Brand new turbo and DIC, still misbehaving (i.e. misfiring and smoking)

[Niner-Fiver]

Hi everybody, maybe you have an idea what could be wrong here: I just bought a 2003 2.3t Linear wagon with nearly 90,000 miles on the clock. The turbo had just been replaced three weeks ago after giving in on the highway at moderate speeds of about 60 mph. Last week I took over the car, and straight away, after about 10 miles, the engine light comes on (and stays on until I bring the car to the garage). When I leave the highway, I smell a stinging smell and notice light blue smoke out of the exhaust. If there was any misfiring, I couldn't really tell since the roads are so indescribably bad here.

Next day I bring the car to the shop. They tell me it's the DIC - it just had been replaced in July 2012, so it's just 13 months old and I won't have a warranty anymore. The garage replaces the DIC, I am 550 (!) bucks lighter, everything seems to be fine, the engine light stays off.

But within 50 miles the same thing happens: smoke comes from the exhaust pipe when stopping at a traffic light. In addition the car misfires terribly and stutters as soon as we push the pedal to the metal - ok, halfway maybe, I'd say with slighty enhanced acceleration request. Doesn't matter if highway or city traffic. Since it's a long weekend here, it's back to the garage on Tuesday. But my first week of Saab ownership was not an easy one. Do you have any ideas would could go on here? I don't really trust this mechanic yet (but have two good alternative addresses)...

Thanks for all your help!

[Mike Brennan]

Fist: The DIC they put in-If it is an OEM unit it should be fine, however, if it is not and they gave you an aftermarket one very often they are no good out of the box. Also, you issues do not seem DIC related. Your old one, if it was an OEM unit is probably still good. Go and get it back. Take the one you have in there and pull it out and tell us what the stickers say. If it is an OEM unit it will say SAAB in a sticker. If not it is junk and you got ripped off.
Not saying for sure but has the throttle body been checked and has the codes been read with either a obd scanner or a Tech II. If not swing by the shop and get your DIC back and take it to someone who knows saabs.
When you get the car fixed go back and get your money back, but your first trip is to go there and get you old DIC back so you can tell if it an OEM.
Actually, I would tell them to put the old one back it and give me my money back. They might tell you they tossed it, which if it was and OEM they did not. Anyway, look in their dumpster.
This could get ugly. I need to shut up

[Mike Brennan]

You can get an OEM DIC from CARQUEST for 300.00

[Niner-Fiver]

Hi Mike, thanks for your quick answer. I'll go back to the garage on Tuesday morning, but checked the packaging of the new DIC and found that they sold me an aftermarket DIC, and I guess so far it's not an OEM part. The packaging says
Professional Parts Sweden
28349955
Ignition Cassette
EAN 7340024636476
Made in Taiwan OE Ref. 28349955

The garage gave me back my original SEM DIC, it's still packed on the backseat. The sticker on the "old" one (13 months) says
SEM AMAL SWEDEN
then in a framed box "TK3.7" / "B" / "0607" / "G0849890",
then under the box "SAAB 55562509".

So I guess that was an OEM part. Is there any chance of testing it? The car wasn't misfiring before the exchange, but maybe there is indeed no causality. Anyway, the misfiring and smoking continued today , and I decided the jet has to stay grounded until the garage dealt with it. That might be their last chance to rectify that problem, I know of two "real" Saab specialists I will turn to then. Also ordered an OBD scanner today to be able to read my codes. I have some trouble on the Carquest pages with the Firefox browser, so I'll try with something else. Thanks for the tip, I saw that they ask on saabusaparts.com for the 55559955 a steep $529.92, reduced to $399.95. Ouch.

[nordwulf]

SEM AMAL SWEDEN
then in a framed box "TK3.7" / "B" / "0607" / "G0849890",
then under the box "SAAB 55562509".

55562509 is an unusual part number for the original DIC. All I have seen is 55559955. eEuro doesn't even list among the other part numbers. 55559955 Genuine Saab - Direct Ignition Cassette (Black) - Free Shipping

The ProParts aftermarket DIC is $209 from eEuro. Nice markup for the garage if they charged you $550 for it....!

[Niner-Fiver]

Hi Frank,

the more I dive into this, the less I like it. To the defense of the mechanic it has to be said, he didn't bill me $550 for the cassette, but $398, we reach the 566,14 for the part, express shipping, and 1 hour of labor, and then tax on top of it all. Referenced on the _bill_ is the model no. 5559955 . Now I am wondering why the original part had such an unusual number. It's a 2003 2.3t.

I just googled the parts nr. of my "new" DIC, which is indeed a proparts for $208.92. So I guess I could have saved 190 buckaroos if I had ordered the thing myself at 55559955 Aftermarket - Direct Ignition Cassette (Black) - Proparts 28349955 - Free Shipping - lesson learned. Anyway, it's an aftermarket, non-OEM piece, the genuine one you linked above, still goes for $375, so I guess I'll talk to the shop, save 20 bucks and get the real thing.

[Mike Brennan]

I am guessing your old DIC is ok. Put it back in. It takes 5 minutes. Make sure to smear dielectric grease on ad inside the tips befor you install it. You can get a little package for 1.00 at the counter of a parts store. As for your real issues my guess is that your intercooler still has oil in it from the bad turbo. The smoke may also be oil in the cat from the same issue. Strongly suggest you take it to a garage that in fact works on Saabs. Your throttle body and maf need cleaning. TB likely still good just needs to be cleaned. While you are at the auto parts store get them to read your codes and report back. With a new turbo there are several small things like hoses that might not have been mounted correctly or have fallen off or the actuator may not be operating correctly. Stuff a real saab tech can find in 10minutes,

[Niner-Fiver]

That's great help, Frank and Mike, thanks a lot. I'll report.

[Niner-Fiver]

Oh my, this one turned into a longer story, but I will give you the abbreviated version:

We got that new DIC in. Nevertheless, the problems continued the next day. Within the next 50 miles, we encountered what I first thought was heavy misfiring - the engine was bucking up while accelerating. I don't know what the reason was - my wife drove at the time and said, she had literally put "the pedal to the metal". I advised her instead of slamming the pedal down she might try to accelerate more lightly at first and try to "feel and listen" more to the engine before giving full throttle. So we returned to garage the next day, and they didn't find an error code about misfiring. So first I thought that's the fault of a bad aftermarket part, but now I wonder if the engine just had a hiccup by "mistreatment".

BUT on the way to the garage the car blew out more blue smoke than ever before, and the more the engine warmed up, the more smoke we got. Arriving at the garage it looked like a total mess.
I got the car back two hours later with the explanation, that the engine oil level was stable and not less after a test drive, and this must have been oil from the broken turbo which was still in the exhaust system. This oil would just burn off, I shouldn't worry. I had my serious doubts since that would mean the oil would make its way all the way through the exhaust system and might cause more trouble.

The next day we have another times the engine light on. I go - slightly angry now - back to the garage, they read the error code P0429 [Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank1)]. Their verdict: The catalytic converter might be broken. I might be able to save the oxygen sensor, but the rest might have to be replaced before the next NYS inspection (which was in the diagnostics AND in the recommendations triple BS). They did reset the code and say they hope for me it doesn't come on anymore.

Believe it or not: The car indeed doesn't smoke anymore. The engine light stayed off. I hope that all this was just the aftermath from a sloppy turbo repair.

On the good side I had enough time to finally fix my SID2 LCD with the very encouraging help of Balasz from Pixelfix (http://www.pixelfix.net/eng/saab.html) - a very nice guy, patient and helpful. I had the SID already written off as a total loss, but he guided my with the help of photos through the rest of the repair. I learned that ALL residue form the LCD side has to be taken off. I was afraid that I might have killed the contact patches, but they are indeed hardly visible (only in strong backlight). So everything seems to be hunky dory now.

[Finding41]

It would be interesting to see what happens if you put the old DIC back in after a week or so of driving.
I'm just wondering if the turbo blowing oil into the intake was the problem. Or maybe it was leaking air from the compressor side through the exhaust side under high revs. (Giving the engine a cut off code or the like.)
Do you still have the old DIC? Just to rule it out as the problem.