Results 11 to 19 of 19
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17 April 2011 #11
I hate DexCool. If Dex-Cool gets low in the system and mixes with air it starts making this terrible brown sludge out of the insides of the engine block. It probably isn't so much an issue with the C900 with the sealed reservoir but plenty GM cars have had issues with that and they have intake manifold gaskets rotting away all the time.
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I'd actually like to get a two position thermostat without the "heater cutout" function. It really is annoying to me with these old cars, because often you have something that is not working with the rad and so the thermostat devotes all its attention to the freaking rad. Like for example the fan isn't running, or the radiator is clogged, the coolant in the upper rad hose has frozen so no flow through the rad, or something like this, the heater core could save you and have no problems, but no, it cuts out the damn heater core and promptly the engine blows up It has happened to me so many times on so many different C900 and makes me swear so much
It seems like a design intended to keep using a undersized cooling system in an area that is too hot (desert etc) to try and make do with the small radiator (not really that small...) but doesn't take into account potential failure modes and the driver ability to mitigate them.
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17 April 2011 #12
Nah, the system is relatively easy to bleed just with the screw on the thermostat and just burping it
the real problem arises when the engine is losing coolant for some reason (like rotted gaskets), and a lot of those GM's have the rad cap on the rad tank and the expansion tank is just with the hose, unpressurized, so the whole rad / heater core / engine gets clogged up with this terrible terrible sludge crap.
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18 April 2011 #13
Sam Carlson Tutorial Bot
- Join Date
- 14 Aug 2010
- Location
- Medford, MA
- Posts
- 684
- Saab(s)
- '90 900 LPT with a flat-nose conversion
First problem is, the "two position" stat has to have its bottom plate in the right spot so it doesn't permanently block off the heater, rather than permanently let it flow.
It really is annoying to me with these old cars, because often you have something that is not working with the rad and so the thermostat devotes all its attention to the freaking rad. Like for example the fan isn't running, or the radiator is clogged, the coolant in the upper rad hose has frozen so no flow through the rad, or something like this, the heater core could save you and have no problems, but no, it cuts out the damn heater core and promptly the engine blows up It has happened to me so many times on so many different C900 and makes me swear so muchAsk me a question about your c900! I promise I either can answer it or know someone who can
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18 April 2011 #14
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18 April 2011 #15
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18 April 2011 #16
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18 April 2011 #17
It isn't quite that stable, if you look at the newer Saabs (NG900 and up) that always seem to have the gauge needle painted on, it is actually just lying, there is a "deadband" where anything from say 80 to 95 *C actually shows up as dead centre on the gauge where on our C900 it would wiggle a pretty decent amount
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18 April 2011 #18
Sam Carlson Tutorial Bot
- Join Date
- 14 Aug 2010
- Location
- Medford, MA
- Posts
- 684
- Saab(s)
- '90 900 LPT with a flat-nose conversion
Do these newer SAABs have the weirdball 'stat as well? It's got to be stabler than our simple "on-off" fan system for controlling the upper temperature bound.
Ask me a question about your c900! I promise I either can answer it or know someone who can
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19 April 2011 #19
I'm not sure, but I have doubts, they have moved to a more modern "air mixing" heat control where the heater is always in the loop. Except even newer ones like 9-5's have put back a heater valve that only closes when the A/C is turned on to improve the A/C performance. The 9-5 heater valve fails as often as the C900 heater valve but at least on a 9-5 you can throw it away. It is funny because we all talk of the "Saabness" disappearing on newer Saabs but every here and there some random Saab thing (usually an annoying thing that breaks too ) comes back!
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