Hi All:

Well I've got a 87 900T, had been an excellent car since I've owned it between 145k and 186k miles. New Bosch Hall Effect Sensor :-? /Tires/Re-Wired APC-RedBox/76-Quarts of Oil/Ton's o' Fun. Anyhow lost Turbo Pressure Sunday (about 5 degrees outside-let it warm up/was driving very modestly)-figured maybe the cold. OK then Sunday evening-heard noise (bearings in muffler kinda sound)...regained oddly enough some pressure (bit o' yellow)...Monday evening on highway (NO OIL LIGHT LIT) all power dropped-coasted off highway. No Oil in car...just checked, confirmed blown turbo by dealer today. Anyhow smoke came out of the oil fill cap and all. If I blew all the oil out and engine still sounded fine-how much engine damage do you think I may have suffered...and am I beyond rebuilding the Turbo. I guess I'm up against the wall on this one. I've got a $1400 tax return and just thinking of the best way to salvage my losses or rebuild-my favorite little car. Please help I've got a 2004 Ford Focus rental car that wants to pogo-stick all over the road. It feels like I'm driving an old steel lunchbox. I've got mechanical skills and my buddy works for Upsolute Chiptuning...and has just replaced his Turbo in his 01 Jetta... Should I rebuild engine...and replace Turbo-just go for all out Mod-or will my Autotrans be the next ghost to visit my auto-nightmares...

Thanks in Advance for Any Advice... :o

It'll be cheaper to replace the whole engine with a 2nd hand unit. I had to do one of ours last year when one of the big ends let go, got a low mileage engine fitted by a Saab indi dealer for £500. They actually must have swapped the whole engine and gearbox plus all ancillaries with a complete unit as my steering pump stopped leaking, gearbox was tighter plus everything was clean!
Check out availability of any salvage yards nearby and any cars being broken on ebay.

Not a bad idea. I'll start looking around...any idea on how major the engine swap is. Perhaps it'd be worth finding a manual trans as well? Seems like a lot of work but anyone who loves thier car may understand my enthuisiasm... Do you think engine could be swapped by a do-it-yourselfer? Any thoughts on whether or not the Official Saab repair manual chats about engine reuilding or swapping? :wink:

If you swap trannies, you'll need all the interior bits as well. Doable and worth it. I'm going to be doing the same thing in a few weeks, just as soon as it warms up a little