Saab 2.2 TiD smoky exhaust? - NickBr
Hi,

Sorry my first post is asking questions rather than offering help..

I Have a 2003 Saab 9-3 2.2 TiD, and today I noticed a bit more smoke than usual coming from the exhaust.

I'd been in traffic on the motorway, once that cleared i put my foot down and got the usual puff of smoke by being a bit too heavy footed - however I noticed that it was randomly letting out quite a bit of smoke for 2 or 3 seconds, and finally one big puff (I mean pretty big!)

This wasn't when accelerating particularly hard (if at all).. and it happened quite a bit on my drive home.

The car has done 51,000 - so is due a service in another 3k - I notice the manual states you should change the oil and filters in a diesel engine every 6k miles if you use your car in stop start traffic often (I drive on the motorway a lot, and with it being England, that means stop start for quite a bit!)

I've only had the car a few months, could the oil or filters have anything to do with this? (I have no experience with diesel cars, so don't really know where to start)

Your help is appreciated

nick

Saab 2.2 TiD smoky exhaust? - Roly93
I had this exact model same year too. It was never very smoky even when pushed hard.
If the performance is still okay then your MAF is probably okay it is just a build up of soot in the exhaust system which finally and violently dislodged itself.

Tell me does it make a raucous sound when accelarating with the engine cold ?

Mine always did this and the dealer could never spot anything wrong.

Also, I got rid of mine due to the excessively noisy engine even after 24K miles. Did your engine evr 'mellow down' at 51k miles ?
Saab 2.2 TiD smoky exhaust? - Armitage Shanks {p}
My partner has a 1999 2.2tid which has been the subject a number of threads/posts here over the years! She has lots of trouble with it (Turbo failure, MAF Failure, injection pump failure, sense of humour failure!) but blowing smoke hasn't been any of them! May I suggest an Italian tune up? Drive it at or just below the red line, in 3rd or 4th, for a few miles - that will blow things out! Straight clear road or a dual carriageway obviously and then see what you next service throws up
Saab 2.2 TiD smoky exhaust? - NickBr
Thanks for that..

The performance seems fine, though it will sometimes dip for a split second before it blows out its smoke.

Roly, I only bought the car at 35,000 miles, but I havn't noticed "excessive" noise. driving round town etc, you can hear the engine, but thats it. I read a lot of reviews on the car before i bought it, and there seemed to be a split of people saying they had issues with noisy and rattling engines - I made sure mine didn't in the test drive, although the 1.9TiD I also drove was quieter (I'd have got one if i wasn't 21.. insurance was more for some reason)

My turbo pipe split after 3 weeks of buying the car (not happy!) - luckily my saab dealer are pretty competant and sorted it in 3 hours, valeting it by way of apology
Saab 2.2 TiD smoky exhaust? - Roly93
It seems that cars fitted with this 2.2 engine do seem to swing either way in terms of noise. If I'm in a car park or alongside one in a traffic jam, most of the ones I see do seem to be reasonably quiet, but mine was terrible.