Aero project, final report [long, pic heavy] - Saab 9-5 Bulletin Board - Saabnet.com
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Aero project, final report [long, pic heavy]
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Posted by bobc [Email] (#473) [Profile/Gallery] (more from bobc) on Sun, 11 Oct 2020 09:49:33 Share Post by Email
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Executive summary:
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Abused 20 yr old Aero left for dead. With the encouragement and expertise of this board the car was resurrected!

As a long time saab owner and a lover of these cars I shudder to think about how this car was treated. When we acquired it, it had a variety of scary engine noises, knocking, tapping, clicking, clanging. Could we bring this car back to its former glory? With the help of saabnet, yes.

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Saab community
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I could not have done this without the Saabnet and our amazing Saab community. What we have here is an amazing wealth of knowledge and encouragement.

Best advice - bernie: “Keep up the positive thoughts for it to work”
Best prognosticator - jimmy: on 8-jul he predicted piston slap!
Words to live by - SWEDECAR: “What I believe in is to diagnose the problem correctly and then make a decision if it makes sense to repair it or not.”
Most eloquent - Dave The Ice Age Knave: “Ignorance, neglect and complacency - the three horseman of crankshaft bearing hell.”
High mileage award - rdbets: “The one where I replaced the rings at 400K miles is now at 560K miles and running very well.”

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Ulterior motive
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Taking on this project seems a little crazy on the face of it. But this project was not about logic.

My kids are grown and leaving the nest to start their own lives. This project was an opportunity for me to spend time with my two sons working and learning together. Great memories! It was very rewarding to see my youngest progress from tentative helper to lead mechanic. Seeing his skill and confidence grow over the course of this project made it all worth it.


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Timing is everything
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Parts: Around this time my beloved and beleaguered silver Aero started to show signs of Transmission failure. In addition to a large oil leak that had been eluding me for years I decided that it’s end of life had arrived. However the engine, and everything else on the car, were good. So we had a complete parts car.
Time: COVID was in full effect. Thanks to COVID my youngest was out of a job, his older brother was working at home 30 mins from my house, and I was working at home as well. So we had the time.
Location: a few years ago I bought a place at the NC coast with thoughts of eventual retirement. It’s a small house but it features a large air conditioned garage and workspace. A perfect place to work on a car in the dead of summer.

The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. The timing was right to take on this Saab Rescue. Ironically in all my years of Saab Ownership and all the miles I’ve never had any engine trouble, so this would be new territory for me.

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Diagnosis
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This board is an amazing resource. One thing I have learned from Anders (SWEDECAR) over the years is to start with careful diagnosis. In addition to his amazing breadth of knowledge his methodical and logical approach to problems is an inspiration.

I set about trying to identify the source of the noise but frankly I failed! My first diagnosis was that there was noise from the valve train. And so we did a full top end refresh. Next I believed we heard a rod knock so we replaced the bottom end bearings and cut the balance chain. Finally we came to the understanding that we had significant (and worsening) piston slap.

Taking a step by step approach was a lot of work, but provided a lot of education. Doing it this way we learned a lot. I don't think I would recommend it, but I don’t regret it. This engine started as a real mess. Each step of the way we found damage that was contributing to the horrible sounds the engine was making. Eventually it became clear that the predominant sound at each step was from piston slap. Doing the work in this manner I have a much better idea of the noises and character of various engine issues now.



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Stats:
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Number of times a cylinder head was removed: 3
Number of times a cylinder head was installed: 2
Number of times an oil pan was removed: 4
Number of times an oil pan was installed: 3
Number of pistons removed: 8
Number of pistons installed: 4
Number of oh sh*t moments: 3
Number of unique materials (both solid and liquid) that fell into my eye: 5
Lessons learned: countless
Would I do it again? YES


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Chronology, the summer of Saab
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If you are interested in reading the chronology, it’s all right here
6-jul-2020: https://www.saabnet.com/tsn/bb/9-5/index.html?bID=282135
20-jul-2020: https://www.saabnet.com/tsn/bb/9-5/index.html?bID=282224
31-jul-2020: https://www.saabnet.com/tsn/bb/9-5/index.html?bID=282300
9-aug-2020: https://www.saabnet.com/tsn/bb/9-5/index.html?bID=282378
21-aug-202: https://www.saabnet.com/tsn/bb/9-5/index.html?bID=282450
8-sep-2020: https://www.saabnet.com/tsn/bb/9-5/index.html?bID=282578
26-sep-2020: https://www.saabnet.com/tsn/bb/9-5/index.html?bID=282727


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Oh sh*t moments!
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These moments are damn stupid mistakes that we made. Each one took hours and hours to resolve. And yet the resolution for each one, once we figured it out, took minutes. These moments tend to make your heart drop. But getting past them is very satisfying!
That time the crankshaft locked up. One thrust bearing had partially rolled out!
That time the head made a “PING” noise every 90 degrees as I turned the crank by hand. I had gotten ahead of myself and had not installed the chain tensioner!
That time the upper main bearing shell on #1 would not budge. I had not released the tension on the serpentine belt tensioner!




















->Posting last edited on Sun, 11 Oct 2020 09:52:06.

_______________________________________ '08 9⁵ 2.3T SportCombi, Polar White '01 9⁵ Aero Midnight Blue (benched) '00 9⁵ Aero Midnight Blue (rescued) '99 9⁵ Base model, Cosmic blue '00 9⁵ Aero Silver (RIP - transmission )


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