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  1. #1
    Saab Enthusiast photousa's Avatar
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    2003 Saab 9-5 Aero 2.3t Wagon HO Manual

    2003 Saab 9-5 Rear Parking Assist Adventure

    I really like the rear bumper parking assist feature on my Saab, but mine developed an issue, my SID was telling me, "Parking Assist Failure" with a warning tone. The general consensus when you ask about the rear sensors is that you must have a bad connection in the wiring harness attaching the sensors. That was not my case. I was having a tech look at my car for other issues, so I had him run a diagnostic on the rear sensors to see if he would could isolate the issue, using TechII, he was able to tell be that I had one bad sensor and he told me exactly which one was bad, first one just right of center. If any of you have looked on EBAY or in classifieds, you'll find that the sensors can be expensive used, people want to sell them as groups or sometimes with the wiring harness assembly. Since the sensors are somewhat generic, I found a used sensor on EBAY from a seller from China, the used sensor had come off of a Nissan, $20.


    These photos are from my experience with my '03 9-5 Wagon. This is not a step by step tutorial, just a few photos which should give you an idea what you're getting yourself into when you take on the rear sensor issue. I used the Saab WIS, Saab 9-5 Parking Assistance (SPA) Installation Instructions, I think I found the document at saabworld.net. The step by step instructions are great and cover most everything. A lot, and I mean a lot of the inside rear trim has to come out to get to the bolts that hold on the rear bumper, there should be two nuts that hold on the rear bumper on each side, left and right, for some reason, my car only had one nut on each side, I don't know if someone had previously removed my rear bumper and forgot to reattach the additional nuts or what. Unfortunately, I didn't have another nut ready, so I just had to put it back together as I found it.


    Lousy photo, but this will give you an idea of how much of the trim has to come apart from the rear, inside to access the bolts holding on the rear bumper:



    One of the first things you need to do is to pop out the rear bumper trim piece, be careful and use a plastic pry tool that won't mar the paint. There's a little plastic, "U" tab that you don't want to break because it holds the plastic part, (which houses the sensors) flush with the other bumper trim pieces. I broke both of mine because I did not pop the side trim pieces first.



    The temptation will be to grab the flat plastic part that houses the sensors and attempt to pry it out with force, don't do it, or you're break the plastic "U" tabs.



    Once you get your inside trim apart, you'll remove a couple of painted, sponge covers that plug the two holes you see in the photo below. Inside the holes is where you'll locate the bolts holding on the rear bumper. I used a 3/8 universal with an extension to get to the bolts, I believe the bolt size was 17mm.



    There are only two screws around each of the rear wheel wells that hold the sides on the bumper in place, once those are removed, it's just a matter of popping the sides of the bumper out of it's place.
    You're going to need some way to support the bumper while you're working on the sensors, mine was not the best solution, but it worked for the moment:



    Once you get the bumper away from the back of the car, be careful, you're still attached to the sensor harness as you can see below. The sensor coupler was a nightmare for me. As you can see, it was not one of Saabs better design moments, the coupler is exposed to all kinds of weather conditions, plus it's right above the muffler tailpipe, probably subjecting it to continual heat and cool cycles. The result for me was that I could not get the coupler apart despite spraying pb blaster on it. Pieces of the coupler ended up cracking off on me, so I never got it apart and left it alone. Weather, rain, salt, heat and cold had gotten the best of this part.



    The black, flat plastic bumper part that holds the sensors is held on with (4) 10mm bolts which need to be removed:



    Once you remove the 10mm bolts, you'll then have to use some persuasion to lift the part housing the sensors away from the rest of the bumper:



    I cannot describe how difficult it is to get the actual sensors away from their fittings, you'll need a small flat head screw driver, eventually you will get the sensors away from their fittings, it's bizarre and difficult. Here's a shot of my bad sensor removed:



    With the new sensor installed, I tested everything to make sure it was working before putting it all back together. I was back up and running with everything working as it should. Now I know why people have reported that this fix costs a lot at a shop, there's a lot of time involved in taking things apart. I'm glad to have my parking assist working again. Total cost for me was about $20, plus the better part of a day of labor. I'd still like to go back in and repair that coupler, replace the two missing nuts and repair the plastic, "U" tabs that broke trying to get everything apart.
    Last edited by photousa; 27 July 2013 at 16:53.
    2003 Saab 9-5 Aero B235R
    Sport Wagon 2.3T HO Manual
    140,627 Miles

  2. #2

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    22 Jun 2011
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    '00 Saab 95 2.3 5speed, 05 Aero Wagon
    Great write up !

  3. #3
    Saab Enthusiast photousa's Avatar
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    2003 Saab 9-5 Aero 2.3t Wagon HO Manual
    Thanks Dre, not the best step by step tutorial, but it gives you an idea what you're getting into prior to taking on the job. I need to see a tutorial on how to swap out a Saab coupler. Where to get a replacement coupler, then where to buy a "pin removal tool" and how to use the pin removal tool to get the wires out of the couple and install a new coupler..anyone have any information?
    2003 Saab 9-5 Aero B235R
    Sport Wagon 2.3T HO Manual
    140,627 Miles

  4. #4
    Saab Fan
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    07 Jan 2013
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    Wa, Usa
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    Saab(s)
    2005 9-5 Aero Sedan
    Can you tell me what is exactly sensor used for Nissan which replaced in your saab? I got 2 sensors dead but couldn't find replacements .thanks

  5. #5
    Saab Enthusiast photousa's Avatar
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    2003 Saab 9-5 Aero 2.3t Wagon HO Manual

  6. #6
    Saab Enthusiast photousa's Avatar
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    2003 Saab 9-5 Aero 2.3t Wagon HO Manual
    Hopefully this link will help. The sensor is a common, almost generic item, no need to pay a fortune for it. My parking sensors have worked great ever since my replacement.

 

 

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