saablog

On Saturday I finally got the oxygen sensor loose by using a big wrench of my Papa’s. The large 7/8 and 13/16 combo is inscribed with “C. Agren” and is really long. I threaded the wires of the oxygen sensor through the 7/8 hole and lowered the wrench onto the sensor, by working from beneath the car. Then I turned my body around so my legs were under the car, and I pushed on the wrench with my legs. The sensor loosened.

After removing the sensor, I set to work installing the new one. I had to splice on the original Saab connnector (since I had purchased a generic sensor), then I put on anti-seize compound and installed the sensor. The next step (which happened on Sunday) was to take the car for a test drive. The repair manual stated that it might take up to 10 minutes of driving with the vehicle warmed up to clear the Check Engine fault. It did take a full 10 minutes, but the light did go out and hasn’t re-appeared.

I ended up needing to come to Portland this afternoon to do some testing in our lab. I would have taken the Volvo, but I had to take in to the shop this morning for a failed power steering reservoir (it was leaking fluid from a seam in the reservoir) which caused loud power steering noise when turning and also caused a half-dollar size circle of fluid to appear on my garage floor. I dropped it off today and also asked my SM to look into why I’m having a difficult time engaging reverse… he said there is a Tech Note about that problem, which requires removing the transmission to re-lubricate some internal parts (which should be permanently lubricated). Hmm. I wonder how long the R will be out?

In any case, in lieu of renting a car Ani suggested that I take the 900. Having just spent a bunch of money on the car, it needs to earn some money back, and since it has just recently been repaired and gotten a new sensor, it shoudl be good to go. So I packed the 900 FULL this afternoon with my sample, test equipment, and some miscellaneous stuff needing to be returned to the office. I left home around 3:15, and made it (on a non-stop drive) in 2 hrs 55 mins to the Joy Wok restaurant near Jim and Brenda’s house. Pretty good timing from the North End. The 900 performed flawlessly, though the cruise control is again AWOL and there were some pretty brisk winds which attempted to push me off course. Hopefully I’ll be returning (swiftly) home tomorrow.

The Check Engine lamp is on pretty much full-time now.  It makes me crazy.

I checked eeuroparts.com, and the OEM sensor is $140. Then I checked saabpartspeople.com, and they wanted $240. Then I checked my local auto parts store, who had a sensor for $66. I bought that one.

So today I went out to remove the sensor. I can’t get it out. I even jacked up the car and took off the wheel so I could get under the car to get better grip on the wrench. No dice. The nice folks on saabcentral say the exhaust should be hot which will release some of the tension on the fitting. But I’m afraid I’d burn myself that way.  I’m sure I’ll figure it out somehow but it is pretty frustrating nonetheless