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Considering a 9-5 Aero

2K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  Aero02 
#1 ·
Well, I am a 9000 guy. I have owned one for the past two and a half years and loved it. It is a 2.0 FPT and it has been fast and comfortable. As of lately however, it has been giving me issues and the costs to fix it WAY outweigh the value of the vehicle.

So I have been doing some shopping, and I figured I would go to the successor of the 9000, the 9-5.

The certain one I am looking at is a 2000 9-5 Aero with 17 inch borbet Rims (which I could care less about), heated front and rear seats, cooled seats, black on black, all the options basically. It has 144,xxx miles and it looks pretty darn good. He says there is a small amount of rust on the drivers side quarter panel, but he says it is surface rust. He also said the front o2 sensor is going bad, so it throws a check engine light. He's taking it in tomorrow. He's also sending me more pics of the interior and rust. he's 2 hours away so I am going to have to find time to check it out. Wood grain dash, wheel and shifter. It looks really nice.

I know I need to look out for sludge in the engine, but I am not sure what else. Are there certain things about the Aeros, or 9-5's in general I need to look out for? I would love to take it for a drive and tell you how it runs and drives. He also told me it has a newer clutch and throwout bearing with 40,xxx on both. What else should I ask?

Thank you =]
 
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#2 ·
MOST important thing when buying a 9-5 is make sure you have ALL of the service history and make sure it had regular oil changes. Other than that they are pretty reliable cars and you won't have to worry about any other things breaking on you, but I'm sure there will be many things you can replace on it that will make it ride better since it has so many miles on it such as suspension and trans and engine mounts. If you do by the car make sure it has the pcv fix done to it. The best way to find this out is to pull the plastic cover around the oil dipstick off and see if there are any hoses that same gm there, and if not you need to put that in.
 
#4 ·
Agree with Breau, motor/trans mounts and suspension are likely pretty worn at this point.

The car should be on its 2nd(maybe even 3rd) MAF by now, see if it has had any throttle body problems in the past... fuel pump probably should have been done by now, PCV update definitely should be done.

All in all, if it was well taken care of their really shouldn't be anything to worry about. But be diligent in checking everything out, don't just trust a carfax and a guys word.
 
#5 ·
Alright. I have been texting him a little bit and getting some information. I asked for service records but he seemed a little wary on it, so my guess is he doesnt have them. He says he got it serviced right at the beginning of this summer when he bought it and it checked out. How hard would it be to put polly mounts in? it was pretty easy to get one on the tranny mount for my 9000, so should it be similar? I usually like to do my own work on the car, but if I have to get it done somewhere else, I will. The motor mounts on my 9000 were shot to hell and so it rattled horribly. I couldnt replace them because it leaked oil all over them so I just never did. I am hoping these are in better shape. I may take it to the Saab dealership and have them look it over.

He said it doesnt leak, all electronics work, and it is very good shape. I have him sending me more pictures of the interior and the rust. I am going to try and give it a test drive come Tuesday or Wednesday. I shall see how it shifts and how much engine movement there is. He seems like he loves the car, but he is going to college so he needs to sell it.
 
#6 ·
I'd definitely bring it to an indy saab shop or even a saab dealership to have it thoroughly looked over. Have them check it over and see what they'd replace. You'd be shocked how much a seemingly "nice" car can need. My 03 9-5 Aero "didn't need anything" when I got it from the past owner. I drove it, looked it over a little, but didn't put it on a lift. I gave it to my saab tech father to drive to work and inspect. He comes home with a list of stuff I never would've seen upon examination: leaking oil pressure switch, 6 year old original battery that needed replacement, DI cassette throwing some codes without throwing a check engine light, slight inner tire wear=replacing two front tires which cost $140 each, etc.....in short, small stuff is often unseen to most. That small stuff adds up fast. This is why you or the owner should definitely have it checked out thoroughly.

Also, big points for the cooled seats (I wish mine had them everyday) and newish clutch. According to my father, who somewhat despises working on 9-5's, a clutch job on a 9-5 is a labor intensive nightmare. Good thing it's out of the way on this one.
 
#7 ·
Well, I was out and about today, and I was on the side of town where this guy works. I kind of remembered where he said he worked and so I looked it up on my phone and drive to where I thought we was. I got into the parking lot and started looking around. I eventually found it, sitting all with no cars in front of it =]



I took these pictures with my phone, but I have a 5 mega pixel camera on it, so they should look okay. Here is a picture of the interior. It's hard to see with the window reflection



And here is a picture of the rim and the rust. They are both small spots right next to the bumper and right at the bottom of the rear wheel well area.



When I was sitting here, texting these pictures to my Dad, a guy came out and started getting stuff out of the car. I assumed it was him (even though the car was completely unlocked). He then saw me just sitting there looking at him and so I told him I was the guy he had talked to over the phone. I asked him if he had any time available to talk about it so he ran inside and got permission from his employer and came back out.

We chatted for a little bit and then he asked if I wanted to take it for a spin. I GLADLY agreed and I got it.

It was glorious on the inside. The interior looked to be in near perfect condition. Obviously the front two seats had LITTLE wear and everything else looked great. All the screens had all the pixels working and there were no rips on the seats. He showed me one scratch on the seat, but it wasn't anything major by any means. The wood dash and wheel and shift knob were cool and it had A/C! (none on my cars every had A/C) I seemed to drive real nice. A nice stiff suspension and rode really smooth and quiet. The clutch felt good, I think. I am used to such a heavy and stiff clutch that it was weird having it be so easy. It took a bit to get used to, but nothing to worry about. 2nd gear seemed to be the hardest to get it to not shake when I released the clutch, but I think that was user error. Also, the boost wasn't nearly as instant as in my 9000. I think it has to do with the fact it has a much bigger turbo than my T5. I never really got to open her up because he was in the car and I didn't want to seem like a reckless abandon.

I asked him about the PCV update, but he didn't really know what I was talking about. I never had a chance to look under the hood though so I am not sure either. He says he has left it all stock since he got it. He replaced the Mass Airflow Sensor when he got it and just recently it has been throwing a CEL. He took it to his mechanic this morning and he said something is causing the o2 sensor to throw the code. He reset them so it didnt have any lights on the dash when I looked. I also didnt get to test out the cooled seats =[ but he assured me everything electronic worked. I also told him about the sludge issue but he didn't have anything interesting to say about that.

Overall, I loved the car. It handled so much better than my 9000 and sounded much quieter! I would love to buy this vehicle. The only thing I am hesitant on is the lack of knowledge on the sludge issue. I wish I knew more, but I don't. I looks like it was kept up very well though. I want it.
 
#8 ·
Well, definitely take a look under the hood for the PCV update. I really do suggest dropping the oil pan before buying a 9-5... but if you can't do that, at the very very least pull the valve cover and make sure you can't see any obvious signs of sludge.

Sounds like a nice car though, and glad you liked it. A lot of people talk about how much they dislike the 9-5's styling etc, etc... but almost everyone I know who has gone for a spin in one has loved it.
 
#9 ·
What should I look for when looking for the PCV update? I know someone said just look for GM and such, but I want to know what will be different between what it came from the factory and the update? I am also going to ask him if I can take it into a place called Eurotech here in town if I decide to buy it, but before I pay him.
 
#10 · (Edited)
The easiest way to notice the PCV update, IMO, is to look at the oil filler neck. The stock filler neck is just a straight tube, one of the early PCV updates had you drill and thread a bung into the filler neck, and the final update had a plastic bung cast into the filler neck. In the picture below, the filler nick is the very top-left piece, and you can see that bung/nipple coming off of it(pointing straight down in the pic). You'll have to remove the plastic cover over the filler neck/throttle body to see this, obviously.



Also, not sure if you have AAA but they offer a service for members to inspect a car before they buy it. You can take the car into any authorized AAA place and they will do a pretty thorough inspection for $50(IIRC, been awhile, certainly no more than this). Definitely worth asking about if you are a member.
 
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