[philo]

An ongoing theme on the 95 forum and have fallen victim to it myself. The car is on a late 2001 model with 21k on the clock and a full Saab service history. I started noticing a small oil patch appearing on the drive coupled to the odd smokey start after the car had stood for a day or two.

Fortunately, the car is under Saab's 'used approved' warranty because what I thought would be a quick fix turned into an entire new turbo having to be fitted. I got a copy of the bill being submitted under the dealerships claim and it was GBP825.

Needless to say, I'll be dropping the oil out every 6k / 6 months because whatever Saab say, I don't think it'll go a year / 12k.

 

[philo]

So, new turbo fitted and everything's great. Well, not quite. I'm on the M6 and the CEL comes on with the inevitable visit to the dealership again. The upshot is, the smokey turbo had destroyed the cat which needed replacing. Final bill GBP785.00 again covered by warranty and the car's driving fine. No moral to this tale really except to say, if you by a 95 privately or without warranty then be very, very carefull as GBP1600.00 of unexpected expense can be upsetting .
Still love the car though!

 

[Kermit]

Philo, out of curiosity did the turbo let go at speed? We've heard of DI's killing the cat but not the turbo.

 

[philo]

Philo, out of curiosity did the turbo let go at speed? We've heard of DI's killing the cat but not the turbo.

Hey Kermit. The turbo never actually 'let go' entirely but seemed fine for the several hundred miles until I got it into the dealership with the only obvious evidence a very small oil leak that I barely gave a thought to. I gather that the turbo was acting like an impeller drawing small amounts of oil from the sump and dropping some on the road / drive etc and blowing some out of the exhaust and this was enough to cause the failure of the cat.

Anyhoo, plenty of time on the warranty so I'll be keeping a close eye on things and if a new DI cassette is needed, it'll get that too!