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Transmission care Posted by JerseySaab [Email]  (#666) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from JerseySaab) on Wed, 28 May 2014 10:53:20
In Reply to: Performance/Maintenance, Classic900, Tue, 27 May 2014 23:40:14 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
The weakest point on these cars is the transmission. This is the case for both manual and automatic, and you'll find a lot of opinions here on the care and feeding of them. When I started with these cars nearly 30 years ago I did not realize that the transmissions were relatively fragile and I went through them pretty quickly. (Mine have all been 5-speed manual.) Now that I know better I'm getting a good service life (currently over 160,000 miles since rebuild and still going strong).
At a minimum you will want to do frequent fluid/trans oil changes. (On my '86 900S 5-speed I use Honda MTL and change it with every other engine oil change. Automatic models use "Type F" transmission fluid.)
If you have a manual transmission don't speed shift it! Pause briefly in neutral before shifting to the next gear. The 2-3 synchros tend to be weak on these so on mine I double-clutch when downshifting into 2nd at 20 mph or over. Although 1st gear is synchronized it is best to come to a complete stop (or at least nearly a complete stop) before engaging it. There is no synchronizer on the reverse gear so I like to shut the engine off before engaging it. (If the shift lever doesn't want to go into reverse you can blip the engine or rock the car a little bit to align the gears.)
The engines are near bulletproof, though I think the 2.1 had some early head gasket issues. (Given the age of these cars that should have already been resolved on yours, but it's good to take into consideration.)
Head gasket life can be improved by using the appropriate coolant, you don't want to use the cheap green stuff that gets put into your dad's Nash. Most recommend Mercedes Benz coolant, or Zerex G05 which is essentially the same thing.
Familiarize yourself with the technical material on the Townsend "Saabmaster" web site and the C900 section of the FixMySaab.com site (links below). A Bentley service manual for your car would be a good investment.
With a little care these are great cars, have fun with yours!
Townsend: http://townsendimports.com/Web/entry/tech_doc_systems.htm
FixMySaab.com: http://www.fixmysaab.com
->Posting last edited on Wed, 28 May 2014 10:54:49.
, Wed, 28 May 2014 10:53:20 <-- Viewing This Message
, Wed, 28 May 2014 07:21:56
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