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Hello everyone,
I was looking for a replacement for my aging '87 Saab 900 with 230K (In other words, I'm tired of replacing gearboxes, and my current one is on borrowed time.)
So, I just bought a 1987 240 DL with 128K on the clock, the body is very clean, minus one rusthole on the front passenger doorsill (the outer rocker is clean and solid, however). I paid $700, and the car hasn't been driven at all in the past 6 months or so. I'm no stranger to 240's, my sister had an '82 before she bought a Saab 9000 Turbo, and my Dad had an '81, sold that and now has an '86 DL. This is the first 240 we've had with a manual (M47II I believe).
The car seems to have pretty good maintenance records from the previous owners (including a timing belt and the three seals behind the timing cover, replaced at 88K, so I have another 10K or so before I need to do them again, along with a water pump).
The car is a manual and seems to drive smoothly with the exception of a strange problem which I've been investigating since I picked the car up today. In reverse, the car pulls smoothly and just fine. Shift into first and let the clutch out though, and the car shudders and almost stalls, even with prodigious revs and clutch slipping (Almost as if I'm starting in third, or a brake caliper is binding). Once rolling, the car seems fine and shifts smoothly most of the time, although it was balky a few times, and there is a little synchro slipping on downshifts, I feel. (I wasn't going to try to heel/toe my downshifts on a new, unknown car, so I didn't downshift much). The shift pattern is a little vague (compounded by the fact that it has a wooden, homemade knob, with no pattern on it).
I pulled all the wheels off, and although I smelled a little burning brake smell (keep in mind the car has sat for 6+ months) the rotors all rotated pretty easily, so I guess the calipers aren't really binding. That also seems to rule out the parking brake sticking too (it has a seperate drum right?).
I flushed and overfilled the gearbox, I put about 1.75 quarts (manual calls for 1.4 qts) of Castrol Type-F in it.
I'm going to try adjusting the clutch a little and see if that improves the synchro issues.
After playing around with the car some more, I discovered this.
When I first drove the car, I backed it out of the driveway in reverse (pulled the detent collar, and pulled the lever to the left and up). Pulled the gear lever into neutral and shifted to where first should be. Shudder and almost stall. I get back home. I pull the detent collar up and shift into reverse. Let out the clutch. The car is in first and pulls forward cleanly with no shuddering. If I shift into where first should be without pulling up on the detent collar, I go into third, hence the ugly shuddering. Now I can't find reverse, just first, and it requires me to pull up on the detent collar. Also, When I shift into any gear, I can move the lever side to side almost two inches or so. Very sloppy indeed. With Saabs, you can repair this sort of issue three ways. You can replace the shift coupler (cheapest, do first), you can rebush and resocket the shift lever and ball ( not too expensive, but time consuming, do next), and finally you can rebuild the gearbox (last resort, but old Saabs need this a lot!). Someone also suggested checking the trans and motor mounts, which I plan on doing this evening.
Anyone ever run into something similar? Keep in mind this is a cheap beater, so I can live with some issues until I can pull a good 'box out of a junker and replace it. But if there is a simple fix, I'm all ears.
Sorry for the long post!
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