Alternator locked up, destroyed new serpentine belt too - Saab 9-5 Bulletin Board - Saabnet.com
The banner above is an advertisment - if it asks you to download software, please ignore.
Site News - 3/26 M Car Covers (by State of Nine) | 12/12 Make Amazon Pay Saabnet!

[General | Members | C900 | 9000 | NG900 & OG93 | 93 | 95 | NG95 | 99 | Sonett | Vintage Models | Clubs | Other Cars | FAQs | Gifts | Member Photo Galleries | Member Directory | Classifieds | Manuals | *Buddy Registry | *Mileage Registry | Polls | What's New | Raffle | Photo of the Month | Sponsors]

95 Bulletin Board
1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest]
(Search Author's Posts: e.g. Keyword:username)*Members Only


[Main 95 Bulletin Board | BBFAQ | Prev by Date | Next by Date | Post Followup ] Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
Alternator locked up, destroyed new serpentine belt too
Like This Post: - Subscribe to Daily Digest for this Bulletin Board
Posted by Doug [Email] (more from Doug) on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:13:20 Share Post by Email
Alert me when someone posts in this thread:
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup

First off, the specifics about my car: 2003 9-5 Linear 2.3t automatic, 49k miles, 1-owner, Saab extended service contract (don't leave home without one!).

While coming back from a long trip last Friday, my alternator decided to lock up. This destroyed the brand new serpentine belt, etc. Car and family towed back to Denver, 175 miles away.

What has been the failure rate of 9-5 alternators? Less than 50k seems like pretty low miles to me. My '85 900T has 176k with original alternator. (Water pump, power steering rack are original too, A/C still blows cold on R12. I love this car.) Even my '79 900EMS managed 90k before the bushings needed to be replaced in the original Motorola alternator, the internal water pump made it to 130k.

The alternator is just another in the litany of problems with this 9-5. At 26k the head gasket cracked. Water pump was also replaced at this time. At 47k, Mike Shaw Saab went ahead and performed the 60k service as the serpentine belt tends to dry and crack prematurely due to the dry air here in Denver. Water pump needed replacing for the 2nd time.

Less than 2500 miles after the major service, alternator siezes. I had noticed a bit of whirring only 1 day prior but wasn't too alarmed at that point. My fault perhaps but we were on a trip about 250 miles from home. Didn't even occur to me that the problem was the alternator but it only traveled about 100 miles from the onset of the noise which was barely audible initially. Plan was to take car to dealer immediately upon return to town. Bad plan I guess.

Second question: Even though prior postings seem to indicate that it's impossible to improperly tension the serpentine belt, is there a possibility that the new belt caused the alternator to fail? Or is it, as Mike Shaw tells me, that there is no correlation between the belt replacement and the failure of the alternator?

I've already been told that the extended warranty will not cover any of the cost of the belt or lower cover (whatever that is). Ballpark repair cost is around $300. Would have been a lot worse without the extended warranty but that cost me around $2700.

In addition, I have lost all confidence in this car, this from someone who has owned five classic 900's. One of them would still be running today if it had not been set afire in East L.A.

Any comments or suggestions would be welcomed and appreciated.

Doug

posted by 24.9.145...


Posts in this Thread:
Alert me when someone posts in this thread:
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
Post a Followup

No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.

Name: Member Login / Signup - Members see fewer ads. - Latest Member Gallery Photos
E-Mail: (Optional)
Re-Enter E-Mail: (Confidential & Secure - Not revealed to other users!)
Note: Please check your spam folder for BB responses.

Subject:

Posting rules are simple - No for sale/wanted ads may be posted here - use the site classifieds.
You may not cross-post your message to multiple BBs.
Not permitted: political/religious topics and being disrespectful (personal attacks, insults, etc...).
Site Members do not see any red text, inline ad links, bottom of page anchor ads, box ads, or anti-spam check.

Message: (please no for sale/wanted classifieds - post those in the Saabnet.com Classifieds)
Links are now automatically made active, no need for any special code (or use the Option Link field below) - don't put links in () or end with a '.'
To add inline images to your post, use [img]http://www.domain.com/img.jpg[endimg] (or use the Optional Image Link field below).


Links are now automatically made active, no need for any special code (or use the Option Link field below) - don't put links in () or end with a '.'
To add inline images to your post above, use [img]http://www.domain.com/img.jpg[endimg] (or use the Optional Image Link field below).

Optional Link: (e.g. http://www.saabnet.com/)
Link Title: (Optional)
Optional Photo/Image Link: (e.g. http://www.saabnet.com/img.jpg)
Photo/Image to Upload: (Please be patient while file uploads)





StateOfNine.com
SaabClub.com
Jak Stoll Performance
M Car Covers
Ad Available

The content on this site may not be republished without permission. Copyright © 1988-2024 - The Saab Network - saabnet.com.
For usage guidelines, see the Mission & Privacy Notice.
[Contact | Site Map | Saabnet.com on Facebook | Saabnet.com on Twitter | Shop Amazon via TSN | Site Donations]

Random Saabnet.com Member Gallery Photos (Click Image)

This is a moderated bulletin board - Posting is a privilege, not a right. Unsolicited commercial postings are not allowed (no spam). Please, no For Sale or Wanted postings, SERIOUSLY. Classifieds are to be listed in The Saab Network Classifieds pages. This is a problem solving forum for over 250,000 Saab owners, so expect to see problems discussed here even though our cars are generally very reliable. This is not an anything goes type of forum. Saabnet.com has been a moderated forum since 1988. For usage guidelines, see the Saabnet.com Mission and Purpose Page. Please remember that you are not anonymous. Site Contact | Site Donations | Other Sites by SP - Poverty2Prosperity.org | Run Club Menlo Park | ScreenBot



Site Members do not see red text instructions, bottom of the page anchor ads, or box ads.
Click here to see all the Site Membership Benefits!