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I love this site. I had the same problem happen yesterday on my 1997 900 2.0T convertible- only 57K miles on the clock. We use the car as a third car- and my wife and I had it out to drive the last couple of days.
Ironically, my wife had just left the Acura dealership where we picked up our MDX- when the clucth pedal on the Saab went straight to the floor. Fortunately, she made it out of harms way and pulled the car to the side of the road. Upon closer inpsection- it appeared that the little conical black piece that sits just behind a metal fork cast into the transmission housing had broken into two pieces and went through the fork. So when I depressed the clutch pedal - there was nothing to hold the cable jacket behind the fork- so the jacket moved instead of the cable. If this problem is really as common as it appears- shouldn't we all be passing this info. along to the DOT. I mean having a clutch cable let go at any time (and apparently so commonly) could easily lead to a safey issue?
Luckily, I was behind her in the MDX- we called AAA and had it towed to our Saab Indie- Swedish Auto Factory in Santa Clara. After two hours of labor Mike and the guys got a new cable installed ($60 parts) today. Unfortunately he and the mechanic test drove the car and indicated that the clutch pedal was very stiff and the transmission difficult to shift. He suspects that the pressure plate is rusted and suggests we replace the clutch - or risk breaking the new cable in a couple of days.
So 8 more hours of labor and $450 in parts plus $75 to resurface the fly wheel and I should be good to go.
I have to say after having had to replace the head gasket after 40K miles and now the clucth and pressure plate after less than 60K miles- I think it may be time to sell my beloved convertible. It is a great car that is fun to drive. But everytime I have a problem (head gasket, clucth cable) I start researching on Saabnet and find out the problem is typical and some design or manufacturing flaw, no cars are perfect but if you've been building the same model for several years- you'd think you'd work out the kinks. I am little worried- what other problems should/ can I look forward to in the near future? I already cary a spare drive belt (thanks to this site I converted to the short belt). After reading the clutch cable posts- sounds like that is a good idea. Before you know it, I may have a Saab parts department in my small trunk :)
In all truth- thanks to Dean and Anders and all the other folks on this board- it takes a lot of the mystery out these 'typical' problems.
After I get my car back with new clutch and wallet lighter by about $1400, I will post again my resolution.
posted by 69.110.3...
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