Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 02:19:38 GMT From: Brenden Conte <contebnopsam.rpi.edu> Subject: Belt and Pully system in newer saabs
This is an old subject, but since i'm pretty new, i'd figure i'd share my experience. Bought my '99 saab 9-5 in august of '02 with 41k on it. at about 44k i had my regular 3000 mile oil change at the same dealership i bought it from, and used a coupon that came in the paper for a free checkup. The mechanic said that my pullies were showing wear, and while they were fine now, they should be repared next tune up. two weeks later, after starting the car in about 10F temperatures, (and running back inside to keep warm while the car warmed), i come out to a funny smell, no power steering, and that red ! on. Long story short, one of the pullies aparently froze (i think it was the tentioner), and the belt kept going, and eventually melted the belt and popped off. I brought it to my local dealer at the time, who specialized in rebuilding and repairing saabs, and he remarked that this was a new, rather disturbing pattern he was seeing - pullies wearing out at about 40-50k miles, espeically with the newer model saabs. As a final kick in the face, when i had them replaced, several were on national backorder. I ended up making two repair trips and spending almost twice as much to replace all the pullies. Has anyone experienced this? Is this something that has always existed with saabs? I've never expereinced this kind of problem with such a low-milage car, and it seems like a bit of a quality problem, at least from my eyes. I'd like to hear thoughts on this. -Brenden
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