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I have finally experienced the sad part of Saab ownership: NLA parts. My 9-5 has an intermittent airbag light that’s caused by the passenger side front impact sensor, and boy does that sensor not seem to exist for purchase anymore.
What’s your plan? Seems like you can look for used ones, try to find another manufacturer with a similar part or delete the system altogether. If I’m not mistaken, GM owned Saab when the 9-5 was around, didn’t they? Might share a part # with a Chevy somewhere out there if you’re lucky.
In this order, kind of; although the one in bold can be done at any time in the sequence, it probably should come first:
Otherwise, I’m good.
Sounds like one heck of an automotive resurrection! Thankfully, window regulators on these cars are pretty easy, even if you may have to carefully drill out some rivets. Fingers crossed it all works out.
My E12’s heater valve. I finally got it out! It’s a shitty job – either modify a 9mm wrench to remove two nuts completely blind 30 degrees at a time, or tear a bunch of s**t out. I went with the tear s**t out approach and removed the center console, then the glovebox, then the AC unit and i was going to remove the heater/blower assembly when I thought that i may be able to get to those two hidden nuts from the passenger side without it. I got to one from there and ended up having to drop the steering column to get the last one, but I finally got that f***er out today. Replace it, clean up the AC unit, I might take it apart to clean out evaporator, get new foam to seal against the ductwork, then figure out a fix for the broken plastic joints on both heat and air-direction controls. Re-wire mess of radio wiring to replace ugly modern CD deck with vintage Blaupunkt, unf*** the weird shift boot, reinstall console, praise Jesus. Refill and bleed cooling system and I can finally drive it again. Everything after that (replace PS fluid and filter, replace weeping PS hose, new brake fluid, adjust front wheel bearings, replace tie rod) is cake.
It’s been a month since my Datsun 280Z has restarted after a bare shell restoration and the list of issue is satisfyingly short:
– small coolant leak from a hose
– no speedo. The pinion needs to be swapped I think (part is available)
– the 5th gear disengages during engine braking. It’s probably a small issue with the gear selector
I’m a little slow to fix all this as I just was to enjoy the car and none of those are deal breakers. Also, 2/3 of the issues require messing with fluids and I just don’t feel like it at the moment !
My BMW is still suffering from a shitty startup. I think my chain has stretched as there are no more electrical bits to replace.
My 2012 Prius v is pretty much ailment-free. Just the vague fear of future ails, but I guess that applies to most of us.
Those Prius vs just seem to work flawlessly forever. Every local WorldPac rep drives one, and I’ve never heard any complaints about downtime. Wonderful daily drivers from a practicality and cost-to-own perspective.
Ha! Not from what I read on r/Prius and PriusChat after buying it…apparently lots of concerns of blown headgasket, brake accumulator, and/or engine water pump by the 200,000 mile mark. Hence, “fear” rather than “current issue”. And of course, the hybrid battery is 12 years old at this point.
A lot fewer people are going to talk about their perfectly reliable ones, I acknowledge. So it’s all murky. But I’ve only had exactly one unexpected problem in 35,000 miles and it was covered by a TSB so this is light-years ahead of my old van.
I am glad to hear about your local WorldPac reps, though. It is truly a wonderful compromise of fuel economy and space-efficiency.
Let’s see here, in no particular order:
My 2000 STI:
Mrs. GK’s 2005 Legacy Beater:
Mrs. GK’s 2022 Explorer:
My project 2003 Mustang GT “racecar”:
The entire dashboard of my Travelall is sitting on the front seat, waiting to be reinstalled. I just swapped in a used, tested harness for the old one, where the PO had cut the fuse block out, and I have to finish cleaning up the firewall before I put it back in. 3/4 of the sound deadening material is on place, I just need the time to finish it.
I need to rebuild the front end on my wife’s Yukon, to get it to pass Maryland’s safety inspection. I knew it was getting sloppy, and it was already on my list of projects, but the state is forcing my hand. I ordered a remanufactured steering box for it (old one leaks like a sieve, and has an inch of play in the wheel), along with inner and outer tie rods, pitman arm, and idler arm. That ought to tighten it up.
Only trouble is that the tools I need to do all that work are in our second moving Pod, which isn’t scheduled to arrive for two more days…
Still getting my Webers dialed in on my VW squareback ,just got a new set of jets today to get the idle circuit leaner.35$ for four jets from Pegasus Racing ,hopefully this will be the last set I need.
I need to finish repairing the shift linkage on my 993 – just the front tube bushing needs to be replaced at this point. Fortunately, it’s easily accessible (unlike the others…ugh) and apparently just screws right on. And I shelled out for the Porsche part, as I’d rather not have to do this again any time soon.
I can’t wait to be able to drive her again, as per yesterday’s piece, she’s a convertible.
Still chasing the cause of my lean engine code on the 986. Getting closer, but I’m pretty sure it’s a vacuum leak. I suspect the vacuum storage cannister, but only testing will confirm. Next step: propane torch testing and/or solvent testing. Basically, you hold an open (but not lit) propane torch near my intake tract until it makes the engine rev up a little as it goes from rich to lean (the propane acts as fuel when ingested by the car). This will be my first time using this method, so we’ll see what happens.
Fingers crossed it goes well! Worst-case, you can always DIY a smoke tester.
I just finished up lifting my project Explorer, but the AC condenser is plugged, so no A/C in the summer heat, and the valve covers and rear main seal are leaking pretty badly.
My 20 year old Lexus has finally sprung a leak in the factory rear air bags, so I need to either replace them or bite the bullet and convert them to rear springs (I love the adjustable rear height for hooking up my trailer).
The fins themselves, or an internal clog in the condenser?
Internal clog, unfortunately. The system has obviously been cracked open before and likely wasn’t vacuumed down before freon was re-added, so I’m guessing I will find a ton of junk inside when I pull the system apart. I have a new condenser, compressor, evaporator, and orifice tube ready to go in after I have what freon is left recovered.
The Mercedes is nearly due for a B Service
As we’re within breathing distance of 119K, and I’ve had to top up the oil wire twice since first of the year – I’m planning on a big bill (which will offset the small bill last year)
Yet the only thing that’s not working properly are the door sensors allowing me to reliably lower/raise the roof & windows using the remote key from outside the car. I can live without that.
Cosmetically, the wheels need refinishing due to curb rash, the bumpers need refinishing due to minor scrapes, and the carpets & seatbelts need a shampoo.
My Ducati needs a fork seal and I don’t want to do it because I don’t have a bike lift but it seems all the bike shops and dealers back in my smaller hometown I moved too are afraid of Ducatis so I’m gonna have to take it out of town or do it myself, bleh.
“Afraid”? This is a thing?
…not that I’m a motorcycle person at all, but that sounds wild to me.
It’s definitely a thing. Try rolling up to a Pep Boys with a Jaguar and you’ll find out what it looks like, haha.
Are you saying I can’t just pull up to a Jiffy Lube in a Bugatti Veyron?
Preposterous.
The carburetor on my MGB. Thought I had my first one rebuilt fine, but it wouldn’t restart after a short drive and fill up at the gas station. It restarts fine after sitting. I bought another used one and rebuilt it and it’s going straight to WOT. Looking at it now, I think the throttle return spring broke after reinstalling it on the car but it’s in the low 90’s with high humidity all week, so I’m not motivated to work on it. I’ll have to pull it off the car again to fix it though.
*sigh* I have a turd tracker: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1U9fSjynladhS5ObfMbeUO0401iwKazqwydv_yoeB5Mw/edit?usp=sharing
…
*siiiiiiiiiiiigh* I need more money and time.
I hear ya. There is a stockpile of stuff in the shop, and each item is part of a specific vision (i.e. part of a three-quarter-baked idea).
The clock and the calendar are just bastards. Wish I didn’t need to sleep – that would help.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one.
I have a couple of boxes of stuff, one with many small bits for different projects, each gotten for a specific plan; an idea, an upgrade, a fix… but there they sit, waiting for “one day”.
I love your “irritation” level metric. How do you calculate the final “Ugh” metric?
Looks like the Ugh score is the sum of the numbers in each column.
I saw that, but I originally thought that the Cost must be rolled into the Ugh score somehow, like an overall summary metric. But I see now that Ugh, and Cost, are to be assessed separately.
You’re having the Ugh score confused with the Fuck me scale.
hahahahaha
Yeah. Sometimes items get manually pulled to the top of the list based on “I have these parts/I can afford to tackle this now.” Still, uh, the balding tires on the Lancer are getting kinda dire. Oof.
Ugh is just a sum of the numbers from each column. I needed some way to rank things because the to-do lists have grown out of hand, so the Ugh Score is it.
Points for organization, damn.
Nothing, and I have two Audi’s (knocks on wood). Just did pads and rotors on the Q7 all around on father’s day. Parts alone were $2k. The car depreciates, but the maintenance does not. They did last a long time though, it was all OEM stuff I took off from 2017.
My ordinarily reasonably reliable old Jag has been having a few problems lately. I just got it back from the mechanic because the car had a severe fuel leak and some AC problems. Since “JAG” stands for “just another grand” I should be glad repairs came out to be a lot less than that – $925 (insert sarcasm emoji here)
However, it still has a power steering fluid leak with the suspected culprit being the power steering reservoir for which the going price seems to be $250 to $300 for the part alone. I may have a few ideas up my sleeve on how to deal with that.
I also had a fuse blow so badly that it melted into the fuse socket. So I just ordered another fuse box from England and I’ll have to track down what caused the surge before I can replace it. Luckily a pair of fuse boxes was only $90 so that’s not so bad and I’ll have a spare for the other side of the car as well.
Then there’s the notorious “Bulb Failure Module” problem but that’s virtually every XJ40 on the road and I may still be able to hunt that one down and kill it myself. Also the front passenger seat needs a repair.
I did too much sending of my ’99 Corolla at HooptieX Illinois this weekend. All four struts are completely destroyed. Well, the rears were shot beforehand, but I decimated the top mounts of the fronts by doing 27 runs on a 2 + minute long course. The left rear is also showing a lot of camber now. None of the links appear loose or bent, so hopefully when I pull that strut off I’ll find the reason for that. New struts arrive tomorrow.
I’m currently trying to resolve this. Fastest and cheapest option will likely be to just find another used engine and throw it in the car. Rebuilding the current engine would likely cost more than the car is worth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVBlxyD3W_A
That sucks. I hope the swap goes smoothly!
That definitely doesn’t seem ideal. Fingers crossed for finding another engine.
Crunchy/growly vibrations from BOTH my ’75 CB550 Super Sport Honda, and my ’69 Volvo 1800S. The two-wheel problem I believe is the rear sprocket mount to the rear hub, and the 1800 I swear is an exhaust pipe lightly touching something making a vibration, or the J-type overdrive going bad.
I’m stepping out to look at the rear of the CB now, I’ll report back.
Good luck! I’ve been kinda ignoring the small oil leak on my Suzuki GS500, but you’re inspiring me anew.
I am pretty sure my car needs new wheel bearings on the driver side rear. It starts singing around 40 MPH and above 70 it vibrates. I’m really good at procrastinating but I know I should fix it before something catastrophic happens.
It definitely sounds rotational. Bearings certainly seem plausible.
Don’t beat yourself up for a little delay. Everybody needs to get their bearings before jumping in.
Besides the entire front end of the Astra sitting in my living room as I’m fixing it (more like cobbling it back together lol), it has slowly developed an exhaust leak that needs to be taken care of again. Last time it happened was pre covid but I’m not too bummed out about it. It’ll give the loud Mustang neighbor some competition in the noise department.
My 1948 Willys CJ2a Jeep won’t crank over. I need to check all the wiring before I try to order a new starter for a 76 year old vehicle – these things don’t grow on trees you know!
No kidding! Does anyone near you still rebuild starter motors?
It’s still possible to buy rebuild kits for some starters. I don’t know about old Jeeps though.
I rebuilt a 25 year old (new in comparison!) Bosch recently. New brushes, new oiled bronze bearings, cleaned, greased, etc., … worked like new.