general problems of the 2008 SAAB 9-3

Had to have valve job done due to bad /defective/inferior intake valves, from manufacturer. Had to have all intake valves replaced, with modified/upgraded intake valves. Obtained po300 - random misfire codes, had rough idle, checked engine compression, had 45psig in cylinder number 4. Engine had 72862miles, on it, this should be covered under warranty by SAAB/gm.

Significant decrease in average mpg (problem from research online suggests it is from lowered compression from intake valve design/material used). 109700 miles on engine. Meticulously maintained by us navy submariner. Haven't contacted gm or SAAB affiliate yet. Forums used infer this problem is widespread for 2007-2009 SAAB 9-3 2. 0t with b207 engine. Summer time mpg is around 32-33, winter mpg is 30-31 in the pacific northwest. Last 3 fill ups, average mpg has dropped steadily from 30. 5 to 26 on the most recent fill up. Respectfully request to know if a recall or financial compensation by the manufacturer to consumers has been ordained?.

Just purchase vehicle from a friend 2008 SAAB 9-3 2. 0t convertible . When I first start up the vehicle (it is now cold outside) the engine is running ruff until it warms up. I understand many other SAAB 2008 owners have the same complaint and have read that the intake values used by gm are faulty.

Hard starting cold with engine misfire and low compression, vehicle starts and runs normally when hot 2007-11 9-3 b207 & 2011 9-5 a20nft ______________________________________________ this is a re-issue of a previously published document with updated information highlighted inred. Models: 2007-2008 SAAB 9-3 b207r (this pi does not apply to the b284 engine) update: this condition could also occur on 2009-11 b207 or 2011 9-5 a20nft condition/concern: a technician may comment of hard or no starting when cold. They may also find engine misfires with dtc's p0300, p0301, p0302, p0303 or p0304. The vehicle will start and run normally when hot. Recommendations/instructions: this condition may be caused by a worn intake valve and is typically found on vehicles with 50,000 or more miles. Due to the nature of this issue it can be more frequent in cold climates and could exhibit the condition at a lower mileage; inversely in warmer climates it may occur at a higher mileage. Tac has found intake valve wear of the valve seat face will cause significant compression loss in cold temperatures that will not be readily apparent when hot. To properly diagnose this condition perform a cold (after an overnight stay is best) compression and leak down test. As an example, an engine with a 150-175 psi hot cranking compression reading may only show 75 to 90 psi when cold. Once a technician has determined he has the above described concern he must initiate a technical assistance center (tac) case by email at xxxx or by phone at xxxxx prompt #3. Tac will provide the full information on the parts/repair procedure when the case is set. Parts required: inlet valve 2007 to 2011, biopower 55563529 (8 required).

As is the case with many other SAAB 9-3 built after 2006, my dealer's service department recently identified a problem with the intake valves in my vehicles engine, which has experienced premature failure at 77,000 miles. Other postings on line lead me to believe that this is major issue affecting thousands of these vehicles built by gm in years 2007 and later. The cause is widely known and is a manufacturers defect resulting in failure of the vehicle to start in cold weather. The fix required is a replacement of all of the engine intake valves. This is costly fix in the range of $3,000 per vehicle. Whether gm knew it was using inferior parts prone to failure or not, they are still responsible and should be required to perform the repairs at their cost, or to at a minimum participate in some way in the cost of the repairs.

Car starts and shuts off.

The valves on these cars are defective and start failing around 60k miles. This is a widely know issue affecting the 2008 SAAB 9-3 2. 0l engines. Gm needs to take responsibility for these repairs given the known manufacturing defects. . Read more...

I have what I've searched is the "cold start problem". When starting the engine in cold weather, it takes it a try or two to start, but upon ignition, it sputters for a minute or two and once it warms, it runs perfectly fine. From reading reviews online, it sounds like many others have had this and it is the result of the valves going bad, meaning I need a whole new rebuild done. Car only has 127k miles on it and is in mint condition. Per the number of cases I've read online about this, it sounds like the '07-'08 models were the one's that were defective in my case. Bought the car recently from a friend who thought it was just a fuel pump issue needing to be replaced, which I'd pay the few hundred dollars for that, no problem. But now looking at close to $3,000 to have fixed??.

Car was manufactured with a bad set of intake valves which is noted on many SAAB owner threads. Valves break down in cold weather around 50k miles. Car starts and bottoms out sometimes and has rough idle until warmed. Accelerating while engine is cold can cause safety issue. Quoted repairs run $2000-3000.

Defective intake valves. Repair center specializing in SAAB performed cold compression test on cylinders and found that 2 of 4 had low compression. Informed me that they have found 90% of the Saabs they test from 2007-08 have this problem from cheap valves used specified by gm.

I have the same issue that others have talked about. Gm put cheap valves in engine--they have now failed for a number of us. Cold starting, rough idle, smell of gas, ultimately will not start. Expensive repair on car without much mileage 60k repair is 2500-3000 gm should fix these for free or reduced cost.

The engine lost total compression due to what the mechanic said was a well-documented case of intake valve failure, happened in northern California. The engine cut out while I was in traffic on the freeway, the car stopped, and the car was grazed from behind. Not much of a problem due to damage, just a quick re-paint of the back bumper, and paid out of pocket. The engine was gone. The SAAB specialist told me that so many 9-3's,especially on the east coast, have experienced total intake valve failure like mine. I contacted SAAB and they essentially said to go screw myself. SAAB and a subsequent call to gm claimed they had "never heard of the issue" which my mechanic specialist said was a "bold lie" because there's an online history of this that I found, and they denied me any help in getting it fixed. Since the car was worth more than the $2,900 cost I had to pay to have the engine rebuilt, with the same faulty valves that will cause someone else trouble later as I traded in my car, I decided to repair it, and then get $1,200 more out of it once I traded in my car. You need to investigate this. It is not fair to owners who are out of pocket. There was a safety concern with my incident. If the car behind me had not been aware once the freeway started moving again, I could have been hurt. SAAB and gm deny this, yet search google---"intake valve problems SAAB 9-3" and you'll see for yourself. Make gm pay for this. People have lost a ton of money on depreciation alone, and now the engines fail, almost all of them,according to the shop who fixed my car and to what I've read online. Please issue a recall. SAAB and gm were both especially arrogant to me. They should pay for this problem, and reimburse me what I was out even though I sold my car. I have the receipts if you need them. Thank you for listening! please email only.

Car will not start on cold days. Found cylinders 1 and or with low compression. Intake valves need replacement.

On the 2007-2011 SAAB 9-39-3 there is a common issue with the intake valve seals going bad causing a rough idle and/or misfire on cold starts. Mine exhibits this behavior but is not still under warranty. This is not just wear and tear it is a bad part or bad design that is basically designed to fail. To fix this it costs $1500+ and gm should be responsible for a flaw in the vehicle regardless of the 5 year/100,000 mile warranty.

The contact owns a 2008 SAAB 9-3. While starting the vehicle, it idled roughly. Additionally, the vehicle would sometimes take a long time to start. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failures. The failure mileage was 90,000.

Rough cold start. Compression on cylinder 4 to low. Intake valve problem.

Compression in cylinder one is not firing at a full psi per mfg standards. It's causing a cold start issue and the car barely turns over to start when it's not warmed up.

Vehicle doesn't start due to low compression on cold days. Car will leave you stranded in extreme temps.

Same as problem below: since I need the car badly, I've instructed my mechanic to start working on the fix. Over time the valves in the 2. 0t engine will wear causing dramatic loss in compression. Problem starts with rough idling and trouble turning over at cold start but escalates to a point where the car will not start what so ever. It appears that when manufacturing the engine gm put valves made of a softer than usual metal. These valves get essentially hammered against the cylinder head to a point where the edges become so thin they are razor sharp. A service bulletin was sent out to dealers from spna (SAAB parts north America), which means that gm is well aware of this issue. A SAAB mechanic warned me that the problem could get worse at any time regardless of mileage and that sooner of later my car would not start. To fix this issue all 16 valves would need to be replaced. This involves serious time and effort and I was quoted a price of up to $3,000 for a repair. Please be advised that this problem effects every SAAB 9-3 with the 2. 0t from 2007 to 2011. Gm should be held accountable for these faulty parts and issue a recall.

For the second year in a row, with temperature in the teens, the car will not start due to bad intake valves. As noted by many consumers on several SAAB forums, this engine loses significant compression in the cylinders causing difficult starting, a very rough idle and ultimately resulting in a valve job.

The contact owns a 2008 SAAB 9-3. While driving at various speeds, the vehicle failed to accelerate without warning. The failure recurred numerous times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed that the intake valve needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.

While driving vehicle p0008 engine code occurred, car was taken to an independent mechanic, mechanic stated engine code was indicated by camshaft sensor, and could possibly be a worn timing chain. This is a common issue on gm 2. 8 and 3. 6 engines and gm has issued a TSB to extend the warranty for the timing chain to 120k miles or ten years. This TSB did not inclue the timing chain for the 2. 8 liter engine in the SAAB.

Over time the valves in the 2. 0t engine will wear causing dramatic loss in compression. Problem starts with rough idling and trouble turning over at cold start but escalates to a point where the car will not start what so ever. It appears that when manufacturing the engine gm put valves made of a softer than usual metal. These valves get essentially hammered against the cylinder head to a point where the edges become so thin they are razor sharp. A service bulletin was sent out to dealers from spna (SAAB parts north America), which means that gm is well aware of this issue. A SAAB mechanic warned me that the problem could get worse at any time regardless of mileage and that sooner of later my car would not start. To fix this issue all 16 valves would need to be replaced. This involves serious time and effort and I was quoted a price of up to $3,000 for a repair. Please be advised that this problem effects every SAAB 9-3 with the 2. 0t from 2007 to 2011. Gm should be held accountable for these faulty parts and issue a recall.

No start/cold climate for 2008 SAAB 9-3 2. 0t. Towed to SAAB dealership after cold no start yesterday 01/07/2014. SAAB technician diagnosis(01/08/2014): intake/inlet valves worn causing low engine compression, hence; failed start attempts. Engine compression and leak down tests performed to pinpoint exact problem.

Prematurely worn intake valves resulting in low compression and excessively rough running motor.

The engine would not turn over when trying to start the engine from a cold start. If the temperatures would lower close to freezing the car will just crank and never turn over. If I were able to get the car started, once it warmed up, it ran just fine. Reading online, it seems to be a known issue with the 2007 & 2008 SAAB 9-3's. It's a faulty intake valve and begins happening anywhere between 60,000 to 80,000 miles. I believe SAAB should look into this as it seems to be happening to a lot of 2007 & 2008 SAAB 9-3's. There should be a recall. The cost to get it fixed is over $2000.

At about 70,000 miles the car began to start rough on cold mornings this continued on until this year 2014-2015 it would barely start on all on a cold morning, after less then a minute of running it would be smooth with no apparent lose of power. All plugs and plug ignition coils we replaced with no effect. Finally I did a web search and found out a number of 9-3 SAAB's 2006-2008 had bad metal in some of valves causing them to wear paper thin. Once the engine was warm the metal expanded giving normal compression. A compression check on mine came back cycl 1,3,4 50lbs cycl 2 200lbs. This starting problem was first noticed at 70,000 I got the motor fixed at 92,000 miles. Of course the fix was a valve job and a cost to me of $2088. 02. I feel SAAB (gm) should share a large portion of this cost. This problem was very well documented on all the SAAB forums. I hope anyone reading this and has the same problem please file a complaint this is not right.

My wife's car is a 2008 SAAB 93 sedan. It had approximately 48,000 miles on it when the engine control module failed at highway speed. This caused loss of power-brakes, power-steeering and ability to continue driving. Fortunately, we were able to coast over to the side of the road. The engine would not re-start. We were able to restart it after figuring out which fuse control the "ecm" and pulling/resetting the fuse. The problem re-appeared multiple times on approximately 100-mile intervals. We finally had the ecm replaced with a used one by an independent mechanic. The local SAAB dealer quoted ~$1000 for a new ecm. The used unit cost ~$350 and requried the shop to "marry" the unit with the car's VIN. There was no warrenty on this car as SAAB went bankrupt. This is a serious safety concern. Fortunately I was driving and the kids were not in the car.

Driving on turnpike and car hesitated very badly at 1/2 throttle in 3rd-5th gear at 50-70mph. Car stuttered so badly I backed off then engine malfunction light comes on for 10 secs, goes off and car then in a driving very poor - almost like its in limp mode. I belive it was limp home mode. Car felt like it was running on 3 cylinders with a hose blown off (not that I know what a hose is !!). I basically couldn't accelerate without the car feeling like it was going to fall apart. You could feel the car vibrating. I drove home very steady at 50 mph, being passed by all other vehicles. There are many problems with this model SAAB turbox 9-3 2. 8l v6 and faulty ignition coils. I know of scores of others having the same issue, with only 600 of this model produced. . Read more...

Rough idle and low compression when cold, symptom did not appear after the engine is warm. Intake valves failed and cost $1,700 to rebuild the head.

Cold start problem caused by low compression / defective valves when cold. Runs fine after it warms up. Getting worse over time.

My SAAB is a 2008 9-3 aero with a 6 speed automatic transmission. Ever since I bought it in October 2010, when I try to accelerate while already at speed (I. E. , passing maneuver) the engine/transmission sputters and does not immediately accelerate. The stuttering makes passing in traffic a risky/dangerous move. I have made several trips to the dealer for investigation and am repeatedly told that this is the normal behavior for the automatic transmission. (I have never had an automatic transmission car act like this. ) nearly two years later, I still have the same thing occurring.

It has very rough start every morning when it's cold. . Read more...

When accelerating up to highway speeds engine will slip, stutter, and misfire reducing power and causing unsafe and unpredictable merging maneuvers. Have had 3 or more visits to dealer concerning this with repairs that never fully resolving issue of bad ignition coils or engine resolve. Vehicle is 2008 SAAB 9-3 turbo x, a limited run of 600.