Biturbo issues and fixes

Shaheenk

Junior Member
Messages
48
Hi Guys,

So since I have been looking around there is not a whole whack of info on these cars (my other car is an E30) , I thought I would list the issues I have found since collecting the car as well as the methods I am going to use to rectify what I find. It also means I need to get my phone empty for the number of pics I am expected to take.

the car is a 222SE (RHD) version. I will post pics up once I have given her a bit of a clean up , or maybe not and show you just how much is needed .

So onto the list of things I need to do to get her back to something i would drive.

1. Speedometer is not working, no idea why or how or where to start, but I am guessing its the sender unit or the speedo unit. This will be one of the last things to tackle as I need to sort the gearbox out first....maybe that should be first on the list. - Simple fix, broken wires on the sender unit.
2. Oil pressure light and now oil pressure gauge. Noticed a few wires poking out from under the engine when it was on the lift and I think i pulled on one of them which must have disconnected the pressure switch. - What a nightmare to fix, no access from the bottom or the top or the side or anywhere
3. Cambelt change - buying the car I was not given much information, contacted the previous owner and he said the car was standing for about 7 years , asked if he changed the belt and his answer.....I am not sure. This made me cringe, so a new belt , new tension bearing will be in order. Belt Changed, was quite easy baring the one camshaft trying to turn itself 6 ways from Sunday.
4. Fluid flush , Oil , water , brake fluid , steering fluid. The lot will be changed. I have a new water bottle, new power steering bottle (the old one has a screw in it) and new oil filter (WHY IS THIS STUPID THING 44 POUNDS) . She will get some good semi synthetic oil to keep her happy. - Fluids flushed, radiator twice due to it leaking. Oil needed a swap out, power steering is leaking . Thats an expense I was not looking forward to
5. Fog light and front grill replacement , I expect this to be the quickest of the lot as it should just slot into place . - Hahahaha, so much for easy , nothing on this car is easy, the valence has been bent while they towed the car this meant the grill would not fit right, some grinding of bits and bobs and we kinda got it fitted. fog light was the same.
6. Roof lining - This is sagging and will be replaced, I am quite chuffed that it is sagging as I will use the Alcantara and recycle it on the seats. more on the seats later .
7. Audio system - The car has a ghastly looking Kenwood unit , its SILVER , it sticks out like a sore thumb on that gorgeous dashboard. It will be replaced witha period correct Alpine pull out head unit, Alpine Period correct speakers and amplifer. All discretely done and made to look original again.
8. Gearbox and clutch system, after having just spent over 1000GBP on a gearbox fix (bearings and bits) , we put the old pressure plate back in as they said the new supplied one did not fit. inspecting it shows the new supplied pressure plate to be about 1cm higher then the old one . Oddly the gearbox place stated this was touching the bell housing , I cannot find any evidence of this , the clutch is far too hard and there is a terrible shudder. I will put the new pressure plate in , get the correct size pin for the slave cyl and get rid of the shudder, why oh why did I take this to someone else. - clutch done - read below. much happier
9. General clean up and untatty the car , the car has a smattering of Ferrari badges , the intake plenum needs a redo as the paint is peeling and the cambox covers could do with a clean up too , some nice shiny new bolts , washers and a clean up should have it looking minty again. - All Ferrari badges have been removed, I have some odd looking silver badge things on the side of the car, cant make out what they are or what they doing there. Intake painted, cam covers painted, new shiny bolts. Yes looks much much better.
10. Inspect that fuse box, i am not sure the condition it is in , but being an amplifier repair tech I am sure I can have a look and clean up any dry joints or burnt tracks.
11. Seats - These will get the inserts redone , the original leather on them is tatty and I doubt a good clean will solve it , the Alcantara on the bolsters has holes and hence the roof lining will come to good use to replace these. Hoping I dont need to buy more fabric as I have no idea what color this would be (Silver).

I think thats it for now, will keep putting pics and vids up as I go along.
 

Shaheenk

Junior Member
Messages
48
So today was a productive day.

Dropped the gearbox - exhaust and half the front subframe, swapped the clutch out for the kit from Co.me SRL , fitted like a dream, but dan that gearbox is heavy.

Not having a lift meant jacking the car up and using tressles. Not too bad until it was time to put the gearbx back in , suggestions , lots of patience is needed, lots of swearing will be done . Use a Jack to get the gearbox in place before trying to get it home.

Found the issue with the non working speedo, seems the previous gorrilas broke the pins off the sensor and never bothered to sort it out, stuffed the cables away and no one was wiser. Took a hacksaw , cut the plastic and soldered some wires onto the sensor. Good news, speedo works again.

While I was under the car I decided to bleed the power steering fluid, quick easy , one bolt off and it drained out.

Put everything back and the clutch is now butter smooth. However picked up an issue where there seems to be a rubbing noise from the starter, so it was starter out and time to check why the flywheel is rubbing the starter.

Onto the next steps over the weekend.
 

Shaheenk

Junior Member
Messages
48
So, some more updates on the 222 , after the whole day of fiddling around with trying to get the right bolts for the starter motor, we made a bushing from alu rod to locate the starter as it should, this is a ballache of a mission in South Africa where I cannot find parts.

Starter went in with many an issue , intake plenum was painted in nice shiny wrinkle red, as well as the cam box covers. I then broke the sensor pickup for the manifold pressure sensor, stupid plastic thing, could be I was a bit ham fisted and turned a bit much. Removed the broken piece and replaced with a new plastic item , and new piping.

All the bolts were replaced with nice new stainless items which means the engine looks fresh again. plug wires cleaned (boots were black due to years of neglect) , the cambelt was changed but the tensioner which I purchased was different to the one fitted. So need to send this one back to Europarts.

Lets see what else was done , oh yeah , the oil was changed, seems the old oil was worst then I expected, black and looks like it has not been changed in a while , spark plugs were swapped out from Denso iridiums to bosch units. 8 heat range.

oh and if anyone says the oil pressure switch is easy to get to and should not take more then 20 mins is lying , they are a nightmare to access , from the bottom or the top. I had both wires come off and it took about an hour to fiddle getting new terminals and wires back on the switch. Good news all lights on the dash are now off and the gauge works. Good pressure of 5Bar on idle at cold.

picked up that the power steering is leaking fluid , which means rack out , I am not going to try this and will send it to my suspension guy to sort out. Radiator was leaking too , its a complete 4 core alu unit so back it goes to the guys who built it. So much for finally getting to drive the car.

I have a low rumble on the right hand engine bank , sounds like a belt rubbing or something , i can feel it on the intake pipe and hoping its not the turbo bearing. If it is I will be using a large amount of fuel and a match to light the car up ........I heard its an engine out job to do the turbo's on these cars.

Thats the latest updates for now.......
 

Wally

Member
Messages
244
If the oil was as old/black as you say, then my strong advice is: remove the sump and clean it. Otherwise sludge can ruïn your precious turbos after all the effort you have put in your car.
 

ZAM400209

Member
Messages
585
Terrific work- I doubt you would 'feel' a turbo bearing at idle..?

maybe need to get a stethoscope to listen around the block..?

Oil is the big one with these turbo cars- well done for getting that out, as soon as. just as Wally advises though- you don't want to strainer getting clogged...
 

Shaheenk

Junior Member
Messages
48
Cool, will deffo get cracking on that, for now it all seems happy. Will give you guys some updates.
 

Shaheenk

Junior Member
Messages
48
Will be sure to snap one this evening , I am heading to the workshop now to put the radiator back in.
 

Needamaser

Member
Messages
1,491
Lost a turbo on a Saab because filter in sump got carboned up over time. Didn't even know there was a filter in the sump. First sign was slight weep on head gasket (which everyone tells you after the turbo goes bang) but significance was lost on me.
Oil was changed every 10k but still clogged up and normal oil filter was changed every service.
 

Needamaser

Member
Messages
1,491
hmm...

very unlucky, Stewart...

Apparently all the Saab turbos have this issue if sump is not dropped and filter cleaned by 70k. After that it is just a matter of time until they implode. Presumably leaving oil changes longer will make it happen sooner. Mine went just about 95k.
 

Shaheenk

Junior Member
Messages
48
SO have not updated this in awhile, tbh I am in a bit of a funk over this car. I kinda like it now, but not as much as when I bought it.

Latest updates....

Power steering is leaking, this can be easily repaired with some seals which I understand are avail in the deepest part of Africa.
Tie Rod Ends, this car has 3 or 4 of these buggers per end, not avail from agents but lucky for me , my suspension guy knows a guy who knows a guy and we found replacements.
Front left shock , dead is not the word , this poor shock has no pressure left in it and no rebound. Called around and no one can assist, so either we have it rebuilt with a bilstein insert (way too expensive) or open and see what we can do , waiting on prognosis.
Front brakes , 5 hole suspension looks great, what is not great is trying to find parts for it, somehow people decided that if it has one more hole you pay a lot more (kinda like a women) . Discs are not in the best of shape , sourcing aftermarket is stupid expensive, a local person can make me a set of 2 piece discs , eye watering price. Found a set on amazon of all places. Shipping and what not will waste time, but a lot cheaper then making up a set.

My lights on the dash do not all light up when you turn the key to ignition , press the test light and they all light up , any suggestions.
Air con/climate control thingy on the dash......none of the buttons respond, except one .....the auto button which then turns the air con on and cold air only. Any suggestions.
Assorment of lights not working, brake , reverse , et, suspect its globes.
 

Needamaser

Member
Messages
1,491
My lights on the dash do not all light up when you turn the key to ignition , press the test light and they all light up , any suggestions.
Air con/climate control thingy on the dash......none of the buttons respond, except one .....the auto button which then turns the air con on and cold air only. Any suggestions.
Assorment of lights not working, brake , reverse , et, suspect its globes.
Electrics seem a common problem on these cars. Mine seems to eat bulbs between MOTs. Looking at the car's history it has always been like this.
I have an air con unit with a mind of its own. It will work until you adjust the fan speed and it will maybe go totally dead. Leave if for a while and press the button and it will work again. Then it will maybe run cool instead of hot. Seems all my functions work, just maybe not all at the right time.
I am planning removing over winter and sending to David Askew to test the functions. In the meantime as I only use her over summer I will drop the roof or open the window if it is too hot or wear a jumper/coat if it is cold. Low tech solution. Sorry not much help but I do sympathise.
 

Shaheenk

Junior Member
Messages
48
Well good news on the suspension front , I dont need to spend the 450GBP per shock that the agents want, or the equally shocking (excuse the pun) 500GBP for the bilstein solution which might take 3 months to built.

I remembered an old friend who used to refurb shocks as a hobby,125GBP and he put in new inserts, sorted the mounts and gave the old shocks a good clean up . should be good for another 80 000km , not that I plan on keeping this car that long.

all good things I guess.
 

Needamaser

Member
Messages
1,491
Well good news on the suspension front , I dont need to spend the 450GBP per shock that the agents want, or the equally shocking (excuse the pun) 500GBP for the bilstein solution which might take 3 months to built.

I remembered an old friend who used to refurb shocks as a hobby,125GBP and he put in new inserts, sorted the mounts and gave the old shocks a good clean up . should be good for another 80 000km , not that I plan on keeping this car that long.

all good things I guess.

Result. Getting more difficult to find people that can or will do this stuff.
 

Shaheenk

Junior Member
Messages
48
Hey Guys ,

Great news on the mistress, she is purring like a kitten. Leather work is done and she looks much better for it.

Rear lights are all sorted as well which means now I know when I brake people can see, same with the indicators and other fiddly bits. I have not replaced the front discs as yet, I have however put a new set of pads on as the old one were a bit knackered.

I have an ECU under the seat which I have no idea what it does or where it connects seems to have a single 2 wire plug, but cannot locate the other end of the plug.Any guesses on that.

Lights on the dash are still not oprational, I looked at the various wiring diagrams and cannot make heads or tails of them. If you hit the test light they work .

I am slowly , very slowly starting to love this car.