2001 Saab 9-5 wagon

[MattStrike]

This started out as a curiosity as to what is out there - my wife's '93 SE is getting worn out, rusty, parts are kinda falling off, and I don't have time for another project car. It's got 1-2 winters left in it before it succumbs to rear end rust. My budget was $2000. Obviously not in a hurry to find a car, and no interest in a car payment, I've been watching various '00+ Bonnevilles, Regals, Auroras, etc. Waiting for the right deal to come around. After a few deals fell through for various reasons, one a scam, I came across this little gem which I managed to take home for $1800:



It's a 2001 Saab 9-5 Wagon, 3.0l half-turbo V6. The car has no real rust on it, there is some surface rust that I plan to take care of quickly, but the body is solid. The suspension needs nothing, steering needs nothing, all the light bulbs work, it's got all working heated seats, working A/C, roof rack, full leather interior, sweet cup holders, sport and winter modes, sunroof, etc. The only bad - The stereo display doesn't work right and it's at the right mileage for it's next timing belt, and I think I want to look into a front brake upgrade. Overall, I think I found a decent car for the money, interior quality is very nice, only a few things are worn out from use like the inside door handle, and the previous owners were using synthetic oil with a K&N oil filter. Hopefully this turns out to be a solid driver, my favorite part is the interior isn't drab pontiac grey, so it's got potential.

But enough rambling, here are some pictures!















It's not an L67 (yet), but it's no slouch either. We're thinking about passing the L67 SE on to my wife's parents, who need a car, if that falls through it's going up for sale.

[J Wikoff]

Keep an eye out for oil in the coolant, throttle body codes, falling windows and auto aiming headlight issues.

[MattStrike]

I was planning to replace the water pump when I do the timing belt - I'm not opposed to extending that to the head gasket while I'm in there, if that's what causes oil in the coolant? I'd like to do now any PM for common issues that might show up in the next 50k miles.

[CMNTMXR57]

PRD2BDF will be here shortly.

[bs009]

Half turbo seems odd.

I love wagons. Looks like a decent car; not a fan of the exterior but the interior looks decent though.

Can't wait to see it.

[nos4blood70]

Very nice. 9-5s are some of my favorite Saabs.

[MattStrike]

Once I sat in it I was hooked. It's a great balance of luxury, performance, and styling. And the half turbo thing is as odd as twin-charging is.

[haro1225]

This thing has got me looking at Saabs on Craigslist. I rode in it and it seems like a pretty solid ride.

[bs009]

Once I sat in it I was hooked. It's a great balance of luxury, performance, and styling. And the half turbo thing is as odd as twin-charging is.

well maybe, but twin-charging has the opposite result. Seems like it only really builds boost at low RPM's from what I've gathered with some quick searching.

[J Wikoff]

It's common for the oil cooler that is nestled in the lifter valley to leak, letting oil and coolant mix.

An old coworkers 3.0t 9-5 had these problems:
Oil cooler leak
Faulty electronic throttle body
Leaky heater bypass valve, leading to coolant in the vacuum line getting burned off
Bad headlight aimer which made the system aim them really low and pretty much useless
I think all the power window regulators failed
Taillight wiring harness in trunk lid shorted out where it bends at the trunk lid hinge, a wagon might have a better design execution, leading to loss of taillights and blown fuse. When that fuse is blown, the trans locks in park and you go nowhere until you fix the fuse. Brilliant.
Scrambled radio display
Bad vapor purge canister thing

There's a Saab forum I was on for a while to help him. I posted a lot of problems. Some of them here, I think.

[MattStrike]

Once I sat in it I was hooked. It's a great balance of luxury, performance, and styling. And the half turbo thing is as odd as twin-charging is.

well maybe, but twin-charging has the opposite result. Seems like it only really builds boost at low RPM's from what I've gathered with some quick searching.

Consider who is going to be driving it as a DD, and that it's got a flat powerband. Again, not an L67, nowhere near the moon (twincharged), but Pontiac grey cloth interior and a rusted out chassis vs. this?

[Saturn Simon]

Half-turbo? I think Saab called it a 'light pressure turbo' if I remember correctly.

Very nice looking wagon and very European! It would look right at home here. I think it has a lovely interior too.

[J Wikoff]

The turbo ran off one bank of cylinders. Weird.

[repinS]

Good pickup! Can't wait to see the progress!

[Wes]

Yeah, looks like a great buy for the money!

[MattStrike]

Did an oil change yesterday, finished cleaning out the interior.

My list of PM isn't very long, just have to order some parts:
-Timing belt kit
-Trans filter and fluid
-Water pump
-New pads and rotors all the way around, including a 308mm (12.125") front brake swap

Then there are a few cosmetic issues:
-missing fog lamp
-dead pixels in the radio display
-inside front door handles

[PRD2BDF]

Good to see people appreciate these cars. See I'm not crazy.

[00Beast]

Good to see people appreciate these cars. See I'm not crazy.

You're using Matt's decision to try and prove you're NOT crazy? That's as backwards as it comes, lol...

[MattStrike]

Had some fun with the Saab this weekend. After a 10 hour roadtrip/vacation we found that it has a completely random misfire, and a few little electrical gremlins. But it's surprisingly agile in the corners, comfortable even on long trips, got almost 3800 territory gas mileage, and it has a night panel button!

The misfire is random, can't pin in to anything yet. Sometimes on a cold start it will misfire on 1-2 cylinders for a few seconds then clear up. Other times it won't really clear up for up to 20 minutes, then randomly decides to clear up and runs great. But most of the time it never shows any hint of a misfire. Sometimes while running it will misfire once, recover, then be fine for a while, other times the hiccup occurs a few times then clears up. The first 5 hours of the trip it ran flawlessly, 28mpg with the A/C on. Then on a few of the short trips around it would flare up.

I refilled the washer fluid, but the low fluid indicator still shows.
The low coolant indicator come up sometimes, looks like an external slow leak below the throttle body somewhere.
I changed out the HVAC head unit, which fixed one side blowing hot and the other cold, but now I can't select the dash vents, only the floor or defrost vents, but the dual climate temp now works.

But I managed to give the car a thorough handwash and wax, and start the process of re-vitalizing the faded black plastics. I also added crossbars to the roof rack, used $30 in hardware to put a set of universal crossbars that I had on.

[MurderMitten]

I approve!