yellow past in my coolant.

[horzman]

Hi all,

My wife has a 1995 Saab900SE 6cyl... she'd mentioned that the car is loosing coolant, as a good husband I said I'll check on it, but I was too busy in the past couple weeks I never got the chance.

yesterday she called, she said warning came on to check fan belt and the car died...she was positive the fan was running but the temp is high, I asked her to keep the fan running of course with engine off, battery ran out so we had to tow the car home to check on the prob.... I have AAA so I didn't pay for Tow.

This morning I opened the coolant tank, instead of coolant there is a yellowish paste like, feels oily to the touch.

I checked the engine oil, doesn’t seem to have water in it.

Anyone can make sense out of this? I don't even know where to start.

Thank you.

[900t]

Sounds headgasket-y. If the car overheated to the point of no longer running the HG might be blow just because of that

The "fan belt" doesn't drive the fan, it is the belt on the pass side of the engine, drives the water pump amoung other things. May be worth a look.

[4saabstoomany]

Sounds like you're getting blow-by someplace. If you drain you're oil and find and find a residue similar, or at the bottom of the dipstick if you let your oil get a bit low, and warm up the car, it's def a head-gasket leak.

Do you know how to check compression of the cylinders?

How much goop? If you take you're dipstick out and rev the engine, does the oil spit out the dipstick or anywhere else?

[ragtopcav]

This fualt is nearly always the oil cooler on the V6, it is set in the block between the cylinder heads and cools the oil to the water.

I've done this job on two V6's so far, here's one thread and I noticed a picture missing from the thread that shows the cooler removed so...



The green car featured in the thread had a mayonaisish deposit in the water and was prone to overheating, once the cooler was changed it ran a dream. It is a very common problem, later coolers are stainless steel to overcome this issue [it is corrosion related].

You can use any cooler from this engine family, not just the saab unit.

[horzman]

when I saw the goo, I stopped, I didn't even try to run the engine.
with the current condition, if I add some antifreeze and turn on the engine. can the situation get worse? will what's left of the goo damage anything else.
I don't have a compression tester, infact I've never done a compression test.... I suppose I can buy one from auto part.
the oil in the engine is a little above low , no residue that I can see at all.

[JMarkert]

Originally Posted by ragtopcav

I've done this job on two V6's so far, here's one thread and I noticed a picture missing from the thread that shows the cooler removed so... unit.

....So, why do you like these engines again?

[ragtopcav]

Originally Posted by JMarkert

....So, why do you like these engines again?

Cheap to run and easy to fix [in comparison the similar aged 4 cyl]. I would have another.

As regards oil cooler threads for the V6, here's a typical example link

[SwedeSpeed95]

Originally Posted by JMarkert

....So, why do you like these engines again?

...Have you seen Tboy's V6?
Better yet have you seen the video of Tboy's V6?

Besides I hear talk that you can take a V6 900 and fit a 3.2L DOHC into them relatively easily. Bigger engines go faster.

[horzman]

from what I've seen, it looks to be a faulty oil cooler, do you know where is the oil cooler located, it's getting cold outside, I can use any help to cut my time working on it.
also, must I relplace anything else to make it work? and how in the world am I suppose to clean the goo from the coolant lines.... is there a trick?

Thank you.

[CleveSaab]

Originally Posted by SwedeSpeed95

...Have you seen Tboy's V6?
Better yet have you seen the video of Tboy's V6?

Better still. Driven in it?

[ragtopcav]

Originally Posted by horzman

from what I've seen, it looks to be a faulty oil cooler, do you know where is the oil cooler located,

As I said, it is located in the engine block between the cylinder heads.

Look at the front of the engine block around the area of the oil filter, notice 2 pipes about 1/2" diameter that go from the oil filter region, around the R/H side of the engine and then turn left to go between the heads. These pipes are the flow and return to the cooler [and need to be removed as part of the job]. If you look at the odyssey thread linked in my first post, you can see a sequence of removing the inlet manifold stack to get at the cooler cover plate where the 2 pipes terminate with banjo joints.

The sequence is:

Empty the cooling system by disconnnecting the big hose from the lower end of the radiator

Remove the entire inlet manifold stack to expose the cooler cover plate.

Remove the two oil pipes that go from the oil filter area to the cover plate [removing the filter helps, and perhaps working from underneath too]

Undo the two nuts that were underneath the banjo joints, this frees the cooler from the cover plate [you cannot remove cooler attached to plate with the heads in situe]

Undo the bolts that secure the cover plate and prize it off [it has a sealant on its joint]

Lift the old cooler out.

Assembly really is a reverse of removal.

[SwedeSpeed95]

Originally Posted by CleveSaab

Better still. Driven in it?

I WANNA DRIVE IN IT!!!!

God that's a beautiful car. Kudos Tboy.

[horzman]

called the dealer, the oil cooler is over $500, no after-market place around me has it.

I've read that other auto maker use similar or the same oil cooler, anyone knows what?

Thank you.

[ragtopcav]

Your 2.5 engine came as a 3.0 and 3.2 in many GM vehicles, some chevys, saturn vue and the caddy catera for example. The cooler remained the same throughout the engine build run, the only difference is the very late ones are stainless, but as it takes about 9-12 years for one of these puppies to go it is probably not worth pursueing one of them.

[koniq]

V6's are easy to fix! and if you consider doing this yourself while you are there replace the thermostat at the same time it's $20 part. Good luck! Thermostat took about 1 hour (in a -20C garage but I have taken pieces of this veh apart before... that helps!

[Tboy]

Originally Posted by SwedeSpeed95

I WANNA DRIVE IN IT!!!!

God that's a beautiful car. Kudos Tboy.

Gosh thanks! Right now the 6 is full of wood. Man I love how useful a Saab is.

I'm remodeling my kitchen right now, so the 6 is kinda a workhorse for the time being. Don't worry, I am being very careful with my new drivers seat:


Once I'm done with the kitchen (maybe 3 weeks) I'll be tearing down the saab. I need to finish out the other seats in the car, and I swear I'm going to get it painted before SOC!!! Promise!! I may have a few more tricks up my sleeve if things go well.

Tboy

[Tboy]

Originally Posted by CleveSaab

Better still. Driven in it?

When are you going to learn to drive a manual so you can drive it!!???

I think I will put a new clutch in it this spring, with that done, it will be the perfect saab for you to learn on. The low end grunt of the V6 makes it very forgiving.

Tboy