Saab Central - Technical Help

Classic Saab 900: Replacing interior switch/dash light bulbs

Article by P.Whiter, 1990 900i 16v

It's a fact of life that the little things that don't work in your car are extremely annoying!, so in response to the number of people who ask how do you replace .......... bulb? here is the ultimate guide!

Headlight switch bulb

The headlight switch will come out of the dash by pulling firmly on it, you may need to twist it slightly, don't be too worried if it seems very resistant to coming out, just pull hard!

Once you have the switch out of the dash, you can disconnect the connector block (arrowed) from the back of the switch by pulling on it.

The next thing to do is to remove the bulb holder from the back of the switch, you will see two small black plastic prongs(arrowed), the easiest way to do this is to use a long nose pliers and pinch the prongs together, then pull the bulb holder out of the switch.

Pop in the new bulb,(in the UK you can buy all your replacement bulbs from Halfords) ,reassembly is the reverse of disassembly! NB if you have a problem getting the bulb holder back in, you may need to pinch the plastic parts around the bulb to ease it in.

Clock and warning light bulbs

This is actually very straightforward, first of all remove the speaker grill from the drivers side, just two small torx screws holding it in. If you look through the windscreen from the outside of the car you can see the various bulb/holders (these come in one piece). Obviously you need to work out which ones you need to replace. The larger ones near the top are the main clock bulbs, and the smaller bulbholders a little lower down are for the various warning lights. To remove these all they need is a quarter turn and they will pop out.(Again in the UK these bulb/holders are available from Halfords and are a lot cheaper than Saab OEM).

Heating, fan switch, ashtray etc. bulbs

There are two possible methods of replacing the bulbs for these components, if you have small hands and are very dextrous the easiest way is to remove the stereo and stereo casing, then feel around for the various bulb holders and replace the bulbs, if like me you think you will find this too awkward, you will need to remove the kickboard/kneeboard, as this will give slightly easier access. To do this follow the steps below.

First of all remove the lower shroud from the steering wheel, 2 torx screws on either side of the wheel and a large plastic screw that needs a quarter turn on the shroud itself (under the wheel). Next remove the ashtray, then remove the ashtray holder by removing the 4 screws (arrowed) and the centre 10mm bolt (arrowed), you can now replace the ashtray bulb if required. Once you have the ashtray holder out you will see another larger bolt behind it, you need to remove this also.

You now need to remove the centre console, first of all pull out the rubber between the console and the gearshift, then remove the 2 screws (arrowed, left).You may also need to remove the 4 screws attachingthe plastic console to the carpeted section to ease removal. Once the console is out of the way, you need to remove the kick board. There are just 2 10mm bolts holding this in, you need to lift the bonnet to get at these there is one either side of the engine, right against the bulkhead(see arrow for one of them)

Now that you have reasonable access to the bulb holders you should be able to change the bulbs ok, BTW you can also get at the bulb for the 'fasten seatbelts' light from here. Good luck!!

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