(Originally published in issue #274, May/June 2005, NINES, the magazine of the Saab Club of North America.)

After reading the tale of Mike Blija's $400 900 4-door in issue #273, I realized it was time for an update on my $200 1985 900 4-door. It recently crossed the quarter-million mile mark and still runs like a top. There have been a couple of issues worth mentioning.

1) Oil. Over the summer I decided to look for oil on the shelf in the garage rather than drive into town. There were four quarts of Castrol Synthetic 10W-30 left from the 99 racer, so I used that. As is so often suggested, synthetic oil does not work well in high mileage cars. It tends to leak past the seals due to smaller molecule size. So it was with this car, though not critically so.

The 8-valve Saab engine used about a quart about every 1200 to 1500 miles, well within reasonable use. However, I tend to change oil by the amount of discoloration, and there was very little. Given synthetic's higher cost and longevity, I was trying to stretch the next oil change to about 7500 miles instead of the usual 3000 miles. That meant I had to buy a few additional quarts of synthetic to reach the 7500 mile mark. At $5.00 a quart, it was not terribly cost effective to keep buying oil to reach the 7500 miles.

Finally got around to the oil change at 250,600 miles. This time, however, I chose Castrol's High Mileage 5W-30 as it was December and time for winter weight oil. The synthetic was not terribly dirty, and the car was starting well on cold mornings, but the oil level was at the add mark once again. The Castrol High Mileage oil costs about 50 cents a quart more than their GTX, but is supposed to condition the seals and to have "superior burn off protection".

At 2800 miles, there has been no loss of oil. Read that sentence again. This is in a 250,000 mile engine where there has been some oil leakage in the past. In addition, there is little discoloration in the oil, so I may well leave it in longer than 3000 miles. I am quite impressed!

2) Snow tires. The Nokian Hakka 1's on the front of the 900 were sufficiently worn that they would probably not work well for another snow season in Northern Minnesota. Since I have long trusted Pat Greer to provide winter tires for my cars, I looked to Greer Enterprises for a new set of Nokians. Dave Parps, who works for Greer, was at the Lake Superior ProRally in October showing off the newest Nokian tire available here, the RSi, a refinement of the Hakka Q. Unlike the deep tread NR-09s and Hakka 10s that I loved so much in the past, the RSi is more of an ice tire, with lots of sipes for better grip on slippery surfaces.

The new RSi tires were mounted on my "winter wheels" (a set of repainted Shelby Silvervane 8-spoke wheels) in late December, after suffering through the first few snowfalls on the Hakka 1's. They are little short of amazing! January has been one of the snowiest ever in our area and the RSi's have gotten through every possible condition, from foot deep snow to glare ice, with barely any loss of traction. Even pulling out of a parking space following about 8 inches of new snow, the tires dug right in with minimal slippage. Thanks, Pat and Dave!

3) Hydraulics. One of the problems with this 900 when I bought it a year ago was a low clutch pedal. I suspected that replacement of the clutch slave cylinder would be necessary to correct the problem. (I also suspect that was a primary reason why the previous owner sold the car as replacing the clutch slave is a couple of hours at the repair shop, and might as well replace the clutch disc and pressure plate at the same time. +$$$.) The clutch master cylinder looks fairly new. However, the cure came by bleeding out a whole lot of old brake fluid. Unfortunately, the problem has returned this winter, possibly due to moisture contamination of the fluid, possibly due to a worn seal.

In addition, the brake pedal on this 900 has never really had a good solid feel to it, but the brake bleeders are so rusted into the rear calipers that bleeding the system was not possible. As mentioned in the previous article, the brake master cylinder was suspect, with some minor leakage apparent at the brake booster. Very recently, the brake pedal was getting even softer and fading under steady pressure, though with no loss of fluid. That indicates the seals inside the M/C are shot. Fortunately there was a working used M/C among the parts in the garage, so it found its way onto the '85.

Most mechanics would replace the M/C with a new one in order to eliminate any chance that a rebuild doesn't last. I am not above rebuilding the M/C as it is considerably less expensive and I have done it on other cars with good success. For most Saab owners, I would recommend new rather than rebuilt, but I am one of those drivers who is constantly evaluating the car, and attempting to diagnose any new noises and feedback through the steering and pedals.

I was able to bleed the front calipers and got some air out, but I will have to rob the rear calipers off one of the parts 900s in the yard to compensate for the rusted bleeders in order to complete the brake job.

When I first wrote about this 900 a few issues back, I listed most of the worn parts I was able to replace with pieces from parts cars. I also added some personal touches such as air horns, fog lights, alloy wheels, and an outside thermometer/voltmeter. The only real expense, other than standard replacement fluids, was for repairs to the exhaust system, about $25 for welding. The cost to own this car in the past year, including purchase price but excluding gas, oil and insurance, has been under $500. It may not be a beauty, but its reliability counts for a lot. Plus it remains more solid feeling than most newer compact cars.

Could we be related? This has little to do with Saabs, other than coincidence of ownership. I have taken up the hobby of genealogy and have had pretty good success at finding all of my ancestors who made the boat trip from Germany, as well as one Irish interloper.

One branch of the Feuerstein (pronounced FIRE-stein) clan ended up in Michigan near Grand Rapids. (My grandmother was Cecelia Feuerstein, married to Lewis E. Winker.) I contacted several Saab Club and rally friends who live in that vicinity to see if they knew of a certain church and cemetery near Belding. Bruce and Susie Beauvais replied that they lived only a few miles away and were kind enough to shoot several rolls of film of the grave markers of my relatives.

Jim Laman of the Great Lakes Saab Club replied that I should get in touch with Nick Kohn, a former GLSC member who lived in Belding, which I did. It turns out that Nick's mother is a Feuerstein, my third cousin! That makes Nick and I third-cousins-once-removed. You never know who your relatives are.

Much of my research on the Winker genealogy is posted at www.winker.net. Tim Winker