Slow Fleet – SAAB 900 Sept – December Update
Latest Costs: £41.30
Miles since last update: 75
Having done plenty already I was faced with a minor problem, I had to speparate the old downpine from the Cat. With the angle grinder at hand it was fairly easy to separate the two by cutting through the old bolts.
The trouble soon became apparent when I realised the nuts on the back of the Cat flange were welded on. This meant a re-think and a lot more grinding to get them flat. Then out with the drill to gradually open up the holes.
After breaking a couple of drill bits I managed to get three holes, that were too small and not round. So I had to use the old Black and Decker Wizard with some grinding attachments…. and burned a few of them out and found what looked like an engraving tool seemed to work best bizzarley.
Reattaching the Downpipe was easy enough, the Cat needing some additional support to get it aligned and it was done.
One of the other outstanding things was the leaking water pump, which typically was at the back of the engine and underneath the A/C compressor. I ordered a new water pump and a couple of alternator drive belts to cure the slipping as I would be getting access to that area at the same time. The only one I didn’t get was the power steering belt. Oh well…
It was certainly starting to look a bit past it’s best, so it was just as well. I mean, I didn’t want anything else to break did I…
Success, as I had a reassembled car and it seemed to work well. Ok, with the exception of the heater controls being a little stiff and the radio not switching on for a little while. I guess all that water stuck in the air intake had gotten something damp in the back of the dash, so I’d be getting behind there at some point to investigate.
After a shakedown run to fill it with fuel I thought I’d take it to a night out I was invited to in Birmingham. Apart from the radio not coming on for a while and me not having any Dire Straits to listen too it was fine. Until getting into the city and it starts to blow cold air… Now this was December of course… I wonder if it has anything to do with the heater controls and the radio weirdness…
Ok, I can cope with the cold and it was no better going home, but it drove well with the gearbox feeling nice and smooth, with a good gearshift. I’d made the right decision with the oil then.
I was thinking that the car needed using regularly to iron out the bugs, so when asked to take a package to one of those retrun places I jumped in the 900. Arriving at the shop I went to pop the car in reverse and thought it’s not going in… This feels a bit weird, the gear lever is a bit vague feeling like there’s no ratios in the box. A full circular motion around the gate is a little disconcerting, I was thinking the linkage had come undone under the car and I’d have to crawl around on the floor, in the dark. Then suddenly I was left with a gear lever in my hand… and obviously no way of putting the car in reverse to get the key out.
I dropped the package off and went back to the car to see what I could do. I couldn’t get the key out to unlock the other doors or the boot, so I couldn’t get at any tools. I must fix the intermittent central locking… I grabbed the door pocket torch and figured out if I had a screwdriver I could get the car into 2nd and drive home, it was only a mile or so. Another trip into the shop to borrow a screwdriver and a couple of minutes later I was driving home, to abandon the car and leaving it until the morning to get the keys out.
This bit should still be attached…
