The moneypit 9-3 is in need of further attention!!

[Birdseed007]

Some of you may recall I bought a 2008 TiD 9-3 convertible as my daughter's first car from a dealer up North and frankly it's been a flipping nightmare since we bought it just over a year ago. It's needed new brakes, pads and discs, new DPF, new gearbox linkage due to stiff shifting, new intercooler pipe, new ECU (well secondhand but the idiot who owned it last time fitted an ECU from a slightly different model so it was incapable of running regen cycles). We've also had to replace the rear exhaust box which fell off while driving and only last week I replaced the 4x chinese brand worn out tyres with 4 brand new Avons (£330). This week it went in for a bad handbrake and has ended up having a front balljoint replaced plus a control arm and a brake disc and pad plus new pads on the front and some bulb replacements (£520).

Having said that all that the engine seems fab and it drives really nicely and I think mechanically we now know this one is now a sound one with good (new) tyres, brakes, exhaust, ECU, DPF, gear linkage and suspension - but the excellent mechanic we use in Basingstoke has said to me that it's looking quite rusty underneath and the drivers wheel arch in particular is now bubbling plus there is the start of bubbling/rust on both rear arches. The nearside front arch is perfect because it was involved in a minor collision while in for service so ended up with a new panel and respray recently.

I have put a lot of money into this car in the last 12 months (probably £2500 all in) although thankfully the selling dealer did end up contributing £1000 to the repairs required (which after sale came to around £2000). The question now is whether to cut my losses and sell it bearing in mind it will probably only get us £2500-£3000 in a private sale and at that price level in the secondhand market we risk buying something that hasn't been mechanically sorted (yet again) for my daughter and which will be a whole lot less fun for her to drive and a lot less safe on the motorway.

Or do we investigate getting the wings cut back, re-welded and reprayed and the underneath de-rusted and treated in the hope she will then have a mechanically sound car to see her through the next 4 years or so and we will have saved another Saab?

I watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvKBP5toMlM and my mechanic and I are pretty confident that a similar approach will sort out the underside and protect it for the medium term at minimal cost but it's the bodywork stuff/respray that's likely to be expensive.

So can anyone recommend anywhere for the body shop work and can anyone give me ball park costs for what's involved? I'd also welcome views on what you would do - is the devil I know better than the devil I don't? The only other issue the car has is a leak in the aircon system so at some point that will need sorting too!

Birdseed007

[TwyRob]

Paul Taylor had good results from Sunnyside Autos

viewtopic.php?t=198465

[Jonathan13]

Hi Birdseed007. Received your message but it won’t let me reply directly.

Interested as to where you got your daughter’s car from as I’m from Newcastle!

I got my rear wheel arches cut out and welded using repair panels from Saabits, which were £150 for both. RS Bodywos in Jesmond did the work; cut out, weld in and paint for £700.

You said 3 out of 4 arches have rust. The front wings are bolt on so you just need a replacement panel. Easiest way would be find a local breaker and see if they have one and the same colour or you’d need to paint.

[Birdseed007]

Thanks for the replies so far. The dealer who sold the car was Mel Watson of Kirkley Mill Cars and frankly it's been the worst car buying experience of my entire life... https://www.autotrader.co.uk/dealers/no ... s-10020132

Still pondering what to do about the rusty wings.

As things stand it's now seemingly running well and running DPF regen cycles etc OK and I've had 4x new Avon tyres put on it only last week plus the tracking done. Remaining faults:

1. Strong smell of exhaust fumes in engine bay when running leading to exhaust fumes in car when stationary. The Basingstoke Saab specialist who has worked on the car since we had it says that he can't really find a cause but says if it was exhaust manifold we would hear it, tempted to try Fareham Saab, pay them a couple of hours labour and see if they can trace it. Frankly unless this can be solved I'm reluctant to do much else with it.
2. Rust on wings - if point 1 can be solved then I would consider getting wings rust sorted with a new panel on front drivers side and some tidying up on the rest. If that was sorted it would be a really nice convertible as the interior and the rest of the bodywork is mint.
3. Leak in aircon system - anybody know likely cost to fix? This is more of a nice to have right now...

Birdseed

[disgruntled_knome]

General rule of thumb, dealers dont have your best interests in mind.
I work it out that you'll need at least 1k to put right what they hide and lie about.

Fumes in car, check the injectors. Its a very particular acidic smell but been in diesel motors where that has been the problem.
Mercs were atrocious for it at one point with the 2.2 blocks. If it was the manifold the techs are right, it would hiss, either small or a lot.
But there's the EGR and other components too. Could try a smoke test?

AirCon is like finding a needle to be honest. Its something you'll need a specialist to look at as I have similar problems with the current 9-3.
Common rule of thumb is the radiator at the front can be leaking in just about every car as it gets hammered by road debris.

[Birdseed007]

Thanks Disgruntled - much appreciate your comments!

Just an update in the hope it helps others...

Brilliant news - the exhaust fumes issue has finally been cured!!! Turned out it was a loose hose clamp on to the EGR valve and thanks to DCA Saab we now have a sweet smelling car at last! They've also found the aircon leak which is in the aircon radiator and quoted about £200-250 to replace it. Finally they have also quoted for the work required to repair the two rear wheel arches and to replace the front drivers side wing and respray.

I must say of all the garages I have ever used (of any marque) DCA Saab are by far the very best. Their technical abilities are just outstanding, their prices are very fair and they are very enthusiastic for the marque. It's a 80 minute drive to them for me from home and I still think it's worth it.

I drove away today and it suddenly dawned on me how good the car was feeling at last. She had 4x new Avon tyres, tracking done and some suspension work by J Kelly of Basingstoke last month. DCA repaired the hood and a temperature sensor plus most importantly cured the exhaust smells this week. I finally feel like this Saab which was clearly neglected by its previous owner is thanks to our love and dedication finally turning into a really nice Saab. These really are wonderful cars to drive provided you look after them properly. My previous 55 plate one gave me 7.5 years of trouble free and enjoyable motoring, here's hoping this 08 one will be (finally) similarly good to my Daughter.

So future plans:

1. I've just ordered the Neutrarust 661 and Lanoguard protection kit and am hoping to get that applied to the underside for long term protection.
2. Wheel arches and rust to be addressed and replaced/resprayed
3. Aircon radiator to be replaced and regassed
4. Stereo head unit to be replaced with a bluetooth/carplay one - any recommendations????
5. Loudspeakers to be replaced with Audison Prima range (ideally!)

After that little lot has been done it's going to be a really nice motor...

Birdseed

[sgould]

I fitted a Pioneer SPH-DA230DAB headunit last autumn. It’s fine. I used the www.incartec.co.uk fitting kit which made it plug and play and retained all the steering wheel controls.

Just earth the handbrake lead and your passenger can operate the touchscreen on the move. I fitted a DAB aerial in place of the sharkfin.

[John Wigley]

I can't help feeling that you were unlucky with your motor car 'Birdseed007'.

We bought our convertible, an '06 in '17 with 80K miles for less than £3K - so reasonably comparable to yours, from a Saab specialist in N. Derbys. They are a good hour and a half from us - another similarity. It is the second Saab that we have bought from them - Linda's 9000 was the first in 2011.

Despite living outside, my car is not rusty and the only additional expence so far, apart from routine maintenance, has been to replace both front road springs after one failed in '19 on 85K.

I'm not boasting, just pointing out that there are good cars and honest dealers out there!

Regards, John.

[Birdseed007]

S Gould, thanks for the advice - it's good to know that you've managed to get that Pioneer unit fully working.

John, I totally agree that we encountered a bad car from a bad dealer. I was lured into the purchase because he took my wife's old Mitsubishi with a broken gearbox in as a generous part exchange offering us £900 when everyone else was offering £250. The car was £3750 so I suppose you could say in effect we paid £3000 for it. When the amount of work needed started to become apparent I managed to get the selling dealer to contribute £1000 in the end so at least we didn't end up paying all of the £2000+ of work we had done on it. I think with hindsight though it would have been better to have bought a better maintained car in the first place as you did. We've ended up (at last) with a decent car but it's cost us more and involved a whole lot more hassle/stress/trips to the dealer. On the bright side I have now become good friends with two excellent dealers

If there's a message in all this I think it's not to think a dealer is taking a problem off you hands because they're probably passing you and even bigger one! The other lesson is to pay more if required for a sorted car with a warranty. This is the first time I have ever been stung on a car and I hope it's the last...

Birdseed