by "Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
Published 11/13/2017 at 12:00
by "Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
Published 11/13/2017 at 12:00
Tags: Saab 900
; Project
; wrenching
STARS: 3
Time to go parts-hunting. Again.
Last week, we made a sloppy diagnosis, condemning the coil as soon as we saw it test out-of-spec. What was sloppy about that conclusion? That we stopped looking for other problems.
Sure enough, the new coil did not get the engine running again. So I took out my multimeter and we started at square one (plug wire resistance). It didn’t take long to find (you called it!) a worn rotor in the distributor. Go figure.
So far, a lot of parts have had to be ordered online, but in this case, we cross-referenced the cap & rotor to find that they were used on several other applications. This meant that my brother was actually able to find them in stock at a local parts store.
But the fitment was less than ideal, so we’re not going to use them. So the new cap & rotor are on their way now, which means that we still don’t know yet if that regulator is going to fix the charging issue. In the meantime, we looked for other things to make progress on, lest the weekend go to waste. Like these door handles:
Both passenger side door handles were loose, but still functional. Upon closer inspection, LF handle turned out to be just a loose bolt. Not sure how that happened, but it feels good to put a little dab of threadlocker on it and seat it back against the door where it belongs.
No such luck with the rear passenger door handle, though. This one was definitely broken. But at least we know now that we only need to track down one handle, and not two.
We also took a minute to start digging into the brakes. As expected, they need a major overhaul:
The rear calipers had been unbolted back at Ron’s before we got there, presumably due to stuck parking brake mechanisms. But before we got carried away with trying to get some movement out of the pistons, we decided to mount the caliper in its bracket and see if the bleeder would come free. If we can’t get the bleeders working, there’s really no point in trying to save the rest of the caliper.
Despite some penetrating oil and a little heat from a propane torch (yeah I know, it’s all I had), the bleeder would not come out. The head twisted right off with little effort, and we failed to retrieve the rest of it with a bolt extractor.
Expecting that the rest of the calipers will have the same issue, my brother made his decision- instead of trying our luck with the other calipers, we’re just going to go ahead and replace all of them. No more fighting and breaking bleeders, no trying to unfreeze stuck pistons and parking brake mechanisms. We’re just going to send them in for core credit and have nice clean working calipers on all four corners. I’m cool with that.
"Nibbles" (nibbles)
11/13/2017 at 12:14, STARS: 0
I am clearing out my shed of tons of 900 parts. I have a distributor and a door handle. Among other things like
Two rad fans
Two valve covers
Two fuel rails w/ injectors
Turbo
Intake manifold complete w/ TB
Exhaust manifold
Two MAFs (worked when pulled)
Jetronic ecu
Sun visors
3dr parcel shelf (6x9 cutouts) and hatch inner cover
Thule roof rack
And tons of other things. Need something?
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
11/13/2017 at 12:29, STARS: 0
No kidding! Well I’m gonna have to put you in contact with my brother on that. What year/variant are those parts from?
"Nibbles" (nibbles)
11/13/2017 at 12:34, STARS: 0
All 1987. Some SPG, some standard T16. Both 3drs.
I don’t know for certain everything I have. What I listed is what I inventoried yesterday; I still have other bits (like a head laying around somewhere, camshafts, etc) and a giant box of misc interior and plumbing bits. Oh and door lock actuators. And more.
[REDACTED]
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
11/13/2017 at 12:37, STARS: 0
Ok, cool. (If you want, feel free to edit your e-mail addy out of your reply, I’ve copied it down.)
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
11/13/2017 at 23:15, STARS: 2
Replacing the calipers is a very good call.
"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
11/15/2017 at 15:07, STARS: 1
I think I’ve said this before, but if not: While your doing calipers go ahead and replace any flex tubes/ rubber brake lines. They tend to rot from the inside out and can fail without external symptoms.
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
11/15/2017 at 15:28, STARS: 1
Yup! Yeah, I don’t trust the old lines either. Looks like probably 5 or 6 hoses total, definitely wanna replace them all.
I think it was you who mentioned to also check the line underneath the carpet. Good call! It looked ok, but there was some rust starting, particularly on the metal clips holding the line in place. So my brother made sure to clean that up and throw some paint on it real quick before laying the carpet back down.
I’m not used to seeing brake and fuel lines run through the interior, but I like it! I also like how Saab painted the exterior hard brake lines. They’re showing some rust too, but nowhere near as bad as I’ve seen domestic cars get.
"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
11/15/2017 at 15:35, STARS: 1
Nope, wasn’t me but I’m happy to take credit!
Actually, looking at that I need to look into pull up my carpet and seeing what lurks beneath...
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
11/15/2017 at 16:23, STARS: 1
Well, I’ll have to check my old posts and find out who it was then. But I’m glad that my faulty memory gives you something to check on your car haha. If you can’t tell by the pic, this is under the carpet in the driver footwell.