What I Did To My Saab Today.

[David]

Blimey Will, that looks rather complicated to simply change a light bulb. Saying that I have still to attempt the front side lights on my DE.

[Norfolk Jim]

They are simple David as long as you take the front bumper off which actually is pretty easy as I managed it when i had mine 

[sgould]

Well it's raining and I have a problem.

Yesterday the right rear brake light bulb failed.  Replaced it and it worked.  So I did the LH one too to balance things up.  All checked and working.

This morning the warning comes up again and the new LH one is out.  Should have left well alone.

[sgould]

Reseated the bulb and adjusted the two contacts and it seems to be OK now.

It looks a lot, but I managed to ix it during an advert break in Countdown...

[Norfolk Jim]

'Countdown' Will - really?

[sgould]

At my age I'm lucky to still be able to see the TV and find the remote!!

A good afternoon of puzzles and quizzes can be had.  Pressure Pad. Fifteen to One. Countdown. Tipping Point. Pointless. Eggheads.

Then it's time for tea!!

[Geoff1951]

Ah, the labours of the fully retired.

[Norfolk Jim]

Last night i finally got round to fitting my storage tray in front of gear lever and whilst the old ash tray was out I finally got round to fitting my Samsung S7 phone holder and wireless charger.

The wire that came with the charger wasn't quite long enough but I had a USB extension wire which I fed from the back of the ashtray/storage shelf slot through the drivers side footwell (side panel comes off easily), across dashboard under steering wheel to the door. The end panel of dash comes off easily so I coiled up the excess wire and clipped it together in the void behind this panel so wire just popped up in corner of windscreen then simple plug into bottom of holder. Plug USB into charger socket and voile cables all hidden and no more of having to plug charging cable into phone. Simply place phone into holder squeeze together and when ignition switched on phone automatically charges and charger shuts off when fully charged until phone next used. All sits very neatly above side airvent - benefit also it keeps phone cool.

BTW - in the cubby hole you can see a small rubber mat - called a tree frog and is brilliant. It's sticky but it isn't - if you get my meaning. slap onto any shiny surface (dashboard, door tops etc) and you can happily lay loose items such as phone, keys and the like and they won't slip. Occasionally wash it and it then retains it's sticky feel - get them from Mobilefun.co.uk - cheap as well. I use mine in the camper and it stops that annoying stuff moving around (sunglasses just put down for a minute)..........................

[sgould]

How do you find the durability of those stick mats?  I have one that was supplied for the Tyrepal tyre pressure monitoring head unit.  It works well, but after two years on the dashboard, the edge most exposed to the sun has melted into a sticky mess!

[Norfolk Jim]

I give it a good wash in soapy water but mine is an original Tree Frog and there are a few imitations around. I have one on the dash of the camper that sits there all year round used for sat nav and had no issues with sun. It survived Italy last year at around 34 deg in full sun.

[fka]

Another roundup of "what I've done to my Saab recently"

Had a few issues with my stage 3+ Noobtune map, that I've been working through with some great support from Karl.

Two main issues:
I was running lean leading to misfires under load. this was tracked down to my MAF giving a low air mass reading. Cleaned the MAF to no avail so replaced it with a new original GM part sourced for £51 including postage.

Second is a bit of an odd one. My bypass/diverter valve (A basic Maptun piston type.) when orientated the wrong way round i.e with the nipple facing the slam panel, it wont hold boost. If I apply pressure to the port that is at 90 degrees to the action of the piston, it leaks into the nipple end. However if I apply a vacuum to the nipple end, the valve opens and the vacuum holds. If I apply pressure to the port inline with the action of the piston, there is a good seal and the spring holds.
There's obviously something amiss in the manufacturing of the valve since it shouldn't matter which way it's orientated and whether under vacuum or pressure the two seals around the diameter of the piston should hold.
What I think was happening with it orientated the 'wrong' way round, boost was leaking from the nipple end into the recirculation pipe - Not very happy with that theory but with the valve the 'correct' way around it holds boost OK.

In other news - I did a full service. Amongst the usual items, replaced by cabin air filter. The old one was disgusting, black and mouldy as I'd forgotten to do it for over 2 years.
I've decided to bin the ITG panel air filter and have gone back to a standard Saab paper filter, as I'm sure the filter oil and regular cleaning have not done my old MAF any favours.

And finally - I re-blacked my exterior trim with Forever Black, vinyl die and am very happy with the results .. maybe a few pics to follow ..

D

[sgould]

While I was trying to pin down the power steering problem, I took the hose off the end of the MAF.

Mine looks quite clean after 140,000 miles...

[fka]

Are you running with an aftermarket filter?
Mines never really looked dirty but the smallest of contaminants on any of the 3 resistors and they will give a false reading. As there's a risk with an oiled filter that oil could be sprayed onto it, I've always sprayed it with a good quality electrical contact cleaner *edit* when I do a service.
But to be honest this is the first time I've every really had a problem with it

My under WOT Mair was around 1200mg for 1.4bar of boost, so assuming the boost pressure was reading correctly, the Mair figure was lower than actual so the ECU would have fuelled according to Mair figure and been lean .. I now read about 1280>1300 MAir for 1.4>1.5 bar

[sgould]

I don't have open SID, so I can't check without connecting up the Tech2 etc.

But the car has been serviced by the local dealer/approved service agent since 10,000 miles.  So just the normal Saab OE filters.

[fka]

In theory, if you've had regular Saab filters it shouldn't ever need cleaning.
There's so little to gain from an aftermarket filter, I just don't see the point in having one and potentially messing up a delicate sensor.

You could always buy a cheap OBD2 data logger if you were interested in seeing the info. I'm only just getting to really know what's what but it's really interesting.