SAAB OG 9-5 HOT Wagon - The Family Haul-ass

I used to love Saabs - my dad had a silver 900 when I was young, and a 9-5 when I was a teenager. I used to love Saabs until I bought a 9-3 of my own. I don’t love them any more. My own fault, really - it wasn’t a proper Saab, it was a re-shelled Vectra.

This thread makes me want a saab too. Two friends has 9-5 wagons. And I’ve been riding one lots lately. I grew up with 900s and 9000s and all ways considered myself a saab person. An important stand in Sweden :-)

Back in the 9000 days I used to hate the CDE version which has the extended luggage booth because I thought it looked funny. Today it makes me giggle because I say “Chief, Director, Executive” to myself every time I see one. Not sure what it stands for really.

You need to start with a do-over and buy a 9-5 SC Aero mate. Join us!

The wagon is back from the shop. Two hoses were changed out, the big one to the radiator and the smaller one that burst (the one to the heater core).

To my surprise the battery was totally flat and charged 0.6 volts. So low that the smart charger couldn't pick it up and start the charge lol. They changed it out to a second hand one they had lying around for cheap.

I had to drive a Volvo V70 Diesel for when the Saab was in the shop and it pulls, but it doesn't pull like a 2.3T. The Saab is rated at 330nm whilst the Volvo is 400nm (diesel) but the Saab is just more spirited and it pulls insane in third and fourth. More fun drive really.

An important stand in Sweden :-)

True. :-)

My panel is just green, live the orange bits

All this talk about dashes made me remember this pic from my 9-5 days. I missed the perfect number by 200m due to an exit prohibiting further pics but still.

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Ran into some issues... :/

Engine check light and loss of power.

One of five things is wrong with it.

Throttle body is gunked together (maaaaybe)
DIC is shot (best bet)
Vaccumlines are sucking air (will change anyway)
MAF sensor is shot (longshot)

Time to just completely baseline this engine.

It was the fuelpump...

I appreciate that a show like Wheeler Dealers is a bit marmite on a thread like this but they did a Viggen a few weeks ago and it was a good watch

https://youtu.be/zF_ijjWNwC8

Saab 96 Viggen ay? Off to a flying start...

yeah i think that is a typo from whoever posted the video; it's correctly identified in the show

I'll remember to double pass all my rotor bolts in future, one at a time....

Surely first pass on all at lower nm then up nm for the second pass on all??

One thing I've always liked about Saabs is the active online community, most faults are quite well documented on forums etc. I currently have a -05 9-5 Aero Wagon after owning a number of older Saabs.

Yesterday evening I seem to have managed to fix an intermittent lambda-sensor issue by soldering a wire connection in the ECU wire loom.

Number plates came off this one in Stamford Hill recently. Guessing it's not long for this world.

(the nearest I'll come to shedding a tear for a diesel car)

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Nice to see a fellow swede enthusiast, mine are much older and brickier but I do catch myself looking at Saab’s now and then. Their policy of doing the exact opposite of what GM told them to do is always hilarious

Got P0300 and P0366 error codes and that means that the camshaft position sensor is toast, so the pump wasn't at fault, although it only pumped 1.5bar instead of the 3bar that is the correct pressure. Changed the oil filter and filled it with Mobile 1 Dexos 2 oil. CPS is to be bought and installed.

I do want a garage spot now or a large driveway. I want to do a shitload of work but I am quite limited atm which is seriously annoying for someone like me.

I love that they were to use the GM navi and just shitcanned it and built their own and said to the GM higher ups that was sent to check what was costing money. "Yours was shit, so we built one that was better".

Slow progress. New vacuum lines installed as well as brass bushings in the shifting linkage so it's crisp again. Not doing anything more until it passes MOT which is booked for tomo.

Well, it passed the MOT no issues back when.

Since then it has gotten a 3" downpipe with a race cat to the turbski and a 2.5" full flow exhaust, US blinkers and a Salomon CrossMax roof box to carry stuff around in the winter time. Just some standard Saab-flex really.

Next thing is to fit the 9-3 Aero 314mm front brakes. They're MASSIVE compared to the stock calipers and I hope they stop without any shuddering.

I also have a spot in a hobbygarage that is housing some nice Saab builds so now I can really go to town on it.

First up is a tear down of the sideskirts and to remove rust on the rear arches (doglegs) as well as just seeing how bad it is under there.

Work in progress

pics of car or gtfo

Installing.

Knackered flexpipe.

3" from underneath.

Old exhaust.

New.

The mahoosive brake calipers.

Oh, also some other things done not mentioned above.

Powerflex bushings in the torque rod.

O-rings changed in the "cobra".

Sound.

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Rumble rumble. That sounds nice. What else is there to do. Can't believe how cheap these are.