Leaking transmission cooler line and a list of other issues

Hello, I'm a new owner of a 2002 Saab 2.3t Linear B235R (Automatic transmission) with 132k miles. I love that car and while it has its healthy exterior, underneath the hood is a mess. When I bought the car it came with almost all of the work done to it. I have them uploaded in order of oldest to newest. I'd really appreciate it if you guys could help me out. :)

The issues with the car are:
Cruise Control - I don't know if the stalk is broken or what. The light doesn't even turn on (at speeds over 25mph). Turn signal and bright lights work fine.

Fog light out - I think the bulb is just dead so no biggie here.

Air conditioning whine - I've done some searching on the forums here and I think it might be the Fan Speed Controller it only whines sometimes on the medium setting, if I max it out from medium it will stop.

Battery/Issues starting - Has some drop starting from dead cold, I've looked at the "Ignition Switch Cylinder" post from nordwulf, but I don't have that issue. The battery looks brand new, has 730 cold cranking amps.

Turbo whine - When driving as soon as the turbo needle gets in the middle of the yellow zone, something starts whining it's a low pitched whining coming from the engine. I think it's something to do with the turbo, but considering it was replaced in 2014, I don't know.

Fuel sensor - The fuel sensor is wack sometimes, while I was driving today, it dropped all the way down to "E" and the light came on just a couple seconds later it went back to the correct place, this isn't the first occurence.

Transmission cooler line leak - There's stains on the driveway with what I'm positive is AT fluid as it shares the light red color. Daily I check both the motor oil level and transmission fluid and they are coated in the fluid. The oil pressure light on the dash started blinking about 3 days ago while driving, luckily I was 2 min away from home. The engine made audible noises when the oil pressure light started to blink. My trip consisted of the highway and some back roads, I did put it into sport mode a couple times.

Engine Ticking sound - As I was parking my car today the engine started to tick, revving the engine didn't do anything to the sound. My father thinks it might be the valves near the pistons.

My father threw some synthetic 10w-30 in after the oil light incident which I didn't want him to do till I looked at the manual. I took a look under the car today and took some pictures which I'll put in the next post as this one is already really long.

Here's what the mess looks like underneath the car.Attachment 16113Attachment 16114Attachment 16115Attachment 16116Attachment 16117Attachment 16118

Wow, lots of issues. Do you have a competent Saab mechanic/shop to consult?

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you need to put the car on the lift somewhere and inspecting the engine for determinate if the leak comes from rear or front etc ...

oil pressure switch on the back of the engine? where is the transmission oil coming from?

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Congrats on your new old Saab.

For a 15 year old car in a winter state, the belly of this beast looks pretty darn good. Of course not everyone has hoist in their back yard and if you want to find your leak you will need to do a little cleaning, for that a pump up garden sprayer and ordinary garden hose work almost as well as pressure washing. Also easier to do if you can't get the car up in the air any higher than the average set of jack stands extend. Warm the engine some to soften up your caked on grease, put your degreaser in the garden sprayer, pump it up, spray away and let it sit for a bit then rinse it off with the garden hose. After you get rid of the greasy mess, everything from talcum powder to toilet paper works great for finding small leaks.

Tranny line hoses ooze fluid when they get old and that makes them oily on the outside, the dripping leaks usually come at the quick disconnects and those leaks fix easy with a smear of silicone on the seal ridge of the male end. Should you actually need to replace a line find a Chevy or Saturn with the same lines and use that part number, cost is less than the same part with a Saab number.

Ticking sounds should be identified ASAP. Top end ticks from the valve train are irritating but not to serious and might never get bad enough to warrant any work. Low end ticks from a bearing can go from small tick to motor trashed real quick and should be taken care of when found. Blinking oil light could mean crud on the oil pick up screen and though it's a bit messy, dropping the oil pan and making sure it isn't clogging up is good preventative maintenance.

No cruise control and whine from the turbo at half load could both be caused by a vacuum leak, or not.

Battery and fuel gage could both be dirty ground connections, Old cars melt when they sit and it seems that the more they're driven the better they run. The gas gage might get better with daily driving, the battery won't take care of itself, Maintenance free batteries aren't completely maintenance free, just mostly maintenance free. A new battery can be boiled dry by over charging, or damaged by freezing if the charge gets to low and the weather gets to cold. I've had 5 year batteries last almost 10 and new battery not make 5 months. Old looking batteries can work like new and the opposite is also true.

Turbo's push a lot of air into the throttle body when they kick in, enough to blow the hose off if it isn't clamped down tight, they can also sound like a kid blowing a high note from a tuba if those aren't clamped tight. So check your hose clamps and vacuum lines for air leaks, before you go chasing off to buy parts.

Best of luck with your Saab and hope it treats you well for years to come.

Thanks for the info guys :D, I've ironed out almost all of the issues on the car. (Unfortunately I missed Digger's post before I took it to my mechanic).

I took it to my mechanic and he identified that it was actually regular engine oil that was leaking and the transmission lines are fine. Long story short, he fixed my oil leak and he did drop the oil pan and cleaned out the screen which he said was "80% clogged" I told him to throw in full synthetic 5w-30.

I just installed the PCV update #6. The battery hasn't been an issue. The ticking is still there though, I took off the valve cover and cleaned most of the oil sludge off it and near the timing chain. The ticking comes from the top right of the engine. I checked the thread about valve noises and hydraulic tappets http://saabworld.net/showthread.php?t=27457#post47737

I have something very similar to "Noise occurring after a short period of idling when the engine is hot. If the engine is run at 1 500 rpm or more, the noise will disappear after a while. The cause of this noise is low oil pressure in the hydraulic valve tappets at idling speed." It sounds almost identical to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjSEWmRPHr4 The ticking sound only goes away in Neutral at 1500 rpm for me. I'm making an educated guess that the valve tappet in the corner of the car is not getting enough oil.

The ticking sounds like it comes from right here

Attachment 16175

and this is what the sludge looked like near the timing chain

Attachment 16176