If you have a manual tranny, there's another possible explanation--

These cars have self-adjusting clutches. As the clutch wears, it doesn't disengage entirely when you depress the clutch pedal (this is the opposite of more traditional clutches, which fail to engage fully when the clutch wears). First symptom is that it's hard to get into reverse.

Trick to living with it so you can delay replacing the clutch: before putting it in reverse, stop the car entirely, depress clutch, shift into a forward gear if you're not already there, then shift into reverse without pausing too long in neutral. The idea here is that the tranny input shaft is dragging at the clutch. If it gets spinning, it's hard to shift into reverse. Putting the car in a forward gear connects it to the wheels, so if the car is stopped, so is the input shaft. Now you can shift into reverse easily.

Not really Saab's fault here--previous owner was hard on the clutch. Same way with my car.

The rest of the stuff--idler pulley is standard maintenance, and should have been done at 60k. Alternators and fuel pumps shouldn't fail this soon, but 70k isn't a new car, either. Sounds like you haven't had it very long, so you're still learning what kind of condition it's in, and it sounds like it wasn't well treated before, unfortunately. That's the problem with any used car--you never know how much money you'll have to pour into it to get everything fixed. I hope you're near the end of the fixes.

Matt
'00 9³

posted by 128.36.104...

• Do I dump it, or pump more $$ in to it?, Finch, Tue, 2 Dec 2008 21:34:37
  • Update II, Finch, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 22:08:50
    • "It's almost as if they want me to dump my car and walk, Bill Homer , Thu, 4 Dec 2008 05:24:13
  • Update, Finch, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 08:44:57
    • Re: tranny reverse, MO, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 16:45:23 <-- Viewing This Message
      • Re: tranny reverse, Finch, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 19:22:22
    • Re: Update, Dan-O, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 11:48:44
      • Re: Update, Ian Glenday , Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:48:55
        • That's what I thought..., Finch, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 14:31:35
  • Re: Do I dump it, or pump more $$ in to it?, TG, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 07:12:14
  • Something's wrong with this picture, Noel, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 06:32:37
    • Andrews *is* indy..., LesH, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 08:30:47
      • My bad. Always thought they were a dealer, Noel, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 08:38:06
  • Sounds like a Saab with a mechanic problem, No Snaab, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 05:19:28
  • Re: Do I dump it, or pump more $$ in to it?, Dan-O, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 04:23:29
    • Re: Do I dump it, or pump more $$ in to it?, Ian Glenday , Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:51:40
  • Re: Do I dump it, or pump more $$ in to it?, Dave B 89 900s Auto, Wed, 3 Dec 2008 00:32:54

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