Chasing Down a Coolant Leak in My Saab 9-3 Turbo X 

I just had this exact problem on my car, I almost gave up. Thanks for saving me a trip to the mechanic!

really good job on the video. first time viewer. keep up the good work, bro

Glad you got that sorted ! And bless you !

Отличная работа!

Thanks for the upload. I have an Opel/GM 2,8 V6 turbo too and it seems this could be the problem on my car too

Great video What is the chamber called I may have missed it ?

Thanks for uploading! My 2006 9-5 has a slow coolant leak...I’ll definitely check the gaskets and o rings.

Pretty sure I’m having this exact issue right now. What’s the part you fixed? What gasket kit do I need?

Nice!! Better check the driver-side of the motor where the trans mates to it. There is a rear and front coolant pipe that run into the thermostat housing. Same gaskets, same failures. Found the same red sludge coming out of those. Not easy to replace those unless the cat is removed, and you will be better off replacing the t stat and it's heat-soaked aluminum housing while you are there. Last set of o-ring gaskets are the heater hose pipe connections behind the motor. Be careful working around the plastic piping that runs along the firewall (vaccuum booster lines), Fragile and not a local part-store part.

Using a silicone grade lubricant protects o-rings from leaking and does not attack rubber as many petroleum lubricants will. Great video.

Great video, great help. but could you tell me the name of the part that required the water seals, please?

Saab skills 👌👍😎

Hey really interesting video! Btw i need to change the coolant on my saab 9-3 v6 2.8 ss, do you know how many liter antifreeze it take? Thank you in advance 👍

You are a brave man rocking those shorts. I am curious why you didn't just replace the water pump since you are already there?

hell yea!

I probably need to do this. I am a little hesitant after the comment about re-installing the charge pipe. That looks like a bunch of extra effort/time to do. Would the stock charge pipe be as much of a hassle to reinstall, or could it just be rotated out of the way a little??

That was a great video. Must have the same problem on my 2006 aero (Changed my water pump 1 year ago). What was the rate of coolant loss you had;

do you have the park numbers for the gaskets? looks like I have the same issue with my '07 aero

How did you remove the power steering pump to get to the last bolt on the tensioner?

Bro, did you get the aero steering wheel to work with the 2.0? Please respond.

Have you ever had an issue with oil getting in the coolant reservoir? Not sure if it’s a blown head gasket, the car runs fine and isn’t overheating at all

Love the intake kit. Do88?

When I did my thermostat it said to use petroleum jelly on the o-rings and gaskets

Hey man!! Looking at a 2.8 for 700 dollars. Guy says it's leaking coolant and 2 of the windows don't work which I'm guessing is a regulator issue. The door handle on the driver side seems to be disconnected. What do you think?

Top class video.. great info. thank you. by the way can you give a link to the parts used.

Got everything swapped. I have near identical residue as you had on yours. I still have to put the airbox in, refill the coolant, and install the liner/wheel. I had a bunch of gummy blackish residue behind the larger o-ring groove. The larger o-ring didn't look so good. I wonder if it crud was some kind of stop-leak sealant or RTV. I've never used it myself, but it could have been a first owner thing. The irregular gasket still seemed really good. The smaller o ring was in fair shape. The coolant that came out looked good...bright orange...no sediment, residue, or streakiness. I saw another video where someone put AC Delco stopleak tabs in as a maintenance item on a coolant flush. I presume that's a bad/unnecessary thing unless I still have a leak (AND get desperate and lazy). The bolt you mentioned was a hassle, and a smaller one just below it holding a hose clamp. I had to use a 3/8" ratchet with a cheater tube to break it loose....then multiple extensions, socket depths, and a regular wrench to back it out . Those AC? lines are a pain to work around. I also put in a new expansion tank that I'd been sitting on for over a year. Maybe I'll finally have a working level sensor too!

Just a note ...Those are some BIG ASS Breaks stopping power should be decent ... finally the nav video

God bless u

Yo dude! Are you in Tempe?

👍👍👍

Those wheels don't look as weird as those shorts.

My leak came back after 3 days so it probably wasn't the inlet/outlet gaskets. I ended up tearing back in and replaced the water pump and gasket. Its been 4 days and no leak yet, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I suggest that anyone who attempts a fix just go ahead and replace the water pump along with the gaskets since the bulk of this job is the hassle of removing parts to gain access. When I did the first teardown, it really looked like the leak was coming from the inlet/outlet. In retrospect, the water pump is centered below those gaskets, so its difficult to really tell the leak source. Who knows...maybe everything was leaking too. I did triple check everything on this teardown...I just can't see any other failure point. All my hoses looked dry as a bone so it seems unlikely any of them had an issue. If the leak comes back again, I'm probably just giving up. On a good note, the water pump is very easy to install. Its messy though. In spite of fully draining the coolant (again..I guess I'll have a very good flush at the end of this), there's no easy way to NOT spill about a pint of fluid down the side of the engine and onto the floor. Stuff some towels underneath the pump before your remove it. It'll still be a wet mess though, and you may want to hose off the engine to avoid coolant stink. I applied blue RTV on both sides of the metal waterpump gasket. The RTV works like a glue to keep the gasket well positioned on the water pump while you fit it back on the engine block. I bought the kit from esaab that came with the 3 gaskets, water pump, wp gasket, tensioner, and serpentine hose. It was $130 for all. Again, the time is the hassle for this job. The parts are pretty cheap in comparison. Just replace it all when you do it. Don't be like me and end up wasting an extra 3 hours doing it a second time.

is there any question why the SAAB is expensive to repair ;)

Just replace all the rubber gaskets.... they are junk by now