[MattCrickmore]

Hi everyone,
First ever Saab owned, first ever post so apologies if this is has been covered and I’ve not found the appropriate thread.
My Saab 9/3 has about 150,000 miles on the clock and since I bought it, it occasionally pumps out plumes of blue /grey smoke when pulling away and continues until I’m up to speed around 3rd gear. This doesn’t happen all the time and sometimes doesn’t happen for a few weeks/up to a month. Oil looks to be at the correct level and has been consistent since I’ve owned the car, not losing fuel or coolant however when these ‘episodes’ occur I’ve noticed the DTE has a massive drop in mileage before correcting itself once the smoking has stopped.
I thought it could be something to do with the DPF regen, so have used a fuel additive to start cleaning and am looking at booking in for an official clean soon, I’ve also taken off the EGR and given that a good scrubbing with some carb cleaner and a toothbrush. I also recently started seeing a ‘limited performance’ message on start up but have not noticed any performance issues with the carat all. Does anyone have any further advice on these issues, experienced it themselves or can point me in the right direction for some further ‘at home’ management that a novice could accomplish?
Many thanks,
Matt

 

[any-mgzt]

Have you cleaned and checked the solder connections on the throttle body. My Vectra C did much the same found the 4 large soldered connections had fractured and needed reflowing. While it was off I gave it a good clean, solved my issue.

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[MattCrickmore]

Have you cleaned and checked the solder connections on the throttle body. My Vectra C did much the same found the 4 large soldered connections had fractured and needed reflowing. While it was off I gave it a good clean, solved my issue.

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Hi Any-Mgzt,
Thanks for your reply, I took the hose pipe off that connects to the throttle body to give it a clean but due to my mechanical inexperience I didn’t know I could take the actual throttle body off. After a quick google/YouTube search, this looks like something I could probably accomplish with a bit of time and patience so will have a go this week. Is typical carb cleaner good enough for this, or is there something else you would recommend using?

many thanks,
Matt

 

[any-mgzt]

Carb cleaner will be fine. The best source of information on these engines is the Vectra-C forum absolutely a mass of in depth knowledge on there I would suggest you sign up and have a look.

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[Untamed13]

Yeah that's how mine kind of started out... And then fuel injectors being changed and throttle body and pedal accelerator... In a long run it turned out that the engine control module was going bad. And in fact I am still looking for one. But that's kind of sort of had my problem started but just for the record I'm not a mechanic I just own a Saab

 

[MeLzAr]

Yeah that's how mine kind of started out... And then fuel injectors being changed and throttle body and pedal accelerator... In a long run it turned out that the engine control module was going bad. And in fact I am still looking for one. But that's kind of sort of had my problem started but just for the record I'm not a mechanic I just own a Saab

First post here but....

I had a similar situation where my ecu was going out and all 4 injectors were getting stuck open from time to time. Large amounts of smoke and fuel coming out of the exhaust when it would actually start. Fixed the issue by replacing the ecu. It was an intermittent issue. Some days it would be fine and others it would strand me. Found this youtube video to be helpful in my case.

 

[Untamed13]

First post here but....

I had a similar situation where my ecu was going out and all 4 injectors were getting stuck open from time to time. Large amounts of smoke and fuel coming out of the exhaust when it would actually start. Fixed the issue by replacing the ecu. It was an intermittent issue. Some days it would be fine and others it would strand me. Found this youtube video to be helpful in my case.

Right in fixing my ECU would fix my car too but guess what? It's so hard to find one and sending it off to be fixed plug and play or whatever is expensive. $400 at AutoZone... And the ones on eBay I don't know if I just really trust them. Where did you find an ECU for your vehicle?where did you find an ECU for your vehicle?

 

[any-mgzt]

The OP car is a diesel so his issue is not the issue that plagues 2.0t vehicles in the states where the ECU's get fried because it sits on top of the engine, on the diesel cars the ECU is located behind the front bumper.

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