Saab - 9000 :: 1997 - Loss Of Oil - Head Gasket Is Leaking?


Dec 19, 2012

I have a 1997 Saab 9000 CSE Turbo. It has been a great car overall. Last summer, our water pump died while cruising on the highway, leading to a major overheat, leading to warped head. We decided to roll the dice on a rebuild, which was done by a reputable import specialty shop that has worked on many Saab 9000s. Since we got the car back 5000 miles ago, we have lost a few miles per gallon, and we hear a rough noise in the engine (particularly when it's cold). In the last few thousand miles, we lost a lot of coolant, apparently because the new water pump is faulty (the shop looked at it and agreed to replace under warranty). In the last 1000 miles (but no evidence of it previously), we have begun losing oil like crazy and occasionally (but not most of the time) smelling burning oil (the heater is on, moving air around). We are now adding about a quart per 200 miles. When we inspect the block, there is some small evidence of oil leakage, but not a lot, and there are never drips on the driveway.

Where is all that oil going? I showed it to the shop, we put it on the lift, and there is no spray on the underside, leaking oil pan, etc. I suspect the new head gasket is leaking, but there is little enough residue on the block that it's hard to be certain. What other explanations are there, and is it fair for me to blame the repair shop and insist that they redo the head gasket? The shop is a 6hr drive from my house, so I can't just drop by to discuss it with them.

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Saab - 9000 :: 1995 - Leaky Head Gasket

Am wrestling with the ever-present value/worth question. My '95 Saab 9000 Aero developed a leaky head gasket at 155,000 miles. I had it replaced (after driving it several hundred miles over a week or so). The engine then became and continues to be hard to start. It idles roughly, and even stalls out when decelerating for intersections. The shop says that two cylinders have low compression. (no details on why) They suggested adding injector cleaner to the fuel, which did not solve the problem, or installing a new (used) motor.

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I am working on my buddy's 1994 Ranger with a 2.3L I4 that has been going thru a large amount of engine coolant. The trucks has approximately 180,000 miles on it. When I had it parked on concrete I have not seen any signs of coolant on the concrete or any signs of coolant leaking. The next place I checked was inside the cab to see if there was any coolant from the heater core and there was not. The water pump has been replaced a couple of years back. I replaced the spark plugs today and did not see anything on the plugs that I would have thought were signs of coolant in the combustion chambers.

With that being said I have not worked on a vehicle with a leaking head gasket before. Would there be any visible signs on the sparks plugs? If so what would I be looking for? When standing in front of the vehicle with the engine running there is a slight smell of antifreeze being "vaporized". Are there any noted issues with this engine that would cause this? Are there any other things I should check? Could it be a leaking head gasket causing this? If so how can I check for that?

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Ford F-150 - 1997-2003 :: 2002 - Head Gasket Is Leaking Oil

My wife has a 2002 F-150 King Ranch 5.4l. Recently I noticed a oil smell and I had the mechanic take a look. He said the head gasket is leaking oil. Not a bad leak but it is leaking. The truck has 160k miles on it. I can't decide what to do...

What generally happens with a head oil leak? Will the engine crater or just keep leaking? My plan was to buy my wife a different truck and I would keep the truck, but I don't wont to keep it if the head leak is terminal for the engine...

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A local mechanic tells me I have a blown head gasket on my 2003 Saab 9-5. He also said there's coolant standing in one cylinder. If this is due to stretched head bolts, might I remedy the problem by replacing the head bolts and torqueing to specifications?

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I recently bought a manual 92 saab, and in the past few days I have been having trouble with the 5th gear. The fluids are all fine and I have not put any real strain on the trans since I've had the car. It worked fine when I bought it but now when I try to put it in 5th there is a loud grinding noise as I let the clutch out. The shifter then pops back into neutral. I tried holding the shifter in 5th to see if that would work, and as I release the clutch the grinding noise gets louder and the gear does not engage at all. I am really hoping it is just a worn down part, and doesn't need a complete transmission overhaul.

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I have a 1995 GMC Sonoma pickup truck with supposedly a blown cylinder head gasket. It only has 53K original miles on it. It overheated and I had it towed to a service shop. They put in a new water pump, new coolant, new thermostat, new radiator hose and did an oil & filter change. Well, 100 miles later, I noticed my water coolant was disappearing and the oil pressure was rising. I brought it back to the same shop and after looking at it for five minutes they informed me it was a blown cylinder head gasket. They said they had no way to determine this when they were doing the repairs the first time. So, I ask the following:

1-Was it proper for the shop to do the first repair without checking for a potential head gasket leak?

2-Is there some type of testing that could have been done by the repair shop to check for coolant leaks into the engine oil? 3-Would I have saved money (labor) by having this taken care of at the time of the initial repair?

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I have a 2000 Toyota corolla with about 170,000 miles and it is using about one quart of oil every 500 miles. The last couple places I took it to said the compression was bad in the number 4 cylinder. Another place said it was a leaking head gasket. Which is most likely, and is it worth getting it repaired given its age and mileage?

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A year ago (to the day), my car (2006 Hyundai Sonata) died on me while I was driving it. My boyfriend came and gave me a jump. The car got home fine. The next morning, we went out to the car, and the battery had died, so we jumped the car again, and got to the battery place and bought a new battery. I was worried there was another issue with the car- but my boyfriend was all like "You are feeble woman who knows nothing about cars" (kidding, kidding) so I listened to him and drove the car off that afternoon. On my way home, car died again. So, this time, we got the car towed to a dealership to get checked out. Well, turns out the head gasket was leaking and there was oil in the alternator. SOOOO. The dealer replaced the head gasket for free because the car had a warranty on the engine, but we were SOL with the alternator. So, we bought an alternator from a friend, and had another friend install it for us.

Yesterday, I got out of work, and car wouldn't start. When my DF came to jump the car, he and I could clearly see the head gasket is leaking again and there is oil in the alternator. I have a couple questions that I need answered...

1.) What causes a leaky head gasket? My boyfriend said that either the engine block was warped or that the replacement they put in last year was faulty. Are there other ways?

2.) How the beep do you replace the alternator in the 2006 Hyundai? It is in an odd location and we don't have access to the person who did it for us last time, so I need to see if this is a job my boyfriend can do. He does work on his car all the time (an 87 BMW), but he's never done anything on this car besides change oil, etc.

A little bit about this car: We bought the car from a Hyundai dealer in June 2010. It belonged to one of the dealer investors, so it was in great condition. However, we think the car was in a front-end accident. When my boyfriend waxed the car awhile back, it was pretty obvious that the front bumper was replaced as well. The dealer refuses to give us any mechanical records about the car (will only give us verbal summary) ...

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I also have a 2005 Camry with same engine, so I switched the cam position sensors between the two cars and the code showed up again on the 2002 while the 2005 still is running OK, so apparently the sensor is not the problem. The 2002 had been worked on before (some head bolt holes were stripped and I had to install inserts for all the head bolts - I used NS300L inserts) and whoever did the previous work was very rough with moving around the wire harnesses, etc, so I suspect it is a bad connection causing the error code.

My question is: can the car be driven in this condition OK, or is there a potential to damage something if the VVT is not operating? I checked the basic valve/crank timing and it is OK, and the engine feels/sounds like it is running very well. Should I be worried about this, or can I wait for a convenient time to try to find the source of the problem?

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