NG900/9-3 Power Steering BS
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:32 am
This thread should be titled "Yet another reason why old SAABs are better than new SAABs"
My wife has a '99 9-3 with ~270k miles. The power steering systems on these cars are whacky (let alone the whole suspension system). The fluid reservoir is near the rack inlets but the pump is on the opposite corner of the engine bay resulting in a long convoluted system of lines. A few years back it started leaking fluid from the high pressure line where it attaches to the rack. There's a banjo bolt and fitting there with aluminum seals. Those seals corroded and I replaced them with copper seals from an auto parts store (the replacement aluminum seals from Eeuro didn't fit...). Soon after that the high pressure line, which runs across the front crossmember, started to leak. It turns out these things rot out. They're made from 3 or 4 different sections, the total cost is somewhere around $800 to replace and of course the lines rust together so when one fails you have to replace another.
So I decided that I'd replace all the lines with -6 AN fittings, lines, flex sections, etc. I bought a bunch of pieces and for around $100 I was able to make new lines. The only line I didn't replace was a short section of hard line which plumbs into the rack - the same piece with the banjo fitting where I had to replace the seals earlier. This section was fine and disconnected easily from the mating line. I had intended to replace it but I couldn't find the right size banjo -AN fitting.
Some photos of the lines
Metric Saginaw type adapter to -6 AN with flared hardline and AN nut at the power steering pump:
Hard line to about 9" of flex line with fittings I built back to hard line (at the bottom)
Hard line as it passes by the reservoir into a 12" section of flex line back to hard line
Parts list and more "fun" later...
My wife has a '99 9-3 with ~270k miles. The power steering systems on these cars are whacky (let alone the whole suspension system). The fluid reservoir is near the rack inlets but the pump is on the opposite corner of the engine bay resulting in a long convoluted system of lines. A few years back it started leaking fluid from the high pressure line where it attaches to the rack. There's a banjo bolt and fitting there with aluminum seals. Those seals corroded and I replaced them with copper seals from an auto parts store (the replacement aluminum seals from Eeuro didn't fit...). Soon after that the high pressure line, which runs across the front crossmember, started to leak. It turns out these things rot out. They're made from 3 or 4 different sections, the total cost is somewhere around $800 to replace and of course the lines rust together so when one fails you have to replace another.
So I decided that I'd replace all the lines with -6 AN fittings, lines, flex sections, etc. I bought a bunch of pieces and for around $100 I was able to make new lines. The only line I didn't replace was a short section of hard line which plumbs into the rack - the same piece with the banjo fitting where I had to replace the seals earlier. This section was fine and disconnected easily from the mating line. I had intended to replace it but I couldn't find the right size banjo -AN fitting.
Some photos of the lines
Metric Saginaw type adapter to -6 AN with flared hardline and AN nut at the power steering pump:
Hard line to about 9" of flex line with fittings I built back to hard line (at the bottom)
Hard line as it passes by the reservoir into a 12" section of flex line back to hard line
Parts list and more "fun" later...