Roger,

I feel your pain. About two months ago, my '94 aero with 68k suffered this "failure". I brought the car about a year ago with 48k. It died in the middle of the road without warning. I towed it to one shop and they told me it was a busted timing chain...$3,000!!. I towed it home and put it in the garage and thought about what I should do. I thought about putting in a another engine. I called around and was getting prices around $1,500 with mileage around 75k. That is around what I had. I figured if I went that route, what would prevent this from happening in the near future. I decided to tackle the job replacing the chains myself.

I pulled the engine and tranny out and remove the timing cover. I discovered that the timing chain and balance shaft chain was intact. What cause the failure was about one inch off one of the plastic timing chain guide broke off and jammed the chains. It was bum luck. I just replaced all both chains and all the plastic guide and both chain tensioners. I got a rebuilt head from Errikson and plan to drop the engine back in tomorrow. The total cost is around $1,000. I've decided since I am there to replace the clutch. The job is not difficult to do, but you must make sure the the timing marks are set correctly.

Lastly, I believe that alot of this busted 'timing' diagnosis is not true. It has be know to happen that the plastic chain guide can fail due to overheating. About four months ago, my car overheated without warning. The needle went from normal to red suddenly. I drove the car that way for several miles to get her. It turned out that the thermostat failed. I highly recommend that everyone with 2.3 engine replace their thermostat once a year as a cheap form of issurance.

Sorry for the longish post, but I hope that give you some insight. Did you car overheat within the last couple of months?

Good luck,
Patrick

posted by 152.163.189...

• timing chain failure '96 9000CSE, Roger Hyman, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 10:56:13
  • 94 Aero with 68k...happen recently....(long), Patrick, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 23:44:21 <-- Viewing This Message
  • Re: timing chain failure '96 9000CSE, Dan Y, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 21:25:10
  • Re: timing chain failure '96 9000CSE, SaabKen, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 18:21:05
  • Outrageous, Quasi, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 16:20:50
  • Re: timing chain failure '96 9000CSE, Sheamus, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 12:46:11
  • Re: timing chain failure '96 9000CSE, Ralph S, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 12:21:30
  • Re: timing chain failure '96 9000CSE, Patrick, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 11:51:14
  • Have you checked..., Yaofeng, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 11:20:33
  • Re: timing chain failure '96 9000CSE, Anders, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 11:03:24
    • Re: timing chain failure '96 9000CSE, Quasi, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 15:56:44

No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.

• Prev by Date: Aero owner, TedD, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 23:43:37
• Next by Date: ACC I or II?, KeithR, Fri, 11 Oct 2002 23:48:43
• Main 9000 Bulletin Board

StateOfNine.com

SaabClub.com

Jak Stoll Performance

M Car Covers

Ad Available

The content on this site may not be republished without permission. Copyright © 1988-2024 - The Saab Network - saabnet.com.
For usage guidelines, see the Mission & Privacy Notice.
[Contact | Site Map | Saabnet.com on Facebook | Saabnet.com on Twitter | Shop Amazon via TSN | Site Donations]

Random Saabnet.com Member Gallery Photos (Click Image)