65 Project Saab 900 Turbo Convertible
In part three we deal with an illuminated warning light, a blown headlight bulb, while a small spot of rust on a chassis leg was worse than first thought
We upgraded the headlights and dealt with a patch of corrosion on the chassis that was far worse than first thought.
It was definitely a case of speaking too soon to anyone who cared to listen while I was rabbiting on about how well our Saab 900 Turbo was running after the troublesome cooling issues had all been sorted out. Unfortunately, another round of Saab shaped trouble was literally just around the corner and on the way home from our Peterborough office the 900’s oil pressure warning light lit up while I was overtaking a string of HGVs on the A1.
It’s never good news when any dashboard warning light starts to twinkle but when the oil light comes at 70 miles and hour, alarm bells start to ring very loudly. What was puzzling was how the Saab’s oil pressure light started to light up very gradually before it ended up glowing brightly.
Threading through a solid lane of traffic with the Saab’s hazard warning lights winking merrily away wasn’t the smoothest manoeuvre I’ve ever undertaken on a dual carriageway but luckily there was a handy lay-by to aim for. Expecting to hear the sound of the bearings in the Saab’s 2.0 litre inline-four destroying themselves through a lack of lubrication, it was a relief to hear the engine idling away smoothly as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Checking the dipstick showed the oil level was fine considering the engine was still up to working temperature. So the journey home was completed with the oil pressure warning light blazing away, only for the right-hand headlight bulb to fail a few miles further on. A new H7 halogen bulb was fitted the following morning and an investigation into the permanently illuminated oil warning light problem showed the problem was down to a faulty pressure switch.
After a replacement switch was fitted, the warning light went out as soon as the Saab’s engine fired up – phew, what a relief! The next couple of days were trouble free until the left- hand headlight bulb decided to go pop. Rather than fit another H7 halogen bulb, We upgraded both headlights with a pair of LEDs that Gill Keene from Better Car Lighting had kindly sent in for us to review. The upgrade from halogen to LEDs has certainly transformed the Saab’s lighting and the output now competes with the penetrating white light some newer cars, especially tall SUV’s, put out these days.
Next job was to get the car booked into South Derbyshire based Forge Garage to investigate the two small patches of corrosion found on the Saab’s chassis during the initial appraisal. The most worrying patch was next to the front chassis leg and as the rot was in the middle of the inner wishbone mountings, Tony had to remove the suspension to gain access to the frilly metalwork.
Sorting this mess out turned out into a much bigger job than we first thought. The rust had crept up inside a double skinned panel and this had to be carefully cut out before any fresh metal could be welded in. While the car was on the ramp, Tony checked the area on other side and found all the metal work was sound – which was another relief. Unfortunately we only had time to cover the rot being cut out, but we’ll come back and show how the new metal was welded in the April issue. Here’s what we’ve been up to with our Saab 900 since last time: