“On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points.” Virginia Woolf
I discovered this morning, as I was leaving for work, that I had a flat tire. Unless you’ve had a flat tire on your SAAB you probably don’t know the color of the spare tire. It’s ‘clown car’ red. Sure, it’s done as a safety feature, but I think there was some malice thrown in there too. Why not put some salt in the wound of having a flat tire by giving the car a bright red spare.
While not exactly common knowledge, this “secret” is hardly unheard of in the SAAB 9-5 community, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to give more coverage to the “enhanced” alternative to the stock oil filter.
The oil filter for a 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser Turbo fits on the SAAB 9-5 and the filter extends about two inches longer than a stock 9-5 filter. That is two extra inches of filter material to help guard against oil sludge.
Here is proof that the filter fits, taken right after installation. Ignore the oil drip, that’s just from the oil I primed the filter with before installing.
The filter is a Motorcraft FL-400S or Fram 3600… or you can just look up the oil filter part number for a 2003 PT Cruiser Turbo. The precise year of PT Cruiser isn’t critical, but it must be a turbo model to get the extended filter. I suggest the 2003MY because I know looking up that year will get you the correct part number… because that is exactly what I did.
This trick comes from Chris 9-5, a moderator on the SaabCentral forums. It was in a thread from July of 2007. I found it while searching for Forge diverter valve information. The OP had posted about weak turbo pressure and Chris 9-5 suggested the following modification:
Remove the top vacuum tube from the boost control valve and then plug the loose tube.
Christ 9-5 explains that it bypasses a one way valve that can become faulty.
It worked wonders for the OP. Chris 9-5 recommended that only people with weak turbo symptoms should make this modification.
As far as I knew I didn’t have any problems, the car drove as spirited as the day I purchased it. I had all the power I needed, the car was quick… so I naturally decided it wouldn’t hurt anything to try this trick.
The results were dramatic! It is like driving a different car. My whole driving experience is totally enhanced. The most noticeable change is when the transmission kicks down at wide open throttle on the highway. I really feel the torque steer for the first time, just like the OP in the thread described.
Here is how I plugged the vacuum line; I found a bolt that was the right diameter and cut it down to about an inch long. I then painted the head to make it look nicer. It’s that easy.
Some people in the thread didn’t see a difference when they removed their line. Other people tried it and found the change remarkable. The people who have made this modification haven’t seen any problems and I will make a post if I see any negative results on my 9-5. I’d say people should give this a try and see if they get back some turbo pressure. Just revert it back if there wasn’t a positive change in performance.
This isn’t much of a secret, but I’m sure it will come as a surprise to some 9-5 owners. The oil drain plug on the SAAB 9-5 is 1/2 inch and not 13mm. The 13mm socket will work, but I think you’d run the risk of damaging the plug and the job is easier with the correct half inch socket.
Here is a photo of my drain plug. Notice the big drip of oil, how embarrassing. I had better tighten that before I lose too much oil and leave a mess on the garage floor.
And here is a blurry photo of my half inch socket securely placed on that plug. A little pressure with the socket wrench and the drip is gone. And I swear the photo didn’t look blurry on the camera screen. I’ll retake the photo soon.
I wonder what other standard/English sized parts there are on the 9-5. The 5/8 inch spark plug is the only other thing I’ve come across that wasn’t metric.
You can toggle between “CD Track” and “CD Play” on the stock SAAB 9-5 stereo by pressing the center of the <<Seek>> button. The stereo display changes between Track and Play. A CD can “fast-forward” or “rewind” in both modes by pressing and holding down an arrow button, but you can jump forwards and backwards by entire tracks when you press and release the arrow buttons in “Track” mode.
Switching to “Play” mode to prevent the CD from jumping tracks is useful when you are listening to an audio book and you want to fast forward or rewind a little bit but don’t want to risk skipping all the way to a different chapter by mistake.
Pressing the center part of the <<Seek>> button doesn’t do anything in tape or radio mode.
The stock air filter box on the SAAB 9-5 muffles most of the sound from the turbo. Replacing it with a universal high flow air filter lets loose the sound from the turbo. Any compact “cone” style filter with a 3 inch connector will fit and the difference in sound is dramatic.
A detailed “how-to” for the removal and replacement of the air filter.
UPDATE:
Getting a performance diverted valve, like the one made by Forge, and installing it in the reverse configuration will further enhance the sound of the turbo.
My 2000 SAAB 9-5 has a hinged plastic handle set into the trunk floorboard. This strange plastic setup had confused me, it has an indentation for a hand but it also has a hinge that flips up the plastic part and exposes a hole that is also shaped for a hand.
Why is it designed like that?
SAAB does everything with a purpose. The plastic part that flips up will rest perfectly on the upper lip of the trunk. That way you can prop the floorboard up while you mess with the jack and spare tire.
Congratulations on your discovery that a SAAB interior smells like crayons. You now have a conversation starter for your next party.
It is not your imagination; SAAB interiors smell like crayons.
I have read, but never smelled to be sure, that 2003 and newer SAABs don’t smell like crayons. I’m guessing many people reading this post searched for “SAAB” and “crayons” because they have recently been inside a SAAB and were wondering why it smelled that way and if that SAAB was the only one with the crayon smell.
I can’t smell the crayons in my SAAB 9-5 anymore. I ask everyone who rides with me if they can smell crayons and they all say the smell is still there. I’ve just become accustomed to it.
I figured it was a leather treatment that CarMax (where I purchased my SAAB 9-5) happened to use. My other thought was that the previous owner had children and some crayons were hidden down a crack somewhere… melting. It took a search of Facebook to find a group called “my Saab smells like crayons” before I realized that this is a normal feature of SAABs and not something done by the car dealership.
I don’t have any real information about what causes the smell, but one message board post I read said it was the insulation under the carpet that smells like crayons. They went on to say that the type of insulation was changed in 2003, causing SAABs to lose the crayon smell. Sounds reasonable to me.
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