I am slowly getting the body and interior of the SAAB tidied up ready for registration but I have an issue with the motor that needs to be rectified. I can get the motor to start but sometimes it floods and it is very hard to get it to start afterwards. Leave it sit for a week or more or tow starting are the only options.

If the motor has been running at operating temperature before it is turned off it will start fine but if the motor is turned off or stalls before it is warm it refuses to start. If/when it does go after flooding it runs on 1-2 cylinders before finally clearing its throat and emitting a huge cloud of smoke. It could be as simple as adjusting the idle mixture or the cold start enrichment solenoid.

Having checked the basics without solving the problem the only way forward is to start swapping parts over from the donor car. Despite it being an atmo engine most of the fuel injection and ignition systems are the same. I have a planned the attack as follows.

• Swap all ignition components to see if the fault is fixed.
• Change the cold start enrichment valve.
• Bypass the turbo on the fuel intake side.
• Fit the fuel injection regulator from the donor vehicle.

If it is an ignition problem the fault should be transfered from the turbo car to the donor car. If this doesn’t work the cold start and idle air solenoids will be swapped over but I think the turbo is too tight and restricting the intake airflow. The turbo doesn’t spin easily but it is not hard to turn so I will by pass the turbo on the intake side using the donor vehicles intake ducts and see if this makes a difference.

If all else fails I can fit the fuel injection unit from the donor vehicle and hope that fixes the problem. If anything else is the culprit I am in trouble because other engine management parts are not the same as the donor car so I would need to locate a turbo donor car to continue the fault finding process. Hopefully the issue will be resolved before getting to that stage.

Any tips or clues from readers would be appreciated, I am a novice with SAABs and not overly familiar with the Bosch K-jetronic fuel injection system used on 8 valve motors.