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Welcome to Saabnet. Classic Saabs are great fun, but even the best need TLC not uncommon for a 20 year old car. I have a 1990 SPG I have been restoring (and 2 other 900s). I looked at several classic 900's before I bought my last 2, and have bought many others in the past. There is a lot of good info on this site, and despite the recommendations you will get answering your question by me and others, I would do searches of old posts too. try seaching "pre purchase inspection". Usually that comes with a variety of other recs too.
In general, condition is more important than milage. A low miles rusted out and/or abused 900 will drain your wallet and your spirit quickly. A well cared for high milage 900 is not necessarily a deal breaker, but it needs to be looked over carefully by someone how knows these cars well. Find an indy with a good reputation, and pay for the prepurchase inspection. It is well worth it. Low milage good examples are fetching decent money these days, but deals are still out there.
Structural rust is a deal breaker, even if you only want a beater. Rust where the lower right font control arm mounts to the body. There are fixes, but all are temporary. Bad transmissions are deal breakers for me too (others buy them cheap though, for parts). You can check that the car shifts smoothly between gears (2nd gear syncro is often bad in abused cars, and causes grinding, especially when cold). If there is a tick-tick-tick when the car is running in nuetral, but goes away when the clutch is pushed in, it can mean that reverse was abused (and the metal bits are floating aroung the gear box reaking havoc). A transmission whine in the upper gears usually means impending failure. If you decide on a nice 900T instead of an SPG, I would stay away from the auto-boxes personally.
Check that the turbo boosts near the red part of the boost gauge. Boost to the mid yellow usually means it is stuck in "base boost", usually not too hard to fix for a DIYer, but can cost $$ if you are going to use an indy for all work.
Non structural rust can be aproxy for structural rust. My beater has only a rust bubble on the fender, but later developed the dreaded a-arm rust (repaired thankfully). Uner the door sills, and the front fender lips are common. I have heared the rear spring pearches can rust, but I have never seen that myself.
1990 and later have ABS, and can be expensive to repair. I like the ABS (just helped me the other day), others don't. Make sure you test them. A bad distribution block will cause the car to dangerously dart to one side when the ABS is activated. To test find a nice deserted, wide space, and slam on the brakes at 30MPH or so. If the brake pedal pulsates and the car stops straight, so far so good. If it shoots to one side (it is not subtle by the way), I would walk away unless the rest of the car were cherry. Another ABS test, that IS NOT a deal breaker, but often is a good negotiation point, is testing the accumulator (search for word "bomb"). To test have the car "on", wait for the ABS and BRAKE warning lights to go out. I do not have the engine running (that way I can easily hear the ABS pump running- it stops when the ABS and BRAKE lights go out). Then literally stomp on the brake pedal quickly and repeatedly. You are testing the reserve in the accumulator. If the ABS and BRAKE lights come on after 3-4 pumps, the accumulator is bad. If it comes on after 5-6 it is weak, and I think (but check this by searching) more than 8-10 is good. You will see that the ABS pump will run a few seconds, and the lights will go out. It is easy and cheap to replace. Pulsating brakes from m30 MPH when stopping and NOT activating the ABS are warped rotors. Not a deal breaker, good for negotiation, and and easy DIY if you can turn a wrench.
Look for accident damage. I seem to find this a lot now that these cars are older. One was listed as "mint" in Conn this spring, but had a bad repair job, and a body that was not striaght! Look for the usuall things, doors and hoods that do not line up, check for paint "orange peeling". I have a small magnet that I stick on quaterpanels, doors. I have found more than one c900 with a lot of unadvertized bondo that way.
If I can, I will jack the car up and check the front ball joints (not a deal breaker, but adds to the negotiation price).
Common non-deal breaker items are cracked dash, sagging headliner, old seats. Sun roofs that don't open, slow or non working window winders are awesome. Easy fixes usually and bring the cost down in the negotiation. A sick steering rack will groan when the wheel is turned. Not a deal breaker for me, but not an easy fix and cost $$ for an indy.
I look at the engine fluids, I ask if where the car is parked is its usually parking spot, and look for large puddles underneath. I look at the general condition of the engine (hey I am a geek, what can I say). I don't readily check compression unless I suspect a bad headgasket. Bad headgaskets can cause bubbling in the coolant, pressure in the coolant tank beyond normal (ovenight pressure remains). White smoke from the tailpie that smells sweet, like coolant.
SRS- many just let the airbag system go. I don't. Test that the SRS light comes on at start up and then goes out. Blinking for a few min followed by a staedy SRS light means a fault. Ususally it is due to a bad clocksring, but I have seen 2 SRS computers go bad. Be wary if the SRS light does not come on at start up, and the owner forgot to mention it! That means someone pulled the bulb! Even if you don't care about airbags, it is a good negotiation point, and I think an indication of honesty in the seller.
I tend to look at other details, like record keeping, although I have to say a record book has not helped my in the past. I got a lemon once with a complete record book, and my 2 recent purchases were sans complete records, and have been great Saabs.
I am sure there are many-many other points, but these are the ones I could think of off of the top of my head on a Sunday AM.
~Junkie
, Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:03:56
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