Both the upper and lower hoses from the coolant tank have to be replaced. Ben Hyde, the parts guy at Just Saab found a set in Florida, with the holiday, they should have them Tuesday or Wednesday. Then they can run a pressure test on the cooling system.

The left front xenon bulb was bad, $196, installed.

It's running fine and putting out 18psi of boost. So the lack of power I thought I was feeling was all in my head.

 

Wow, so much input and advice here I don't know who to thank first!*

This is what happens when privately owned forums are bought by soulless corporations.

Apparently the routing of hoses from the expansion tank is the problem. They run directly over the turbo and over time they got hot and break down.

 

Wrap them! I thought the coolant tank coming apart was also a common problem.

Oddly I just got back from a cruise and met a salesman from Just Saab on the boat. Small world.

 

Over pressurized cooling systems can come from a slight headgasket leak, which pushes compression into the cooling system.

More commonly, they are caused by a bad expansion tank cap.

 

Pressure test was good, hoses replaced. What do you recommend to wrap them?

The coolant tanks did have a habit of leaking at the seam. It was either a recall or TSB, but I had that fixed a couple years ago.

Oh, and I was wrong about the boost. It's not putting out 18psi, it's putting out 21psi.

 

Your car has the V6?

You could get some heat shielding sleeve cheap from McMaster car like this, pull one end off the tank, slide a length of this over the hose where it goes over the turbo, and re-connect. I never bothered on customer's cars, the hoses were cheap and easy to get. Might be a different story now.

Or this:

 

Yeah, the 2.8T V6. The hoses weren't expensive, but the only place they could get them was in Florida.

Thanks for the info!

 

What year is your Aero? Mine kept having that problem and it turned out there was a recall on that expansion tank, haven't had a hose break or a coolant leak since.

On a side note, you're running 21lbs of boost? If you don't mind me asking what tune are you running?

 

It's an 07. The expansion tank has been replaced. I'm running a Hirsch tune that was done in Copenhagen, Denmark by the delivering dealer.

On a side note. I had my DRL's turned off shortly after I got the car back to the US, but the tail lights were always on. After this incident, the tails are off and I can have my foglights on without having my headlights on, where I couldn't before.