1999 Saab 9-3 SE Convert. vs 2001 BMW 330i

[Gen-X'er]

As mentioned before, I have a 2000 9-5, do the sump drop to give you some peace of mind and go from there. Now that you own one, it will be in the back of your mind until you do it. Also make sure you have the latest breather mod and then enjoy it. It is a great buy. I love mine and plan on putting a lot of miles on it. Other than the sump drop and apparently a turbo that will eventually fail, these are pretty good cars. It's a lot of car for not much cash.

[DeadLegend]

Ooh sorry tunnanxwd, the Tapatalk app cut your message after the first paragraph! In answer to your questions:

I believe I will be getting those records before I buy, but like I said it's not the full synthetic oil. And it's a one-family car, for what that's worth. But I'll definitely try to get those early oil change receipts! Scary stuff...

As mentioned before, I have a 2000 9-5, do the sump drop to give you some peace of mind and go from there. Now that you own one, it will be in the back of your mind until you do it. Also make sure you have the latest breather mod and then enjoy it. It is a great buy. I love mine and plan on putting a lot of miles on it. Other than the sump drop and apparently a turbo that will eventually fail, these are pretty good cars. It's a lot of car for not much cash.

Alright so I'll ask my Saab guy to do the sump drop unless it's been done recently/already and ask him what he thinks about installing a (new?) breather mod. I'm smiling because I haven't looked up the costs yet...

I tested out two cars for $700 less than the Saab today... Wow. A 200k '98 Jetta with a subpar cloth interior and a gas pedal that was offset like crazy, and a 190k '97 Merc 300 Series sedan with a bunch of body rust. I will say that the Merc's engine looked absolutely incredible! But both had imperfect pedals, certainly needed new tires soon, and brakes were not the best... Various important things were busted or on their way out... Squeaky doors... The Saab is so clearly the best option... Fingers crossed for the inspection!

[Gen-X'er]

Believe it or you can do it yourself. Wulf has a great write up that I used. Patience is the key. No big tools are necessary and just limited mechanical skills.

[DeadLegend]

Haha well it'd definitely be nice to do the work myself! I have tons of experience repairing computers and phones. I'll search for that walkthrough and see if I can do it...

[Gen-X'er]

All apologies to Wulf, I didn't have success with his wedge tactic. I found that simply jacking the tranny up a little higher allowed the pan to drop easily. Other than that, I followed his to the letter. Best write up out there.

[DeadLegend]

Speaking of wedging up, I'm looking forward to fixing the little black plastic slider thingy by the shifter that broke into pieces and fell down into the space beneath - that'll be a quick & rewarding repair. And the front emblem - I wanna replace that too, maybe even replace both with custom ones...

[tunnanxwd]

It's on Wiki and after 2004 you are safe but any inline 4 was a problem. There is a V-6 but they have an issue with the .. timing chain guides or something like that.

I'm going through this issue with my son as we speak. He is a Saab freak and at least knows what to expect and hangs out with one of the tuner guys so he is dead set on his poison. On the other hand our 1999 cooked despite a "clean bill of health" and engines are hard to find.

[DeadLegend]

Ahhh yeah I read the Wikipedia page last night... not exactly good news! Lol... Getting it inspected on Tuesday!

[Gen-X'er]

That's why I think it's just better to open it up and take a look. It turned out that mine was fine and the repair was mostly unnecessary but it gives me peace of mind. I'm glad that I did the work myself so I didn't have a lot of money invested in something that wasn't necessary. As for the slider shift, mine's completely gone and I will need to replace that as well. I did the front and rear badges. Went with OEM on the front and a custom on the back, (my avatar). I would probably go custom from here on out. Just make sure you buy from the Portugal guy. That was a cheap, quick, and very rewarding repair. I am hoping to swap my vacuum lines this weekend. The car idles rough and that seems to be the general consensus for why the 9-5s do that.

[Gen-X'er]

WHERE ARE THE PICS!!!!