Hey Folks.

Well I wend for the Saab and am having the my 1994 Aero delivered Tuesday. :P I’ve spend considerable time on quasimotors.com, saabcentral.com, and saabnet.com. All great sites. Many thanks to those who maintain them.

I want to double check what I have to do to get this ‘comfortable’ with my new purchase. Any and all feedback is welcomed. My thoughts are these:

1. New NGK plugs, correctly gapped
2. New air cleaner
3. Fresh Saab synthetic gear oil in the 5 speed box
4. ATE super blue brake fluid with a full brake bleed.
5. Oil and filter – I need advice on this one – the car has 98k on it and has run dino oil. I typically only run Mobil 1 in my cars. Will I create any leaks with a change to synthetic? Should I just stick to dino lube and change every 3k. My gut says go to Mobil 1 and change every 5-7k. What viscosity should I run in New England, USA?
6. New wiper blades front and rear.
7. Run a tank of premium 93 or 94 octane gas with a can of Techron.

Anything else?

The car has 98k on it. The rear seal and clutch are new. The belt tensioner and serpentine belt are new. Brake pads are good. All motor mounts are new, or in good shape.

I’m happy to finally own a car that I’ve wanted for a long time. Happier still to find such an active enthusiast web site.

Thanks in advance.

Aaron

’95 Saab 9000Aero 98k
’95 Porsche 993 52k
’03 Honda Odyssey 0k
:P

I guess I'll respond to myself in order to provide the group some feedback.


No leaks with going from dino lube to Mobil 1 - much easier starting in cold mornings.

Amazing results from changing and flushing the 5 speed gearbox from dino lube to Saab synthetic. Much quiter and much easier to shift.

Bled brake and clutch lines with ATE blue fluid. If you've never used blue fluid, you should try it. It makes a thorough bleeding so much easier, as the fluid turns bright blue as the old junk is flushed through.

Plugs -previous owner had fallen victim to Bosch advertising and had some 4 electrode platinum something in there. The car ran like crap. Changed to stock NGK and correctly gapped them and we're running smooth.

Air cleaner was a pain to change, but neeed it.

Anyway - good to go. Feeling great about the Aero.

Take care - Aaron

Hi, Aaron.

Good result on the Mobil 1. I wouldn't consider using anything other than full synthetic, but then I believe you have a different attitude towards oil change intervals where you live and fully synthetic changed every couple of months could be expensive. For your car, Saab GB would specify an oil and filter change every 12,000 miles or 12 months.

Interesting about the Saab Synthetic transmission fluid, though. My '96 Aero, with 170K miles, is showing signs of a worn 3rd gear synchromesh (noticeably worse since the Abbott track day) and I wonder if this fluid might keep it working OK for a while until I can fit a new/rebuilt transmission (and decide which final drive I want and whether I want an LSD!). The current fluid has been in there for about 60K miles. Perhaps it just needs changing, given that the synchro is worn and there are bound to be metallic particles in the fluid. I know Saab don't recommend changing it. Ever.

I'd thought about ATE Blue fluid. I believe it's a racing formula, but I can't find the spec. on the ATE (http://www.ate-brakes.com/) web site. I think I could do with something special for track days, although the Lucas DOT 5.1 I use seems to do a pretty good job. One thing, though. Flushing the first lot of ATE Blue might well be easy due to the bright colour. Is the colour of any help when it comes time to change it for some fresh ATE Blue? Just wondering...

Glad to see you had the sense to fit the right plugs. One question, though (two, actually): what's "Techron" and what's the idea of running only one tankful of high-octane fuel through it? Wouldn't you use high-octane all the time?

Billy -

My bad - I always use Mobil Primioum 93 or Sunoco 94. I'm sure the previous owner did not based on the things I've found. Techron is a product made by Chevron that is perhaps your typical adidtive, but in experience does a good job of cleaning injectors and valves from carbon deposits. More of just a habit that I'm in when I bring a new (really used) car home.

The ATE blue - is really on ly a DOT4.0 fluid. I started using it during track days with my old S6 Audi, but now switched over to it for all my cars for the simple reasons that it does not abosorb much water and its realy easy to see (color change) when you have completed a successful bleed.

Totaly agree with you on the Mobil 1. My 993 gets 13 quarts ever year, once a year.

The tranny fluid - DO IT!!! Based on noise, my third gear is going as well. I drained the dino lube out of it and only got 1 quart of very thick (keep in mind I did thins with the motor warm), black, bad fluid. Noticed on the drain plug magenet both metal filings and a metalic 'paste' made up of microscopic parts. The key to the synthetic switch (so my Saab guy says to me) is a complete flush with synthetic (fill with synthetic and idle/move through gears without driving) drain again and then fill with synthetic. My third gear is quiter and all gear movements are so slick and smooth. I still go into 4th before reverse, but overall, I'm thrilled. Here in the States the stuff is $15 / quart, so I have $75 in fluid for the flush and fill, but well worth it.

Good luck - Aaron