Proud First-Time Saab owner... with a few problems.

[weathersaab]

Hello! Just got a 2005 Saab 9-3 Aero which is my first Saab. Overall it's in great condition, but there are a couple things I need to fix which I've list below in order of severity. I am hoping the Saab veterans can offer some advice or post some links to threads/youtube videos that address my issues. Thanks in advance.

Problems:

1. Code P0638 will get thrown every other week or so. I've reset it a few times and know the most common fix is to clean the throttle body and free up the throttle actuator. Any videos/threads about where this is and the best method of cleaning it? (FYI- Id say my car knowledge is about a 6 or 7 out of 10, so I generally know my way around an engine compartment)
2. Sometimes the Check Engine light wont come on during start-up. This is nice because the P0638 code doesn't make the car go into safe mode, but worrisome because something else may go wrong and I wouldn't know it.
3. Rain leaks into passenger floorboard. Guessing the drain ports for the windshield are clogged but not sure how to access those. Any Threads with pics?
4. Blower Motor sometimes grunts. Any instructions on how to clean/replace it?
5. Fuel gauge doesn't work. Guessing its a sending unit, but what's the procedure for fixing/replacing this?
6. Rims are chipping around the edges. Is this just the aluminum form of rust and is there any way to clean them up?

Thanks again in advance!

[MI-Roger]

Welcome to Saabworld!

Items #3 and #4 are clearly related. You need to clean debris out of the discharge port located in the bottom of the cabin filter chamber, and you need to replace the cabin filter too.

1) Lift the hood of your car and look for the plastic anchor rivet holding the corner of the plastic windshield cowl at the far edge of cowl on the passenger side. The rivet is about the size of a dime and has a center pin. Depress the center pin ~1/16 inch with the tip of a Phillips screwdriver, then grasp the rivet head with your finger nails and pull it out.
2) Grab the rubber weather-stripping that runs along the leading edge of the cowl and lift it free from the standing seam of sheet metal that it sits on. Lift about 2/3 of this weather-stripping starting at the passenger side and just lay it on top of the engine temporarily.
3) Grab the corner of the black plastic windshield cowl and slide it forward slightly then pull it upward to get it out of your way. You will notice the corner of the cowl has a molded in hinge line to help clear the rear corner of the hood.
4) Your 2005 will have a secondary water diverter baffle (thin plastic tray) laying beneath the cowling. Wiggle this free from the car noting where the notch-outs align for re-installation.
5) Now you can see the cabin filter. First though, look for an oval hole in the bottom of the cabin filter housing just large enough to accept a small to medium hand. Make sure this hole and the rubber scupper attached to its underside are completely free of old leaves, long pine needles, and other organic junk. Make sure the rubber flapper which seals the discharge of this scrubber hose is free to move.
6) Undo the two small plastic clips in the upper corners of the cabin filter frame which secure the filter. Pull out your old wet filter.
7) Undo the two large toggle latches you will see behind the filter after it is removed. With these unlatched the filter compartment should still be rigidly attached to the HVAC blower housing. Tug carefully but firmly to verify this seal is still intact.
7a) If the seal is loose then you need to buy some 3M Window Weld rope style gasket material. Completely remove the filter compartment from the blower housing, remove all the old gasketing material that has failed, and use the 3M rope gasket material to create a new seal.
8) Re-latch the two large toggle clamps, insert a new cabin filter to replace the old soggy one, and perform steps 1-6 in reverse order to button things back up.

This will eliminate the soggy passenger compartment floors, and might prolong the life of your cabin fan that is already fatigued from pumping water (that it should never see) in addition to air.

Eventually though you will have to replace the cabin blower, a job that I just completed again today after installing a cheap aftermarket brand blower only 5 months ago.

[weathersaab]

Roger, I went through and replaced the cabin air filter gasket that was indeed causing the leak. My blower still grunts, so I'm thinking I'll try to take it out soon and see if I can find corrosion. Would you recommend just going with an OEM blower as opposed to an aftermarket one? Where did you get your OEM one from?

[tunnanxwd]

Chipped rims sounds like an easy one; change drivers and put someone behind the wheel who can avoid the pot holes .. had to do that myself just today with the new thaw. Actually, run full air pressure or it could also be low profile tires and some car wash hook ups can ding them. Are the tires stock size for the car?

Probably will have to drop the tank and change out the fuel sender but before that just for the heck of it I would probably run through a few cans of cleaner ... dang old age, one was great on Corvettes now I forget the brand.

[MI-Roger]

Blower Motor:
Do you have Automatic Climate Control (you dial in a specific temperature) or do you have Manual Climate control (select from cooler to hotter)? The two systems use a different blower motor so you need to order the correct one. My wife's 9-3SC has ACC and I could not find any Saab branded ACC blowers at the typical Saab specialty parts houses, however they did have Saab branded MCC blowers. I have read that Valeo is the original manufacturer of the Saab branded blowers so they are as good as buying the Saab brand - better since they usually cost much less!

I got my recent Valeo blower at eEuroparts . I could have got it cheaper at RMEuro (IIRC) when I was looking but I needed to buy from eEuro again because of a warranty issue with the previous Nordic brand blower from eEuro that failed after only five months, five very noisy months!

Search on-line for instruction sets with photos regarding blower replacement and YouTube videos of same. I know of one link with text and photo instructions but that is on a competing site so I won't try to post it here.

Generally speaking, you will want a ball head Torx driver in T20 size and a battery powered headlamp for this job. Start to finish last Sunday was about an hour for a 59 year old who had done this job once before - too recently.

1) Run passenger seat all the way to the rear.
2) Pull off plastic trim piece on the passenger end of the dash. (on the driver's side this same piece covers the fuse block).
3) Open glove box and remove two screws in upper corners and one screw on inside rear of glove box.
4) Close glove box and remove two screws in the lower corners beneath the glove box door. Remove glove box half way, disconnect wires to glove box lamp and hose to glove box air vent. Remove box entirely.
5) Remove console side cover in passenger foot well. There is one screw about even with front of fully rearward seat. The panel then slides down and rearward(?) to remove. Just tug gently and it will come free.
6) Remove the panel that forms the top of the passenger footwell. There is one screw now visible that is threaded into the console and one that threads into the bottom of the blower motor (visible after removing the glove box). The screw going into the blower motor is in a deep recess making it tough to see. You will also need to disconnect the wires going to the courtesy light attached to this panel prior to removing it.
7) Remove an air duct that is held to the bottom of the motor. Our car had only one screw but I saw the duct actually had a second screw mounting tab so yours may have two. After these screw(s) are removed you need to pull the duct free from the white plastic HVAC chamber taking up the center of the dash. It is only pushed onto a rhombus shaped duct connector and pops off with a little tug.
8) Disconnect the electrical connector supplying power to the side of the blower assembly.
9) Remove the seven screws securing the fan & motor assembly to the upper fan scroll. Some of these are tough to access, look at your new blower assembly to know where they are located. With all seven screws removed the blower is still held up by three plastic snaps/hooks around perimeter of blower assembly (these are a God Send when installing the new blower!). Unclip these and blower will drop free, rotate it around so that it falls free and into the footwell.
10) Remove the variable speed controller from the old blower, two T20 screws. All demo is now complete!
11) Reverse above series of steps to install new blower.

Based on my experience, only buy a Saab or Valeo part. I cheaped out the first time and bought a cheaper Nordic brand that looked identical but was obviously a second. It never fit properly, was very noisy, and failed early due to a bad bushing (I found the bronze shavings). The Uro blowers do not even look the same as the Saab/Valeo part. Heaven help anyone who buys one of those.