What I Did To My Saab Today.

[Audax]

...and following on from my previous post, today I replaced the locking screws with standard screws along with doing my monthly checks. Oh, and I replaced the broken clip on the battery cover. 

[Max Headroom]

Some time ago I noticed my gear-lever gaiter was starting to look a bit scruffy and dog-eared. It's not actually made of leather and the leatherette was starting to show the fabric through it where it was repeatedly creased.

I acquired a new one on eBay made from leather, from a seller called "the-tuning-shop-team" and I'm very pleased with it, however...

Some time ago I had an issue with the gear-knob unexpectedly coming off in my hand  and that was remedied using PTFE tape, but when it came to fitting this new gaiter I couldn't get the bloody knob off to get the gaiter on!

I eventually decided to gently stretch the leather over a period of days, by sliding it over the gear-knob as far as it would go and just leaving it for a few hours followed by more manipulation and further stretching.
Repeating this eventually stretched the leather enough and it finally did go over the gear-knob and without bursting the stitching or damaging it in any way. Stretching it made no significant difference to the way it fitted around the bottom of the gear-knob with the plastic tie-wrap, and overall I'm very pleased with the way it fitted at the base. 

I should mention that the old gaiter was simply cut off

[Audax]

I had noticed this earlier in the year shortly after getting the car that the drivers side heated mirror didn't seem to be very good at heating itself. Yesterday morning the mirror was covered in condensation for the first time this autumn and didn't clear itself so off I went to ebay and found a seller 4a.parts who wanted £11.04 for a replacement heated mirror glass, glass turned up today. 5 minutes later and the old one was off and I measured the resistance of the old glass vs. new, old was 4 Mohm, new is 11 ohm so new mirror fitted and job done.

[Max Headroom]

Audax my driver's mirror has the same symptom - it's clearly an easy job, but how do I do it and what tools do I need?

[Audax]

Audax my driver's mirror has the same symptom - it's clearly an easy job, but how do I do it and what tools do I need?

All you need is a screwdriver, to remove adjust the mirror with the adjustment in the car so that the glass is tilted as far away from the car as possible (as in keep adjusting it until you can't see the side of the car and keep going) and then fold the mirror body housing flat against the car. You can then look under the side of the mirror closest to the car and you will see 2 ends of a bit of wire, you just have to unhook these bits of wire from the glass and then pull it quite hard to get it off. I would suggest you get a new mirror glass (including the metal clip) first and you'll then understand how to remove it by seeing the new one. To fit a new mirror you put the wire clip in place and just push it over the motor and it will clip into place.

[sgould]

You have to unhook the two ends of the wire clip.  I do it by opening the window and working while sitting down!!

When refitting, you can put the clip in place and just press the glass back into place.  It clips to the edge of the circular motor.  A bit of grease helps. 

The edges of the mirror are fragile.  I attach the suction cup of my old satnav to the middle of the mirror and use that to hold and remove/replace the glass.

[Max Headroom]

Got it!

Thanks guys - excellent descriptions; Mirror on order from same seller. 

[Audax]

Today I cleaned the throttle body on the 9-3. Fairly easy job although getting in the inlet pipe off the throttle body was a real pain as it was stuck solid. The throttle body was absolutely filthy with lots of sticky carbon deposits coating it. I used about half a can of carb cleaner and it's now much cleaner. Not driven the car yet but it sounded lots better on startup, I'm hoping this is the cause of occasional stuttering starts and that I am not in line for having to get the inlet valves replaced.

[sgould]

Put the winter wheels on yesterday and today I replaced the broken clip on the windscreen pillar that holds parking receipts.

[sgould]

This afternoon I fitted the new upgraded set of Tyrepal wheel sensors.  My old set are now on her Carlsson winter wheels.  Her summer tyres have the OE pressure sensors fitted.


This One

[StanleyB]

This afternoon I fitted the new upgraded set of Tyrepal wheel sensors. 

I hadn't even realized that you could buy after market kits like this to fit to any car. I just ordered two of the cigarette lighter plugin types to try out on our cars. The wife is the worst offender I know of who doesn't check anything on her car. 

[sgould]

Just spent the morning making her car driveable. The courtesy car from the repairers won't arrive until Monday.

So pulled off the door card and removed the broken mirror.  All gaffer taped over. 

I took the door card off the old Vector a few times, but the clips have changed over the years and the ones on the Carlsson are now a lot harder to unclip.  But otherwise much the same.

[Geoff1951]

Just spent the morning making her car driveable. The courtesy car from the repairers won't arrive until Monday.

So pulled off the door card and removed the broken mirror.  All gaffer taped over. 
...

Have I missed something?

[sgould]

She got sideswiped by a lad on a motorbike who was overtaking in the wrong place.

[Geoff1951]

She got sideswiped by a lad on a motorbike who was overtaking in the wrong place.