Graphite Green 9-5 Aero rescue

[carrera]

Thanks for confirming where the rubber goes, I'll need to get the roller and then can see if it will slip in nicely. Is the symptom that the rubber has come out a bit of a rattle when you close the door, if sop then the other side probably needs doing.

Mines an '03 model so pre shark tooth front bumper, thanks for the offer anyway, but the headlight could come in useful  . I'm getting my parts list together, I might get underneath later today and see what's necessary from that perspective. I know it needs a tie rod, and probably an engine mount as I can feel movement / a clunk when the engine starts. Nothing more when driving around though.

A couple of quick successes this morning. Remote entry is not working again. Key fob battery. One was 0v, it took about 3 presses before the code was recognised, and then the other one started working too after a couple of presses. I suppose the rolling codes got out of sequence ?

Next was the electric seats / mirrors. Seats were working, but a couple of the memory buttons were sticky. A few squirts of electrical contact spray and a bit of wiggling with a jewellers screwdriver and they are all fine now. The Vauxhall Cavalier mirror adjuster seems a bit sluggish to respond to presses, contact cleaner needed there no doubt.

I have a question on the mirrors though. I thought they were all supposed to be body colour. I seem to have black mirrors, is that normal for a graphite green car or have they both been swapped. As I like my cars original I'm happy to get them repainted if they should be.

There's a button on the dash for retractable mirrors, but neither of them are moving. Given this car seems to have a healthy dose of electrical gremlins, maybe it's another bunch of them, or maybe both mirror heads have been swapped over for non retractable. Only way to tell will be to whip them off I suppose.

Thanks for the interest Phoenix - quite an apt name for my project

[phoenix]

The shark tooth I have is complete with all grilles, fogs etc except the chrome inserts which are the same so it is a direct bolt on replacement I'd bought it to fit to my old MY03 but then got an Edna.

I put the rubber back in mine... but after a little while it snagged and fell out whilst at the same time popping the rollers off. I think once it's damaged it's no good. I ran it without for around 8 years. The only issue was that if you shut the door with the window down it rattled.

The mirrors should be colour coded. The folding mechanism normally fails because of a thermal fuse in the mirror. You can dig it out and re-solder a newer higher rated one in its place. I've done this on mine.

[sgould]

This is the bit that fails and stops the motor.  The yellow and white wires are soldered to the folding motor, so it's not a replaceable part, or sold as such.  Either dig out the bits from the resin and fix it, or find one from a breaker and cut and crimp the wires.

But, it's unusual for both to fail.  You may find that there's switch or wiring problem.   On the other hand, two black mirror casings suggest that the mirrors have been hit and damaged.

[phoenix]

This is the bit you need to replace:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0-4A-400mA-RXEF040-UF040-Resettable-Fuse-72V-PTC-Polyswitch-Polyfuse-48v-W13-/222970817582

It's quite fiddly to cut out but once you hack away enough of the potting compound (I used a plastic cutting disc on a dremmel) you can cut the top off leaving the legs to solder the new one on to.

[carrera]

Cheers for that.

I'm still looking at the silly/easy stuff before I go underneath.

Next on my list was the sunroof. It's completely dead, no clicking or anything. So after a quick read around I checked fuses 23 and 26. Both fine, both with 12V. Next in the current flow is the motor, but as that's up in the roof I thought I would go to the end and check the earth connection at G33, left hand A post, not expecting to find a problem.

I couldn't see any connection so ended up taking the glovebox out to get a better view. No sign of a connection or a loose wire.

Am I looking in the right place. Is it possibly on the other A post for RHD 

This car definitely has electrical gremlins, glovebox light isn't working either and the holder doesn't want to come out.

[fka]

I've just refit the rubber window guide for the 2nd time in a year, but I've nomorenailed the little bugger in this time so I'm hoping it's the last time..

Great thread BTW carrera, I love seeing these projects progressing! And I'm absolutely coveting your vented seats 

[carrera]

You can have first bagsy on the vented seats if I break it 

Having given up on finding the earth I decided to venture up into the roof.

Instructions aren't that clear, remove the clear lens from the front, that exposes a screw that allows you to remove the outer cover. Then there's a couple of screws at the front AND a couple of middle screws, which are hidden by the headlining. My finger is showing where they are, you have to remove the sun visor screws.

Wish me luck, I'm about to go in armed with the meter

[carrera]

Well that was easy, after a few hours work.

When I removed the overhead switch cluster there was a big loose connector

Checked earth, terminal 6 - good earth
Checked permanant live, terminal 5, 12v
Checked switched live, terminal 1, 12v

Might as well plug it in then.

Everything works, though it was a bit slow. The battery is probably low and a bit of the right lubrication (what ?) in the mechanism probably won't go amiss.

All a bit boring in the end, time to reassemble.

I can't help thinking that someone has removed the connector for a reason. There was a tell tale, one of the plastic clips on the light sensor cover was damaged.

Hmmm 

ps - Took the opportunity to replace two out of the three bulbs for the seat belt sign

[carrera]

Not much of an update, but the grey Aero passed its MOT today, blue one is being prepped.

I went back to reasembling the left hand side of the dash and got distracted into trying to get the glovebox light working.

It was all melted and manky and not working. After numerous attempts at soldering I got it working, then found out it didn't switch off. Then I consulted the wiring diagram to find out how it worked and I finally realised the melted bits were the remains of the switching mechanism, which is made / broken by the operation of the glovebox damper.

Something else to add to the shopping list, but I suspect I need two as the light isn't working in the grey one either and the lens is deformed.   Good as gold in the blue one though 

I bought another special tool today. Wiper arm remover, just could not get them off so I can lubricate the mechanism on the blue one which is squeeky

[fka]

The melted glovebox light seems quite a common issue. Had the same problem with my 9-5, it's quite a cheap and IIRC a common GM part.
Just make sure once you've replaced it the mechanism is actually being triggered when the glovebox is shut.

Just found my post here ... http://www.saabtechtalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=3696.0

[carrera]

I started looking under the car now.

As suspected, one of the tie rods looks bent, I will need to remove the boot at the steering rack and inspect more closely.

Somewhat disappointingly, it looks like the NSF strut is kinked. That'll also help explain the steering wheel being off centre.

Does anyone know the difference between the sport dampers. There seem to be four types according to the parts diagrams, grey and blue, 2002-2003 and post 2003.

While I am sure any will fit, there must be some differences between the four part numbers, though I note all 4 are supeceded by just one part number.

Mine's a blue colour code, 2002-2003 type.
 

[sgould]

Saab seemed to try a lot of suspension variations, then settle on a final one. 

If you are looking to change all the suspension, then you should look at the "B12" kit.  This is the Bilstein B8 dampers and struts along with the Eibach Pro-Kit springs.  I have it on my 2007 estate and it's very good.  My kit came with new front top mounts "for free".  These mounts were the most expensive free item I have had.  They lasted about 500 miles before falling apart...

[carrera]

Thanks for that.

I'm just wanting to get the car on the road rather than invest in upgrades - TBH I'm happy enough with the suspension on my blue Aero, the grey one is not as good, but that has inferior tyres on, at the moment.

I guess the dampers are one way only, so it's only the bump valveing which varies. If that is the difference then I need to find the same part number or a matched pair. It's getting more expensive.

[carrera]

Time for a little update on this as she's benefitted from some work over the past couple of days.

First thing I have done is remove the air filter box and drop the oil cooler pipe down. Why ?, Well you may have guessed by now that I decided while the front bumper was off it woul;d be a good time to clean up the various pipes at the front end for the coolers, derust them and then put some protection in place. After rubbing down I just put some hammerite smooth on. I think there are better direct to metal paints out there, but it's what I had on the shelf, and something is better than nothing.

I then looked at the front bumper crossmember and did a similar thing.  That didn't fare so well as the water accumulation behind the foam across the central upper part has allowed the rust to really take hold and in parts sections of the upper part had disappeared . Again, for the moment I prepared and painted it with hammerite. Definitely not bodyshop standard, but at least it will not get worse. This type of damage is not visible without removing the front bumper, I wonder how many have this sort of deterioration.

Next I noticed that one of the wires to the left indicator was hanging loose (I assume caused by the accident damage). After confirming that the bulbholder does only have two connections I concluded that the green wire must be for side markers in the US and not required in this country. I was therefore able to just tidy the cable up and make the loom good. The indicator works

Getting the siren from the breaker car I then straightend out the metal work for the alarm / siren, fitted it and made the electrical connections. Straigtforward job and good because there is no longer a theft alarm warning on SID 

Washer bottle is now refitted and all the pipes / pumps are in place, so on that corner if needs the replacement wing painting and fitting

That was yesterdays work, today I have been tackling the brakes, which worked fine, but looked a bit grotty.... well a lot grotty. As there was nothing actually wrong with them, but I wanted a future disc replacement to be easy I have stripped all the brakes down, cleaned up the ridges on the disc and replaced everything. The 4th corner is in the middle of the rebuild now, so that will be finished tomorrow. Was there anything of note for a vanilla job ?

Just a couple of things

1. Front caliper carrier bolts. I think these have been off before, as there was a liberal coating of blue thread sealant, over about 5 threads and covering the inside flange. I really struggled to loosen these off, getting an initial crack with my 600mm breaker bar was fine, beyond that I really did have to use almost all of my mass and strength to undo the bolts and you should have seen the bend on the bar. Thanks to whoever did that    The next person will not have that problem, torque is sufficient for me.

2. Rear discs. This was interesting. The shoes looked very blue and almost like new in there, yet I would not have expected replacement to be needed by this mileage. There was a reasonable lip on the handbrake part of the disc which I filed away so there won;t be an issue getting the discs off next time, even with the adjuster fully backed off.

[sgould]

Every time I've found a substantial ridge on the edge of the discs, they have been found to be below the minimum thickness.  Have you checked them?

The Aero front discs are 25mm with a minimum of 22mm and the ventilated rears are 20mm with a minimum of 18mm.  But filing the lip on the drum(?) is OK.

For rust treatment, I've been impressed with "Hydrate 80" from Bilt Hamber.  I used it on my rear arches and on the rust on the roof.  I did the roof over three years ago, when I cleaned the brush, I just brushed it out on a rusty chain.  That chain has dangled in the open air since then and it's still not rusty.  No paint over it.

Hydrate 80 can be painted over and also sticks to bare metal.  I slap it on all over, leave it 24 hours, then sand everything down and prime.