saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

Now if you have a 2.3 N/A motor you could skip this thread, but if you are driving and 2.0 turbo or a 2.3 turbo (you lucky viggen drivers) than you need to read up. There is a big problem with oil sludge in these cars. And by sludge I do not mean that gooey stuff that can get dissolved. I mean ROCKHARD carbon deposits in the oilpan. This becomes a problem somewhere past 80K miles if you had your oilchanges done at about 4K and never missed a change. What happens is this: these deposits start blocking the oil pick-up screen and once the screen is completely blocked the engine dies from oil starvation. Now don't run away from a saa, please. This is easily cleaned up if you get your oilpan taken off and the pick-up screen cleaned. It may seem like a difficult job because you HAVE TO at least unbolt the front of the suframe, but in fact it only sounds big. Took me about 3 hours with a lift, without a lift could take you may be 5 hours. There have been updates to the PCV system that are supposed to help with avoiding sludge which should get installed as soon as you get a chance. The only easy way to tell if you have a problem with sludge is to pull your valve cover (get a new gasket before you start and while it's off it might be a good idea to retorque the head bolts) and see if there are any carbon deposits there.

This is not something that should make you not get a saab. This is just something that you should be aware of when getting one)))

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

Hi

Your right about the oil strainer blocking up, but you do not have to remove the sub frame. Have a look at "How to remove oil strainer 9-5,sump" Des. As you said you should also change the breather pipes, approx, £25.
Be careful if you retorque head bolts on an Aluminium engine ????

Regards
Des

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

You have a 95:)))) You can't take the oil pan off on a 9-3 without undoing the subframe)))) And retorquing head bolts is only if you have the correct specs and a torque wrench.

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

Saabs all ship with Mobil1 now and requier it at every change. Synthetic oilwill not leave carbon deposits.

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

hehe...synthetic might not leave as much deposits, but it can still turn into sludge if ran long enough...but it's good to know that saab is going all synthetic.

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

I'm not sure what kind of oil the previous owner put in but I'm afraid it's cheap mineral oil ,so knowing the problem of oil sludge i think i should replace oil and probably do the engine flush,but what brand and type of synthetic oil works best for saabs?

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

knowing your engine I would not stop at that. To REALLY prevent problems you should pull the oil pan off and get the screen cleaned.

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

wow imma have to get this checked out at my next oil change

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

Do you know where to ge the oil pan gasket?Couldn't find it online.

RE: saab sludging. MUST READ!
 

there is no gasket...it's silicone...