Now, i know to fix it, i need to pull the engine, not an easy job. But, i'd like to know what people here think might be broken, and would it be wiser to just sell it for a grand or so, adn get a different car.

if this is a c900, You dont need to pull the engine to do the flywheel. just take the bonnet off and strip all the clutch bits out of the way - though it probably depends what has broken to make it come off!.
It is held on with 6 or 7 fairly stout bolts which should also be locktite'd in.

if they have just fallen out then it is going to be easy to put them back in. if they have broken off or caused any damage to the crank then you may have to take the engine out and strip stuff down to repair it.

edit - or is the auto gearbox completely different to the manual?

 

the auto box is different - as is the "flywheel" on the autobox (generally called a flex plate). As far as I know the motor must come out to get the auto box out from under the motor. Once the motor is out and the box is separated you will likely find that the flex plate has cracked around its hub at the center. The hard part will be pulling the motor - changing the broken flex plate out for a new flex plate will be easy.

The other possibility is that the motor had been out before and the mechanic never put red thread lock compound on the threads of the flywheel/flex plate bolts and they all back out. Either way, motors gotta come out. Sorry :roll:

 

it's a slush-box so he'll have to pull the engine/trans, take 'em apart, replace the flex-plate bolts that hold it to the stub of the crankshaft, put it back togehter and put the engine back in -

Seems odd that it'd have run fine for the drive home and then just "fall off" -

 

I think that either the bolts were working there way out, or it was cracked, but not enough to come all the way off. the drive home must have done it the rest of the way. when i was on the way home, and let off the gas, i could hear the 'rattle'. But as soon as i gave it gas, it was fine. It also made a horrible screech when i started it up at work.


now for the real question, how hard would it be to pull the engine,and should i maybe just sell it?

both me and my dad, who would prolly help, are mechanically inclined, we would just need to get an engine hoist.

 

Pulling the engine is pretty well documented on a number of threads here - and the bentley goes into great detail as well - doesn't look all that bad - of course I'm not the guy dedicating a weekend to it!

A car that doesn't move isn't worth a heck of a lot on the open market - at least that's been my experience - you could always look upon this as a chance to clean up the engine compartment, do other maintenance that's needed or will be needed in the near future, that's easier to do with the engine removed. Try to put a positive spin on it!

It'd seem a shame to toss a nice car aside because a couple bolts sheared off or backed themselves out - just remember to clean the threads and locktite the bolts when you put 'em back in!

That's my 2cents -

Steve

 

Pulling the engine is pretty well documented on a number of threads here - and the bentley goes into great detail as well - doesn't look all that bad - of course I'm not the guy dedicating a weekend to it!

A car that doesn't move isn't worth a heck of a lot on the open market - at least that's been my experience - you could always look upon this as a chance to clean up the engine compartment, do other maintenance that's needed or will be needed in the near future, that's easier to do with the engine removed. Try to put a positive spin on it!

It'd seem a shame to toss a nice car aside because a couple bolts sheared off or backed themselves out - just remember to clean the threads and locktite the bolts when you put 'em back in!

That's my 2cents -

Steve

 

Make sure it's not just the rivets in the flex plate that have broken. They can be repaired in place.

 

I realize this is a very old post Jim - do you have any additional instructions or pictures to swap rivets with bolt/nut - ‘92 Turbo auto with what appears to be busted rivets and would attempt this before pulling engine etc. Thank you.

 

OK, I've been thinking about this. The tranny does shift hard into first. enough to jolt the car sometimes even with foot on the brake hard.
I did go down adn look at it, adn there appears to be a thin metal ring on the tranny side of the flex plate. Not attached to the flex plate, not loose. never noticed this before. Could this be the ring gear? to fix this would i just have to remove the plastic guard? A little direction on this would be appreciated, if it sounds like its it. All the help so far is appreciated, and hopefully this will be an easy fix.

 

Someone recently (in the past few weeks) showed rivet replacement. Try searching.

 

Ok, I found the post, but none of the pics/ videos are oading. m0ntecarlo,if your there, please send them this way, i could use the info right about now.

 

OK, got the plastic cover off, and it is the rivets. Now i need to know, will any ole rivets that fit work, or will i need a special rivet. dont want to dink with nuts and bolts. thansk in advance.

 

OK, got the plastic cover off, and it is the rivets. Now i need to know, will any ole rivets that fit work, or will i need a special rivet. dont want to dink with nuts and bolts. thansk in advance.

Well, you won't be able to use pop rivets - that's for sure! You could either use aluminum standard rivets that you'll have to heat and pressure-cap OR use bolts and nuts - I'd use nyloc nuts with red loctite just to be double-anal-retentive-special-sure that they don't come off - my 4 cents (double the value 'cause it's an automatic) -

 

I'd use nyloc nuts with red loctite just to be double-anal-retentive-special-sure that they don't come off - my 4 cents (double the value 'cause it's an automatic) -

I am with steve. Do you really want to do this again?

 

....dont want to dink with nuts and bolts.

I think you should dink.

 

Dont know what i was thinking about not dionking with nuts adn bolts.

Me and my dad got it drilled out adn bolted back together. all is well now..

thansk for all the help

 

you have the same problem as me. Unfortunately I made more of a joke of the fix than actually doing anything (although it did start once!!!) My website changed a bit and they locked my thread so I can't edit it.

Anyway for some good fun head to:

http://montecarlo.homedns.org:81/saab/PICS/album.html

I'm sorry I don't have an answer at the moment but you can at least be entertained by my fix lol.

In all honesty I was wondering if Jim Mesthene could feed us some info on repairing the rivets? I did actually end up trying to put bolts in the holes but the problem is they end up catching on the starter so I really don't see an easy fix without pulling the motor.

 

Wait I just read your last post - you fixed it?

You just drill out the holes and put bolts in?

 

rather than using hex-head bolts, which would tend to hang up on the starter, try using allen head cap screws - which - being rounded - would tend less to interfere - you'll still need a nut on the backside - but as the starter won't be anywhere near them (the nuts) it shouldn't matter -

There's a damm good reason the original thread was locked up - by the way.

 

There's a damm good reason the original thread was locked up - by the way.

True enough - saabies have no sense of humor. fitting since saab sounds so much like snob.

I do really appreciate your advice on the flexplate - I will try what you suggested. Thanks!!!!!!!

 

fitting since saab sounds so much like snob.

Not round here it doesn't.

By the way, do you think you could stop the online Tourette's syndrome? Filling your posts with asterisks isn't impressing anyone and it's boring to keep cleaning up after you. .

 

Does this count as my second warning?

 

Also how do you know I didn't just put an * down. And what difference does it make - its an ascii character just like the rest of them in this sentence. If I had your power to mess with peoples posts and stuff I'd prolly put like 10 asterisks on your attitude.

But its all good i'll use question marks from now on to keep you happy if you want.

 

BTW I think its a riot you banned my mom from your site when all she was trying to do was explain to you to not take what I say seriously I'm just being an anushammer. I mean seriously, plus I don't recall her getting the 3 warning system.

 

I don't think it's my attitude that's the issue. I'm slightly baffled why it is that after so many chances, you still find it necessary to try and antagonise everyone in each post you make, and continue to make derogatory statements about Saab owners generally. It's really not too bright on a forum dedicated to the marque, and it hasn't exactly won you many supporters.

You can be as dysfunctional as you like elsewhere, but the Terms and Conditions are very straightforward, and the vast majority of people find there's no problem in keeping to them. Why you find it so hard I can't imagine. The reason we ask people not to litter their posts with monotonous swearing is because we also have children using this site, all of whom manage to post with a quite remarkable degree of maturity in comparison.

I didn't ban your Mum, by the way, someone else did.

 

For serial dude, do kids even know what an asterisk means tho? Its not like you could read what I actually wrote. Like for instance here:

*****

I wrote the word 'apple' but you didn't really know what I wrote.