1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
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Hello all.
Here's a little story for ya:
My good friend & coworker's wife is driving home a couple years ago in her 1991 9000 turbo 2.3 automatic. The car makes a 'bunch of noises', loses power like crazy, she pulls over and shuts it off. It never starts again. She gets it towed to the Saab mechanics in Ramsey, NJ. They call back the next day and say that the engine has seized, and what would she like to do?
When they hear how much it's going to cost, they bail on the car, and give it to me, since I'm the saab nut who's forever crawling around inside his 900's engine compartment.
Great! A free car, just needs a motor, right?
So I call up the automotive recycler out in long island that I got the transmission for my v8 datsun (what a car- 350 chevy, t-56 six spd, holy crap what a fast 280z) from. The car has 100k on it, and the transmission oil is some nasty burnt smelling stuff, so I splurge, and get the whole engine and transmission out of a '93 for some thousands. Came with the turbo, all together.
I gather all my tools, and pull the engine in a weekend. Can't believe how many hoses/coolers/crap are in a 9000! Anyway, get the motor out.
I should, at this point, mention that I'm also into road bicycles. The day after the motor comes out, I'm off on a big bike ride- up through Westchester to Connecticut and thereabouts- some 60 miles later, I'm on my way home through the Bronx. Cue the town car, the sidewalk, and the right turn OMFG the car's coming at me and WHAM here's the sidewalk. Broken radius, dislocated ulna, the right arm is totally smashed. Everything else is cool, including the bike (just a few scratches- all the energy went directly into my wrist). Wear your helmet! Especially if you're riding your bicycle through the bronx. Cheers to the kind doctors at Jacobi medical center- topnotch job of dealing with me.
So, needless to say, the saab just sits for the rest of the summer, with the new used engine sitting on a pallet next to it in a corner of the shop. I get a steel plate and six screws in the radius bone, and atrophy for 12 weeks in a cast, and then spend a couple months building strength back.
I finally get back into it in October (I broke my arm memorial day weekend- it sucks. Don't break your arm).
I carefully swap all the electronics/cables/etc. from one engine to the other- the 93 had some crazy throttle body TCS thing on the intake, but it all went easily enough. Had to swap out the hall effect sender off the crankshaft because the cable was way too short on the 93 engine.
Anyway. I get the engine in, get it all hooked up (which was a challenge, since I hadn't labeled anything- assuming that I would be putting in the new engine in a couple of days, not four months). It's slow going, because it turns out that the arm is getting stronger, but torque is not easy to come by. Certainly not without pain. So you can imagine that it takes a while to find the proper angle for each bolt- pain is a good feedback device!
I put alternator in, get the power steering pump back on (boy that's fun), go through all kinds of excitement with the tensioner arm before I finally get the serpentine belt on, fill the motor with new oil & coolant, and charge the battery.
I should have sacrificed something at this point, but I go right ahead and attempt to crank it over, and all it does is rrrrn rrrnk click click. Sorry for the sound effects- basically, it sloooowly turned over a couple of times, and killed the battery. The cable to the starter was hot to the touch. You know that sinking feeling? I was there, baby. Ignoring the hot cable, I check all the grounds, made sure I didn't miss anything. Even double check that I put the right engine in the car. Wouldn't that be crazy.
I take off the serpentine belt, and try again.
This time it spins right up, like a champ. Holy crap, says I.
THE ALTERNATOR HAD SEIZED, NOT THE ENGINE!!!
So those fools at the saab dealer had misdiagnosed the failure by an order of magnitude! And I had completely, utterly, and blindly trusted their experienced judgement!
Of course, I had quickly checked that all the pulleys turned way back when. Unfortunately, I had checked them with the belt off- and the alternator's seized bearings would jam up tight with belt tension, but loosen up with the belt off. So I didn't catch it.
And I sure enough didn't check to see if the engine was actually seized. Never, ever believe what you're told, kids.
At this point, I put down my tools, and went home. I just couldn't believe it.
Anyways. I fire up the old internet, and order me a new alternator from eEuroparts.com. It shows up, I bolt it in, and the car starts right up, no problem.
However.
Oil pressure is LOW, judging by the clattering lifters, and there's this horrible whine (not actually that loud, i assumed it was a worn out idler pulley, which I ordered, but couldn't wait for) that changes frequency with the engine's RPM. I let it warm up, at which point the oil pressure light started to flicker, and the lifters still won't pump up. Once the oil light came on, I shut it down. I pulled the belt off, and ran it briefly, which let me know that the whine is definitely coming from behind the timing cover.
SO. I just researched as best I could 'oil pump noise', 'oil pump', etc. on the site here, finding all kinds of scary business about balance shaft teeth getting sucked through the oil pump, and so on. The archives seem to be down (escribe.com is not responding).
Anyway. I'll pull off the harmonic balancer, and open up the oil pump, and have a look, but just felt I had to share my story.
Maybe, one day, and hopefully in the near future, I will actually get to drive this car. Lord knows I've put enough time in underneath the damn thing!
Later,
-Q
posted by 216.211.2...
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