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Recently our 1993 Saab 900S (118,000 trouble free miles) lost most of it's power and could barely make it up the hill to our house. We took the car to the Saab shop who has maintained our four Saabs for the last 20 years. After seven days and about 8 hours of labor they determined that the crank pulley was "loose and wobbling." Therefore the electronics could not sense an accurate reading of the pulley rotation speed. Therefore the ignition timing was not correct. (Their description)
The mechanic showed me the crank pulley after they removed it from the car. About 2/3rds of the keyway in the pulley was three times as wide as normal and was shaped like a VEE. The mechanic told me that whoever had replaced the pulley "had forgotten to install the shim behind the pulley." Those words are an exact quote. He then said that the pulley and the pulley aperture ring were destroyed and must be replaced. He was quite sure the failure was caused by the missing "shim."
Two days later I returned to tell the shop manager that his shop had replaced the pulley when they installed a new harmonic balancer just 3,000 miles ago. I did have a bill from the shop for the pulley replacement.
At that time the owner of the shop was out of town and unavailable for 10 days. I paid for the repair under protest. The repair was $1153 - $850 labor and $224 parts, and tax to diagnose the problem (8 hours) and replace the pulley (2 hours) with the damaged keyway.
The shop manager and mechanic told me that "if we replaced the pulley 3,000 miles ago we'll take care of this problem." They also assured me that the keyway in the crank was un-damaged as was the oil pump seal.
The shop owner has now returned and has twice told me that his shop is not responsible for this most recent problem with the crank pulley wobbling. He says "there is a flat shim that goes between the crank pulley and the nut that holds the pulley on the shaft. That shim split and fell out thus allowing the pulley to wobble. The shim splitting is not the shop's fault."
He is also claiming that since the car ran OK for 2,500 miles after the pulley replacement that their repair work must have been done properly. I reminded him that during the first 200 miles after the first pulley replacement we brought the car in twice because of strange rattling noises from near the firewall when the engine was quickly revved up. His mechanics examined the crank pulley both times and assured us there were no problems.
The shop owner also tells me that he has been in contact with other Saab specialists and this "splitting shim" problem has occurred "at least twice" in other engines and is "a not uncommon problem." Therefore he will assume no responsibility for the $1153 bill.
Eventually the owner agreed to assume responsibility for $500 of the $1153 bill.
I have reviewed all the parts diagrams for the crank pulley and find no shim. I have talked to two other Saab specialists in our area that say there is no shim between the crank pulley and the bolt.
The shop DID NOT replace the oil pump seal during either replacement of the crank pulley. The engine never burned or dripped a drop of oil prior to this 2nd problem with the crank pulley. Now, the engine is losing a quart of oil every 500 miles. Now, The entire firewall, and all the belts on the front (firewall end) of the engine are covered with oil.
QUESTIONS:
1) Is there a shim between the nut and the pulley?
2) If there is a shim do they split and fall out?
3) If there is no shim - what else would cause the crank pulley to wobble and enlarge the keyway?
4) Is eight hours reasonable to diagnose the loss of engine power cause by the wobbling crank pulley? (They checked fuel pump, filter, injector pressure, and replaced the ignition computer prior to my asking if they had put a timing light on the crank? The next day they told me about the wobbling pulley.)
5) Should I have to pay $653 of the $1153 bill to diagnose and then repair this problem?
6) Should I now have to pay another three hours labor to replace the oil pump seal?
7) What are the chances the keyway in the shaft that the pulley attaches to is damaged?
posted by 67.160.108...
, Fri, 19 Nov 2004 20:47:04, Fri, 19 Nov 2004 11:05:08
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