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Car Forum / Saab Cars / October 2007

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C900, running miserably...

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charlieontheradio@gmail.com - 22 Oct 2007 21:37 GMT
the "Saab Specialist" down the street is stumped after two weeks. i
throw my troubles to you, the alt.autos.saab wolves.

this is 1993 C900S automatic with just under 140,000 miles.

Idle is rough. Struggles uphill and under load (meaning more than just
me in the car) in low gears.

Never stalls, no "Check Engine" light, RPMs stay right around 1,000 at
idle and screams on the interstate, no problems.
John B - 23 Oct 2007 15:24 GMT
> the "Saab Specialist" down the street is stumped after two weeks. i
> throw my troubles to you, the alt.autos.saab wolves.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Never stalls, no "Check Engine" light, RPMs stay right around 1,000 at
> idle and screams on the interstate, no problems.

I assume all the basic maintenance stuff (e.g. spark plugs, fuel filter, air
filter, distributer cap/rotor, etc.) has been seen to?

John
Milo - 24 Oct 2007 00:43 GMT
on my wife's 90 900, similar symptoms (almost dying at idle) led to a new
idle control valve. I believe they also wound up doing something with the
volume mass meter. I think I paid around $500 for the work. If you need it,
I'll pull the rct and get the gory details. Car runs fine now.

> the "Saab Specialist" down the street is stumped after two weeks. i
> throw my troubles to you, the alt.autos.saab wolves.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> Never stalls, no "Check Engine" light, RPMs stay right around 1,000 at
> idle and screams on the interstate, no problems.
Milo - 24 Oct 2007 14:31 GMT
it was the air mass sensor, not volume mass meter.

> on my wife's 90 900, similar symptoms (almost dying at idle) led to a new
> idle control valve. I believe they also wound up doing something with the
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>> Never stalls, no "Check Engine" light, RPMs stay right around 1,000 at
>> idle and screams on the interstate, no problems.
charlieontheradio@gmail.com - 24 Oct 2007 23:14 GMT
i'm hoping that the guy i had look at it checked all the usual
suspects. he had it for two weeks straight, after all...
i'm thinking it's an air/vacuum issue of some sort, but i clearly know
nothing...
thanks for your suggestions!

c
John B - 25 Oct 2007 01:18 GMT
> i'm hoping that the guy i had look at it checked all the usual
> suspects. he had it for two weeks straight, after all...
> i'm thinking it's an air/vacuum issue of some sort, but i clearly know
> nothing...
> thanks for your suggestions!

I could be wrong, but I think an air leak would trigger a CEL. Easy enough to
test...

John
Adrian - 25 Oct 2007 09:34 GMT
John B (John B <rotten_NOSPAM_@ccil.org>) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

>> i'm hoping that the guy i had look at it checked all the usual
>> suspects. he had it for two weeks straight, after all... i'm thinking
>> it's an air/vacuum issue of some sort, but i clearly know nothing...
>> thanks for your suggestions!

> I could be wrong, but I think an air leak would trigger a CEL. Easy
> enough to test...

Not necessarily.

Replacing all the vac hoses with nice shiny new silicon is cheap and
easy, and will solve a LOT of miserable running - especially at idle.

When I got mine, one of the hoses was a bit split at the join on the
inlet manifold. Ran OK, but smelt badly of fuel. After a long fast m'way
run, it spat another few hoses off various connectors -  miserable idle,
stalling. Still no CEL. I've just had one of the connectors on the valve
cover break (previously glued), and that didn't seem to affect very much
- apart from, again, a fuelly smell.

None caused a CEL.
charlieontheradio@gmail.com - 27 Oct 2007 16:14 GMT
> John B (John B <rotten_NOSP...@ccil.org>) gurgled happily, sounding much
> like they were saying:
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>
> None caused a CEL.

thanks for all the input. i just picked her up from a very reputable
shop. while the poor acceleration problem was fixed (by overhauling
plugs, wires, filters, etc.), it still idles rough. i'd take it back,
but i'm tapped out financially.
i've done no under the hood work beyond changing batteries. is
replacing vacuum hoses difficult?
PJGH - 27 Oct 2007 23:34 GMT
On Oct 27, 4:14 pm, charlieonthera...@gmail.com wrote:

> > John B (John B <rotten_NOSP...@ccil.org>) gurgled happily, sounding much
> > like they were saying:
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> i've done no under the hood work beyond changing batteries. is
> replacing vacuum hoses difficult?

Nope ... just buy 5 metres of 3mm bore silicon and replace each hose
in turn with a new piece of the correct length.
With regard to the CEL ... on the Lucas CU powered C900s from 1990 (we
got those over here in Europe ... the US continued with Bosch LH)
there are a number of faults that will not throw a CEL, like "too
rich" ... "too lean", etc. If that is the case for the Bosch ECU as
well, then get it checked and pull any fault codes. Also, I gather
until all the fault codes are read (and cleared), the engine will
continue to run in a "limp" mode ... that may just be a Lucas thing,
though. So, read (or have read) the fault codes, pull the battery
connection to reset the ECU, replace vac lines and hope for the best.

One quick and easy way to chase down vacuum leaks is to buy a can of
carburettor cleaner, run the engine up to warm and then with the
engine running, spray carb cleaner onto various air hose connectors.
If the engine pitch changes ... there's your leak.

HTH,
Paul
Adrian - 29 Oct 2007 11:32 GMT
PJGH (PJGH <pjgh93@googlemail.com>) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

> on the Lucas CU powered C900s from 1990 (we got those over here in
> Europe ... the US continued with Bosch LH) there are a number of faults
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> cleared), the engine will continue to run in a "limp" mode ... that may
> just be a Lucas thing, though.

Mine ('90 Lucas T16, no cat) certainly ran normally when the injection
temp sensor was giving CEL faults. No limp-home mode.
John B - 29 Oct 2007 17:38 GMT
> With regard to the CEL ... on the Lucas CU powered C900s from 1990 (we
> got those over here in Europe ... the US continued with Bosch LH)
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> though. So, read (or have read) the fault codes, pull the battery
> connection to reset the ECU, replace vac lines and hope for the best.

My 1992 900 has a Bosch LH 2.4.2 ECU, and it does indeed display faults for too
rich / too lean. If the CEL is on, the codes are easy to read and clear. It's
all in the Bentley manual.

John
Adrian - 29 Oct 2007 11:31 GMT
charlieontheradio (charlieontheradio@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying:

>> John B (John B <rotten_NOSP...@ccil.org>) gurgled happily, sounding
>> much like they were saying:
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> i've done no under the hood work beyond changing batteries. is replacing
> vacuum hoses difficult?

Couldn't be easier.

Buy some vac hose - the silicone stuff from the usual Saab specialist
parts suppliers (PartsForSaabs in the UK, EEuroParts in the US) is what
you want - 3mm internal diameter, about 5m length will be _more_ than
enough.

Then all you need to do is go round the engine bay disconnecting one old
pipe, cutting a similar length of new, and plugging it back on. Do one at
a time, so you know what's connected to what...

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