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OK, I started a thread on this some time ago, and got a mixed review of what the most likely cause of my problems are, I have done a little more testing, and have more info but I don’t have an answer to the problem yet. So let see if anyone can help.
The car in question is our SAAB 9-5 wagon, it has the turbo 2.3 and about 84,000 miles. We have only had the car for a few months, but it seems to have been well maintained by the original owner. Before we bought it, it was checked out by a mechanic who found no problems with it.
I had noticed that when under heavy acceleration, sometimes it would act as if it were missing. However this would be only a few coughs during the acceleration. On a road trip about 40 miles before the car died, we hear a banging noise (kind of metal on metal), but it only lasted a few seconds, did not effect how the car was running, and then all was fine. In fact only myself and one of my two daughters noticed it, no one else in the car noticed this noise. We were about 150 miles into our trip when the car lost all power, the engine was still running, but had basically I was doing little more then coasting. As I pulled over to the side of the road, I glanced in the mirror and noticed a large white cloud following me. My first thought was the head gasket or worse. As I stopped on the side of the road, the engine died and I could not get it to restart. All attempts to start the car was met with more white smoke.
We had to have the car towed back to the nearest town, and from there I caught a bus home to get our Van and a car dolly so I could pull the car home. When I returned there were a couple of people at the hotel that helped me push the car onto the dolly, At that time I did not try to start it. When we arrived home, there was only myself my two daughters, and my wife who is in a wheel chair to try and get the car off the dolly. After several tries we decided to try and start the car and see what would happen. I was able to get the car to start but there was a ton of smoke, it would not idle and It hardly had the power to get off the car dolly.
A friend of ours who has not yet been over to look at the car thinks it is the turbo, this does not make since to me. Others have said it might be the head gasket, but it seems to me that the smoke should be blue not white. Here are the signs.
1. White smoke not blue but smells like Oil.
2. Loses oil, I had added a quart of oil that brought the level to about ½ on the stick. I had checked the oil before we left on the trip, it was a quart low when I cheeked it after it died (it does not normally lose oil.) Before I started looking at the car tonight the oil level was midway on the stick. After testing the car which included running the car for about five minutes the oil was off the stick.
3. Smoke comes out of the oil dipstick as well as out of the exhaust.
4. A cold dry compression test, all cylinders read between 160 and 175. After warming the car for about five minutes and then retesting, the top three still read about the same, but the forth read about 140. As it started to rain heavily as I was performing the last check I did not get a chance to recheck that the tester was not lose, and redo the test. I will check this again tomorrow.
5. Looking at the Spark Plugs, I see no abnormal ware, the are not wet, nor do the have a carbon buildup. In fact they do not look like they have been in the car very long. I am not sure when it was last tuned but we had put about 5,000 miles on the car while we have had it.
At this point I am not 100% sure of the second reading on the fourth cylinder, I will need to redo this test, but right now it is raining Cats and Dogs, and I have no place to put it out of the rain.
I am not a mechanic; I know enough to get in trouble and can do many basic items on a car. I have never worked with a car that has a turbo before. But I have rebuilt an engine, though it was long ago and I took auto shop in High school.
My gut feeling at the time the car died was the head gasket, but after running the first test, I started to question this idea, plus the fact that our friend is sure it is the turbo. So right now I am not sure which way to look. Is it possible I could have great cold compression but fail after warming the car up? I have never heard of this, but after running the cold test felt that I should redo it warm. It kind of make since that something would expand after the car warmed up, though I would fear it is more then just a head gasket.
My question to the group is what do all of you think the problem is? Head gasket, block or head, turbo, or something else?
Thanks.
Ed
posted by 71.36.64...
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