(Pt 1) Hot-Sauce SAAB...DEAD for 6 MONTHS? ('93 9000 CSE Turbo)

Oh we have a "Swedish Summer Special" lined up for this weekend!

This 1993 Saab 9000 CSE Turbo got dragged in after sitting at a local Euro shop for 6 MONTHS.

Owner said that it on some days it was a CRANK NO-START before he took it to the shop.
Now it's a complete BEACHED WHALE!
Some parts have been swapped or replaced, including a Crank Sensor and Ignition Coil pack.

Let's start from scratch and see if we can reanimate this Spicy European.
The battery is deader than a door nail...so we're off to a challenging start.

GOOLOO GP4000 Jump Starter:

TOPDON TORNADO 90000:

Enjoy!
Ivan

[Halibrand]

Swedish Saab tech here, if you need a replacement ecu i still have a few early Trionic 5 ecu's in stock and i can program the software on it to match your VIN so its plug and play once you recive the ecu. And as a few others have posted, the diagnostic port is located under the passenger seat, on the front side there is a pre cut square in the floor mat that you can open up and the connectors are there. you can use tech II with saab 900 / 9000 card with obd2 16 pin connector with an adapter to Saabs 10 pin obd connector. you can even use jumper wires as it only needs power (red), ground (black) and canbus high (green) and low (white).

[jefferyedwards]

Never ceases to amaze me the number of comments that are "surprised" that they got to the end of the video to find a "cliffhanger" when Ivan clearly starts multiple video series with PT 1.

[ThePoxun]

You monster! leaving us with that cliffhanger! I say it won't do anything but becuase fuses got blown elsewhere, not because of the board.

[letsgobrandon]

Hey I drive a 1993 Saab 9000 cse turbo 5 speed. It's ruby red with black leather. 168, 000 . Love the turbo. It's quick and fun

[dustcommander]

That is actually the hydroponic Regen option🤪. Seriously, I know that car is happy to be in your shop. In the very best hands, with the very best chance of living

[ferrumignis]

The Aero and the Carlsson were the full hot sauce versions of the 9000 around this time. The CSE is a high trim level version of the five door model, and this one has the highest power engine option for the trim level, which is around 195 bhp IIRC. Should be pretty brisk, they made quite a lot of torque. People always talk about blinker fluid, but it's great that you are exposing the dangers of not changing the PCM fluid often enough.

[ohmbug]

Old electronics guy here. I would place the board in the oven on a low setting of about 150°F for 2-3 hours to dry it out. The CRC QD is great stuff. 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol is great too. We saved lots of expensive industrial electronics in the metals plant when we got flooded with 3 feet of water by cleaning with distilled water then QD & alcohol then baking.

[stujohnson]

Have a soft spot for these cars - my Dad worked for Saab in the 90's in England. Routing for you Ivan.

[ericbrock]

Turbo Saab. I can feel the torque steer from here. Still love those old beasts! I can't wait to see how many more appearances the Audi makes before its own video. Keep up the great work!

[davidraezer]

Former Saab dealer tech. I remember when the Trionic debuted in the 93 turbo cars. The early DI cassettes had oil filled coils. We used to turn them upside down and check the oil levels. We used the ISAT scan tool to initiate the burn off function to test the secondary voltage. Cool party trick. Trionic was the first engine management system to feature a 32 bit microprocessor and the first engine to send an ionization voltage across the spark plug electrodes to detect pre ignition. So no knock sensors. Pretty cool stuff and with 200hp on tap and a 5-speed these were fun cars to drive. Also all 93 models had traction control which was a little better than the 92 cars with LH injection. They gave us a lot of grief at the dealership. Actually fun times at the dealership we were busy fixing these cars with head gaskets and timing and balance chains. Plenty of oil leaks to keep a tech employed.

[NVRAMboi]

Thanks Ivan. That such board level damage does not "put you off" on repair attempts speaks to both your skills and your concerns for "your people/customers". I am continually impressed with both your diagnostic skills and repair abililties.

[lvsqcsl]

You seriously thought you could salvage that circuit board soaked in 1 cup of water, Ivan? You are correct, you have nothing to lose. GREAT VIDEO!

[chiluco]

Elevating the reputation of tree shade mechanics!

[tuomaskivisto]

The diagnostic connector is just in front of the passenger front seat on the cross member (LHD cars). You can use a TECH 2 tool to connect to it with correct adapters. Normal problem areas: Fuel pump, crank position sensor behind the crank pulley and direct ignition (DI) cassette. That car is a trionic 5 with the red DI cassette and the black cassette is for later trionic 7 cars

[Jonathan-bkdq]

These were some of the best Saab's ever! Love these cars and it was before GM took over.

[newjerseybill]

Ivan, water cooling is an expensive option with modern computers. Saab was ahead of their time. :)

[koenlangedijk-dy]

Red DI is correct for the 9000, the black one is for later saabs and has a different knock detection system. It is indeed Trionic 5.5 or 5.2 and those 8 pins on the board _might_ indicate that someone has used ad bdm programmer to flash the ecu. Furthermore, i saw a tcs light in the cluster, but no tcs valves on the firewall. The car migth have had tcs issues and undergone a tcs delete and thus require a specific ecu / flash

[billdunlop]

Hey !!! That Module was "Conductivity packed" from the Manufacturer, Ivan may have just voided the water depth warranty, I think it was originally only packed with 3/4 cup of clean distilled H2O.

[calholli]

I''ve heard of blinker fluid.. but ECM fluid is a new one. :)

[simonjones]

respect to you Ivan you start where the others fail