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Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 03:15:07 GMT
From: James Sweet <jamessweetnospamail.com>
Subject: Re: '88 900S head gasket?


Al wrote: > Fred W wrote: > >>James Sweet wrote: >> >>>The car is an '88 900S 16V, my girlfriend was driving and said it >>>started to overheat today while sitting in traffic but didn't get up >>>into the red and went down when the car was moving at a decent speed. >>>Tonight I checked the coolant and discovered it a bit low, added about a >>>quart and checked it out, car seemed to be running just fine. Checked >>>the oil and uh-oh, white milky crap on the dipstick. Am I right to >>>assume the head gasket has blown or is there anything else on these cars >>>that's likely to cause that symptom? Are there any tricks or tips I >>>should know before digging into this? I've done a number of head gaskets >>>before but never on a Saab. Do I need to replace the head bolts or any >>>other parts or should I just get a top end gasket set and replace >>>anything I disturb? >> >>The fact that the engine cooled down when you started moving does not >>suggest a head gasket, but there is no denying the milky white evidence, >>so what must (may) have happened here is that you have 2 problems... >>The original problem in the cooling system which caused the overheating >>and this then resulted in a head gasket leak between the water jacket >>and oil galley. >> >>Do a compression check on the engine to diagnose the head gasket. You >>will still need to sort out the cooling system problem once you get the >>leak resolved. >> >>-- >>-Fred W > > > My C900 was prone to overheating on her old radiator which had lost > about 20% of its fins in the crucial central area. At a standstill > this led to the needle creeping up quite high, but once moving again > the airflow around the remaining fins was sufficient to cool her down. > > Is your rad' OK? plenty of fins there? Water pump working properly? > 10 to 1 a poor cooling efficiency led to the gasket. > > I agree with Fred on compression check first, but FWIW I would budget > time and money to solve both problems at once. One thing led to > another after all. > > Al > Radiator looks fine, car never truly overheated, the guage just started creeping up and got about 2/3 up the arc rather than sitting at around 8:00 as it normally does. I agree that there may be two unrelated problems, though I was thinking perhaps the low coolant caused an airlock as she also mentioned the heater air got cool, I forgot to include that.

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