Saab is trying to Die

[cconn4322]

hello all,

much to my dismay, my old friend is having some issues. I failed smog for the evap test and now am fully prepared to fix that problem ( with some help from the state of California!). However, i noticed when the smog check was going on, little plumes of black smoke came out of my tailpipe every time i decelerated and stomped on it. Wondering if you have any suggestions as to what this might be...i do have a small backfiring problem in which i do not know how to fix.

I passed the emissions portion, but then noticed one day that my car was putting out some white smoke a week later! i was so pissed. I have gotten out of the routine of letting my turbo "idle down" and wondered if this could be the cause. My compression in my cylinders is good, but i do have a leaky head gasket. I checked my oil and no white froth, so i filled my coolant level and now am ready to watch it. I do not want to rebuild the engine, and was hoping that you guys have any ideas on a "cheap" fix.

I looked at therma gasket and they do have a garuntee if it does not work. Looks like a legit product. Seeing if anyone has used this or heard postive things about the product. Thanks so much for reading my saab story. hope you can guide me. thanks so much.

-c

[Max Blast]

Just replace the head gasket. I would not muck around with other fixes especially in a turbo charged car, it will not last.

[cconn4322]

thanks for the response, but its not worth the money to fix.


Also a side note, has anyone tried seafoam for your car? i would not add it to the oil because that directly feeds the turbocharger, but through the vacuum and gas is supposed to be great for engine longevity.

Thanks again!
-c

[Solid Snake]

I've tried it on other vehicles I own, but not the 9k. I run water injection on the 9k and it does the same thing on a continuous basis. I can tell because if I run it for the first time in a while, the exhaust smells like sulfur.

[cconn4322]

man such quick responses! i know of the method from my research. So basically, you slurp the water up from a small container SLOWLY to avoid hydrolock. Which vacuum hose did you/do you use?

Thanks so much! now i need my head gasket question solved
_c

[Solid Snake]

man such quick responses! i know of the method from my research. So basically, you slurp the water up from a small container SLOWLY to avoid hydrolock. Which vacuum hose did you/do you use?

Thanks so much! now i need my head gasket question solved

My setup is a 12v high pressure pump that draws fluid from the windshield washer container and forces it through a 5 GPH brass nozzle mounted inside the throttle body elbow. I built a controller which monitors the MAP sensor and drives the pump under boost proportionately with PWM. I am a computer programmer with electrical engineering background This setup lets me get away with running 87 octane and still being able to spin the tires in 2nd gear, all the while keeping engine internals minty fresh.

Not sure what to tell you about the head gasket though.

[cconn4322]

o yes. a real DIY wetjet system. i was intrigued by these systems but the computer software that is sold was not made for the saab... what a shame.

so you think my car would see some benefit of sipping some water soon? i was thinking possibly the vacuum hose that times the ignition system. its right after the TB i believe and is on the nipple of the solid engine. Hope this sounds like a good setup!

Thanks again solid snake

-c

[Solid Snake]

o yes. a real DIY wetjet system. i was intrigued by these systems but the computer software that is sold was not made for the saab... what a shame.

so you think my car would see some benefit of sipping some water soon? i was thinking possibly the vacuum hose that times the ignition system. its right after the TB i believe and is on the nipple of the solid engine. Hope this sounds like a good setup!

Thanks again solid snake

-c

Your engine needs the water most under boost, and obviously then it can't draw anything in as it will be blowing bubbles into your tank. You need a high pressure pump (google: shurflo) and nozzles for good atomization. For our motors 4-5 GPH works nicely. If you don't want a fancy proportional controller, a simple pressure switch works fine if you run a 3 GPH nozzle (to prevent partial throttle bogging).

Also DO NOT inject anything before the turbo as it will erode the turbo blades as if you sandblasted them.

On my manual B234R, which I believe is the only 9K engine to REQUIRE high octane fuel, it boosts beyond the red on 87. I haven't hooked up a knock LED, but my OBD scanner doesn't report any pulled timing.