[Gregorius]

Hi all - it's got cold all of a sudden, so the bike's gone back into the garage and the CSE has been taken out of it's sumemr wrapping.... But - the b*gger failed the MOT and I'm after a little encouragement ...

Fail points:

1) Front nearside balljoint - fixed: £8.50 replacement from GSF, 45 mins to fit

2) wiper blades not clearing - fixed: £8.00 pair from GSF

3) Hazards not working - fixed: 2 hours grovelling for the relay, soldering the terminals and refitting

4) Pilot bulbs not working - £0.70p GSF not yet fitted

5) Weld on turbo/downpipe manifold broken - fixed: 45 mins to undo the rusty nuts, 30 mins arsing around with the seized lambda sensor (I cut the wire and re-soldered it in the end), 30 mins splattering Mr.Mig over the joint to re-make it, 45 mins to re-fit and re-hang the system.


Now for the problems ...

6) 30% braking imbalance on both axles..

7) diffuse beam pattern on both headlights

8) main beam not latching on...


so - any help gratefully required oin these last three, the Tax expires at the end of this month hence the rush to get it fixed an prevent the indignity of having to make a SORN...


as a PS ... the headlight beam was a puzzle... what do they do when testing a car fitted with Lucas sealed beam units? IIRC these have a beam pattern rather similar to a fried egg don't they?

 

[murphwiz]

imbalance..
they can't fail the rear brakes on imbalance..
Fronts yes, over 25%, just get the brakes stripped down, check, de glaze, clean pads, remove and clean/grease slider pins, give the system a bleed, and should be up to scratch.

Beam pattern.. sounds like reflectors are gone, not uncommon.

Main beam not on.... guessing indicator switch is faulty? or maybe relay?

As for selaed units, these are tested for aim on main beam. (supply the tester with a box of matches to light them, that'll help a pass )

 

[johncc]

Mine did the main beam thing for a while, refusing to latch. A couple of times it went onto main beam by itself too! I'm told this is a faulty relay. In my case, the problem went away again.

Sorry to hear about the MOT woes - I've got one due too by 1st October, so I sympathise!

 

[Gregorius]

Hey John - how are you?? It's been a while !

How's the motor after your rebuild ?? Did you identify where the noise was coming from?

I'm glad to learn that my main-beam problem is likely to be relay failure, I don't fancy the idea of having to remove the steering wheel to get at the column switch (well, that's what Mr. Haynes says anyway...)

The reflectors could be a problem though - I 'repaired' one with chrome mylar film which I thought would have been an ok-ish kind of fix. I've bought a new pair of bulbs anyway just in case the old ones weren't up to scratch.

Cheers

Greg

 

[mark e]

Originally posted by Gregorius:
[qb]I'm glad to learn that my main-beam problem is likely to be relay failure, I don't fancy the idea of having to remove the steering wheel to get at the column switch (well, that's what Mr. Haynes says anyway...)[/qb][/b]

Fortunately Mr Haynes is not quite right on this. There are 3 screws that you need to remove on the underside of column shroud, then a bit of wiggling and it will come away. It's just possible that the connector on the back of the switch has come lose. (I've had this happen)

 

[colind]

Originally posted by Gregorius:
[qb]- the b*gger failed the MOT and I'm after a little encouragement ...[/qb][/b]

Mine too this morning...

1. Rear offside seat belt buckle"working intermintly (his spelling not mine ) I showed him that it worked every time that I tried it but he gave me a cock and bull story about it needing to slip in (oh er missus!)

2. Near side handbrake imbalance... offside spot on, as was foot pedal braking on both front and rear.

3. Rear brake hose assembly collars corroded both sides. (How awkward a job is this to do? I normally can do all my own diy on the SAAB (2.0L CDiS 1992)

Otherwise everything else ok...should be I've virtually rebuilt it

Colin

 

[jp11]

Leon, what do you mean by "reflectors are gone"?
Is this something you can see?
My 91 9000S has awfull beam pattern.

 

[andy law]

Leon, what do you mean by "reflectors are gone"?  [/b]

I presume he meant the silver reflective coating inside the headlight has peeled off badly enough to affect performance/brightness.

 

[murphwiz]

Yup, the refelctors tarnish/discolour with age.

 

[mark e]

Originally posted by colind:
[qb]3. Rear brake hose assembly collars corroded both sides. (How awkward a job is this to do? I normally can do all my own diy on the SAAB (2.0L CDiS 1992)
[/qb][/b]

In theory, very simple... in practice it really depends on how corroded the joint between the flexi and rigid lines is. You'll need a day or so of liberal soaking with penetrating oil and buy a good brake spanner (11mm IIRC, Halfords have them). You need to slide the retaining clip off the bracket and then hold the larger nut (14mm IIRC) again ideally with a brake spanner whislt trying to undo the nut on the rigid line side.

Good luck!

 

[Gregorius]

Well... all the work's done now, just have to get the test re-done... a full retest would you believe??

The reflector's gone? Yup - way out west!! The machine the tester used to 'see' the beam pattern showed no pattern at all so - poop! a fail. However, a quick call to my local Saab dealer had a pair of nice shiny new reflector units sent from Sweden overnight... it only cost me 83quid each side (cough, choke, splutter...)and a couple of hours to remove the units and strip/rebuild them, but at least I now have a nice sharp line of light to impress Mr Mot Tester with ...

Other than that I've cleaned the front calipers to try and restore the balance - it failed at 30% difference, but I found the n/s piston boot had come adrift from the caliper body and the piston was slightly corroded ...I guess this was the cause as the other side was absolutely pristine...

Test booked for 8 tomorrow morning, fingers crossed it'll all be ok...

Thanks for the replies - all much appreciated.

Greg

 

[Gregorius]

IT PASSED!!!


Just needed the new 'flectors adjusting, and the brakes were still 20% apart (within tolerance tho thank gawd)and the passenger seatbelt was 'marked' but who gives a f*ck about that??

Cheers

Greg