(SAAB 9-5) Disassembly/reassembly of instrument panel, replacement lamps instrument housing

This is a step by step tutorial on how to disassemble the instrument panel on a SAAB 9-5. It also covers how to replace the bulbs in the instrument housing, such as the lights on the speedometer, tachometer, etc.
Last but not least, the tutorial displays an complete assembly of the instrument panel again.
Enjoy!

[@harlandranney3580]

thanks for the demo. more complicated than I could undertake. the repair shop told me 2-3 hour job. will keep a small flashlight handy when really needed--still have mid speedo gauge illuminated. Saab really didn't do customers a favor by making such an inaccessible cluster. Guess they didn't intend for owners to keep their 2000 9-5 so long!

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

It isn't very hard, especially if you use the standard bulbs. Follow these instructions step by step and save your money to something funnier. I'll gladly answer any questions you might get along the way. This will probably take a day for a first timer to get done.

[@tjfisher746]

One of the absolute best videos on how to work on a car, regardless of which part, I've ever seen. Good job! Subscribed!

[@COREYEIB1969]

Fantastic video, excellent editing, filming and step by step documention. Saved me hours of figuring it out in the blind on my 2000 9-5 aero wagon. Kudos and many thanks.

[@amhey1]

Thanks for posting - flasher button had disappeared under the dash and I was easily able to retrieve it thanks to your video!

[@timothymontgomery8432]

Same Flasher issue for Me!

[@ezrablasing]

Great step by step video. Unfortunately, I found this video after I finished the Aero dash install. Keep it up.

[@Alexandr_Silver]

My 0-60 speedo light bulb just got bad and I will have to go through all this to change it. Thank you very much for the detailed video! This is top quality material here!

[@larsberglund]

Same problem here. But now I know how to change it - and I will change the other bulbs while I am at it - thanks to this awesome video. I am going for original bulbs though.

[@Killawife]

Tack för denna guide. Jag gjorde precis jobbet och det gick snabbt och smidigt.

[@gorry123]

Great tutorial, it can be seen that a plenty of work has been put into this video. I am going to replace my corny wooden dash with a grey one and now I know how. Thank you!

[@richardlabarre7892]

Perfect instructions! Thanks. I just pulled my whole dash out of my 2004 9-5 Arc.

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Thanks! I bought them from a swedish styling shop - i dont think they ship abroad. Anyway, they're not hard to come by, just look for NEO wedge T5. They come in a variety of colours. Blue, green, yellow, red etc. Be careful not to choose "long" bulbs - they are tricky to install and do easily break - shorter with rounded tops is what to look for.

[@aktiv800]

Tack för en bra film. Fick en bra hjälp av denna.

[@michalwyrostek6025]

Super pomocny film. Dzięki !!!

[@zaias77]

Fixade även själv detta problem men lite trixande blev de för att få lamporna att fungera runt om. Tack för hjälpen underlättade en hel del att titta på din video :)

[@dogfood2525]

Thank you so much. I now know how to do mine. Thank you!

[@eldenross3378]

Excellent video. I'd very much like to see similar subject video for 2008 Saab 9-5 it's very different.

[@brokebutfunctioninggarage]

very kool video, im about to do a single din radio swap and was thinking about a dash face swap bc mine is cracked... after seeing this i can see its not nearly as horrible of a job as ive heard. kool, good news. thanks.

[@jamescisney467]

Great job with this video. Very informative, very clear, good editing, good graphic support. I should be sending you money :) At the very least you have my appreciation. You obviously put a bit of work and thought into this video and it is very helpful as far as giving direction to what otherwise might be a challenging undertaking. My issue is gauge lights that go on and then off. I hope if I take this assembly apart I might find a loose connection in there.

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Thank you for your kind words! Much appreciated. Good luck fixing your gauge lights :)

[@Erjet1008]

Well done! Now I know, from you all this. Thanks :)

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Thank you for your feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed it. The cars odometer is in kilometers. It has done 358000km which is something like 222450mi :)

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Hi! Thank you for your feedback. I used NEO wedge T5 for this repair, they come in various designs. Shorter "bulb" = spreads light better and easier to fit. Look for leds that's as close in height as your original lights.

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

That is correct. Short bulb is easier to fit and rounded tops creates a better light spread.

[@shakalpb1164]

Great Vid thanks man

[@janmagnusson2742]

Jag har liknande problem på min gamla Saab 900 2,0 1995. Instrumentpanelen hastighetsmätaren mm lägger av ibland och funkar ibland, däremellan en hel del blinkande - har lagt märke till att instrumenten (konstigt nog) funkar bäst runt halv tank och lite därunder! Hoppas att du Henrik Emanuelsson eller någon annan har en lösning på problemet. Tack på förhand.

[@andywilliams6806]

Good work.

[@adr.lvct-drpt602]

thanks for the video I took out the radio and the heating without worry! only impossible the SID. to go out I placed the screwdriver, I barely forced the plastic of the SID, it broke. I can not do it..

[@eldiablo4143]

Hey Henrik I need to do exactly that on my car where did you buy your LED's and how many is needed for speed/rpm/temp/fuel/boost Thanks from the englishman living in lithuania

[@jackmorgan4935]

Wonderful

[@Urias3333]

Hi. Fantastic video on how to dissassemble the panel! I have a 9-3 2006 mod myself and I have run into a problem with the Main Instrument. As long as there is power going to the panel, it makes a high frequency high pitched noise, similair to the sound made by that old ringtone "that old people cannot hear". I have double checked that it is infact this part that makes the noise, because removing the fuse for "main instrument" (fuse nr4 on my car) removes the sound. Any idea what might make the noise? Its driving me up the wall :( Hoping you might have an idea, seeing as you have fiddled with the part first hand :) Best Regards Håkon

[@KikkerFa]

Very helpful, do you know where to search, if the only thing showing up is the "Info Displ", the "Warning" sign and the "Fuel"? It is like a loose contact, sometimes everything works and sometimes nothing but those 3 laps. Not even the speedometer

[@webward1]

Henrik, Great vid, and amazing it was done in under 15 minutes. ;) Wondering about those LED replacement lights you used, can you tell us/me a bit more about them? Thanks.

[@AdventureJason]

Really impressive work, Henrik. Thanks you very much, from the USA, for this great tutorial. My only question: does that car really have 358,000 k on the odometer? Or has that panel been in multiple cars? Cheers!

[@MOLJ60]

HENRIK, thanks for a great film instruction/tutorial, including re-assembly. I hope that you don't scratch panel plastic with your screw drivers. It's really strange that it shall be so COMPLICATED to exchange lamps in a car. I have 15 cars, thereof 6 SAABs, and a farm close to Trollhättan (city of SAAB's factory/production plant). Some of my friends/students have developed cars at SAAB. I'm buying LED car lamps from www.skruvat.se very favourably. 2 days ago I managed to open the rear seat right hand door of one of my 9-5s without breaking it, even though it couldn't be opened regularly from neither the inside nor the outside nor using the central locking system, after finding a single comment about this at www, in Swedish. /MOJ in Stockholm

[@mbw2115]

Hello, is disassembly the same for the Saab 9-5 facelift 2005-2008 ? Thanks.

[@philippeimac]

Hi, Thank you for your tutorial. To me the main difficulty is to know precisely what dimension are the bulbs and twist lock. On the net there are many types of LED so what are the good ones? I undertood that T5 are fitting well for the dashboard and T3 for the central instruments such as seat heaters buttons: is that correct? It is messy for me because light bulb and LED aren't sharing the same kind of reference at all: it is ref 2721 for the dashboard bulbs and it is hard to make sure T5 leds are the exact equivalent so you help will be higly appreciated :)

[@alexanderorcheski9665]

How do you test if the bulbs are correctly placed in the cluster without placing it into the dash harness and turning the key to start position? And could you use standard led bulbs (the ones with the long polarized leads) replaced into the original bulb's socket? would you need a resistor in series?

[@StuartCampbell01432]

Henrik I practiced on a junkyard car and found out the difference between a 1999 and a 2003 9 5 there were no bulbs in the 03 I have another 99 parts car someone gave me(because of rear ended . it should have the same bulb set up,right?

[@lilkay-wl4sf]

Hey man how get speedometer to start working not working currently?

[@danifer1981]

Is this more or less the same as on a 9-5 from 2007? Thanks for the video.

[@SwePianoholic]

Seems to exist at least two sizes of these LEDs. One is supposed to buy the shortest, I think.

[@juancarlosalbertoblanco411]

Necesito bajar el video, Gracias Juan Saab 9-5 2.3t Auto 1998 from Argentina

[@seanleamusic]

Hey! Great work! I'm looking to do the same on my 9-5, I want to o LED's also. Could you tell me what bulb type I need to order for the gauge cluster?

[@nkosev]

Song : Broken Toy :) fitting

[@brelandgribben4054]

Awesome video! Quick question, slightly off topic, did you just remove the plastic woodgrain cover from the dash area/instrumental cover? Mine is beginning to crumble and am thinking about removing it myself. Thanks

[@isaiah-lava5.086]

I was wondering the same thing I hate the woodgrain

[@Zatrineon]

Hur många lampor går det åt för hastighets/varv/tank/temp mätarna? Vad jag förstått så går det åt 8 st totalt? Kan det stämma?

[@heloizamanhoni638]

great work, whats the website that you bought them? is there any other color ?

[@andrewtowerz6155]

How many bulbs did you have to buy I wanna do the same thing to my 2003 Saab 9-5 aero

[@Rofasta]

Don't know whether you can help here. I've hit a problem removing the head unit. The cage is not secure on the right hand side, so pulling on the unit just pulls the cage with it. Any way of releasing the LH side of the cage with the head unit in place?

[@mavisshortall6625]

Rolph Muller a

[@MultiBadBass]

If you aren't replacing bulbs, how long does disassembly and reassembly take roughly?

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

About 1-3 hours depending on how experienced you are with this kind of work.

[@ksngaming6084]

Do u have to remove indicator and wiper switched? seems like it can go off anyway? wanna remove my panel and paint it

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

It is possible that it can be removed without removing these. But since it takes roughly 10-15 seconds to remove them I cant see a reason why not :)

[@Grusivagen]

Har du starka lampor som får det att lysa blått? För jag förstår inte hur du fick det att lysa blått genom det gröna. Har du tagit bort någon tunn plastfilm? Vill gärna ha sådär snyggt i saaben :-)

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Ber om ursäkt för sent svar men missade kommentaren! Nej, vanliga LED-lampor fungerar alldeles bra, behöver inte ta bort någon plastfilm eller dylikt. Bara montera dit dem så blir det som du ser på filmen :)

[@szymonwilniewicz7160]

What is the symbol of light bulbs because I want to buy?

[@speedometerbulbs5137]

saabs use TOSHIBA V-2 bulbs in the clusters you can find them here - www.speedometerbulbs.com/collections/toshiba

[@Fidde217]

Tjenare Henrik ! Vart hittade du dina blåa lampor? =) Är intresserad av att göra detta hehe :D Vad det är för sockel liksom :) Grym video :D

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Tjenare! Jag köpte neo wedge t5 på Autoparts, dock tror jag att det har hänt grejer här sedan jag senast gjorde det då det verkar finnas mer att välja på. Googla på "neo wedge t5" och kolla på Stylingwebben, där verkar det finnas schysta :)

[@Fidde217]

jajameen hittade igår ! :) beställt och klart :D :D

[@thordinary]

Blir instrumenten blåa hur man än gör (överskrids färgfilmen oavsett LED-lampans färg)?

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Har inte testat med så många färger men det har fungerat alla gånger för mig. LED-lampan har ett ganska starkt sken vilket "neutraliserar" färgfilmen. Har hört om folk som skrapat och bytt ut färgfilmen men det har jag aldrig gjort, har fungerat fint ändå.

[@InFearOfDub]

Hej Henrik! Ska forsoka att byta ACC enheten sjalv pa en 9-3 2000. Har du nagra ytterligare tips ang detta eller ar det bara att kora pa med mejseln och ta bort kontakten...? Bara att trycka enheten i efter bytet...? Tack :-)

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Hej! Det är inga konstigheter utan ta bara en smal mejsel och böj utåt så ploppar den ut. Det enda som kan vara värt att tänka på är att försöka vidta åtgärder så du inte repar plasten runtom, antingen via exempelvis silvertejp eller annat lämpligt. Sedan är det bara att lossa kontakten på baksidan och sätta in den nya :) Vad är anledningen att du byter? Ifall det bara är att displayen inte visar pixlar så finns det andra lösningar på det.

[@niklaseronen3688]

Is that wheel cover good to drive with? I had wheel cover once on different car and it was so bulky.

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

It worked fine for me. It was a bit tricky to get in place but worked really good. I agree with you, often they dont work so good so once I found a good model I bought 3 for backup. They cost ~$7 a piece.

[@orion8012]

Vart i vårt avlånga land bor du Henrik? Kan du göra detta mot betalning tro? Mvh från Göteborg

[@nkosev]

Yesterday I replaced it all - both the plastic to wooden dash panel and changed all the bulbs. Used 34 (I think) of those www.aliexpress.com/item/4000244889970.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4db8qlB6 searched for "10pcs T5 286 Car Instrument Gauge Meter Replacement Light Bulb Lamp Amber 1.2W 12V Light Bulbs Car Bulb Accessories Parts" Main problem for the instrument cluster was 6:45 getting the flat cable out - pondered a while until I figure that the black coupling must be lifted directly upwards (from the center side) to get the flat cable out. And then pushed back in with the cable inside to fit it back afterwards. After that made a picture with my phone of the dash and used paint to mark the now replaced bulbs so I don't skip any. Yes replaced them all , they are cheap enough anyway. The dash removal was a quick job after watching this video - the metal cage for the radio was already loosened for me - i.e. came right out without any fiddling - guess someone did that before me (it is a very old car now - 2000 year). Also I did drive the car for a meter without anything on the dash (fully empty) and was strange feeling :) That said - thank you for the video , helped a ton !

[@TheAlexSerrate]

Will I be able to change the lights inside the acc the same way as the dash cluster?

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

The method is similar, just open the acc. Screws located on the backside. Then you can remove the front. But I'm not sure about the bulb. I think that it is a diffent size.

[@zigmundsfolkmanis8117]

Kāpēc Tu liki tās gejiskās lampiņas?

[@gorry123]

358.000 km in 2013... what's your mileage as of January 2016? Does it still run well?

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

I did run perfect till 2014 when I bought a Saab 9-3 vector xwd -09 instead, so he's retired ;) but I kept it behind the barn for... Uhm... Later use. I am currently driving Chevrolet Captiva-13

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

It is currently around 38-39.000

[@mavisshortall6625]

gorry123

[@joankhalil4334]

Hej Hi I have text on my my car it's written backljus. And i checked my lamps. There's nothing wrong

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Jamal Shahin Hej! Backljus is the white reverse lights. Don't know if I understand your question, can you elaborate? If you get this message from your car I would imagine that the car is newer than the one I used in this video.

[@joankhalil4334]

My car is 2000 model

[@joankhalil4334]

And. The. Massage form my Sid. ""My car"". And. The. Back lamps it's working.

[@clencfarwin2540]

Жоппа!

[@jamesmana5247]

Cant download your vid WTF

[@denisaleshin576]

Вот это бракодел и колхозник, сид отверткой достает... Молодец... А потом кому то этот хлам достанется.... Бедный Сааб

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Очевидно, что вы не знаете, что вы говорите. Поскольку вы не можете придумать любой конструктивной критике, но это просто грубо, поэтому я не предпринимать никаких обсуждение с вами. Самое замечательное в KZbin, что вы выбираете то, что вы хотите посмотреть, а не смотреть. Если вы думаете, что это плохо, так что вы можете смотреть что-то еще вместо этого.

[@denisaleshin576]

Henrik Emanuelsson Я извиняюсь если обидел своими словами, но дело в том что я люблю Сааб 9-5, и знаю что такой способ разбора панели может повредить лицевую часть. Есть способ как разобрать панель не повредив ни одной детали.

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Denis Aleshin Это в порядке, никаких обид. Какой метод является то, что?

[@khatfull]

No way you'd work on my car dude...dragging that screwdriver across the dash and sticking it into the CD slot!!!! kzbin.info/www/bejne/joGpip6emNych5I

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

On what point in this clip do you see me doing that? It's absolutely OK to dislike something but if the accusation is incorrect its just disrespectful to type it.

[@khatfull]

0:35 to 0:44...it's plainly obvious you're not paying a single bit of attention to where the tip of that screwdriver is. Turn up the volume, you audibly drag the tip of the screwdriver across the dash. Look where the tip of the screwdriver is at 0:37. Save your indignation...it's right there on your own video. On balance your video is fine from a content standpoint...you're just not watching where that screwdriver is going.

[@CocaLeeveStepper]

Fair enough, I can see what you mean. Although I wouldn't go so far as saying that I stuck it into the CD slot... The amount of force is close to nothing so I can assure you that it didn't leave any marks what so ever, and also that I wont be working on your car ;)

[@COREYEIB1969]

Keith Hatfull, dude your tact, approach and disrespect are astounding. A minor mistake in the first minute and your conclusion banishment from your shop? I feel for your employees, care to post the name/location of your shop? I'd bet with your attention to detail and no nonsense expectation, your shop is an excellent example of a great place to work, and highest displays of professionalism. If you missed it, i think your comment couldn't be distinguished from any other ass-hat keyboard cowboy trolling the comment sections in the dark.