Saab engine problems

[sjrobinson]

My brother has an 03 Saab 93t (later body model) and has been having some trouble with it. Theres a lot of stuff so I’m just going to lay everything out there.

The problem started with a supposed bad ignition coil. I thought the saab had a cassette but it had individual coils replaced with mitubishi coils. Along with that were the spark plugs replaced with NGK Iridiums.

After his car was having more trouble, running rough and eventually died. It turned out to be the fuel pump which I replaced.

However, now the car is still running rough. Its a noticeable shaking- not horribly but its abnormal for that car. He got a misfire code for cylinders 2 and 4 and an EVAP code. The evap code is from the fuel pump replacement since I had to cut and mate the evap hose. I just sealed it up better but I don’t think that should cause this. His mechanic had changed the oil to 5w-40 and I just switched it back to synthetic mobil 1 0w-40 and a mobil 1 filter since thats the oil recommended for Saabs.

I disconnected the tube attached to the throttle body and noticed a pool of oil in the tube and in the bottom of the intake manifold when looking through the throttle plate. Theres no smoke in the exhaust so it doesn’t seem like its consuming the oil.

All the spark plug ground electrodes were black with slight discoloration, not the typical tannish color.

Lastly was the vacuum gauge reading. It was very strange. Starting up the car at first the needle was floating quite a bit at a low vacuum- around 14 in/hg. After a bit it started to go to normal at 20 in/hg but when revving the engine the needle would float excessively and not settle. The vacuum will also drop when the fan goes on.

Fuel injectors seem to all be firing.

My theories are
Spark Plugs- NGKs are recommended but the BCPR6ES-11 not the Iridiums. Would that make a difference? Black electrodes would mean that the heat range is too cold?
Turbo- blown seal or oil passage blockage- inconsistent turbo compression messing with the map sensor readings and afr. Or oil getting into the cylinders.
Ignition coils- should have a cassette in there and not coils? Maybe an underlying issue that caused the coil failure

Anyone have an idea of where to go? I’m thinking of changing the spark plugs to the recommended type but am thinking that there may be something else going on. Especially with oil in the intake.

Topic

[Kevin Criswell]

is there anyway 2 and 4 got swapped?

If you replaced coils and than got misfires that were not there before I would lean very heavily something is not right with the coils or the firing order.

We don’t have very many Saabs in Middle TN so I apologize if this is no help or it is impossible to mix up 2 and 4.

[sjrobinson]

I checked the order. I think its fool proof since the wires for each coil are the specific length so you can’t really get them switched around.

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