1999 SAAB 9-3 SE from North America - All Comments

Without PROPER proof that maintenance has been performed, ANY vehicle manufacturer will drop you like a hot potato. Regardless of whether or not the vehicle is in or out of warranty.

WITH proper proof, however, it is purely amazing the great lengths the manufacturer will go to provide fantastic customer service BEYOND the end of the warranty period. Think about it, NO manufacturer of ANY product is in business to make people mad. All they ask is to properly maintain your vehicle.

With any vehicle, regardless of year, make, or model, proper maintenance intervals will provide many years of trouble free service. Both from the vehicle and the service department of your local dealership.

You are obviously more than welcome to 'jump ship' and purchace from another manufacturer. You will most likely have many great years of service from both the vehicle and the dealership. However, one day you may find yourself in the same situation as you are currently in. Then you will find out the rules for that company are exactly the same as the one you've left in the dirt many years earlier, and slung mud all over.

Have a wonderful day!

This is the guy who almost bought the 99SE hatchback. I decided not to get it. I ended up purchasing a 2002 Mazda Protege 5 and I freaking love it. Low miles and one heck of tight handling car. Cheap to service as well.

Perhaps one day I will own another SAAB. Thanks for all the help.

Another Sludge victim. 1999 9-5 2.3Turbo. 130K. Most oil changes at 3k some at 5k. The last one, all synthetic, was in the engine 10,500 before the turbo blew up and ruined the engine. Dealer says there's no sludge, of course.

Even before this, the car has cost me more in maintenance than any car or truck I have ever owned. Yeah, great ride, nice performance, but horribly high maintenance cost. Any other car would not have had this problem. This is a design problem, not a maintenance problem. Even though I let the last oil change go, that wouldn't have voided the warranty (if it was in effect) Any other car would have been fine. It's such a shame. Saab used to make an awesome vehicle, not any more. I was stupid to trust the dealer, (they swore this car had no innate problems) and stupid not to fastidiously search the internet for this sludge problem so I could give the engine the extra extravagant special care it requires to keep running. After the used engine is installed, I will get rid of it and my saab story forever.

Wow! I owned a 1997 model 96 when I met my Swedish wife in 1981. We made some fond memories in that car. A couple of years ago we rented a new 2004 9-3 and with our 2 teens had a memorable vacation. Now my son needs a car for college and I thought "Hey, a Saab would be great!" I contacted a few of the many inexpensive, fairly new Saab owners and set up test drives for this week end. Not going to happen. We really need something reliable that won't break the bank. Good memories though. Rich in Juneau, Alaska.

My 2001 S-E Saab died yesterday with 88K of a failed first piston due to a failed ring or piston accd to SAAB. Turbo was also blown. I was driving, white smoke poured out of the back and I pulled over and shut it off. Now no warranty coverage as I bought it used with37K so I am sunk- I owe $5700 on the car yet. Any ideas what a SAAB in this shape is worth to sell or trade? I always changed the oil, used synthetic never had any other problems but LCD panel never worked much.

I just want to get rid of it and go back to Toyotas-I've always had them with very little problems- I'm SOO disappointed- I think something is wrong with these turbo 2-liter engines from my research. A car engine should not die at 88K all at once!! I asked for SAAB assistance but I doubt they will do anything- Im looking for oil receipts but I don't think I have every single one from three years!! I heard if you do not, they will refuse to help out. I just want to get rid of it and forget this!!

Purchased 7/23/07 - 37K miles. Lease return - CA.

First overheated in Aug. and lost engine compression going uphill. Saab speciality shop couldn't find anything wrong, so just replaced thermostat and battery. Beg. Nov. lost total compression and ground to a stop on freeway. Shop said needs new engine, blew the top off a piston? Am female & trying to understand all this, but husband, knowledgeable auto relatives & friends offering suggestions. Found the letter from Saab about ext. warranty today. Have asked shop to discontinue new short block and rebuilding head till we investigate. Had also contacted dealer for 2nd opinion. Neither shop nor dealer mentioned warranty. No record in car fax that the recall was addressed. Is this warranty for real? Chances of success if 2nd owner, w/o receipts? Worth it to have it towed to the dealer?

I have a Saab 9-5 Wagon, 1999 150,000 Km. It has started to smoke in the am, over the summer a exhaust smell would come in through the AC or with heat unless you put on re circulate. Now the thing is leaking oil all over the place like a stuck pig. It still goes, but has to be topped up all the time. I had it in to a no name mechanic who thought the leak was from the oil pan, so he replaced the pain and changed the oil, still leaking. Who the hell knows what to do next, I have to park on the road because the oil is staining my driveway. The mechanic stated that he may have to pull the engine. to find the leak. I agree with the others no more SAAB's or shoule I asy SOB SOB SOB. Probably one of the multiple other issues discussed in this blog. I may just get rid of it, have had it for 4.5 years so better off than some of the others.

It's amazing to see all these people with their Saab or as they say sob problems. I have a 1999 9-3SE that I drive daily like a race car, have taken all over the country. I have NEVER experienced any major problems with it! The only things have been small normal wear parts, and I have 130K on the car. In fact I've never had any serious issues with any of our Saabs! I'm wondering why all these people are having so many issues?

My son, 17, bought his first car Jan. 2007, a 2000 Saab 9-5 Aero wagon. Within months, the engine light came on. He brought it to a Saab dealership who told him the air mass meter needed to be changed. He paid $277.45 for the repair.

A few days later, the engine light comes back on. He and I drove the car back to Saab. They take the car, give it back and say that it is "all set". No charge. I have no idea what they did, but they got the light to go off - for now.

The light comes back on. This goes on for a while. One time they replaced the spark plugs and said that this was the issue.

Oct., 1, 2007, the car finally dies while my son is driving 70MPH on a highway. Real safe! The car goes to the Saab dealership and they say the engine has "no compression" and that it will cost at least $4500 to repair. They do not look at the engine, they do not look under engine cap. They tell us about the slug warranty, but say that since my son does not have all of the repair receipts, they cannot do anything. This takes them 1 month to tell us this as they were allegedly trying to get this info. for us. I then go on an investigation and track down prior owners and shops and collect various oil change receipts. One owner changed the oil himself and will provide an affidavit saying that he did regular oil changes. But, oh no, this is not good enough for mighty Saab/GM. I have been working on this issue since Oct. trying to get Saab to honor this warranty.

For those of you writing in and telling everyone that it is the owner's fault for improper maintenance, I wonder if you are somehow affiliated with Saab or are just naive enough to go along with what they are doing to cover up their defective product. They so graciously acknowledge their defective product, but only to the extent that they put the burden (many times impossible burden because these lemons at this point have several owners) back onto the consumer making their liability much lower. Their service reps give no information and refuse to give info. on their legal department. They would not even give me their street address in Detroit MI (I had to get it from the internet) to send them a certified demand letter.

Saab is practicing unfair treatment of consumers. The local courts need to enforce their unfair consumer laws and award punitive and multiple type damages in order for Saab to maybe stand up and pay attention.

I have a MY 1999 SAAB 9-5 station wagon which I bought in Dec. 2005 with 80 K miles on it. The engine is a B 205. I am a second owner. At 83 K miles the engine blew because of oil sludge without warning. SAAB does not want to honor the warranty because I do not have sufficient evidence for oil changes for the last 15 K miles. The engine was re-manufactured by a specialized company (cost: 7 K Dollars). Now the car has 110 K miles and the turbo unit blew without warning. The power window on the left is out of order. The check engine light is permanently on although SAAB swears that nothing is wrong. The airbag light is on although nothing seams to be wrong. The pixels of the SID blew and the power lock is freaking all the time (batteries are permanently empty). This is enough to drive one crazy. Can I dump this nightmare on a poor soul?

Purchased off-lease 2001 Saab 9-5 Aero Wagon in 2004. After numerous major repairs over the last three years (easily costing, in aggregate, over $1500 per year), the engine finally blew while driving 80mph down the interstate a few weeks ago. Local Saab mechanic diagnosed blown piston (said there was 0% compression in the #1 piston and 50% compression in the number two piston). Considered repairing the pistons, but when he start digging further said sludge had taken over and it would be cost-ineffective to repair. Since I purchased the car off-lease, I don't have any receipts for the first 3 years of its life. As such, the "sludge" warranty is worthless to me. I just sold the aesthetically pleasing (but otherwise worthless pile of junk) to a local salvage yard for $2K. Such a shame, considering I still owed $5K and had hoped to drive the car for many, many years to come. My wife and I went and bought a Honda Odyssey. Not much personality there, but at least you can count on it not to stop running in the middle of a 6 lane interstate. I would advise anyone weighing a similar decision to think long and hard before purchasing a Saab. The worst financial mistake of my life so far.

My wife was driving her 2001 Saab 9-3 from San Francisco to Reno on December 5th when the engine started to make some noise when accelerating, then lost power. She pulled over and was lucky to have found a spot just before a bridge. The car was towed to Reno and the engine was blown. It needed a short block, but further inspection showed a cylinder was scored, needing machine shop work. No one mentioned sludge. All the photos of the damage and the documentation of proper oil changes were emailed to Mike Sprinkel, the factory representative, with a request for assistance for just labor. Within two hours the claim was rejected on the grounds that the car was out of warranty. The bill will be about $8,000. I had the usual frustrating experience with the customer reps at the 800 number: "this case is closed. Is there anything else I can help you with?" I called Detroit and someone said they would send an email to Mike Sprinkel, but he never responded.

Now, checking out the internet searching for class action lawsuits and Saab problems, I have learned there have been problems with this car for a long time, but we never were informed by our dealer or by Saab about the potential for oil sludge related engine failure.

What is the next step? What if there was no sludge found. Can I trust the dealer to tell me if there was. Would the photographs of the damaged parts show oil sludge? How does one go about asking for warranty coverage under the 8 year extended warranty?

We have owned Saabs for over 20 years. There have always been problems with my Saabs, but my wife was spared until now. Hers had a DI cassette failure, a replacement of the head gasket, and replacement of the turbocharger and catalytic converter before the engine blew. Is there really any reason to own a Saab any more, since they look just like all the non-descript cars being sold today anyway?

I FELL VICTIM TO THE SLUDGE...

I bought my 2000 Saab 9-3 Convertible in august 2003 and from March 2004 on have had nothing, but problems with it; oil leaks, broken tranny mount, replaced a/c compressor, replaced master cylinder, replaced power brake booster, replaced brakes so many times I've lost count, but now I've fallen victim to the dreaded sludge problem and since I bought my car off a lease and my ex-husband religiously changed my oil, Saab won't honor anything. The ticking started a few weeks before xmas, then the infamous oil pressure light coming on and off - kept bringing it in because of noise and got told my oil is fine until it up and died on me 3 days before xmas. had it towed to Saab dealer and they gave me hope by saying it could be the result of two sensors, but then called and told me my engine is gone. built from jets? HA! these cars are the biggest piece of garbage and I have no clue how the dedicated Saab lovers actually love their Saabs -do they drive them? Mine will make a nice planter in my yard with the top down!!!

I am also a dead engine 1999 Saab 9-5 SE sludge/headgasket victim. I purchased the car from Boston, MA in 2006. I drove it for 2 months and the vehicle poured out white smoke from the exhaust (to where the whole neighborhood could not see). Vehicle has been sitting in driveway since. I am at a great loss, and don't know where to begin. I paid $4000.00 plus a $1000.00 for shipping to Texas, just to drive vehicle for two months. What is my recourse, since purchased through EBAY with no receipts? I did get one oil change done at Jiffy Lube three days before it died on me.

`It's weird. When I saw the 1999 Saab 9-3 in 2002 at the used car lot, I fell in love with it. The test drive sealed the deal. I thought it would look great on my wife for a surprise birthday present. She wasn't sold on it at first, but as she drove it, she too fell in love with it.

My previous experiences with dealerships in general lead me to find a local shop that I could trust and it was there that I brought the SAAB in for periodic scheduled maintenance. Aside from air leakage from the left front tire that resulted in a blow out soon after the purchase, the car ran well from about 30,000 miles when we bought it, to about 55,000 miles. Seemingly out of nowhere, the head gasket blew. That seemed premature. Then a fuel pump went out.

Not too long ago this year the car wouldn't start. We towed it to our shop and found that the ignition coils needed replacing. After hearing the estimate of about $1200 for that, I felt compelled to call around to see if I was getting ripped off by my once trusted shop, but lo and behold, unlike most cars that have several coils that can be replaced one at a time at lower cost, SAAB in its infinite wisdom, has bundled coils that can only be replaced all at once; hence the high cost. Another inconvenient tire blowout later (I've never had a vehicle that required such vigilent air pressure maintenance), and now, as many of you have already experienced, today I look for answers as to why my mechanic tells me that the reason our SAAB won't start, is because the camshaft broke and shot through the head. He had no idea why such a thing would happen. But after reading through every entry on this site, talking to a mechanic at the SAAB dealership, and another SAAB expert in town, it sounds like the engine overheated with no warning light, and exploded, or burned up, or whatever.

Now, faced with the decision to purchase a used engine or dumping this vehicle that we have recently put so much money into, wears on us. We will undoubtedly go with the used engine that has approximately the same amount of mileage as the one that just fried. I will make sure the oil pan is sludge-less, I will ask my mechanic to look into the possibility of moving the catalytic converter, and I will be sure to change the oil at 5k instead of 10k, and use synthetic oil. Oh, yeah, and pray.

The irony in all this is my wife, who found herself looking at new and used SAABs online and in the newspaper this evening, regardless of what the testimonies of others have revealed here, and what we've experienced with our SAAB. I now must question her sanity.