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Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 23:21:05 -0400
From: Dale James <dalenopsammu.edu>
Subject: '85 900 overheats; also need fuel gauge sender


Greetings, all. I am new to Swedish cars (bought an '84 Volvo 240 DL in April), and *very* new to Saabs (just got an '85 900 base model last night). The car has 133K miles, runs well, and cost me $200, so I expect a few problems. The first thing I noticed as I drove it home from AAA was the fuel gauge didn't work at all. I've traced the problem to a faulty sender -- the float doesn't float anymore. Are there any inexpensive tricks make it bouyant once again, or do I need to just replace the sending unit? If the latter, what's the best source? Any 'Net places highly recommended? The second thing I noticed on the trip home was that this car overheats. It just crept steadily up, just past the hot point at the end of the spectrum. Now, I've heard from long-time Saabsters that these cars "just run hot", but this is just *too* hot. I started diagnostics today, and determined that the fans were not coming on, even when the engine was at it's hottest. I shorted across the coolant temperature switch so that the fans are "ON" whenever the ignition is, I took out the thermostat, and the car *still* overheats. My gut feeling is that the radiator is clogged internally, not flowing enough coolant to dissipate the heat, and also possibly not triggering the coolant temperature/fan switch (although it may just be a bad switch). By the way, coolant level is fine, both upper and lower rad. hoses are hot (meaning, I assume, that the water pump is functioning). Do I just need to have the radiator cleaned out? It's not leaking anywhere -- are these radiators amenable to "rodding"? It's too expensive an item to just start swapping parts at this stage. Any advice appreciated. And by the way, I really dig this car. ~20 cars in ~30 years, and the Volvo and Saab are my first Swedish cars.... Thanks in advance, --Dale James

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