The new adventures of Brownnova! Another Saab joins the fleet… 13/10/24

[brownnova]

Job #1 the exhaust was hanging very low at the back, on closer inspection there were no rear rubber mounts. So a quick trip to ECP and we now sit properly. 

It repaid this intended investment by completely jamming the drivers seatbelt… it’s been a little temperamental but this morning it jammed totally. Managed to eventually free it off by wiggling the mechanism for about 15 mins… now it seems to be fine again!

Anyway, it’s now sat windows open in the sun trying to get rid of the damp smell! 

[Split_Pin]

In such cases I go to Aldi and get their jumbo kitchen roll. I then fold up some wads of it under the mats and keep replacing it every day until there's no more moisture to draw out. Easier than removing the carpets!

[brownnova]

When the weathers a touch warmer I’ll put an army of dehumidifiers in there 😂

[brownnova]

A little time investigating the convertible roof situation this evening.

a) Fuse, situation normal there. 
b) Hydraulic fluid situation. 

Yep we’re ok there. That’s a good sign I think.

c) anything visible… 

On all the bits I have watched the boot hood storage section seems to raise and lower, but on mine it just dangles into the boot. Theres a hinge which looks like it’s supposed to be upright like this…  

 

But I’m holding it here and as soon as I let go it flops back. Closer inspection reveals

This spring section appears to have sheared off at some point. No idea what it is, or what it does, but maybe this is what is stopping the roof from working… 

Sadly on this discovery I lost the light… one for some Google-fu and awaiting another day! 

[beko1987]

I hope it's a really common problem and you'll pay £12.99 posted for some really good stronger replacement parts and a good pdf how to guide 🤞🤞

Any shitty cheap wet vacs on your local Facebook marketplace? That'll dry her out nicely

[NorthernMonkey]

Going by the obstruction message that popped up, I’ll wager it’s the switch that detects when the boot divider is in place in order to let the roof operate. Sort that out and it’ll almost certainly result in a working soft top.

[Split_Pin]

You really need someone with Tech 2. There are many sensors in this mechanism which, if they go faulty, will stop the roof from working. 

I'd strongly recommend, if you haven't already, to join the Saab Convertible FB page and a local page as well. You'll definitely find someone who will be able to help, that's been my experience anyway

[brownnova]

9 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

You really need someone with Tech 2. There are many sensors in this mechanism which, if they go faulty, will stop the roof from working. 

Yeah this is very true, I’m trying to check the obvious first, but will be giving the Saab specialist in Wrexham a call this week for Tech 2 read! Sadly the one up the road in Rhyl has now closed so it’s a nearly an hours trek to the nearest Saab specialist. 

Someone on UK Saabs has had the same exact symptoms recently and appears to have solved it by cleaning sensors. So I’ll have a look at that too. 

9 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I'd strongly recommend, if you haven't already, to join the Saab Convertible FB page and a local page as well. You'll definitely find someone who will be able to help, that's been my experience anyway

Joined that now - thanks for the tip! 

[omegod]

On 03/04/2024 at 20:21, brownnova said:

A car which tells you things… 

There’s nothing in the boot but… 

Hmm… 

And 

Not quite sure why…. Too wet to investigate manual opening today.

As a bonus.,. 

So this one appeared today. Now the doors won’t lock on the fob and the drivers window won’t work… excellent.

Any ideas from your Saab 9-3 experience @Saabnut @Keymaster @Split_Pin

On the up side I’ve used the car a lot today, and it drives very well, and if I can get past these little issues I think I’ll probably really love it! 

Is your igintion barrel in the centere console or on the steering column ?

[Saabnut]

1 hour ago, omegod said:

Is your igintion barrel in the centere console or on the steering column ?

All Saabs from the 99  (early 1970s) onwards apart from the 9000 have centre ignition switches

[omegod]

Just now, Saabnut said:

All Saabs from the 99  (early 1970s) onwards apart from the 9000 have centre ignition switches

Reason I was asking was split_pin mentioning his remote locking going off line, I had this with a 9-3 and the barrel was gummed up and not "popping out" when removing the key, removed barrel  and a good soak in a solvent sorted mine 

[brownnova]

Lock system is the drivers door. Hasn’t done it since. Think I may have disturbed the wiring in the door shut cleaning the car. 

[brownnova]

Today was so nice it would have been rude not to have the roof off… 

Alas…. What it is not, is fixed. I utilised the manual opening technique to go for a drive with the roof off. Proves that the mechanism folds absolutely fine. The bit in the previous post is the roof storage box sensor, and apparently the actual roof will work fine even if this is goosed. 

Before spending on it I wanted to live with it w couple of weeks to determine a full list.

 In no particular order. 

- Roof inop
- damage to front bumper
- intermittent door lock failure message 
- drivers seatbelt jams 99 times out of 100. 
- suspension is creaky
- Brakes are creaky 
- pads and discs advisory on last MoT so will get these done. 
- missing towing eye cover 
- missing side repeater 
- damaged seat back (drivers) 
- damaged boot lid and boot lid hinge. 
- slight leak into the boot. 
- damaged wing mirror casing
- all dash buttons worn. 
- no idea when it was last serviced. 
- heater blowers don’t work
- main beam works on flash, but not doesn’t stay on.

 So yeah… I bought a cheap one. And surprisingly it needs work. But nothing on that list is too major (hopefully). And I did deliberately buy this one so I had money left over to spend on it. 

Plan is to chuck it at the Saab specialist for the roof and suspension bits. And then work through the other things myself one by one. 

[beko1987]

Tried furniture Polish on the seat belt? Extend it all the way and coat the belt near the bottom and roll it in and out a few times. 

Bonus points for having the B pillar trim off and getting some lube directly to it. Had this in a zx and doing that and cleaning the belts helped alot, was alot better at retracting and being a seat belt in general! 

Not a bad list though, a fair few things ignorable, the rest curable with some parts sniping and a sunny weekend👌

[Split_Pin]

Thats quite a list.

Heater blower will just be a symptom of a blocked scuttle drain. Water then overflows into the passenger footwell via the pollen filter and drips on the heater blower, seizes the bearing and burns our the motor.

The good news is that a new blower is about £50 new or less from a breaker and the whole lot is easily sorted, if a bit fiddly.

[brownnova]

8 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Thats quite a list.

Heater blower will just be a symptom of a blocked scuttle drain. Water then overflows into the passenger footwell via the pollen filter and drips on the heater blower, seizes the bearing and burns our the motor.

The good news is that a new blower is about £50 new or less from a breaker and the whole lot is easily sorted, if a bit fiddly.

Ah, that’s interesting. And there was me hoping it would be a simple fuse!

And yes, quite the list. A bit longer than I had hoped it would be. Part of me does think in hindsight I should have paid more for a more sorted one. But this one was a good colour and spec, and only 45 mins away and all the others I could see for sale were grey or silver and much further away! 

Anyway it’s done now! 

[brownnova]

16 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Bonus points for having the B pillar trim off and getting some lube directly to it.

It’s integral to the seat, and I can access the mechanism with where the seat back is damaged. It retracts fine, but it’s pulling it out which is the problem. 

[Split_Pin]

3 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Ah, that’s interesting. And there was me hoping it would be a simple fuse!

And yes, quite the list. A bit longer than I had hoped it would be. Part of me does think in hindsight I should have paid more for a more sorted one. But this one was a good colour and spec, and only 45 mins away and all the others I could see for sale were grey or silver and much further away! 

Anyway it’s done now! 

Cyclone Sid on You Tube has an excellent video on how to sort it, that's how I did mine. I got a used blower from a guy who is local to me and breaks Saabs, mainly 9-3s. It was quite straightforward as it is just behind the glovebox.

[brownnova]

1 minute ago, Split_Pin said:

Cyclone Sid on You Tube has an excellent video on how to sort it, that's how I did mine. I got a used blower from a guy who is local to me and breaks Saabs, mainly 9-3s. It was quite straightforward as it is just behind the glovebox.

Will look that video up! Thanks! 

[Keymaster]

The main beam issue will probably be dirty contacts in the switch. It's quite common. Mine does the same, intermittently.

First thing to try is pulling the stalk out, putting some contact cleaner in there reinserting the stalk and giving it a good workout.

If that doesn't work then the next level up is airbag off, steering wheel off, and cim removal to check the switch for damage/clean it/swap it. It's simple, just a bit of a faff so worth trying the contact cleaner route first.

[Keymaster]

Wing mirror casings - mine were scratched and holed so I got a pair of black plastic ones from neo brothers. Because of the amount of black trim on the car in general, plus the current trend for cars to have black mirrors, they look pretty good without needing paint. Easy to swap, just need to pop the mirror glass out to access the clips.

[Split_Pin]

You can just pull them off with your hands without having to remove anything.

[richardmorris]

https://www.partsforsaabs.com
 

[brownnova]

7 hours ago, Keymaster said:

The main beam issue will probably be dirty contacts in the switch. It's quite common. Mine does the same, intermittently.

First thing to try is pulling the stalk out, putting some contact cleaner in there reinserting the stalk and giving it a good workout.

If that doesn't work then the next level up is airbag off, steering wheel off, and cim removal to check the switch for damage/clean it/swap it. It's simple, just a bit of a faff so worth trying the contact cleaner route first.
 

If it’s anything like the 9000 it’ll be a relay somewhere! 

[brownnova]

Ok… it’s summer now so the convertible is surely needed!

What progress… 

- Roof inop booked in to car hoods northern for a quote
- damage to front bumper ignore for now. 
- intermittent door lock failure message This is the actuator. Only seems to trigger if the door is opened to its widest point. Once it happens manually working the lock seems to reset it. 
- drivers seatbelt jams 99 times out of 100. By far the most annoying feature. Was working ok but since getting it back from the garage it is not. Cant currently drive it as I can’t wear a seatbelt in it. Infuriating! 
- suspension is creaky repaired. Was a drop link. 
- Brakes are creaky This may just have been suspension creaking as the short run home showed no more creaky brakes .
- pads and discs advisory on last MoT so will get these done. They don’t look too bad, but will change them soon 
- missing towing eye cover replaced
- missing side repeater replaced

No progress on any of the below: 
- damaged seat back (drivers) 
- damaged boot lid and boot lid hinge. 
- slight leak into the boot. 
- damaged wing mirror casing
- all dash buttons worn. 
- no idea when it was last serviced. 
- heater blowers don’t work
- main beam works on flash, but not doesn’t stay on.

Heater blower work next I think, then some of the bodywork bits. I’ll procure a new boot hinge this week if I can.

Unfortunately car hoods northern being a way away means that the car will be aware for a few days again including next weekend… but better to have it all sorted to really enjoy through the height of summer. 
 

[Split_Pin]

Did you get the car hooked up to Tech 2? Thats the only real way of identifying whats up with the hood, other than anything immediately visible. I'm not sure where you are based but you'd get all the bits you need in Upullit for buttons, pun intended.  Both yards have several convertibles in.

 That's where I always go for Saab bits.

Front bumper splitter here for you if you still want it.

[RobT]

Ooft a 96.  Lovely.

How about a universal fit seat belt buckle?  Means you can drive it then until it's fixed properly.

[Saabnut]

Car hoods Northern supplied and fitted the new roof on my c900. Excellent job.

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, RobT said:

Ooft a 96.  Lovely.

How about a universal fit seat belt buckle?  Means you can drive it then until it's fixed properly.

Surely full on bucket seats and racing harness is the sensible solution? That'll enable it to be driven to the scrapyard to go find a proper reel/seat from a whole car. 

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

Surely full on bucket seats and racing harness is the sensible solution? That'll enable it to be driven to the scrapyard to go find a proper reel/seat from a whole car. 

then all the ladies would be comparing the bruises they give him