'issues' with my 8V turbo C900...

[saab_o_naut]

Hi everyone,

Some of you might know that in December I acquired a 1983 8V turbo C900...

I've repaired and fixed a heap of minor stuff but one continuing problem is that the car is sometimes very hard to start (and often won't start at all), and the times I've had it running the engine has cut out when I've tried to apply some throttle and either failed to re-start or re-started fine then given up again a bit later on.

I've had a heap of suggestions and the two schools of thought seem to be fuel starvation or something electrical. I've fully debugged the ignition control as much as possible at the moment using my own electrical skills, the Bentley manual, and my tools, etc. I even completely replaced the hall-effect sensor cable with one I made myself using new connectors and special shielded cable.

I'm not really making any conclusive progress on solving the problem so would appreciate some advice if this sounds like a problem other's have had before. I've mentioned it in a few other forums sites, some being a thread at my classicsaab.net site and one at saablink.net.

The next step is going to be changing the fuel-pump check valve with the one from the fuel pump in my 1983 GLi donor car to see if it's the check valve. Not expecting it to be but at this stage I haven't ruled it out, nor have I fully ruled out electrical gremlins.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Regards,

Craig.

[clean83turbo]

i also have 83 saab 900 turbo. My car sometimes takes 2 tries to start and then if i immidiatly apply gas it sputters. with me this only happens in the morning if its cold out and always starts second time and never dies when i drive. runs perfect actually. I would say it happens 3 out of 5 morning starts in winter and thats it. little less serious than yours sounds but does bother me. I have worked on rebuilding shifter assembly and some other stuff so i have not done much to investigate yet. now i am. I have thought so far maybe cleaning injectors would help but have not tried yet. also i know our cars have an extra injector for cold starts and perhaps this could be it. just my ideas. i will let you know as i investigate more and please do same for me!

does cold/hot effect your problem too!

hope we can help each other, stephen

[saab_o_naut]

i also have 83 saab 900 turbo. My car sometimes takes 2 tries to start and then if i immidiatly apply gas it sputters. with me this only happens in the morning if its cold out and always starts second time and never dies when i drive. runs perfect actually. I would say it happens 3 out of 5 morning starts in winter and thats it. little less serious than yours sounds but does bother me.

Have you checked the fuel filter? It's a cheap fix - just be careful about expelled fuel and make sure you do it with the engine cold and the battery negative disconnected for maximum safety. Use new sealing washers when you fit the banjo connectors to each port of the filter.

With my car I've decided to go with my present thinking and attempt to get the fuel pump out of the tank to have a look at it, the check valve (which I'd tested before during the fuel-pressure tests outlined in the Bentley book), and the fuel pick up on the bottom of the pump.

Having reduced the possibility of electrical problems down to about zero, it's time to look at the pump itself but mainly the pick-up. I've just posted a message in a new thread about problems getting the check valve out while trying to keep the fuel line intact.

Regards,

Craig.

[clean83turbo]

i have not checked it yet, but sounds like a definate possability. not to far off from my injector thought in a sense that it is definatly a starvation problem(not getting enough fuel in start). let me know how it goes for you and i will do same

[saab_o_naut]

Having reduced the possibility of electrical problems down to about zero, it's time to look at the pump itself but mainly the pick-up. I've just posted a message in a new thread about problems getting the check valve out while trying to keep the fuel line intact.

Here I go self-quoting again! 8-) Anyway, suffice to say that I think the fuel-pump assembly being the source of the problem is spot-on the money. I'll find out tomorrow. I posted the following message to the Saab C900 mailing list today...

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 13:51:58 +1100 (EST)
From: Craig's Saab C900 Site <c900@lios.apana.org.au>
To: Saab C900 Owner/Enthusist Mailing List <saab_c900@lios.apana.org.au>
Subject: 1983 8V turbo car fuel-pump news


I finally managed to get the fuel pump check valve to undo from the banjo
fitting on the fuel line by manipulating a 12" shifting spanner over the
body of the check valve to hold it steady while undoing the banjo fitting.
This enabled me to get the pump assembly out of the tank. The rubber part of
the pickup under the pump itself has totally decayed and broken into two
pieces as you can see from the pics I've uploaded to here:

http://www.classicsaab.net/gallery2/mai ... &g2_page=3

Tomorrow I'm going to take the best parts of both pump assemblies (including
the one from the donor car that's also in a couple of those pics), and make
a full working fuel-pump unit using the plastic hose and piece of filter
gauze to stand in for the proper pickup and filter until I decide whether to
buy a replacement rubber pickup from a place like saabsite.com or a local
supplier that might have them new.

I suspect but still don't know for certain if that decayed rubber pickup is
the whole cause of the car's engine running and starting inconsistencies but
having proven the electrical side it 100 percent ok, it seems 99.9 percent
likely to be the sole cause!

Will post more when I know for sure.

And that's where things are at right now. At least I've found something that seems to pull together all the hair-pulling and testing that I've done to date. 8-)

Craig.

[saab_o_naut]

Now that the engine runs, I've been diverting attention when I have time to spare onto the bodywork, fixing rust mostly. Some of it is baaad! But apart from decay on the bottom of two of the doors, all the stuff on the body I've been able to fix and give me a chance to learn about how to use body filler, paints, etc. properly (there have been some boo-boo's!). There's an image gallery showing what's happened to date on the rust repairs.

Checkit out and see what you think of my amateur body repair work. 8-)

I've also put the original Saab TRX wheels back on the car and have started the search for new Michelin TRX tyres at the right price (which isn't likely since they sell for over A$400 a tyre from the only outlet here in Oz that stocks them on behalf of Vintage Tyres in the UK). The Speedy 3-spoke wheels that came with the car have been put up for sale on Ebay (PM me if you'd like to see the URL for that),

Regards,

Craig.