My wife drives a 2001 Saab 9-5 v-6, which has mostly been reliable in the time we've had it. However, it always seemed to leak a little oil. Recently the oil leak got worse until last week, it used 4 quarts. I had already replaced the valve cover gaskets.
I did some internet research, and found out that this car has a kind of strange oil cooler located between the cylinder banks. Seems like an odd place for an oil cooler, but it's exposed to coolant which circulates around it. Apparently it's a trouble spot for leaks, not only for Saab owners, but for Cadillac Catera owners. The Catera has the same engine sans turbo.
So the disassembly began. To do this, you have to remove the upper, middle, and lower intake manifold. The middle intake manifold also holds the injectors. Fortunately, the injectors can be left in with the rail since there are some flexible fuel hoses nearby. After that, the top of the oil cooler is finally exposed. When I realized how the cooler works, i.e., liquid-to-liquid heat exchange, I realized that the cooler itself wasn't leaking, since I have no oil in my coolant. So I didn't remove the cooler. I removed the steel supply pipes, and found that they use crush washers for sealing.
I was a bit flummoxed at this point, since I couldn't see an obvious source of leakage. Of course, the only way to test it is to put it all back together and run the car. So I replaced some of the crush washers that I didn't like, and used the old ones that looked good, and torqued the snot out of the banjo bolts holding everything together.
Fired the car up and drove it around, and it's not leaking oil. It was still smoking a bit from the manifolds and cat since they had been completely drenched in oil.
That was last Saturday. I just checked the oil, and it's full. I feel pretty good, and the job wasn't quite as hard as I expected it to be. Also, while I was in there, I could see the tops of the intake valves, and they're clean as a whistle.
The car still has a few kinks to work out, but I'm making progress.
I did some internet research, and found out that this car has a kind of strange oil cooler located between the cylinder banks. Seems like an odd place for an oil cooler, but it's exposed to coolant which circulates around it. Apparently it's a trouble spot for leaks, not only for Saab owners, but for Cadillac Catera owners. The Catera has the same engine sans turbo.
So the disassembly began. To do this, you have to remove the upper, middle, and lower intake manifold. The middle intake manifold also holds the injectors. Fortunately, the injectors can be left in with the rail since there are some flexible fuel hoses nearby. After that, the top of the oil cooler is finally exposed. When I realized how the cooler works, i.e., liquid-to-liquid heat exchange, I realized that the cooler itself wasn't leaking, since I have no oil in my coolant. So I didn't remove the cooler. I removed the steel supply pipes, and found that they use crush washers for sealing.
I was a bit flummoxed at this point, since I couldn't see an obvious source of leakage. Of course, the only way to test it is to put it all back together and run the car. So I replaced some of the crush washers that I didn't like, and used the old ones that looked good, and torqued the snot out of the banjo bolts holding everything together.
Fired the car up and drove it around, and it's not leaking oil. It was still smoking a bit from the manifolds and cat since they had been completely drenched in oil.
That was last Saturday. I just checked the oil, and it's full. I feel pretty good, and the job wasn't quite as hard as I expected it to be. Also, while I was in there, I could see the tops of the intake valves, and they're clean as a whistle.
The car still has a few kinks to work out, but I'm making progress.
