UKSaabs

I was wondering if an old technique for tracing vacuum leaks would work on Saabs?

I used to spray carb cleaner over the induction and vacuum hoses on my old Golf GTI in order to find leaks, if there was a leak you'd, hear the engine note change as it sucked in the carb cleaner.

Would this work on Saab turbo engines, including intercooler pipes etc?

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2001 OG 9-3 lpt Hatch, gone
BMW 120d with indicators

Smoke test is the best way.
https://youtu.be/L9CDZ9lu6Rs

Given Saab's choice of material for the vacuum hoses it is actually cheaper and quicker to just replace the lot with something decent.

Carb cleaner will only work on vacuum/suction. But the turbo won't be kicking in while the car is stationary, with the throttle closed the inlet will be under vacuum, so it should work.

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Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end...

It is not unknown for a pipe to be fine at idle but leak like a sieve under boost

Indeed. But you can't get any boost when the car is stationary.

One person I know put a webcam under the bonnet to look at things. On full boost, it melted!! I did see about 10 seconds of video. Then the turbo went red and the picture went black!!

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Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end...

That was rather the point, you can squirt all the carb cleaner you like but you won't find it that way if it only leaks under boost. Hence the suggestion to just replace the vacuum hoses as it is much quicker and easier than messing around trying to find the leak. Also worth considering that the bypass valve diaphragm can split and cause an internal leak, I had this on a 9000 back in about 1991 but I can't remember the symptoms. Easily checked by blowing and sucking on a length of hose connected to the valve.


I am surprised it lasted that long! People occasionally ask if the heat shields are necessary, this gives an illustration of the answer to that.

I've often had these but ALWAYS had a CEL and either ELM/Torque or a Tech II have narrowed the search (last one was last week when a non return/check valve cracked, this beast is already silicone hosed).