Wheeler Dealers: Saab saga

After the ringing sucess of the $50 Saab when I came across another 9-3 that "needed engine work" on Craigslist I couldn't resist. I rang the seller and he told me that the engine had a miss, and that the serpentine belt had recently self destructed, but that the body and interior were in good nick.

I grabbed my mate Tim and his truck and trailer and set off to see it. The miss was a bit worse than I expected, one cylinder was totally dead. I also found that one of the axle boots was perished and there were a few other items that need some attention, but it looked to be as advertised. I tried to get the price down, but the seller was firm at $700. I decided to take a chance anyway and we loaded it up and brought it home to meet it's new friend.

I had hoped that the cause of the miss was as simple as a bad coil pack, they are notorious for failing. I had a good spare and swapped it in with some new spark plugs. I cranked it over and....still missing. Bollocks!

Next up was a compression test. I got the Tim man over again to loan me his compression tester and give me a hand. (I should add that Tim is a professional mechanic, also has a pair of these cars, and we will be splitting the proceeds from this one).

We started by starting the car and checking the exhaust manifold temperature to see which cylinder wasn't firing. Number one was cold. We then pulled the coil pack and plugs and ran the compression test... 0, 180, 180, 175

Well there's the problem! Oil in the cylinder had no effect on number one. We pulled the valve cover but everything looked to be in order at first glance.

I was happy to see that the engine looked fairly clean inside, these engines can have issues with sludge if not maintained properly. Next up is a leakdown test, then it's probably off with it's head!

$700? I can't believe you're spending that kind of money on a car!

One Percenter...

Sweet, I hope this one works out for you as well as the other one did.

And maybe I should have gotten a Saab instead of an Accord.

I look at that car and I can't imagine it'll be 14 times as good as the red car.

But at least this one came with a title and a working key...

It probably has a burnt #1 piston. They have a tendancy to run lean when the MAF gets dirty. should be able pop a new piston in from the bottom and be all set. I would check through the spark plug hole with a borescope before pulling the head.

Borescope is in the works. Thanks Tim! It's handy having a pro-mechanic neighbor. From what I could see of the piston through the plug hole it looked OK and went up and down, so that's a start. We have a whole parts engine at our disposal when we need parts.

$700 for a car with a busted engine seems like crazy money after the $50 working Saab. I would never feel satisfied with a bargain again.

When the previous owner said that the cylinder was missing, he didn't mean misfiring. He meant it wasn't there at all.

I feel like this title was a mental misstep. Shouldn't it be a Saab Story?

Saab story. Sob story. Get it.

Ahh, everybody's a critic.

Harvey wrote: $700 for a car with a busted engine seems like crazy money after the $50 working Saab. I would never feel satisfied with a bargain again.

Agreed, the $50 Saab would ruin me for cheap cars forever.

"$75 for a running Lexus? I dunno, it's no $50 Saab."

ssswitch wrote:

Harvey wrote: $700 for a car with a busted engine seems like crazy money after the $50 working Saab. I would never feel satisfied with a bargain again.

Agreed, the $50 Saab would ruin me for cheap cars forever. "$75 for a running Lexus? I dunno, it's no $50 Saab."

You want $30000 for a NEW car? Why would I do that when I have a $50 Saab?! You crazy?

The bright side is if the motor is dead a 2.3L out of a 9-5 can be had with little effort. Viggen performance!

NordicSaab wrote: The bright side is if the motor is dead a 2.3L out of a 9-5 can be had with little effort. Viggen performance!

That's plan C.

Borescope investigation this weekend....

bgkast wrote:

NordicSaab wrote: The bright side is if the motor is dead a 2.3L out of a 9-5 can be had with little effort. Viggen performance!

That's plan C. Borescope investigation this weekend....

C for... Coolest

ssswitch wrote:

Harvey wrote: $700 for a car with a busted engine seems like crazy money after the $50 working Saab. I would never feel satisfied with a bargain again.

Agreed, the $50 Saab would ruin me for cheap cars forever. "$75 for a running Lexus? I dunno, it's no $50 Saab."

my $99 cadillac that was a show winner with wash/wax/cleanup/new whitewalls has ruined me forever.

It's all in the head....

Finally got to inspecting the piston and bore and the look good. A bit of carbon on the piston top, but no holes or damage. You can even see the cross hatch on the cylinder wall.

Off with it's head!

hopefully it is something easy then. a used head would not be that much worst case.

Does the spare engine have a decent head on it?

Yes, but I guess since the parts engine is a 1999 that uses a different engine management system the intake side is different.