Workshop for current Saab models > New Saab 9-5 (2010 on)

Another Ng 9-5 joins the forum

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carrera:
Yesterday, I took the plunge into the strange new world that is the NG 9-5, and as it was in London, I've put 250 miles on it so far and managed to work out a fair bit of the infotainment stuff.

What is it: It's a 2.0 Turbo4 ,Aero spec, Manual with XWD

As you would expect, it needs some work including a few bodywork things, nothing serious though.

Short term, these are the main things, in no particular order

Try to re-blacken the radio buttons that are worn through to white. Previous owner was definitely a bit of a fiddler in this regard
Replace the front number plate, that's easy & ordered
Decent clean & polish, though the paintwork overall is pretty good
There's a deep scratch in the rear 3/4, which may involve getting a paintshop involved, aerosol for other stuff will be ready later this afternoon
Light bar on the boot needs fixing, it's dim


There are two less cosmetic things to deal with

1. The headlamp washers are "disabled" & have rubber strips where the covers should be. I think these are just delivery nozzles, with a pressure pump on the washer bottle. I need to find out what bits I need & where to get them from
2. Spotted this morning there are two airbag warnings visible on the roof console

Which means I'm going to have to get something to do what I used to be able to do with Tech II, so as well as engine OBD, ABS and airbag capabilities are a minimum & I don't do subscription based stuff. I do have an iCarSoft reader for another car, which seems to work well enough, but I'm really looking for any recommendations.

Pictures may follow,

carrera:
Here they are

Front view, some condensation in the indicator lens, and the non standard headlight washer delete



and a rear view, the GB badge is covering some battle damage

carrera:
I have started to look at the car. Good news on the headlight washers, everything behind the rubber cover seems to be in place & working. I might have to replace the nearside nozzle as it looks like one of the pivots for the cover looks shorter than it should be. I'm trying to understand why this was done, as the bumper behind the rubber is damaged by glue. That'll get a temporary touch up, followed by something better when I have the jet covers.

I noticed the NG has moved to studs rather than bolts, so just nuts to remove. They are bigger, no problem, I'll get the usual 19mm out. Too small. Right, so 22mm is the next normal size. Well it goes on, nut not very far. 24mm is too big, have I got a 23mm socket, well I doubt it, I've never had use for a 23mm before. Well, would you believe it, in the 9000 I rescued recently, there was an unusual socket in there, double ended 21mm and 23mm. must be especially for newer wheel sizes. Best news is that none of the wheel nuts, including the security ones were overtightened. That's a good sign.

Pulled the boot floor up to look at the toolkit (intact), spare wheel (touched up), wheel brace (interesting pivot design which convinced me that 23mm was the right size). The wheel brace was a bit rusty so that's been cleaned up & painted. There's something else supposed to be in the roll up bag, but I haven't discovered what it is yet. Something for the shopping list.

The main objective here was to find out what the provision for towing is. Disappointed, but not surprised to find that the "Towing relay" and associated wiring are not fitted to the car. That's a bit of a departure to earlier designs. Unless anyone knows of a better route, this does suggest that use of an aftermarket towbar will require an aftermarket adapter which can run traditional 12v bulbs. I do hope that doesn't mean scotchlocks.

TomPaine:
Very glad that such a handsome car has gone to such a good home carrera. They are so rare in the wild that this is very cheering intel. Well done on the acquisition and keep the pics and writeup coming - very enjoyable.

carrera:
Thanks for the feedback Tom

Today was quite slow, everything was different. I couldn't even get the car on the ramp without making up some wood/rubber blocks as the rear lifting point is so high.

Messed around for well over an hour removing plastic covers & trying to get access to release the drivebelt tensioner - it makes a rhytmic noise when cold, which disappears with some fluid on the back of the belt. Having got satisfied that the hole is 3/8" I have ordered a tool to do the job as there is very little clearance between the tensioner & chassis leg. Then I can see if there's a noisy pulley somewhere

The front pads need replacing, there's only ~3mm  pad material left, rears are not as bad, but they need doing too. The front caliper design is very similar to a 6N2 Polo GTi, just a lot bigger

I ended the day doing tyre pressures. Well worth it, they were well down, one of them as low as 20 psi, when the spec is 280 kPa, or 41 psi. The car is much tighter, understandably the ride is a little more harsh, but the handling is much improved. It seems performance & mpg too, but maybe I'm being optimistic here.

I also recorded an 8 album mp3 CD to the hard disc. Very easy to do, but somewhat disappointing to discover that the songs are listed in alphabetical order, rather than track order. Maybe it's user error. There are more important things though

Looking under the car it is very very solid, with no corrosion that I could see save for the petrol tank heat shield & straps, A bit of treatment with Bydrate 80 will arrest that as part of the MOT prep

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