Re: 05 Arc 2.3T automatic trans loses cooolant over night - Saab 9-5 Bulletin Board - Saabnet.com
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Re: 05 Arc 2.3T automatic trans loses cooolant over night
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Posted by Mark in Marine [Email] (#1837) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Mark in Marine) on Sat, 2 Jun 2018 17:35:42 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: 05 Arc 2.3T automatic trans loses cooolant over night, Mark Tribuzio, Sat, 2 Jun 2018 09:14:36
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Immediately upon start up does the exhaust smell like ethylene glycol (antifreeze) ? That would be direct evidence of head gasket leaking coolant into one or more cylinders. Hopefully not a head gasket, but exclude that worst-case possibility first. If the coolant is being sucked into cylinder(s) that would be bad. Note that my plan would involve testing most everything as best I could before running the engine again, in case this is the problem.

Next bad thing would be coolant straying into the transmission via defective radiator AT plumbing.

Hopefully what you have is an external cooling system leak only, and there are ways in which it could look like this – including a bad coolant bypass valve. Have you ever replaced your coolant reservoir CAP ? Old ones can occasionally either hold too much or too little pressure - too much pressure might give a leak that stops as the pressure drops. You will probably get a lot of input from other well-seasoned board members, but here would be my plan:

1) Check compression – and when you do, give each cylinder a sniff test for that antifreeze smell.

2) since this has happened several times, if the problem is with the AT lines / radiator, then there will be coolant in the ATF. Check ATF level - if it seems high, then do an ATF drain and fill, looking hard for any water separating from the transmission fluid or any evidence of a “strawberry milkshake” from water emulsified in the ATF.

3) Pressure-test the coolant system while on jack stands or a lift. It is easy to remove the small hose from the coolant reservoir (tank), add a piece of 1/4" fuel line to a hand pump, and plug the coolant return tube so that you can pressurize your system. Clamp the joints. Pump but only up to about 10PSI, so that you have some buffer in case your gauge is not accurate. Inspect very carefully - remove the under-engine covers so that you can see as well as possible.

Activate the coolant bypass valve while pressure is applied (assuming that your CBV is still installed). I will have to look up how to do that - I have removed the valve from the cars I maintain. The reason to do this is that the CBV may only leak when "on" or "off".

If you have an external leak, this should make it happen.

4) If you see no loss of pressure AND no leak I would allow the system to sit at least 15-30 minutes. If still no change, I might wait several hours and recheck. I would be looking for evidence of coolant leaking into cylinders or into the transmission fluid. If nothing after an hour or two, then it may happen only at temperature, in which case I would do number 5.

5) And (maybe the FIRST thing) get it to a really good shop. They will likely walk through all of this and more.

I would probably do the first four before #5, but that’s because I am not close to a good SAAB mechanic and because I like to solve puzzles.

Hope this helps get you to a solution !

Mark in Marine


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