Learn Me: 2003 Saab 9-5 Linear Edition

Ok, so a friend has offered me a "get it out of my yard" deal on a 2003 Saab 9-5 Linear A/T with about 130k on it. It's been sitting for a while, but before it sat, it got a new alternator, water pump, brakes, and some other maintenance items. It needs a good cleaning, some light rust repair, and a battery.

From what I gather, it's a Linear, which is the base model. It has leather, heated seats, A/C, power everything, etc. and stickered for about $34k back in 2003. It has the 2.3 Turbo engine and a 5-speed automatic.

Some pics for your enjoyment:

The ugly:

Why bother, you ask? Both my car, my wife's car, and our truck are starting to get long in the tooth. Having a spare running vehicle around is never a bad thing. The wife wants it more than I do, shockingly. It has leather, heated seats, and a sunroof, which are all things she's always wanted. I see a comfy, interesting potential winter beater in case I ever buy the Dodge Challenger I've coveted for years. I'm thinking clean it up, patch the rust, do a tune-up/fluid change, and drive it until it blows up.

Anything I should know, other than keeping a couple ignition cassettes in the trunk? A little birdie told me that you can tune these easily with a cheap cable... is that true?

Yes, a tune is done via freeware called t7 suite.

There is some hardware needed for the cable and the connections (called a combiadapter), but, I know someone who has two thumbs and owns one.

I had one--2002 Linear sedan, only difference was color and 5 speed.

To be honest, the "Get it out of my yard price" better be $500 or less. I just don't trust these things to continue to run for more than 5000 miles after you've bought it.

That being said, I loved the car. It was a lot of fun to drive with the 5 speed (which you won't have), but where it really knocked the ball out of the park was the gas mileage (28 city, 31+ highway at 80mph) and the interior. It had the best ergonomics of any car I've ever driven, and the seats are second maybe to only Volvo, even if they could use more bolstering--you got out of the car after 6 hours and felt fine.

Also, it was a mid-size package, but holy cow was there a ton of room in there. Cavernous trunk too. And SAFE.

Hmmm, maybe I'd pay more than $500 for one.

Very quiet on the inside, great mileage, comfortable. The linear base engine has a low pressure turbo so it spins quickly and at low rpms. I've had a linear and an Aero. The linear didn't give much trouble other than a couple of oil leaks. The Aero has been more of a challenge but it had a hard life prior to our ownership and I don't think it's a representative example. I've got a build thread for it. Have been able to do quite a few things DIY.

The 9-5 is the ultimate inexpensive (not cheap) high quality daily driver. I currently have about 1.5 of them, depending on how you count parts. They are pretty DIY friendly overall. The worst thing I've done was the water pump so it's good that it's been changed already; I'd rather do the subframe bushings twice than do that again with the engine in the car.

Biggest issue is engine sludge. It's less common after ?2002, but still possible if neglected. I'll 'guess' it's less likely to be sludged if the PO actually did maintenance.

FYI, you can relatively easily get rid of the cute baby turbo and put in a TD04 from the Aero.

XLR99 wrote: The 9-5 is the ultimate inexpensive (not cheap) high quality daily driver. I currently have about 1.5 of them, depending on how you count parts. They are pretty DIY friendly overall. The worst thing I've done was the water pump so it's good that it's been changed already; I'd rather do the subframe bushings twice than do that again with the engine in the car. Biggest issue is engine sludge. It's less common after ?2002, but still possible if neglected. I'll 'guess' it's less likely to be sludged if the PO actually did maintenance. FYI, you can relatively easily get rid of the cute baby turbo and put in a TD04 from the Aero.

Not less likely, based on our anecdotal evidence with one--if only because it was likely maintained to the service book for the original owner, which had an oil change interval that was too long

My 9-5's have been great. Get it and I will cut you a GREAT deal on an Aero turbo.

I think this thread accidentally turned into a GRMers-who-own-saabs roll call.

Robbie wrote: I think this thread accidentally turned into a GRMers-who-own-saabs roll call.

I should chime in, then! I have a 9-3, not a 9-5, but it's great.

We should tune my car, Robbie!

In reply to Lugnut:

Yes!!! Let's do it. Weekends are best for me.

The previous owner did maintain the car, but parked it about two years ago because he bought a truck instead. I know they have sludging issues, so I'll make sure to run full synthetic, just like I do for most of my other cars anyway.

As for the turbo, I don't want to go down that road just yet. I need to make sure it runs and drives reliably before anything else. Besides, can the A/T handle more boost?

Another thing: there's something up with the window on the passenger side front, but I'm not exactly sure what. Are there any common issues with regulators or window parts failing?

Also, can someone point me in the right direction for one of those tuning cables? I imagine it's similar to the old Tactrix cables used on Subarus, which I have some experience with. I've also heard you can do funny things with the SID with the cable.

https://www.brewcityboost.com/product/combi-adapter-3/

Search trionic tuning for forum of info.

You need to make some of your own cables, but the combiadapter is the main thing you need.

Window: there are rollers that can fail. Easy fix. Takes longer to get the door panel off than to replace the roller. Be gentle with the trim - go slow and use the right tools instead of a screwdriver.

conesare2seconds wrote: Window: there are rollers that can fail. Easy fix. Takes longer to get the door panel off than to replace the roller. Be *gentle* with the trim - go slow and use the right tools instead of a screwdriver.

That's what I figured. I have panel popping tools, so I should be good getting it off. Where can I source the rollers?

eEuroparts

I'm not sure you really need even a combiadaptor anymore. I know the t8 can be tuned using an ELM clone cable from ebay for about 14$. I'm pretty sure the t7 uses the same program to read/write onto the ecu (trioniccanflasher). Also the t7/t8 suites come with a minor autotune button that gives a very basic(rough) stage 1 tune.

Also I wouldn't doubt if the auto trannies could hold more boost than their manual counterparts.

I previously took care of a 9-5 with the gm v6 and even that car was awesomely comfortable inside. I currently own a 9-3 2.0T.

How are the A/T's in the 9-5? I have a strong want for a 9-5 Aero wagon but SWMBO can't/won't learn to drive a manual.

I'll just jump in and say they are great cars. My wife put ~50k on one with very minimal work to keep it going. We sold it almost 2 years ago and I just saw it on the road last week. My wife drove it about 50 miles every day. I think the most expensive fixes were getting a new A/C condenser and replacing the exhaust.

Ours just had the 4 speed auto. I did a fluid change at some point and that seemed to smooth it out a bit.

The rust spots on that car are fairly common and its a fairly easy fix as you have access to the entire hole and black paint is black paint.

A common issue is the HVAC blend door. Basically, a broken piece of plastic... its an hour job under the dash and there are lots of write ups on how to do it.

You'll also want to make sure it has the most up to date PCV system.

We had a lot of check engine lights from the evap system, but it was always just a loose gas cap.

It was a fantastic cheap car for us, although my 2006 9-3 is proving to be even better.

In reply to untchabl:

From 03 at least until the body style change they have Asin 5 speed's in them. If its good enough for Toyota is should be good.

So, I bought it.

I posted a build thread: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/get-it-out-of-my-yard-2003-saab-9-5-linear-rehab-thread/128158/page1/