Trying to find a place to work on my Saab's Transmission

Has proven to be a tiring and disheartening job. I literally called 2 dozen places and once they hear that the tranmission is for a saab.. have a standard "we don't work on saabs" statement. This is even after telling them the transmission is out of the car.

I found two possibles. One is a local place that will exchange it for a rebuilt. He quoted me three thousand dollars, but I am assuming he missed the part about it already being out of the car.

The second is in Cherry Hill. The owner is a Master Saab Tech who did 13 years at a dealership and has rebuilt hundreds of them. He is willing to open up the covers and take a peek inside before giving me a quote.

The worst part is.. there is nothing really wrong with the box. It is just worn from 20 years and 250,000 miles of work. It grinds sometimes getting into 5th and occasionally it will jump out of reverse if you give it too much throttle when backing up.

I see the guy in cherry hill (over an hour away) next week

I don't blame people for saying they don't work on SAAB's... I don't think I would wish that on my worst enemy. No wait, I would.

I think that is magazine-worthy!

what about the guys on the saab forums? that would be a better place to ask the question, you might even find a nice write up on rebuilding them yourself. Perhaps a spg transmission then?

what year and trim is your car?

There's a guy near New Hope, PA that has a Saab-only shop. I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called, but I'm sure that's something a Saab specialty shop can do.

Twin_Cam wrote: There's a guy near New Hope, PA that has a Saab-only shop. I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called, but I'm sure that's something a Saab specialty shop can do.

Moser in Pt Pleasant, Pa 215-297-8000

Chas_H wrote:

Twin_Cam wrote: There's a guy near New Hope, PA that has a Saab-only shop. I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called, but I'm sure that's something a Saab specialty shop can do.

Moser in Pt Pleasant, Pa 215-297-8000

Win! Probably quite a drive for you, but you can give it a try.

Sounds like you need to roll up your sleeves and get your fingers dirty!

http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Modify-Transmission-Motorbooks-Workshop/dp/0760320470/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313434633&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Saab-900-Manual-Transmission-1979-83/dp/B000T06IB6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313434768&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/SAAB-Valve-Official-Service-Manual/dp/0837603137/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313434680&sr=1-10

Have you tried Jerry Sweet, from Sweet Motors? He is in NJ

Jerry is a LOOOONG time SAAB specialist, having been Reinertsen's service manager for a number of years before going independent.

Besides being a SAAB specialist, Jerry is one of the most honest individuals repairing cars I've EVER known.... He'll be honest with you, and give you all the facts

There's a guy down the street who only works on Saabs. He's a backyard mechanic, but he's armpits deep in the classic 900s 8 hours a day 6 days a week. He's the kind of guy who would slice up a beer can and shove it between two gears, tighten it all up, and your reverse issue would disappear. He borders between hackjob and genius. He won't answer his phone, and it's too far for you, but this seems to be the life of every Saab mechanic worth their salt.

It's probably too far for you to consider, but I do know of a Saab specialist mechanic in my town in MA. He's a tad pricey, but he does excellent work. I took my old GM900 to him for work.

I don't know Jerry Sweet but I do know he used to be into ProRally, in a Saab.

The gearbox requires a couple special tools to rebuild, without which you'll need to get creative. The Bentley manual is an abridged factory manual -- one of the ways it's abridged is that there is nothing in it on rebuilding the transmissions...

I've grown to dislike Bentley manuals.

...just enough information to make you dangerous.

Taiden wrote: He's the kind of guy who would slice up a beer can and shove it between two gears, tighten it all up, and your reverse issue would disappear. He borders between hackjob and genius.

"Say What?"