Re: I've Found The Secret To Lemons Reliability
So guess what. That issue with limp mode and misfires at the end of the race? yea, totally not anything breaking. The freaking car was out of gas. After years of the daytona I just assume the worst. And since the ignition cassettes are a known failure point on saabs, it was clearly that. Loading the car on the trailer, and unloading at home I even made a comment that the fuel pump sounded funny. Again, clearly the pump must have been dying. No, it sounded funny because it was sucking air intermittently.
I've spent the last few weeks poking at things, charging batteries, checking sensors, etc etc. And it sill wouldn't start. Finally I threw a dip stick in the fuel cell. Bone dry. Genius. Throw 5 gallons in the cell, car fires right up.
We based our fuel usage off of saturday when it was wet, and my siblings first day driving, so the number we got was slightly lower than the consumption i must have been going through sunday afternoon pushing hard. I had put 15 gallons in the car figuring it was using a little less than 5/hour, so that would get me the 3.5 hours I needed. Nope, it got me 3.25 hours. sigh.
All that said, I think the october race did do a number on certain things. For one, the traction control doesn't seem to work anymore. I spun wheels loading it on the trailer and it didn't care at all. Second, when parking it at my parent's house today it started throwing the hazards on randomly, just for a blink or two. Not quite sure what's going on yet. The engine needs to come out too. I can hear noise from the front of the engine near the chains. And the balance shaft chain is known to have issues at higher mileage that can wreck a motor. And we need a clutch. Well, the one that's in there still works, but I'm scared of what it looks like after 254k street miles and 600+ track miles.
But lesson learned, check the freaking gas tank.
Abandoned E36 Build
2008 Saab 9-5Aero Wagon
Retired - 1989 Dodge Daytona Shelby 2011-2015 "Lifetime Award for Lack of Achievement" IOE, 3X I got screwed, Organizer's Choice