Recent Posts

1

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by welshwizard on Today at 11:49:11 AM »

Confidence gained by hopefully fixing the water issue without breaking any trim gives me the confidence to try to fix the horn on the NG before the MOT.

The bootlid fix on the Golf is holding after the biblical rain we've had for the past few days.  However, a 'shakedown' journey from Richmond to Bracknell tells the truth I've not fixed the issue, there was a bit of water collecting in the bootwell when I arrived at work.  Because I had not refitted the carpet etc I could see where the water was coming from, which means bumper off in the spring/summer.  The Golf has a weakness behind the bumper and below the lights, it's where the external vents are and they become loose over time, and water collects in a recess.  There is a gromit that, when you can access it, allows you to drain the water - a temporary fix - but I have just ordered a syringe set from Amazon which allows me just to take some trim from the side of the boot and access the recess through there and suck the water up.  Summer time I will fix the vents properly.

2

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by welshwizard on Today at 11:41:48 AM »

I had that when my old battery was failing and the BCM taken over by the devil.  Try driving across Dartmoor in awful weather in the dark during Covid times (evicted from hotel) with nothing working from the steering wheel or stalks....

3

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by carrera on 18 February 2026, 06:42:28 PM »

There does seem to be a programming logic that opens the boot when the battery voltage drops below a certain level. I'm not saying that's what happening, but it's an interesting aside to the NG's foibles

4

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by welshwizard on 18 February 2026, 01:04:42 PM »

I do have the Poltergeist playing silly tricks on my NG again today....got to work parked up and tried to lock the car, feeble horn parped when I used my remote...tried a few times and I got the horn blowing.  Went round the car and boot was shut and none of the doors were ajar.  Tried the remote again 'beep!'

Gave up. 

Lunchtime - went to the car, it was locked and started the ignition 'boot lid open'     Had no reason to open the boot this morning, no warnings on my way into work...tried it and it felt and looked shut...   gave the lid a tug and it opened....

Used fob again, no horn...

I was going to take the Golf into work this morning, as Saab was low on fuel.  But Openreach are working on our round, thus blocking Madge (the Golf, so called because I had a Dame Edna).  Confidence gained by hopefully fixing the water issue without breaking any trim gives me the confidence to try to fix the horn on the NG before the MOT.

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by carrera on 17 February 2026, 07:29:38 PM »

I put a battery on the grey 9-5 estate yesterday, I was a bit concerned as she had been left standing since passing her MOT.

Started first time, but there had been condensation inside so I had to go round with the Mr Sheen removing the early signs of mould

No handbrake problem, as I didn't put it on, and a few moves forwards & backwards got the brake discs cleaned of rust

These rims don't have any leakage problems 

6

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by sgould on 17 February 2026, 05:18:43 PM »

I went out in the sun and checked the car after several days of rain.  It was dry.  I'm wondering if the tailgate was not fully shut.

But I took the opportunity to go to Tesco.... and found that the handbrake had stuck on snd the wheel just dragged!!   A quick to and fro and it freed off.  It won't be going on again soon....

7

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by sgould on 17 February 2026, 09:44:59 AM »

I still have the “long bronchitis”, so I have only checked the car on a couple of occasions.  The blue tissue I trapped around the edge of the parcel shelf has remained dry, even though there has been continual rain.  The floor was dry the first time I checked, but there was a small wet l patch on the floor the second time I looked.  I am planning to check again today as it’s going to be sunny.

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by ScarbSaab on 17 February 2026, 07:45:15 AM »

I neglected to post that over the holidays I worked on the '04 estate, thanks to the use of an empty unit at work. I stripped down the tailgate which was in a much worse state than I thought, removed/treated (as best I could) the rust on the tailgate and the arches, filled, resprayed and polished the rear quarters and tailgate. The lacquer on the doors was rubbed down and resprayed, which has hidden most of the scratches. The headlights were clouding again, so they were polished and given the UV treatment. So no bubbling paintwork or peeling lacquer at the rear. My spraying is not the best, I couldn't get it fully wet without runs and then I ran out of time. So come the spring I will try to flat it and polish it better. I've made numerous mistakes, but she looks a lot better than before.

Sadly, she does appear to have a leak onto the parcel shelf. I think it's the rear washer hose as it was really damp after I had been trying to get the jet working, and we haven't seen any more since despite torrential rain. So that's another spring job: remove the lining and fix the washer pipe!

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Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by carrera on 16 February 2026, 08:35:22 PM »

Looks like there's not many working on their Saabs at the moment, partly because they're working on their other cars.

Meanwhile, Will seems to be the only one with a leaking Saab. Perhaps

10

Off-topic chat, Help, Advice, General motoring issues / Re: What I Did To My Saab Today.

« Last post by Geoff1951 on 16 February 2026, 08:02:13 PM »

I'm currently working on a 107, for which water ingress is a similar feature. ...

As is my wife's VW Up. Paddling pool in the driver side footwell.
As for the silica pouches, I leave them on a radiator in the kitchen.  They dry out better than in the microwave.