Questions and Answers

Saab Problems Q. I have a 1993 Saab Turbo and have had acceleration problems for about a year. At times, it would putter when I start to accelerate or after it shifts up into a new gear (especially third). Originally the Saab dealer said it needed an Oxygen sensor.

I found it myself and checked it for carbon deposits and found nothing. So I came to the conclusion that the car was having air/fuel mixture problems but it was not the O2 sensor.

I brought it back into the same Saab dealer about six months later and they said it was the throttle housing. Needed to be replaced. So once again, I found the throttle housing and searched online for advice and found that I could clean it by hand. I took off the big air hose and cleaned the one side of the valve but could not find a way to open the valve manually to clean the other side.

How do I do this?

Also, I noticed a wire running to the throttle housing (I am assuming it is the throttle cable). At the throttle housing end of it, it has an end part which is bent at a 90 degree angle and hooks onto some sort of lever attached to the throttle housing. Well I noticed that this wire sometimes gets detached. This causes the car to run very poorly (hard to accelerate and lots of puttering) in lower gears. When I reconnect it, the car runs better but still putters slightly.

Hope this is enough info.

Thanks,
Kevin

A. I wish I knew if it were Saab 900 or 9000, there is a difference. I'm going to assume it's a 900 since that was the most common model.

That throttle housing can not be taken apart to be cleaned. If it is gummed up inside the best you can do is remove it, clean it as well as you can and hope for the best. Otherwise it will have to be replaced.

Replacing it is not difficult it take less than an hour to replace. Here's what you do:

• Drain enough coolant to lower the level in the system to below throttle housing.
• Disconnect the two coolant hoses from the housing.
• Disconnect the rubber elbow for intake air. Position aside.
• Disconnect the two vacuum hoses.
• Remove the two clips, then disconnect the throttle cable from the throttle housing.
• Unplug connector, then remove the nut at the bottom of the throttle housing.
• Remove the bolt at the bottom of the throttle housing, then position the brace aside.
• Remove the throttle housing mounting nuts, then the housing. Save O-ring.
• Reverse the procedure to install.

As far as that cable goes it could be the accelerator cable or throttle valve cable. But neither one has a 90° bent end. I'm not sure what it might be without seeing it.

Additional Information provided courtesy of ALLDATA