Today i have made a very good deal with a fellow SAABForum.nl member and the result is that i now have a replacement automatic tranny, which has served around 250.000 km, for my 9000 CSE, read more here. So the plan is to replace the gearbox as one single item, which should be do-able i have been told.
I will also replace the following items on the 250.000km gearbox:
In stock:
To acquire:
Update 2011-01-11:
We have removed the sub-frame from the car and removed the left drive-shaft from the gearbox. This was enough for one night… next time hopefully more progress! 😉
The broken gearbox tells me: ZF 4HP-18 | 0172785 | 1050 000 146 | GA74310
The replacement gearbox states: ZF 4HP-18 | 0138185 | 1050 000 116 | GA74306
Update 2011-01-17:
Today we managed to divorce the gearbox from the engine. This was a fairy easy job using a jack and some studs. The idea is to block the torque converter from coming off the transmission. So in the inspection hole on top off the gear box, just about the ZF number plate, we inserted a piece of flat metal to force the torque converter to come off too.
During this exercise a very loud car alarm (VW Golf) was waking up the complete ‘hood and annoying us. Over an hour later some security officers checked out the vicinity and came to us to tell that they had a hardon from looking at the cars around our workshop.
We told them that we were busy stealing a automatic transmission and this wasn’t an easy job and off they went again. Anyway… good service!
Next up is to clean up the replacement gearbox and mount a new yellow powerflex gearbox mount, just like the upper engine mounts which are already yellow.
Here some pictures:
- “Inside view” of the replacement gearbox
- “Helicopter view” of the replacement gearbox
- The new numbers of the ZF 4HP-18 will be: 0138185 – 1050 000 116 – GA7 4306
- Taken off the sub-frame part and the drive-shaft from the gearbox
- Supporting the engine and gearbox
- The whole car supported by just an empty jerry-can 😉
- There is no need to remove the starter as the bolts are also available from below.
- Close up of the unscrewing the torque converter from the starter/flywheel
- We zijn boven Jan” as Serge told me… the tranny is out of the clauset…
- The engine itself is not really large… though very powerfull!
- We also managed to leave the torque convertor on to the transmission during transmission removal. This saves a lot of cleaner as there is ~4 liter of ATF inside.
- The numbers of the “slipping in first gear”gearbox: ZF 4HP-18 – 0172785 – 1050 000 146 – GA7 4310
- Old tranny and old ATF filled torque converter
Hey there,
Nice to see you guys made it back, hopefully all will go well with the replacing the box.
I’ll follow your progress here on the blog and on the forum.
Good luck and I’ll pour myself a nice glass of William Lawson 😉
cheers,
William
Hello guys, I see how u guys did it, and I got question. On the My 1998 9000 cse yesterday broken transmission. I don’t have forvard gear. Only revers. and I found the other one. But that tranny is seller says only fits 94-95 saabs. The quetion is ” this is the true”
Thank you guys.
That might be the case as many different transmissions are used over the years, please check the part numbers for exchange.
Your idea is good about the replacement techniques for the gearboxes ,with automatic transimisson gives a good speed.thanks for pictures and for the blog.