True indeed... and one of many, many problems caused by GM ownership of Saab. The engine oil sludge problem is specific to GM-Saab B205 & B235 engines used in Saab 95 between 1999 to 2002 and 93 from 2000 to 2003. The cause is partly due to the engine PCV, but seriously aggravated by using two rings in the cast pistons. All done with the belief that this is how to reduce friction gaining lower fuel consumption.. Adding to this problem, the specified oil change interval became 10,000 miles. This incident burned an awful lot of Saab owners and resulted in a ruined reputation for Saab. These engines were DE-contented version of Saab's legendary B204 & B234 engines which were quite durable and reliable.
These GM-Saab engines were not the only engines oil sludge problems. Toyota produce a large number of cars with this problem and settled a class action law suit over this problem.
http://www.autosafety.org/getcat.php?cid=28
In 2003 and later all Saab engines were replace by GM ecotech engines. No Saab engines were used after 2003 as Saabs became nothing more than just another GM design with a Saab name.
The date of death for Saab was in 2000 when GM took total ownership of Saab, exploited all of Saab's intellectual property for use in GM products and removed over 2,000 of Saab's engineers and technical folks. GM looked at this human resource as duplication of what GM already had in-house.
I flat refuse to own any Saab without a B204 or B234. As a result, the recent NG900 is a 1998 which is next to the last year the NG900 was produced with the B204. After spending some time with the B204, it became obvious this Saab engine and transaxle should go into my Lancia for a host of reasons.. Turns out, Saab B204 & B234 conversions in Opel Vectra & Astra and numerous other DIY sports cars are popular in the UK and else where.. much like the Fiat Twin Cam engine used to power a number of DIY car projects.
A stock as delivered Saab B204 engine is capable of producing need 500+ Bhp. It was designed from day one to be a turbocharged engine and built to meet these requirements.. before GM bean counters turned them in oil sludge specials.
http://www.serioussaab.co.uk/articles_pages/B2x4tribute.html
Bernice
With that SAAB (if you still have it), don't forget to upgrade the engine breather system. That was the cause of the sludge issue with those cars.
If you go to the latest version it will help with keeping the sludge down.
Warren
