SOB story question.

I was driving along when the oil line to the turbo appears to have come adrift. Can this be replaced from the top of the engine or am I going to have to remove half the engine to get to it?

(Asking from the side of the road awaiting a tow truck)

I would think you can replace from the top.

(I'm assuming from your title this is a Saab we are talking about?)

What kind of car are you standing next to?

Woody wrote: What kind of car are you standing next to?

This!!!!!

I would guess https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/reader-rides/12158/

Sorry, SAAB 9-3 aero convertible '04. I may have blown the head gasket.

This thing has been one problem after another.

In reply to Kia_Racer:

Didn't you get it really cheap, but with a boatload of deferred maintenance? Unfortunately that adds up quick on European cars.

Not as cheap as it should have been. The problem was I needed something that I liked, was relatively cheap and available after I got out of the hospital when the Spectra5 got totalled.

I didn't look very hard at it. So this is really all my own fault.

Why are you thinking HG rather than oil line now?

Back to your original question, assuming it's the same as the 9-5, which I think it is, the turbo side of the oil line is relatively easy to get to, maybe easier from underneath. The other end of that line is over by the oil filter housing.

First rule of buying a European car with a ton of deferred maintenance: before driving it much, you DO all of that deferred maintenance.

Or, at least, if you don't know what has been done, do all fluids, tune up and deal with know issues, like ccv on e46 (for example )

In reply to XLR99:

Whiteish smoke coming from the tailpipe and from under the hood.

Starting to look even worse. I finally got the pig home. (I just had AAA take it to a friends house last night.) I pulled the plugs to see if any had been steam cleaned. Nope.

However, plug one has the electrode bent over and is touching the conductor. The other three plugs are all coated in oil. To make it more fun, it seems that cylinders two and three have oil on them. Time to pull the head and see how bad this really is.

Wish me luck.

By the way, is this thing even worth saving? I like the car, but it looks like I will be sinking more than it will ever be worth.

markwemple wrote: Or, at least, if you don't know what has been done, do all fluids, tune up and deal with know issues, like ccv on e46 (for example )

I did the fluids, hoses, all the usual suspects. This has been, clutch - two months after purchase. Brake disks two weeks later, while doing this I find that the front wheel bearings need to be replaced.

I will try to remember to take pics during disassembly.

Those symptoms almost sound more like bad turbo seals to me. Saabs are not really known for random head gasket failures, I'd diagnose further before yanking the head off. Are you losing coolant or is your oil milkshaking? I would see if there's a bunch of oil pooled up in your boost hoses.

Ya before you pull the head do a compression test and a leak-down test. You could have a bad turbo that has gone south.

If the stock turbo on the 9-3 is anything like the stock unit on the 9-5, the are junk, just waiting for a chance to fail catastrophically . See if the IC is full of oil.

On 9-5s the aero model turbo is a bolt on upgrade to output and reliability.

this is quite common and can come on quickly, that is to say, it can go from yeah, that shaft is a bit loose, but I'm going to run it anyway to OMG I've never seen a turbo blow out like that in just a few hundred miles. Chances are the engine has had sludge issues too.

In reply to HappyAndy:

OP has a 9-3SS, so he has the GM Ecotec engine that's much less sludge-prone than the Saab T7 engines. Also, if it's an actual Aero, he should already have the better TD04 instead of the T25. Either can wear out with abuse or excessive OCIs though.

Blown head gaskets don't typically oil things. A bent electrode could indicate turbo bits getting inhaled though. What does the smoke smell like? Where is it coming from under the hood?

In reply to MrJoshua:

The smells like oil and is coming from the exhaust and by the fire wall. There is also oil on the exhaust side that I dont remember seeing before. This is my first turbo engine so I am learning as I go.

Oh I was also thinking the 04 convertible was a holdover year of the NG900.

With the damaged electrode, does the head need to come off at this point? I was also kind of thinking a turbo seal let go to put oil everywhere inside the engine.

First I would pull the turbo to look at the vanes, check shaft play and check for oil everywhere. If the turbo is screwed then at least the root cause is found. After that I would leakdown and compression test before committing to a head pull. Every now and then a cylinder can miraculously survive some FOD, presuming that's what happened.

If it's fine, rebuild or replace the turbo, do the plugs and keep driving. If the numbers don't come back well, a scored cylinder wall or bent valve may be present. Then you make the tough decision of committing to a rebuild or going for a different engine (Ecotecs are cheap and plentiful so I'd probably choose the latter).

Always diagnose before repair, never start just taking stuff apart!

In reply to pointofdeparture:

Thanks. Never having had a turbo before I didn't even think of that.

I will post what I find later today.

If it oiled the engine make sure you clean the intake track of oil and FOD.

Pulled the turbo. Lots of play in the shaft. Then I tried to get the number one cylinder up. Couldn't see it so I ran a two foot metal rod down the spark plug hole. I am pretty sure I hit the crankshaft.

Time to see how much a engine will cost or just get another car.