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I had noticed that the engine temp indicator would be slightly below 9 o'clock at highway speed in colder weather. The stat was not stuck open. When starting from cold, the upper rad hose did not feel hot until the engine was hot and the stat then opened.
Got the 89C stat and a new temp sensor from e-euro, not Saab originals. Jumping forward, when I had the old sensor out and compared to the new one, the both had the same resistance at room temperature. I clamped the probes of both sensors together so they would be the same temperature then measured ohms with a good grade Fluke meter. The resistance is around 2000 ohms near 72F. So I have confidence that the old sensor was not misleading me.
Drain the coolant, my "zero spill method" [not fast].
- get a empty windshield washer bottle and 4 feet of 1/4" OD nylon tube, straighten out the curl of the end used at the reservoir
- remove rad cap, siphon fluid from reservoir into the bottle
- at the bottle end, tuck the end into the handle of the bottle, on the inside to secure it from getting bumped out
- remove the small rad air vent hose at the top of the reservoir
- get a 1/4" socket extension handy
- as the coolant level drops, try to get the straightened 1/4" hose to enter the large hose barb at the bottom of the reservoir to get down to a level if the elbow in the bottom hose
- do not let the reservoir go empty and break the syphon
- as the level drops, blow into the small top vent rubber hose; this will push fluid into the reservoir, then push the end of the 1/4" extension into the hose to hold the pressure, repeat until you cannot get more fluid into the reservoir, you will be blowing bubbles
- you will be able to get the 1 gallon bottle filled to the top shoulder of the bottle
Mechanical work:
- remove the cover around the throttle body and the battery cover
- remove the 14mm hex bolt that secures the throttle body intake feed pipe to the engine, near the battery
- remove hose clamps for the rubber hose that connects turbo re-circulation valve to the 25mm aluminum pipe and slide the rubber section down out of the way. Slacken the 7mm hex hose clamps at the TB and at the other end, separate the recirc valve vac line from clips on the feed pipe and separate and move off out of the way to the left, it probably is tied to some wires. You may need to to remove the intake temp sensor connector, but maybe not.
- lift the center of the rad hose and try to coax any fluid lying in a low spot to flow to the rad. Remove the rad end hose clamp. You really need a hose clamp tool for this job
- with a pocket knife scribe the seam between the head and the T stat housing to facilitate assembly
- the T stat housing is secured to the head with two 13" hex head bolts. But you can't do that yet, there are two 10mm hex bolts that attach a ground wire at the top and a tab from a steel hard pipe on the lower. You will need a collection of some different 1/4" socket extensions to get these 10mm hex bolts out. You can easily drop a screw at this point. Try stuffing some rags below to create a nest.
- I removed the 10mm bolt that secures the steel wire harness form to the lifting eye. That really did not amount to much advantage that I can see.
- Removing the two 13mm hex head bolts is tricky, you will do much of this by feel. I needed a 3/8 drive, could not break the bolts loose with a 1/4 drive. Once you get these out, you need to wrestle out the housing, the lower steel tab is an obstacle. It can be bent to the rear a bit.
- Once the housing is free, try to work that up and force any fluid to drain towards the rad, then remove the hose from the rad end and inspect the hose. You probably need to clip a nylon wire tie.
- Now if you are replacing the sensor, remove its harness connector. Then remove the sensor with a 19mm deep socket. The sensor has a retained crush washer. Install the new one with torque suitable for its thread size, reconnect the wiring harness. This sensor is the lower than the T stat and the coolant level is well below this.
- Place the new T stat into the head with the "jiggler" vent uppermost, route the rad hose and install the housing with the lower bolt first and run that in finger tight. To facilitate that, all threads need a drop of oil. You will see that the housing can move a lot. It can be hard to locate the housing so the upper bolt will begin to thread into the block. Remember the scribe mark you made? Torque by feel, you cannot swing a torque wrench in these confined areas.
- secure the rad hose to the rad, replace the wire tie that secures the rad hose, sensor wire and lower reservoir hose, not too tight!
- re-install the rest and fill the reservoir, do not forget the top vent hose and clamp
- fill the reservoir, it will take a while before you get it all in, air pockets in the system will keep the level high until you drive for while.
Note: All hoses and turbo pipes must be assembled dry and never lubricated. It is friction that holds things together. Very important for the TB joint as the forces there are large as a result of the larger diameter.
Observations:
- the new and old T stats in a pan of 89C water were different. The old one was more open than the new, which was comforting. And now my temp indicator shows slight above 9'oclock rather than below.
- the 10 YO hose, 79K miles looked to be in excellent condition
- the old T stat and housing were very bright and clean, very impressive, never saw anything clean like that with Saab green coolant!
- TB was very clean, swabbed it out anyways, do not forget to do this
posted by 65.69.234...
, Mon, 8 Apr 2013 07:14:06
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