil never. Most of my driving is highway and I average 30-32mpg except during the winter when Iget about 28-30mpg. Having said that... the shift seal is starting to weep so I am slowly changing the trans oil. >>>>How often do 9-5 v6 owners change their oil, transmission fluid, brake >>>>fluid, and coolant? I adhere to the old 3000 mile or 3 month oil/filter [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >Longer if it is highway miles. Coolant is a 2 or 3 year deal. ATF >should only need refreshing every 30k miles. I wrote: >> No I did not. I know what the owner's manual says about the oil change, >> but some SAAB owners say that that is too long a time to go without >> changing the oil. Although I'm sure you don't believe it.. I do own a >> SAAB 9-5. >> >> Rich > OK, I'm sorry then. But your schedule is the most agressive I have ever > heard of. You can easily go 6k miles between oil/filter services. Longer > if it is highway miles. Coolant is a 2 or 3 year deal. ATF should only > need refreshing every 30k miles. I certainly understand the frustration that many of you old-timers have with trolls infesting your newsgroup. So most of the time if your nose tells you there's a troll in your midst most of the time you are probably right. For the hell of it I searched the alt.auto.mercedes newsgroup for info about oil frequency and of the many threads on this subject you can-if you have the time or desire- look at this old thread from 2000: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.auto.mercedes/browse_frm/thread/3f137bbcd7c09 5ca/c458b0b7c0ba5449?lnk=gst&q=%22oil+change%22&rnum=9&hl=en#c458b0b7c0ba5449 |
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