Econmancer

The idea behind the project is to reduce some of the heat soak on the SAAB 9-5. I think every 9-5 owner in a warm climate has exited the highway in the heat of summer and found the car lacked power once they tried to enter street traffic. It’s especially scary when making a left turn and finding the car will barely move. This is a simple and cheap project that only takes an evening to install and can hopefully reduce or eliminate the heat soak symptoms for many of the 9-5 owners out there.

To be clear, the better solution is to replace the stock intercooler (located behind the radiator) with either a drop-in performance model or a custom FMIC (front mount intercooler). I understand that both options are expensive and could be mechanically difficult  for some people, so I looked into this easy and low-cost water spray system.

The cost of this intercooler water spray system is about $50.

You will need:
Trico Products 11-102 Windshield Washer Pump
ScanTech Windshield Washer Check Valve
Toro Blue Stripe Drip Fogger, 3.0 GPH Model # 53651
Toro Blue Stripe Drip Starter Kit Model # 53724
Cable Ties

You’ll have a lot of options on this project. Feel free to experiment with other parts and see if you can improve on this basic design. Leave a comment on this post if you discover something that might help others.

You can purchase all of the Toro “Blue Stripe” parts separate, but I found it costs less to just get the “starter kit” and the fogger heads. If you don’t get the starter kit you will need some blue stripe tubing (maybe 10 feet worth), four “Blue Stripe” fogger heads, and five of the “Blue Stripe” T-connectors. The heads that come with the starter kit will not work in this project because they are designed to drip and not spray.

The washer kit listed gets you all the parts you need on that end of the system. You could pick up used parts and save some money. You’ll need the water reservoir, a pump (able to create 10-30psi), a switch, related wiring, and some extra tubing if you decide to buy the parts separate.

These instructions are for a four spray-head system. It could be adapted to a two head system that only shoots water on the lower part of the radiator and intercooler. This could be a good option if you have trouble getting to the area behind the front grill of the car. I don’t have first hand experience with the 2003 and newer 9-5s, but they look like a pain when it comes to grill removal. On the ’99-02, you can just pop the entire grill off with a little pressure.

Instead of the momentary switch that comes with the washer kit, you could use a mercury switch attached to the accelerator pedal or a Hobbs-type pressure switch that will automatically activate the spray at a specific turbo pressure. One issue I can see with more automated switching systems is the amount of water in the reservoir. I get about 1 minute worth of spray per 2-quart tank. You’d quickly run out of water if you weren’t careful.

The Instructions:

Lift and prop the hood

Detach the battery during installation. We’re working with electricity and water here.

Remove the front grill or whatever it takes to get get access to the area in front of the radiator.

Roughly measure the length of tubing needed to go across the front of the radiator, down both sides to the lower part of the system and across again. For me, I cut two 1’6″ lengths of tube and two 1′ lengths of tube. This left me with plenty to trim for an exact fit later.

Cut four tiny 1.5″ lengths of tubes. These will connect the fogger heads to the T-connectors.

Gather the four fogger heads, five T-connectors, the check valve, and some zip-ties

The check valve works as show below. Be careful that you have the flow going the correct way or the water won’t move when you press the button.

What you’re going for is something similar to the above. The tubing is in tan, the foggers are “O”, the T-connectors are “T” and the check valve is the “L” shape.

Start at one fogger, attach the tubing and zip-tie it to the car, then work around to the next fogger. I tried to do all the plumbing and then install, but I had to trim just about every piece of tube once I got it behind the grill. So I recommend building it in place and only trimming the tubes once.

I placed the top two sprayers beside the horns, using the horn brackets to hold the sprayers in place.

The bottom two sprayers I attached to the lower grill area.

Once all four foggers are in place and connected to each other, you can roughly aim the heads where you want the water mist to hit. You then fine tune the aim once everything is up and running.

Follow the instructions that come with the washer kit on how to plumb the reservoir to the motor and connect the wiring.

Now is a good time to install the switch. The location and whatnot are up to you, obviously.

There is a nice space for the water tank between the battery and the headlamp. Use your favorite method to secure the tank into place.

Run a length of tube from the check valve to the washer motor and then fill up the reservoir with water. The system should be complete. I found that I had to run the washer pump motor longer than I expected the first time to get water flowing into the system, but the check valve will keep the water in the tubes once it’s there so you won’t have to prime again.

You should see something like this:

The videos doesn’t do justice to the amount of water being sprayed. It’s a very fine mist, so you’re only seeing the largest drops in the video. I plan on putting butcher paper on the radiator and recording the spray again so you can see where all the water is going. It sprays at about 2-quarts per minute.

Fine tune the direction the water sprays and check for leaks. I had to zip-tie the tubing where it attaches to the pump because it shot off from the pressure the second day I tried it.

I haven’t used the probe thermometer to check for exact changes in temperature, but I can get the radiator water temperature gauge down to what should be about 195 degrees* with the spray system (9 o’clock on the gauge), this at highway speeds on a 100+ degree day. It’ll take a real thermometer to find out what is truly going on, but the basics are there.

*I had the dealer change the sensitivity on my stock water temp gauge with the use of a Tech II a few years ago so there should be little to no dead spot in the gauge reading. Still not ideal for real data, but gives a rough estimate about changes in temperature.

Special thanks to a certain SAABCentral member that helped me with this project, but wishes to remain anonymous.

I’ve just installed a turbo intercooler / radiator water spray system on my SAAB 9-5. I want to see if it reduces the heat soak that the 9-5s suffer from in hot weather and after a spirited drive (sometimes even when the weather isn’t that hot). I think every 9-5 owner has at least once tried to make a left turn and found that the car suddenly had a total lack of power. I hope to correct that issue cheaply with the water spray.

The setup cost me $45 and took one evening to install. I want to test it out before I post a detailed how-to, but I thought I would show a couple of videos as a teaser.

There are many people online that said they’ve cured the heat soak by upgrading the intercooler, either with a larger one in the OEM space behind the radiator or a smaller FMIC behind the lower grill of the bumper. This would be the ideal solution if you are having real trouble with heat soak, but it’s expensive and takes mechanical knowledge many people do not have. I hope after I test this system to have a simple and cheap way of combating the heat soak in the SAAB 9-5 specifically for people not looking to drastically modify their car.

Replacing the brake pads on the SAAB 9-5 is easy. I’d suggest 2.5 hours for this job if you aren’t in a rush. Most of the time seemed to be spent jacking up the car and removing the wheels.

The first step is to raise a wheel like you are changing a tire. Be safe and set the parking brake, block the wheels you aren’t raising, use jack stands, all that good stuff. You’ll then need to remove the wheel. On the front brake pads, it helps if you turn the wheel so you can get better access to the back of the caliper before you raise the car. Open the brake fluid reservoir and put a rag around the fill hole to pick up any fluid that may spill as you work on the calipers.

Once the wheel is off, you should see something like this-

The metal spring clip on the front can be removed with a screwdriver. There are two bolts holding the caliper. You can access these bolts by removing the plastic dust caps with the screwdriver.

The bolts are E-20 torx size. It might take some pressure, but they should loosen without too much fuss.

You can see in the above image where the top bolt is unscrewed and ready to be removed. Once both bolts are removed you can work the caliper loose. You’ll want to push the piston inside the caliper a bit to give you room to wiggle the caliper free. You can do this with the screwdriver. Once freed, the caliper can be rested on a box or step stool to keep pressure off the brake line. The old pads are wiggled off and the new ones are installed. Push the piston inside the caliper all the way down to make room for the new pads. I used an oil filter wrench to do this and it worked perfectly, but they make a tool designed just for pushing the caliper piston (if you want to get fancy). Installation is done in reverse and the metal spring clip is installed as seen in the top image.

The rear brake pads are replaced in the same way. I found the clearance tight because of the rear suspension, but an extension on your socket wrench should give you room to remove the two bolts from the caliper. My rear pads still have plenty of material when my front pads were nearly bare, but I still replaced all four at the same time.

The tension spring is installed as seen above. Check the brake fluid level and replace the lid to the reservoir before you drive away. The new pads will need to be bed-in. There are several techniques to doing this and they are found on the internet. It’ll be several hundred miles before brake performance is maximized. Be careful a give yourself plenty of braking distance while the pads are getting settled.

From Amazon:
Brake Pads

-P. Econmancer

I fouled the stock converter on my SAAB while trying to recover from a failed turbo. The car ran poorly, with a rough idle, stalling, surging, and there was a lack of power and decrease in fuel mileage. A stock replacement catalytic converter from SAAB was around $1500. A 3 inch downpipe and race cat from GenuineSAAB.com was less than $600. It arrived at my door less than 48 hours after I ordered it.

Removing the old converter was straightforward. I drove the car onto ramps, blocked the rear wheels, set the brake and disconnected the battery. I also disconnected the wiring harnesses for the two O2 sensors. These are located near the firewall, next to the throttle body and brake reservoir.

There is no need to remove the oxygen sensors until the entire downpipe is loose. Remove the heat shield and pipe connecting the diverter valve to the turbo’s cobra.

There are three nuts / threaded studs that connect the turbo to the downpipe. Remove these, but keep the old downpipe supported on the threaded studs that remain. I had two nuts come loose and one threaded stud come loose. It really doesn’t matter.

Under the car there is a metal bracket with a bolt or two that will need to be loosened and there are three nuts that need to be removed where the downpipe meets the resonator in the middle of the car. Once these are loose you can start wiggling the old downpipe and converter  until it is free and can be slid out from under the car.

Once the old pipes are loose you can remove the oxygen sensors. I used liquid wrench and an open adjustable wrench with a rubber mallet to get mine off. This would be a good time to replace the two O2 sensors, if necessary.

The sensors are then installed on the new downpipe and installation under the car is done in reverse. The metal bracket by the oil sump is no longer used with the race cat. The O2 sensors might need to be rerouted differently to reach the wiring harness, but that’s no big deal. Use the threaded studs at the turbo and resonator as extra hands to adjust the pipe into place. Take your time and tighten the bolts completely once in place to close any exhaust leaks.

Here is the inside of the racing cat.

This project gives you an opportunity to check on the health of your turbo. Here is the inside of my turbo, one year after it was installed.

The project was simple and the results were immediate. The car needed a working converter. The upgrade to a 3 inch downpipe brings me closer to the ability to go from my current stage-1 to a stage-3, once I get the correct software from BSR, Aero cobra, and a larger cat back exhaust.

-P. Econmancer

You might as well change out the thermostat when you flush the coolant on the SAAB 9-5. Both are easy jobs. It’s a little messy, but satisfying when you are finished.

Symptoms of a thermostat stuck in the open position includes a lack of heat inside the car and the temperature gauge on the instrument panel never reaching up to the 9 o’clock position. Symptoms of a thermostat stuck in the closed position includes the temperature gauge reading extremely hot and possibly a repair bill for thousands of dollars sitting in your seat when you pick the car up from the dealership after it stops running due to overheating.

I encourage you to pay the few extra dollars for a thermostat that is build to lock in the open position when it fails.

I purchased the MotoRad fail-safe thermostat from my local Autozone, the price was $6.

You will need a pair of pliers, a pan to catch the coolant, two gallons of undiluted coolant, at least four gallons of distilled water, a running garden hose (if you are the adventurous type and your tap water isn’t too terribly hard otherwise buy some extra distilled water and skip the garden hose part), 13mm and 10mm sockets with matching extender and a socket wrench.

The system holds almost 4 gallons of coolant/water total. You will want a mix of between 50/50 and 75/25 coolant to water when you are finished. You won’t have to over think it, the car is built to make this mixing automatic, the reservoir and radiator will drain half of the liquid while the other half stays in the system. I’ll explain this part in detail when the step comes.

Start by losing the protective plastic panel from under the front bumper, like you would for an oil change. Slowly unscrew the lid from the coolant reservoir. Let any pressure release before completely removing the cap.

On the driver’s left side of the engine bay, near the headlight, at the bottom of the radiator is the the green plastic petcock used to release the coolant. Place the catch pan under this green petcock to catch the coolant.

Reach down from above and turn the green petcock counter-clockwise a quarter turn and then pull it out to release the coolant. Pliers can be gently used if it won’t turn by hand. The part is made of plastic, so care should be taken not to tear it apart. You can push the petcock back in at any time to stop the flow of coolant.

Let all the coolant drain out while you move on to the thermostat part of the project.

The thermostat is on the back corner of the engine. There is a large coolant hose that goes from the radiator to the thermostat housing.

The hose can be seen in the bottom right corner of this image.

Follow the hose to the thermostat housing and use pliers to release the clamp and pull the hose free. Some coolant will spill out.

The thermostat housing is attached by two 10mm and two 13mm bolts. Remove all four of them. The 10mm bolts hold a ground wire and a bracket, the 13mm bolts clamp the house to the engine. The space is tight so use an extender and take your time.

After the four bolts are removed, pull the house off and take out the old thermostat.

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The rubber washer that comes with the thermostat has a valley on the inside so it can be placed around the metal disk as shown.

Stick the new thermostat back into place, taking care to point the little hole in the disk towards the top. The disk may also be labeled to show which direction is the top.

Bolt the housing and ground wire back on and securely reattach the hose. The coolant will be drained by this point.

Temporary close the petcock and fill the system up with water. The correct method is to use only distilled water in the system, but I used the garden hose to flush the system because I like to tempt fate. Use your own judgment, tap water can plug up your system with minerals.

Wear gloves while working with the hot engine and coolant to prevent burning yourself.

Once the system is filled with some water, and with the reservoir still open, start the car, turn on the heater inside the car, and give it a few moments to warm up so everything starts flowing. Now is the time to check for leaks on your thermostat job.

Once warm, open the petcock to start releasing fluid while adding fresh water to the reservoir to keep the system full. Do this until the liquid from the petcock runs clear. (if you are like me and are using a garden hose, switch to adding your four gallons of distilled water.) Close the petcock, shut the car off, and allow everything to cool down. You now have water in your entire coolant system. Let the car stand until cold.

Here is the secret to mixing 50/50 coolant. The car, when cold, holds onto half of fluid and release half of fluid. Open the petcock one more time and it will release half of the water in the system. Close the petcock and lock it with a quarter clockwise turn. Add your undiluted coolant until the reservoir reads full and you now have a 50/50 mixture in your system. Isn’t that neat.

The water and coolant will mix quickly as the engine runs. Once the coolant is given time to mix and any air is released, top off the reservoir with more undiluted coolant.

A day later you will want to check the coolant with a “coolant tester”. These can be the simple eyedropper like devices that use specific gravity to check the coolant mixture or strips of paper treated with chemicals that offer more detailed results. My eyedropper type tester was $1 from Walmart.

From Amazon:
Automotive Thermostats