What I Did To My Saab Today.

[Audax]

I've done a few bits recently, replaced the mats with some new genuine mats (which incidently are not quite the right size or the same thickness as the ones that came out of the car...) and I've ordered an ECU heatshield.

I've replaced the front left and right in dash speakers with some Hertz DCX 87.3 from Amazon which cost £45 for the pair. Rather than butcher the existing wiring (I hate it when people do that!) I made a short loom and when I removed the old speakers I drilled out the rivet holding the speaker connector and removed it from the old speakers and attached it to my home made loom. Certainly the speakers sound way better now and while doing that job I removed the hanging cover for the OBD port as the car has an Esid 3 fitted.

If that wasn't enough the car is going in to Indysaab this week to have the exhaust welded, replacement driveshaft gaiter, replacement inner steering rods, remove the locking wheel nuts and replace with standard and have a replacement steering wheel fitted as mine is very tatty and they are going to remove the stuck spark plugs. I was wondering about replacing some of the other speakers too, but I think I'll wait for the bill on that lot first.

[sgould]

I forgot to mention that while the Carlsson was in for te service, I got Joe to check over the new stainless exhaust that was installed at the end of January.  He said it was a good job and solid. 

[sgould]

Today I took a deep breath breath and decided to replace the rear door lock on the 9-3 Carlsson. It's not a straightforward job, you have to remove the window and door seals first.  The two side window runners are held in with screwed plates.  WIS says that there are more screws than I found, and whats there is definitely factory fit. 

it took a while, but it's done and the rear door locks and unlocks...

Picture of all the bits removed and replaced before I got to the lock.  The glass is safe elsewhere!!

[ScarbSaab]

Replaced the boot latch on the estate. I couldn't get the original to reliably unlock and release, so bought one from an earlier car (with the key operated release mechanism). I bent the key operation disengage lever up so it fits without cutting a hole in the tailgate. (I won't be using it, there's no key barrel to link to.) After much fiddling and muttering, I have a nearly straight release rod, she locks/unlocks, and the handle releases the boot latch.

Many thanks for the advice on fixing this.

[welshwizard]

Got a price on getting the rear NS door of my NG9-5 repainted.  Same guys who fixed my older Saabs after self-inflicted mishaps in the past.

This one is to repair a 'historical' 'bodge'.  When I picked up Helga in early 2017 I was aware the door was a slightly darker shade compared to rear NS quarter and front door.  Never bothered me, it is only in the last year that the lacquer had deteriorated such that the finish was rough and the door looked pretty dire (same as my old 99)... So it's a repaint job with blending will be done late summer/early autumn just to make the car more saleable when the dreaded day comes.  Just under £800.

[welshwizard]

Got a stonechip on my NG9-5 windscreen.  Repair job I thought but National Windscreens thought it was replacement.  Photos sent to 'control' let's see what they say.  Let's hope they don't beat Autoglass's record of 14 months!

[ScarbSaab]

Removed rear bumper, wheel arch liners, and side skirts from the estate. Horrified by how much rust was hidden from view - poked holes in a couple of places (one into the boot floor underneath a plastic side cubby). The side supports for the rear bumper are practically floating. Sadly, she won't last many more years without professional restoration which is not affordable, so a lot of rust removal, Hydrate 80. filling and underbody sealant. Not completed, waiting on some of the bits to dry/cure.

Plan to do the same for her younger sister - hopefully before it reaches this state.

[carrera]

The 2003 9-5 has been having a little bit of a rest, and has been suffering from non starts from a low battery.

The passenger window was dropping so time to dig one of my green runners off the shelf & fit that to allow a return to normal window operation. As usual, the rubber seal from the rear of the door was displaced & in the bottom. I cleaned up the runner, sprayed with silicone & reassembled

As part of testing I noticed that sometimes the radio was staying on. Oh, so here goes with another of the usual repairs.

I found my special home made tool that allows the removal of the ignition barrel. Literally 2 minutes & she was out. There followed a couple of hours of cleaning the barrel, filing some of the pins to make the rotation operation smoother & manually operating the return mechanism so that it sprang back correctly.

I'm hoping this solves the non starts, a battery test said that the battery was weak, but still OK to use, the voltage drop wasn't too bad at all.

I suppose we'll find out soon enough if it is the battery or not

[sgould]

Today i started polishing the the lenses on the spare headlamp units on the 9-5.  They are badly pitted and I changed both lamp units for a pair I got cheaply through the Saab forums, over ayear ago.

The ones in the car now have one beam looking odd and the bulb may have slipped, but polishing the spare pair will give me options if the current unit is broken rather than the bulb falling out,

[sgould]

The beams are now fine.  I fitted a pair of second-hand headlamps a bit over a year ago.  I don't drive in the dark these days unless I have to, so it's only recently that I noticed the problem.

It turns out that the lamps I bought and fitted, are fine, but someone previously has fitted one of the xenon bulbs 180 degrees out.  The connector is at the top and not the bottom.  It wasn't locked in correctly.  I should have checked, but I never thought of that issue...

New bulbs fitted and looking good.  I will have to adjust the alignment when it's dark.

[sgould]

Two new tyres on Tuesday.  Now one of the tyre pressure monitors isn’t working.  New ones are £72 from SaabParts.  Fortunately I picked up a brand new set of 4 at the NEVS parts sell-off in Trollhättan last year for £20.  Just need to get it fitted.

[carrera]

Fitted new power steering pipe to the NG9-5 TTiD, together with a set of front discs & pads

All good

[Steve McF]

Been a while since I posted on this thread, but today I finally got round to taking the pollen filter housing off, cleaning off the crumbly old seal, fitting a new one, adding silicone sealant as well, and then refitting it. Just like Cyclone Syd does it!!!

Also took the opportunity to lubricate the fan bearing. Been meaning to do it for a while, but done now👍 Will see how it holds up, because it had started squeaking again. I need to remove the fan from inside and take a better look at it at some point.

[welshwizard]

National Windscreens have just been to fix 2 chips in my NG9-5 windscreen - at least I did not need a replacement this time.

20 min job.

[sgould]

My 9-5 estate got an MOT for another year. 190,000 miles and 19 years old.  Two minor advisories.