1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Slightly over a year ago, my wife and I were drive home to Chicago from Denver in my 95 900SE convertible. My wife was driving, and We stopped for lunch in Des Moines. At the first stoplight off I-80, she attempted to shift into first. The shift lever was solidly locked in neutral and could not be moved. Fortunately the transmission was also internally in neutral.
A Saab dealer was in sight a half-mile down the road, so I had the car towed there. They confirmed my diagnosis, that the problem was internal to the tranny, and gave me an off the cuff estimate of $3500-$4500, depending what they found inside the tranny. I rented a Ryder truck and trailer and towed the car home (400 miles). I am retired, and have more time than $, so the decision was easy once I heard the quote.
I dropped the tranny in my garage, and disassembled it myself. With the help of a Saab transmission manual purchased from eEuroparts, I was able to accomplish the repairs.
The problem turned out to be one of the synchromesh forks. The roll pin that holds the fork to the associated shifter rod had come out, leaving the fork inoperative. Somehow, this allowed the mechanical interlocks between the three shifter rods to get out of whack, and lock the mechanism in neutral. The only part I had to buy was a new roll pin, costing about $2.
Of course while I had the tranny out of the car, I also did several preventive maintenance items, including a new clutch, throwout bearing, clutch cable, engine seals, and all transmission seals, etc. When done, the entire project cost me less than $1000, and half of that was the truck/trailer rental.
posted by 69.212.0...
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