New Saab Owner

[Hooty]

Hey all,
I am fairly new to this Site, I have owned my 86 9000 turbo for about 7 months and it's been heck trying to get some maintenance done, so I am trying to break open my old tool boxes and give it a whirl with a european car, being as I always used to own cars like oldsmobiles and such. My car was overheating pretty bad recently, until I was able to get the shop next door to work on it and replace the thermostat and the fan switch on the radiator, which cost me more than I was expecting, which is why I am breaking out my tools. I know I sound like a novice, but any idea where the air filter is on this car? I just can't seem to locate it in any obvious places and I know it probably needs replacement very badly. As for some other questions maybe someone can answer me, is my turbo guage on the dash always sits above the green, and when I give it some gas, it moves up a little bit, but very very little. I am wondering if this means the turbo needs adjustment or maybe is it shot all together? I can still hear the whine of the turbo going when the car runs and I can feel a little extra boost, so I am just curious. Any pointers or tips or anything like that? I am not looking for super power, but a little more might be kind of nice, any way, information is always good to have. Talk to you all later.

[BillJ]

Hi, Hooty. Welcome to the board!

I believe the air filter on the '86, if it was like my '87, is in a square box down by the left-hand headlamp. This will be a flat, square panel-type air filter. Later ones had a cylindrical filter in the wheel-arch and someone might try to sell you one of those as they are the most common type. Don't buy it, naturally. Insist on the flat one.

The cover is held on with clips and I always found it awkward on my '87. I think there were a few clips missing by the time I got rid of it.

And the reason it's in such an odd place is because it's near the turbo and the air from the filter goes through the turbo first before going anywhere else.

Hope you have some metric spanners (sorry, "Wrenches" in American :wink: ) and sockets in that toolbox.

[BillJ]

Doh! Wish I could master tha art of reading a whole message before I write a reply ops:

Anyway, your boost gauge is showing you a problem. Strangely, I just answered about an almost identical problem on another board! It is practically certain that there are some vacuum hoses cracked or broken. This seems much more common in the US than over here in the UK. It must be to do with the climate. Anyway, look for all the thin (5-6mm or 1/4" diameter) rubber hoses around the engine compartment, buy 10 feet of the same stuff from a decent car parts shop (windscreen washer hose will not do the job since once it gets warm it will collapse under vacuum) and replace them all. One goes through the bulkhead (firewall). Replace it too - it's accessible by lifting the plastic cover off just in front of the windscreen, and at least on later cars, goes onto a plastic fitting there.

If you're lucky, that will make things a lot better. If not, you might have to do the one that goes from that plastic fitting I mentioned to the boost gauge, and that means lifting the dash top off. Not a huge job, but a bit of a pain. In my experience, though, that piece of hose doesn't suffer so much because it's in the passenger compartment.

With the problem you have, you're likely not getting full boost even though the gauge is lying to you anyway. And even with this fixed, there are one or two other things that can cause low boost. When you have the car running properly, I'll bet you'll be surprised at how well it can go.

[Hooty]

Thanks Bill,
I appreciate the help and advice. I seem to remember seeing something like that flat box you are talking about, so far as hoses go, I found that one of the hoses was disconnected completely, a little time and effort and I got it back on. And yeah, I have metric tools in my kit, I always seem to need them more than standard so I shouldn't have an problem. I'm going to take a look at all of it this morning now that I can actually see it all in daylight. So far as replacing the hoses go, I am going to be moving soon, so this car is going to need to pull off 1000 miles in a day, which is no problem for me, I'm happy to have power enough to go more than 35 miles an hour up an incline. I did check on the airfilter, and geeze, around here, they run about 28 bucks US, a far cry from the 6-7 dollars of my last car. Oh well, better car, better performance, more expensive parts :P Again, I appreciate the input. BTW, my name is Bill, too.

[Hooty]

I knew I should have taken those yoga classes. are there any parts I should be removing before I pull the air filter? I was just out there for about 15 minutes, at least doing a test pull so I can get it done quick when I get the filter, and I got the clips off etc, but still couldn't get the top up far enough for me to even slip the filter out to replace it with a new one. Any additional ideas? I'd appreciate them. Talk to you all later!

[BillJ]

Originally Posted by BillJ

The cover is held on with clips and I always found it awkward on my '87.

I don't like to say "I told you so" 8)

Anyway, the Haynes manual says:

Remove the washer fluid reservoir from the front left-hand corner of the engine compartment. If preferred, the reservoir may be positioned to one side, leaving the fluid inside.

Loosen the clip and disconnect the air ducting from the air cleaner. On some models it will be necessary to completely remove the airflow meter (that's the bit on the ducting with wires going to it - BillJ). On turbo models, also disconnect the rubber socket from the turbocharger.

Release the toggle clips and remove the top cover from the air cleaner filter housing.

Lift out the air cleaner filter element, noting which way round it is fitted.

Wipe clean the inner surfaces of the cover and main housing, then locate the new element in the housing, making sure that the sealing lip is at the bottom, and correctly engaged with the edge of the housing.

Refit the cover and secure with the toggle clips.

Reconnect the air ducting/airflow meter as applicable.

Refit the washer fluid reservoir to the front left-hand corner of the engine compartment.

It's quite a while ago now, but I'm sure I don't remember doing all of that, although I'm sure I must have done some of it. The filter should last 24,000 miles on the turbo (36,000 miles on the non-turbo), so I suppose you get something for your money, and at least you don't have to go through all that rigmarole too often. I'm only surprised you can get it for so little. I couldn't get the flat filter for less than about £30 (US$45) here. The cylindrical ones are quite a bit cheaper.

Hope this helps, Bill,

Bill.

[Hooty]

Sounds complicated, just the way I like it I remember trying to change the transmission filter on my moldsmobile. I could show the pictures somewhere, but I am sure that would just make you all wonder about my sanity (mercon Bath anyone?). Another thing, got any tips on getting the cruise control to work again? It seems to not pick up a set speed, and just doesn't work, the fuse seems to be ok for everything (checked 'em all when I got the car and again recently to make sure). I am going to be moving back to my home in montana, and I don't feel like having a 1000 mile road trip with my foot on the accelerator the whole way :P not that I can't do it, but it might be too tempting to test out the true power of this car on the open freeway :P. As for the other, I finally figure out how I am going to get the air filter changed and such.... Now, here is a question, there is a larger plastic hose going from below the airfilter casing and goes up and exits out through the side of the engine compartment. I want to say it is an air induction tube, but I may be incorrect, well, I found it was totally disconnected from the other end below the airfilter casing, and it's restored a lot of power on the car already, giving it a smoother idle too. Any ideas Bill? or anyone else for that matter? I checked what hoses I could, but couldn't find anything visibly cracked or collapsed, so, when I get home, I'll jack it up in my dad's shop and take a look closer at it all. Any suggestions appreciated.