SaabCentral Forums banner

Possible timing issues with my '97 SAAB CSE TURBO 2.3L

3K views 17 replies 4 participants last post by  Superaero 
#1 ·
Hello,

I have a '97 Saab 9000 CSE turbo, and have run into an issue with it recently. I believe that it's a timing issue, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

It all started when I was on my way back home...

My car said I had 74 miles left to an empty tank, when it seemingly ran out of gas. I've ran it t like 28 miles before I got gas though. It died about a mile from my brother's house, so I walked there and grabbed a gas tank out of the garage. As it turned out, it was 2 cycle gas. o_O The car started, and then sputtered...

Once my step-dad finally showed up, I put some fresh gas in it, and then had to jump it for it to start, because the battery is so old. (The car is in need of some TLC). The engine sounded like it was running rough,(I heard a metal scrapping sound, probably from the cylinders, because it had a slight oil leak). I decided to drive it to my brother's house to get a quart of oil for it.

I got about half a mile down the road, and it died, with a kerplunk, and wouldn't turn over at all. It sounded like the engine was frozen.

After I got it towed, I jacked up the car, and put a breaker bar on the main pulley. It wouldn't turn forward at all, but turned about 1 & 1/2 turns backward, and then 1 &1/2 turns forward. So, I figured my timing chain was screwed. I took off the valve head cover, and the chain is still on the top sprockets, and all seems intact, with plenty of tension. The sprockets and chain seem fine, as well as the guides. I couldn't see the bottom sprocket, so I turned the crank again, and noticed that the chain moved fine.

Now I'm stuck trying to diagnose what's wrong with it, so I know how to proceed further. I imagine it's possible that it jumped time when I was trying to start it, but it could be that I had a cylinder seize, because it was so low on oil.

What do you guys think? I'm having a mechanic buddy or two look at it within the next couple of days, but thought I'd get a second opinion here to gain some insight as to where to begin. It would also be helpful to get an idea as to what it might cost to get the parts and do this sort of thing myself.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time & consideration.

Best Regards,
Jerry
 
See less See more
#3 ·
I'm not sure about the oil pressure. I imagine it was low because the oil light came on, and I had a small oil leak. The pump probably worked fine because this was the first time the light came on. The timing chain was intact, and seemed to have plenty of tension...
 
#8 · (Edited)
Do you have the belt off and the plugs out? You mentioned the engine would turn, but not for a complete cycle. Is it still this way? How long and hard was the car driven with the oil light on?

If you drain the oil and find shavings, it's a good bet that something bad has happened. Just don't engage the starter as it can make a bad situation worse in a hurry.
 
#9 ·
I posted the current condition of my car... I haven't taken anything apart, other than the valve cover gasket. The oil light came on when I was on my way back from a trip that wasn't longer than 30 mins. away. I'll check the oil, but it seems like this is more of a major issue than that, in my opinion. I'll take a look, and post the results here in the next couple of days.
 
#10 ·
You won't be able to turn the engine over by hand with the spark plugs in place. Timing chains make a lot of noise if they break. If they don't break and the tensioner is good they can't skip timing either.

If the engine runs low on oil the first sign is excessive valve tappet noise, then bearing failure. The cylinders will not seize before the bearings fail. A failed bearing makes a lot of knocking.

How did you know you needed oil? Engine noise is not a reliable guide. Use the dipstick. Do NOT add too much oil. If you check the oil right after shutting off the engine the dipstick will read low. Do NOT add oil unless the level on the dipstick is below halfway between the MAX and MIN marks if you have just shut off the engine.

2 stroke gas ( to be 2 stroke) has to have oil Pre mixed into the gas. There is no special gas for 2 stroke engines, they run on the same stuff. You have to have engine oil in the gas. Your ful injection system won't like the oil much but it should run. It'll smoke though.

It is just possible you have a failing fuel pump or a partially blocked fuel filter.

You should try not to run on empty as the fuel heats up, the fuel pump gets too hot and there is also a big risk of drawing junk that accumulates in the bottom of old fuel tanks into the fuel filter.
 
#11 ·
So, yesterday I had a very experienced mechanic buddy come take a look at my car. He looked at the timing chain, and down into the valve head, and said that there's no way that it could've jumped time, because there's plenty of tension on it, and there aren't any other visible signs of this happening. In his opinion, what I have going on isn't a timing issue.

He told me one way to be sure is to take the timing chain off, by removing one of the sprockets, and then turning the valve cams. We did this, and he said it seems like the valves are fine because the cams rotated all the way around, etc.

He said that I could possibly have a bent rod, or that I had a valve, or a cylinder stick, or could have a bad bearing, (which may have caused this). He said that I may or may not I have a bent valve because of this, but it's doesn't seem like it jumped time, so I should be fine there. The only way to know is to pull the engine to take a better look & pray that there's no damage to the block.

So, I'm making it my job today to take the engine out of my car and get this whole thing figured out. I'll let you guys know what I discover.
 
#12 ·
@ Superaero:

Thanks for your response. I'll try to answer all of your questions...

I can turn the engine with the spark plugs still in the engine, just 1 & 1/2 turns though because something is stuck in there.

I knew I needed oil, because I had a small oil leak, I checked it, and it was a quart low. I put a quart of oil in it, and then drove around doing some marketing for a couple of days. On my way back, the day my car died, the oil light came on. (It was badly in need of an oil change as well. -Something I planned on doing once I got finished with a production I was working on). (I just got the car a month before this off of ebay).

What I put in my car was about a gallon of premixed oil & gas out of a can that was mixed for a weed eater. (I didn't realize it was 2 cycle, because it wasn't marked in any way). We put a 2 gallon can of fresh gas in it right afterwards though, and it ran ok. It sputtered, and then seemed to smooth out. The car died a minute or two later.

Because the crank won't turn all the way, (as it should), I'm pulling the engine to take a look at it today. I think the issue is bigger than just a partially blocked fuel filter, and I think the fuel pump is fine, because I hadn't had any issues with this previously. I will check this though, because I ran out of gas, and it's something that needs done anyway.

Thank you for taking the time to respond, and giving me some insight into this. I'll get wrenching on the engine here soon, and get back with you about the results.

~Cheers~
 
#18 ·
Assuming the low oil light pressure switch worked correctly. I agree though this sounds like the classic low oil failure.

Modern drivers are not as aware of dipsticks as we old guys. Some new cars do not have them, electronics sense and display oil level. A young friend of mine destroyed his old Alfa engine thinking the oil pressure gauge was an oil level gauge which would eventually warn him to put oil in.... The numbers on the gauge were thought to be amounts of oil remaining. Expensive lesson.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top