Dear Rui Henriques,
Sorry for the late reply.
About the SAAB parts that I buy. Yes I know, the practice of buying parts and asking the SAAB mechanic to install them is not an accepted practice. I do this only with a garage in northern France and only because we have a special relationship, otherwise no way!. I understand that we must support the garages and they need to make a living. I have also discovered from experience that it is better to get ALL work done at a SAAB garage because they have the experience.
For me, I do planned maintenance (ie I replace parts before they fail) and I do not expect any problems at the moment.
Each year I call into a SAAB mechanic and get him to do an oil change and at the same time 'check for problems'. I change oil & filter each year, I know that it is not necessary but oil is cheap and I am in contact and speaking to a mechanic. This sounds really strange...but I ask the mechanic to check; plastic and rubber parts, electric switches around the engine. Things like that, ie things that perish and fail.
I do my research through SAAB forums and I am aware of the general issues that come with age and mileage so I am ready for that type of conversation with the mechanic after he has done his check. The mechanics generally come up with nothing so I just end up replacing parts based on actual experiences from the SAAB forums.
At this stage I just need an oil change and a check over.
How do you approach maintaining your SAAB?
Thank you.
Regards
Robert