paul.h

In the driver's footwell, remove the left plastic lower cover (needs a small torx bit to remove a screw hidden by the cover above it which can be bent up out of the way). The drain rubber pipe, about 10mm diameter, can be seen then coming from the side of the air con evaporator housing. This then goes down and along the side of the tunnel under the carpet about 2 feet before exiting above the long plastic cover under the car. The end of the hose can not be seen without lowering the front of this plastic cover. To see if the hose is clear, pull off the top end and insert a funnel and pour in some water - should then be seen dripping under the car.

The sensor is the little bump on the bottom of the left hand door mirror.

There may be some help if you look at the www.saabscene.com forum. Most Saabs have turbos and there are thousands of postings there. The people there are very helpful also.

2004 2.2 VTR. The driver's head rest I find sticks too far forward and during a long journey makes the seating position uncomfortable by pushing the head forward. Removing the head rest and fitting it back turned 180° is better but then it may not help in an accident since the cushion could rotate back. Does anyone know of a way of moving it back about 1 inch (additional to normal rotation of the cushion) or if modified head rests are available ?

I could be totally wrong here, but there appears to be a panel in the front passenger footwell at the right hand side that may give access.

On all the cars I have had with air con, it did not work without the blower running so the C5 is probably also designed this way. So need to sort the blower first before worrying about the air con.

Driving backwards in the carpark did not help so over the weekend I removed the rear pads and yes, they were seized in the caliper so unable to move. There was some copper grease on the pad backs/anti squeal shims to stop noise but none on the sides. The pads took a bit of effort to remove, had to hit with a hammer and long screwdriver from the bottom to knock them out - there is probably a puller to do this. Removing the backplate on one side gave more access. Cleaned everything up, applied copper grease to caliper contact parts and the back and sides of the pads and then refit. The discs appeared central in the calipers so did not consider removing these. Apart from the pads being seized, there is nothing special/difficult in pad removal. They are accessed by removing a 3 inch square cover - slacken an 8mm headed long bolt, lift off the cover, check the position of a pad tension spring then remove the bolt. The pads and shims should now pull out. Whilst I was at it I also removed the front pads and cleaned these up, these were also partly seized in the carriers so lots of cleaning up and application of copper grease. To help pad removal I cleaned up the contact area where the pads rest in the carrier, but still needed a bit of force from the screwdriver and hammer (and levering pad small springs in to the pad). Something to be aware of, to access the front pads, the lower caliper retaining screw is removed and the caliper is pivoted up and tied back after pulling out the handbrake cable. First the outer pad wear indicator wire has to be removed. Best way is to lever/push it from the friction side to get it to move and then pull from the outside with pliers being careful not to pull the wire out of the white plastic bit (as I did). The inner pad wire can be removed easier once the pad has been removed from the carrier. Does anyone know if the front pads/handbrake is adjusted on the caliper prior to adjusting the handbrake cable ? On the Saabs I have had, the handbrake works on the rear pads and these are set to the disc by an adjuster screw which is covered by a bolt plug on the caliper. This was probably the first time the alloy wheels had been removed since manufacture 2 years ago and they were all seized on to the hubs due to corrosion between the 2 metals. I used a long piece of 4x2 wood to hit the tyres (not the alloy wheel rims) on the inside to knock them off. Cleaned up before refitting and used a bit of copper grease on the contact parts. If I had to replace a wheel before this then it would have been a call to the RAC. This is a well known problem with alloys and something to be aware of on any car.

Now that's an idea, drive home backwards, don't even have to get my hands dirty :P Checking/cleaning the brake pads is worth doing, thanks KFK.

Thanks KFK, maybe I will remove the wheel and have a look first, I was planning on doing this anyway to apply a bit of copper grease so the alloys do not stick to the hubs. Then could be a trip back to the dealer for any work under the warranty. I have read many of your Picasso posts and appreciate your knowledge and experience.

Hi all, I am new to this forum having recently bought a 2 year old C5 2.2 VTR after 12 years of Saabs. So far I am pleased with the car. Our other car is a Picasso so have been a member of that forum for a year. I have noticed the rear off-side disc has a ring of rust which is not going and suspect it may be seized. Mentioned to the dealer and initial response was it needs some weight in the rear of the car to overcome the rear brake compensator. Over the last week I have towed a caravan and there is no difference to the rust so I would like to have a look myself. Could someone kindly add a few lines on how to remove and refit the rear brake caliper and include any torque wrench settings if known. I have done all my own car maintenance/repairs for nearly 30 years so I am not a novice but if there are any tips or things to look out for I would appreciate it.