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Be Careful What You Wish For
(Bad Experience #1 With My New 9000)
Driving this new-to-me bargain '96 CS the other day, I mentally cursed the stiff ignition switch starter return spring. "I wish that thing had less tension," I said to the gods.
Shazam, I guess they were listening. The very next time I went to start it, I heard the starter motor running after the engine had started, and quickly turned the key back left to disengage it. There was NO SPRING TENSION THERE AT ALL!! A part had broken inside the switch.
I personally could live with that altho it risks ruining the starter. But the car is for my aged mother who would get into trouble first thing I'm sure. So I had to fix it, and figuring a used part might be ready to break soon, I shelled out full list at the dealer, $77.52 counting our state's sales tax.
It was easy as pie to change. Four Torx screws, two T20 and two T25, released the under-column black plastic panel. Then, two metric allen head set screws with red sealer on their threads, perpendicular near back end of lock cylinder, which used an allen wrench that measures 1.7mm, next smallest in my well-worn 9-piece set of metric Bondhus balldrivers. (Often you can buy single allen wrenches in the parts drawers at hardware stores. Cheap.)
Back them off several turns and the switch slides off the back of the key cylinder. Then wiggle it out from above the knee bolster, depress two black clips, and wiggle the beefy wiring connector off its side.
Reverse above steps for reinstall.
THE DEALER HAD THE PART IN STOCK, and without using the computer, counterman Greg Miller pulled one in 30 seconds and handed it to me. That means they break a lot.
I looked up about this problem on here. One fellow did a postmortem and found what I later found in mine, a broken tang inside the switch. Another took his still working switch apart to clean the contacts. I followed his instructions to take mine apart to figure out for myself what went wrong, and if it was fixable. (Not easily, that.)
I guess when I made my wish earlier, I was just a little too disgusted with the switch, and twisted it with a vengeance. A way undersized tang had cracked off a pot-metal piece just inside the top of it all, a tang which contacts a bent leg on the return spring, and where the return action should happen. (If you turn too far, it forces said tang against a stop, and shears it off.)
I conclude: Saab almost built it to fail. The tang that broke is too small and weak. And because the spring is so stiff, hands that should be lightly spinning the key are instead reefing on it at near parts-breaking pressures during normal key operation. It's easy to overdo it.
The return spring seems to me to be at least 1 1/2 times as strong as called for, maybe twice as strong or more. (In part, it overcomes a needlessly stiff detent action deeper in the switch.)
If I ever have even more spare time than at present I may use a Dremel and file to craft a thick sheet metal steel patch piece, including a new tang, attach it to the broken pot metal piece by drilling several tiny holes and steel pinning or wiring it on, with epoxy. Then winding, adapting or trimming a weaker return spring, and also cutting down detents in the switch. To be done as a spare and an experiment. If I do I'll post results.
To get inside it I drilled the flared part off two pot-metal peg-rivets partway down the sides, pried the black plastic shell out over 3 catches in its lip on the pot metal, and pried the black plastic off the riveted places. The electric part, all still sealed, then comes off the pot-metal part.
I used a 13/64" bit to drill away the flare on the riveted places; barely needed to drill at all.
The electrical inner part comes apart further if you wanted to clean contacts, per an earlier post I found. He reports pushing all back together without further attachments where rivets were; the clips on the case should hold it fine I'd say. You could hot-melt glue it.
So, fellow Saab 9000ers, twist those beefy keys, but twist with care.
posted by 70.105.249...
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