UKSaabs

Totally fed up with the missing pixels on my 10 year old SID 2 unit I decided to pull it to bits & investigate!
I did do the BIRO fix here, http://www.saab9-5.com/howto/sidrepair.htm a few years ago which worked fine for ages, but over time the display has got worse.
The display was totally unreadable by now, radio stations, time & all features were goosed!
I searched the Saab forums for abit of advice & remembered a fix that involved using sticky pads or a foam strip to apply preasure to the main display ribbon where its glued to the P/C/B.
I noticed we dont have a how to fix here on UKSaabs (well, I couldnt find one) so heres mine with pics, hope it helps some 9-5 owners with missing pixels.

Step 1, remove SID from car. Easy enough that one.
Step 2, Tools required, Just some foam sticky pads & a screwdriver with a T8 torx bit. (all the screws inside & out are T8's on SID 2)
Step 3, unscrew all 4 screws on the outer case & clip out the square pannel around the multi plug, (the piece with the speaker holes)
Step 4, release the 4 retaining clips on the front pannel with a small screw driver & push (from the rear multi plug) & the whole innards come out in one.
Step 5, unscrew the 2 screws on the top P/C/B, with great care lift the P/C/B away (remember its still attached via the ribbon)
Step 6, it was at this point I decided to gut my SID & replace all 6 bulbs, mine looked a mess, all black with burnt plastic so I may aswell change them before they fail & I have to take it all apart again! & give the screen a clean, gets all the gunge out of the corners...........Nice!
Step 7, I did the BIRO fix here again to make sure the ribbon was sitting nice & flat on P/C/B & then add a row of sticky pads along its length. This will ensure that even pressure will be placed along the length of the ribbon when the P/C/B is re attached in place.
Step 8, replace the circut board & its 2 screws.
Step 9, now I added a strip of sticky pads along the upper length of the P/C/B inbetween the 2 screws, this needs to be 2 pads deep so as the outer case can apply even pressure along the length of the circut board when its all back in place. This will give a sandwich effect between the layers of foam sticky pads, ciucut board & the ribbon using the pressure of the outer case, keeping the ribbon nice & flat & pressed into position along its length ensuring a good contact.
Step 10, put it all back together again & re fit in the car.

I have seen this job done by cutting a length of cardboard to size, but I would rather use the sticky pads so it all stay's in place.

& now for some pics, there are quite a few & I have tried to put them in order.
I know this topic has been done before on all the forum's & various web sites, but I thought it would be an idea to have a pic guide here to save all the searching & time thats involved
Hope it does'nt upset anyone......................!

Cheers johno,

My SID is becoming unreadable. It is either fix or replace costing £166.

Will try and fix now I have decent instructions.

Its deffo worth a try John, one thing I forgot to mention in my first post is not to worry if the ribbon has become unattached from the main P/C/B.
Mine had come away at the one end so I thought my SID was totally goosed, but I made sure all the contacts were lined up before I stuck it down with the sticky pads & all seems fine so far. Time will tell, but if this works for you it will save a few quid..................& thats got to be good.

I tried the pressure method on our wagon. Didn't find it all that reliable so went for the heat fix in the end and that has lasted well so far. A combo of both methods would probably be a good idea.

si wrote:I tried the pressure method on our wagon. Didn't find it all that reliable so went for the heat fix in the end and that has lasted well so far. A combo of both methods would probably be a good idea.

OOOH, heat method, not come accross that one Si, I know the ribbon is stuck or glued onto the P/C/B, is this method just re-heating the glue?

Yeah just use the iron on top setting (non steam of course) don't use a soldering iron as they get too hot. The tip of a domestic iron is the one to use

DOH, I never thought of that, makes perfect sense when you think about it, your right, a mix of these two fixes should see pixel problems gone for good. Ah well, if my display goes all daft again I will do that.
Cheers Si.

The recommendation if you use a soldering iron is to heat it up. Then, as it cools, touch it against a polythene bag. Once the bag stops melting, it's OK to use on the SID.

Use it from the middle to one edge at first. This will keep the ribbon fixed in place while the glue melts. Then do the other side after heating the iron and cooling again. If you do it all in one go, you risk all the glue being melted and the ribbon sliding sideways.

Nice one Will, the more tips we can add to this thread the better, cheers matey.
Of course, if I'd had my clever head on at the time I would have done this when I had mine apart!
Never mind, been out in the old girl tonight & SID is working perfectly for now so the preasure fix has done its job, but its always good to have more fixes stored away in the old hard drive.

Well it did work on the 9-5, fully for a day, now the whole thing is shafted. Oh well, I'm not totally kack handed but I guess these things are pretty fragile. Took it apart again and tried the biro and heat and it flickered for abit. Also I guess the sound for the indicators is produce by the SID as they don't sound anymore, although they do flash correctly.

Salvo is local to me, will see if they have a working one or if its similar money I might send this off to be repaired via the Ebay guy. At least that would have a warranty.

Hey at least I tried

big_nige wrote:Hey at least I tried

Thats a shame, how many layers of sticky pads did you use, I used three in total, you do need good preasure from the outer case to press downwards & sandwich the ribbon & the PCB, if when you put it all back together the outer case went on eaisly then I would try more sticky pads before sending it off, if the outer case was hard to get back on then you have indeed done your best.
Shame the heat method didnt do it.

I'll probably try again, I used card and double sided. Will get some foam pads and try again. Just strange how it worked fine and then overnight totally failed, I could've accepted a few missing pixels, but the whole thing giving up?!? Just think it could be something terminal due to that fact.

Hmm, it is weird, for the whole thing to fail would point to something terminal, Ive not tried the heat method as yet, the pressure fix is still working well after 10 days, no missing pixels at all, not sure how much heat to use really, could that have done yours any damage?

I would've thought any heat damage would showed as a fail from the start. It was working after the fix.

I'll give it a shot again before the end of the week and report back.

big_nige wrote:I would've thought any heat damage would showed as a fail from the start. It was working after the fix.

Thats a good point, I forgot you said it worked fine for a day.
Perhaps the ribbon has moved & isnt making any contact.
Anyhow, best of luck with it matey.

First time I drove the car today, its the family car so the wife usually has it, whatever I've done its gone mental. On the way into work it flickered randomly, made noises like an old space invaders game, dash lights were on with driving lights off, dash light dimmer didn't work, steering wheel controls either didn't work or were back to front, displayed random warnings, key battery, screen washer, turn signal 'tick tick noise' has stopped etc. So I've arranged to send it off to the Ebay fella for £40 guaranteed for life.

Funny thing is within yards of the end of my journey it kind of started playing ball again.

I'm pretty handy with DIY fixes and stuff, but this is the first 'fail' for a while. I've barely spent a penny on the car since we've had it so I don't mind the 40 notes to fix it. I'm better with the greasy stuff, nuts n bolts.

At petrol is getting cheaper.

Chubby heck!

Easy to follow & and worked a treat.

I don't suppose you have a similar fix for the Climate Control display?

Fair doos Wayne, hope it stays like that matey, mines still working 100% but time will tell.
I replaced my ACC pannel when I bought the car, it was totally knackerd & the new one has been in almost 4 years & still works fine.
I still have the old unit in the shed so I will have a play with it & see what happens.

I tried to use the same method using the sticky pads, but i could'nt find a way to get full access to the ribbon on the circuit board.

It looks like you have to remove the brass strip that links the plastic bulb holder to the circuit board.

I think if I could find a way to remove the bulb holder, I'll have full access to the part of the board that the ribbon connects to.

Let me know if you have any luck.

On the flip side, it's a lot brighter now that I've cleaned the screen and replaced all of the bulbs.

Yeah, made a big difference to my SID when I cleaned the display & fitted new bulbs.
I will have a play with my ACC pannel today & get back to you with the results Wayne, there got to be a way!