SAAB 9-3 owners have reported 2 problems related to manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe (under the engine and engine cooling category). The most recently reported issues are listed below. Also please check out the statistics and reliability analysis of SAAB 9-3 based on all problems reported for the 9-3.
My vehicle doesn't start/idle well in the cold due to the air intake manifold bolts slowly becoming loose. **when driving and shifting** the vehicle cannot handle the extra unclean air entering the system and will stall out while going anywheres from 0-60+ mph, once the engine shuts off all power steering also shuts down. The secondary issue is an acceleration problem because the seals on the air intake valves into the combustion chamber have become faulty resulting in cylinder misfires and a high amount of vibration intermittently while driving, the symptoms come and go with increasing frequency as time goes on. This secondary issue ties into the first issue because of shifting with a standard my vehicle today (12/3/2020) shut off while driving 7 times to and from my job.
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all problems of the 2008 SAAB 9-3
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Engine refused to start in cold weather. SAAB technician confirmed an issue with intake valves being defective. The intake valves would not seal cause compression to get as low as 40 psi causing no start condition. SAAB refused to cover it under warranty on the 61st month of ownership vehicle came with 60 month engine warranty and the cost of repair out of pocket was over $2500. There were days the car wouldn't start away from home after sitting just one day, leaving me stranded in extreme cold weather with no heat. Gm and SAAB know about this issue as they got poor quality intake valves from a supplier. Gm has not yet campaigned/recalled these vehicle, as you know gm culture lacks ethics and have covered up deaths in the past to save money. As a government agency your responsibility is to protect consumers and be proactive and not act after something horrible has happened. There are more then enough complaints on this website for this issue. Are you waiting for a death to occur before anything is done ? gm new or old should be held accountable for this issue. Its a gm ecotec engine, car was produced on a gm platform. Profits from the vehicle also went to gm. This issue also causes an increase in emissions. As there is loss of compression, cylinder misfire or has incomplete combustion causing an increase in hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide in the tail pipe.