2000 SAAB 9-3 SE from North America - Comments

Believe me, there is such a thing as death by sludge!

I unfortunately, experienced it. I loved this car and

bought it with 16,000 miles on it, in 2001. I took

good care of it and it ran, up until last week with.

160,000 miles on it. my SAAB 9.3 2000 engine died on

the road. I could not make this up, if I tried!

It was a sad passing and I am still mourning my loss.

It was my first and last SAAB purchase. Too bad, the

Saab manufacturer does not stand behind its products.

I would love to be a part of a class action suit...

Beware SAAB owners.

To original poster: Why don't you tell one and all exactly what the problems were. Obviously, you were not happy. Say why. Say when, where, how, etc. Anyone who visits this site won't be bored by your story. This site is for telling car stories. Go for it.

You must have used the wrong grade of Oil. Have you had the oil changed religiously before 3k miles? Try to stick to Dealer Servicing.

Did you say the car died at 160,000, or 106,000, because those two numbers were on the review. Please confirm and also please do state the problems encountered.

One thing though -- you can't expect many car manufacturers to still back you up well over the warranty period, let alone 160,000 miles.

You seriously want to be part of a class-action law suit, with a car that failed after 160,000 miles???

Grow up. Take some responsibility for yourself for a change. Sure, maybe shoddy engineering/workmanship lead to this problem, but after 7 years and 160,000 miles, the car manufacturer owes you absolutely nothing.

To the above commentors... The SAAB engines have a screen on the oil pickup. Over time this can get clogged. If it gets clogged, the engine will get starved for oil and it will kill the engine.

The solution is to have the oil pan removed and have it, the screen and oil pump cleaned every 100K or so.

To avoid clogging, either use a good quality 10W30 oil and change it every 4000 *KILOMETERS* or use a 100% synthic oil that has the European B2/B3 rating such as Amsoil Euro Formula 5W40 and then change the oil every 8000-10000KM.

If you use regular 10W30 oil and change it according to the schedule in the manual, you're at risk of sludging up the oil. Turbo engines are much harder on oil. Either go cheap and change it more frequently, or go with expensive synthetic that satisfies the B2/B3 rating and go with the longer intervals.

I agree 100% with the above posting, but I compared a 2000 Saab pickup screen vs a classic 900 screen and found the 2000 screen was many times finer and it's not surprising about the clogging problems. I hear this all the time. I will put off my oil change a little longer and then a year goes by, oops! Can't do that to forced induction engines!!! A lot of this seems to be going around.