Squeaking noise from front brakes and hard shifting transmission

[nadsaab]

hi fellow SAAB owners and enthusiasts,
I brought a 2005 95, 2 weeks back. I am pretty new to SAAB and found this forum helpful. I have few concerns about my car and if you could clear them, it will be very helpful. here they are:
1.) A squeaking noise comes form the front rotors, the rotors and brake pads are new, the noise increases while i turn.

2.) when I drive for a while (like say 10 mins). The gear shift becomes harder and when i go from P to R or P to D, I feel a big jerk (like someone has hit me from behind). I looked at the trans fluid and it looks pretty bad. So, I took it to a mechanic for trans flush. I ordered the 3309 trans fluid online and he just used 7 out of 12 quarts of the fluid to flush. Even after the flush it feels the same. Now i took it to a different mechanic and he said the trans needs to be rebuild. Is it common to rebuild these transmissions?

thank you,

[Shazam]

The transmissions of these things are quite reliable; how many miles are on your car?

The squeaking could be a ball joint. If you've got a friend (and it makes the noise when stationary), have him sit in the car and keep turning the steering wheel until you can find where the noise is coming from.

[SaabScott]

A 2005 9-5 is a very reliable and robust car.
I have one and it is very close to rolling 200,000 miles!

I'd be surprised if the transmission (especially an auto) needed to be rebuilt.
I would try another flush ... because 7 quarts will not completely flush the 8 quarts out of there, so you still have old fluid kicking around.

As for the brakes ... a common mistake with these car is for people not to use the right brake parts.
They are likely a bad combination and the pads too hard ... something done for the car to pass safety so it could be sold.
Replace the discs with good quality (Zimmerman work very well) and OE pads. I have this combination on my car at the moment and they work great.

[nadsaab]

thank you shazam,
my SAAB has a 92K miles on it... what do you think about the trans flush.

[nadsaab]

thank you shazam and SAAB scott,
my SAAB has a 92K miles on it... I will check out the trans flush once again.. and I will check the brakes and get back to you guys sooner..

[J-Rod]

I know it's not a Saab, but my friend's BMW was shifting hard and late and had the transmission flushed twice and refilled and the problem went away. I'd try a flush and fill again, because, as stated above, these are very reliable transmissions.

[nadsaab]

thank you J-Rod,
I will try the flush once again and will get to you ASAP.

[nordwulf]

My 2005 9-5 Aero with 80K miles sometimes has a bit of a hard shift when I change between P, R and D. I flushed my transmission fluid 3 times a little while ago but it didn't make much of a difference. As long as it doesn't get any worse, I am not too concerned about it.

As others mentioned, rebuilding these auto transmissions with low miles (less than 200K miles ) is not very common and they usually last the life of the car. I can understand why a mechanic not familiar with these cars recommends rebuilding the transmission but it will be very expensive and not really needed at this point.

[nadsaab]

I looked at the trans fluid and its just looks like it was before trans flush, I think the mechanic didn't did any trans flush on my car, he just filled it , , , I will be doing the flush myself as mentioned in the forums, and i will be changing the rotors and brake pads............ thank you all for your replies..

[nadsaab]

hi fellas,
I am back, I did a flush now, even after this, it feels the same. It's probably worse now. I can still feel that jerk in the transmission whenever it changes. Any suggestions what would be the solution.