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Well, I changed the oil and filter and after putting a test gauge on, found that I was now getting great oil pressure and all was well. I put everything back together and the car has been running great now for over a week, but this morning my wife drove to work and 4 or 5 miles into her commute the light came on again. She turned the car off, and then back on and the light was out for another few miles, then back on again, so she is just turning it off every few miles and 'resetting' it and continuing to work. I will have to look at it later on tonight when she gets home.
I am now suspecting a bad sensor, since I ended up putting the original sensor back after I had messed with the new one so many times that I broke the wire off of it. I resoldered the wire, but ended up overheating the plastic around the connection point on the sensor, so rather than use it, I just put the old one back in.
<TIRADE> These new Saabs are just horrible to work on -- Besides burying what should be simple to work on parts, what would have been so hard about just having a fixed spade connector on the end of the sensor instead of the fancy pigtail/locking connector combo? At least using a wrench on the sensor wouldn't risk twisting the pigtail around and around until it breaks off as you install it. (!?)
I miss the older genuine Saabs made by people who actually seemed to care about shade-tree mechanics like me. Sad to say, this will be the last Saab we own, unless we find a deal on a late-80's 900 that has survived the rust belt. I've had numerous mid-80's models and loved them. This car, on the other hand has had many problems, and is near impossible to work on without a lift, special tools, and many many hours of work. I mean, really, you can't even change a simple alternator or starter without a LOT of effort and crawling around under the car. Heck, those parts arent' hardly even *visible* from the top of the car. Even simple things like belts are way over-engineered. I can change a belt in our Camry in about 5 minutes start to finish, and that includes going to get my tools and having no prior knowledge of how to do it - just opened the hood and it was obvious. The Saab - heck where do I begin? Jack the car up, remove the wheel liner, remove another plastic cover under that one, remove the upper engine mount, prybar the tensioner and lock it in place with a screwdriver, etc..etc..etc. Ridiculous.
Can you tell, I'm a little fed up with this car? :/ I don't usually get this worked up about a vehicle, but this is only one of about 8 other issues I've had with this car in the first two months of owning it, and it just wears thin:
1) FIXED: Stalling at idle (cleaned throttle body - light carbon deposits)
2) FIXED: Intermittent cabin fan blower (special ordered new motor brushes)
3) FIXED: No heat drivers side (My solution - ordered $80 kit to replace broken plastic mixing valve arm; Saab dealer's solution - Replace heater box for over $2000. HA! I think not.)
4) FIXED: SID display garbled (same poor design for YEARS! removed, used hot iron trick on connectors, and replaced)
5) FIXED: Loss of boost pressure (leaking intercooler/intake hose, replaced)
6) FIXED: Oil leaking from oxygen sensor (sealed with JB weld)
7) FIXED: Alarm going off randomly (poor design; removed alarm panel from car and disabled it)
8) Additional unresolved oil leaks on the belt side of the engine
9) ...last but not least, the Oil pressure light issue I started this thread about.
</TIRADE>
Thankfully all of these but the last I have not had to resort to asking on forums for help, but this oil pressure thing still has me stumped. :(
I'll post back if I fix this one and let you all know how it goes. Sorry for the rant, but it sure feels good to get that off my chest. I just hate what happened to these great cars under GM ownership.
--Eric
posted by 70.20.37...
, Sun, 26 Dec 2010 16:15:19
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