And our friend Lars found him and posted his picture on Flickr. Well, at least his car, anyway.
And, yes, Swade, it’s your favorite marque — a Toyota.
Someone wants a Saab
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Monthly Archives: May 2008
General Motors buy out offer nets 19,000 hourly workers
According to the Wall Street Journal, General Motors offered a buy out package for their union workers and 19,000 employees accepted the offer. This is a huge number of cuts for any manufacturer, even the General. In one move, GM shed about 24% of their hourly labor force.
Mr. Stoll of the Wall Street Journal surmises that this move was timed to fall just ahead of the annual shareholders meeting next week. He’s likely right. These deep cuts are necessary because the bread-and-butter “large vehicle” segment (trucks and SUVs) are selling slowly and GM has to stop bleeding cash in the midst of a 12% year-on-year reduction in sales. Can’t have that showcased without a solution in hand with those nasty owners staring you in the face. Especially when the stock price is lower than it’s been in more than 25 years.
An analyst quoted in this Reuters piece about the cuts opines:
“These restructuring plans look aggressive when they’re announced, but it turns out that they’re not aggressive enough,” Argus Research analyst Kevin Tynan said. “The market is moving much faster than these restructuring plans are.”
I may be inclined to agree, except that I would add that a company can’t simply cut its way to market success, they must work their way out of it, too. In that light, I think that new products such as the 9x/9-1 and the Saab plug-in hybrid can’t come soon enough. I hope that GM understands that and is getting those vehicles in the pipeline quickly.
According to these and other articles, it appears that GM is also likely to announce at the shareholders meeting that one or more plants will be idled, and that some products will be discontinued.
Let’s also hope that Ron Gettlefinger and crew don’t inflate compensation again once GM, Ford and/or Chrysler get their ship(s) righted. The hourly earners that were targeted with this round of cuts make US$78 per hour in total compensation. Without overtime, that’s US$156,000 per year, but if you talk to any UAW laborer with any tenure they will tell you that they consider anything less than eight hours of overtime in a week a reduction in baseline salary. That puts the number closer to US$200,000 per year in total compensation. Even if “total compensation” includes health, retirement and insurance benefits, these workers are still making US$90,000 to US$100,000 per year base salary and about US$130,000 or so with overtime. Absurd.
More Saab AMM/MAF’s and crank home mechanics
As a quick follow up to my AMM post from yesterday (the car ran magnificently this morning – smoother than butter), I thought I’d share the following.
Tedjs, our GM professori, emailed me a few photos of a modern Mass Air Flow sensor. He uses these shots for his automotive class at Tri-C in Ohio. I’ll attach his comments from my original post as well, as I think they’re quite relevant for anyone looking at a faulty AMM/MAF.
In these shots, you can clearly see the filament I was talking about. The object of the game is to keep that filament at a constant set temperature using an electrical current (think light bulbs). Air rushing past it cools the filament and the change in voltage required to keep it at temperature tells the computer how much air is rushing past, and therefore how much fuel to pump in.
Whilst my old 900 sensor had an adjustment screw, it seems that modern MAF’s don’t. A possible solution for a malfunctioning MAF, in the absence of an adjustment, is to clean it. Following are some comments Ted wrote about cleaning the sensor:
We would let the sensor cool off for a bit and hit the sensing wire with a quick shot of cleaner which is a key point here – a very small amount would clean the sensor if it was contaminated. I only say this because I watched someone use half a can on a sensor and I think it damaged the sensor as brake parts cleaner is a strong solvent. Unfortunately some people live with the adage if a little is good – a lot must be better. Don’t get me wrong – it was entertaining watching him, but that was kind of his method of operation. The guy could not fix a sandwich.
Sometimes if you would clean them the problem would come back and the sensor would have to be replaced. The sensor wire generally gets about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.78 degrees Celsius) higher than ambient air temperature so I think things would get cooked on it occasionally.
CRC recently introduced a mass air flow cleaner here in the USA that is for sale at most auto parts stores. It is less caustic than brake clean and is less likely to damage the sensor housing and attack the electronics. I know some shops are selling it as a maintenance service as newer cars are so reliable they have little to do in terms of routine maintenance, but I have mixed feelings about that. That sensor is expensive and cleaning a clean one might damage the filament. Sort of a ‘if it ain’t broke – don’t fix it’ approach if you know what I mean.
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Inspired by my successful venture yesterday and a desire to learn more, I’ve just ordered a Bentley manual for the Saab 900 16V to go with my Haynes manual that’s already on it’s way from Elkparts.
The Bentley manual seems to be pretty well regarded, so I’m sure it won’t hurt to have it on the shelf as well. There’s probably areas of the car that one manual handles better than the other.
I don’t think I’m going to be replacing timing chains or anything like that, any time soon. But it’s fun to learn, especially with our young bloke hitting 17 and looking for a car to buy too (He’s scoping out Honda Preludes).
He’s got a natural aptitude for this sort of thing so I’ve got to keep up!!
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Saab 9-3x video
Just as a follow up to the 440 series post, here’s a video of the 9-3x that I don’t think has been posted here before.
I’m quite sure that this would have formed a prominent part of the basis for an AWD vehicle for Saab if it had been done back when it was planned. It wouldn’t have been exactly like this (5 doors much more likely), but still…..
This would be a dream come true.
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And just for good measure, here’s a 9x video as well. this one has been shown here before, but always stand up well to another viewing.
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How can TS get better?
I’m a little tired of this site. It’s still clean looking and quite fresh compared to some of the drivel out there on the web, but it’s looking its age.
I’ve been thinking for some time about making some changes here and I think I’ve got many of them nailed down. A little while ago I had a good chat with Kroum about it (he does web stuff for a living) and got some great ideas – it’s just a matter of implementation. That’s going to take a little bit of investment, but I reckon the results will be worthwhile.
The one thing I’d really like to do is create a site that’s worthy of an advertiser’s support. I limit the number of advertisements here and I do so quite deliberately. I want to provide maximum value for advertisers and the best way to do that is to 1) have lots of visitors seeing their product, and 2) limit the number of competitors products on show.
Of course, the big fish I’d like to land is some actual GM advertising. Here’s something to think about….A year or so ago, our local dealer here in Hobart had a sales target of 2 Saab sales per month. That’s 24 a year.
Now, I’ve never got anyone to actually sign on a dotted line as I don’t do that sort of thing. In terms of providing an “assist” for actual sales, however, I reckon I’m pretty close to that number in the last 12 months. Tony B was able to make a living from Saab by selling that many.
Me? Not so much.
ACA drive the 9-3 Convertible
I’ll be Australian Car Advice just loves being called ACA. Not!
It’s an Aussie thing.
ACA has just been driving the Saab 9-3 Convertible in it’s most exclusive and expensive form – the 2.8 litre V6 Aero. Not only have they been driving it, they’ve also being doing some extremely good shutter work. Check this out:
…and can I just take a moment to thank and congratulate whoever worked on the 2008 Saab 9-3 exterior design as that looks just magnificent!
ACA liked just about everything with the Aero convertible. Even the interior plastics, which I still think aren’t befitting of a A$90,000+ car, but that’s by the by. The design’s great. It drives great. What else matters?
This is quite a comprehensive review, and is well worth a look for you convertible appreciators out there.
Check it out: ACA drive the 9-3 Aero Convertible.
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What we missed – the full 440 series
I’ve recently heard from a Djup Strupe who’s confirmed the model range that was planned for Saab back in the early naughties.
I first heard about all these whilst chatting with another Djup Strupe in Trollhattan last year, at the Saab Festival. It’s good to get some more detailed information about them here today.
This is to do with the 9-3 range only. I’ve never heard of any missed variants of the 9-5, but with the 9-3 we’ve certainly missed out on a few interesting models. The car was known at the time, I presume internally, as the 440 series. Here’s what was planned:
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440 is the 9-3 Sport Sedan
441 Was a very nice 2-door coupé but the rest same as the SS, this was the first model that was put on ice by GM.
442 Is the 9-3 Convertible
443 Is the 9-3 Sport Combi
444 Was a 9-3 SC but a bit higher like the Audi Allroad or Volvo XC70 with 4WD. Also iced by GM but much later than the 441
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As you can see, we got three of the five variations in what I guess you could say was reasonable time. The SportCombi was the last of these, and appeared in MY2006.
The “allroad” version went as far as having a mockup made, which we’ve seen in some old spyshots. The pin was pulled, however, as part of GM’s crackdown shortly after the 9-3 SS made it’s debut.
I’ve never heard of anyone seeing a lifesize version of the coupe, but that’s sure the one that I’m regretting the most. I love coupes and I think the 9-3 shape really lends itself to coupe styling.
Maybe someday……
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The local Trollhattan newspaper, TTELA, has a story about the fact that there will be three new Saabs coming next year.
One of these will be the 444 mentioned above, the “allroad” version of the Saab 9-3 SportCombi. It’s the one I’ve been referring to here as the Saab 9-3x.
That’ll make 4 out of 5. We just need that coupe.
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What I learned today – Saab 900 Air Mass Meter
All ye who are technically competent, please pass on to the next story. This is for the tech duds like me.
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Some of you may recall that I had some issues late last year with my 1985 Saab 900 Aero. The car would develop this tendency to jerk around a lot.
At first, we thought it was the fuel pump playing up, but $400 and a replacement later, we learned that wasn’t the case. Matt the fudgepacker correctly diagnosed the problem as being the Air Mass Meter. These are pretty expensive to buy new (around $800 here in Oz) so any sort of fix would do. Matt provided the simplest answer possible – A quick tap on the head of the unit and it seemed to right itself. It worked on the odd occasion it was needed after that, so I didn’t worry too much.
The problem was long forgotten until earlier this week, when the car developed it’s jerkiness once again and no amount of tapping on the AMM would set it straight.
Hesitating to pony up for a new unit, I rang a spare parts supplier in Melbourne and got them to ship over what they thought was a good second hand unit. I fitted the unit to the car today and it ran even worse than when I had my old part on it. Here’s the part, so you know what it looks like:
That’s actually upside down to how you see it in your engine bay, but the battery ran out in my camera before I could take another shot 
So whilst my part was off the car, I thought I’d take it into my local Saab specialist, Steve E, so that he could have a look. Steve tested the unit and found it had been adjusted at some point. Once it was adjusted back to the proper settings, I took it home, reinstalled it, and now the car’s running as good as gold.
So what was the adjustment?
Here’s a look at the unit from a different angle:
As you can see, there’s six pins in the plug for this unit. The test involved putting a multimeter on pins 3 and 6 and measuring the ohms. It should read 380 ohms. Mine was reading somewhere up past 530 ohms. The supposedly good replacement part I got from Melbourne was reading 995 ohms!!
You can see a gold-colored adjusting screw just to the right of the plug in that photo. That screw adjusts whatever it is that adjusts the ohms readout. Steve simply turned the adjusting screw until it read 380 on the multimeter.
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How the AMM works (my limited understanding) – the computer sends a current through a filament in the AMM, which is cooled by the air passing it. If there’s more air passing by and cooling the filament (and going on into the engine) then the AMM boosts the current in order to maintain a set temperature in the filament. The variations in current required tell the computers how much air is coming into the engine and therefore, how much fuel is needed to match the air and create an optimum mix.
I assume that if there was an incorrect setting, such as that on my unit (where it was 500+ ohms instead of 380), then it would be misreading the volume of air that it’s meant to measure, hence the rough running that I was experiencing from time to time.
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I believe the AMM is also commonly referred to as the Mass Air Flow sensor (or MAF)
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