G'day,
I have same car and have experienced the same problem.
Open the bonnet, take out the pollen filter and stick your hand down the back. This will allow you to see if the fan motor is seized. Mine was. To get the fan out you have to take the glove box out and dismantle from inside the passenger footwell. The motor is a Siemens unit made in France. It has a steel shaft running in steel bushes!! D'oh. Crass. Designed to seize.
The replacement from Saab is ~ £280 from memory. However, the actual motor is identical to that fitted to several Peugeot models, 406 etc, available from your local scrapyard for a few quid. You have a choice of using the Peugeot fan, (which I did), and fiddling the motor offset to suit; OR changding the actual fans on the shafts. Because they are plastic and fragile, I didnt fancy the latter course. Hence my Saab now has a Peugeot fan fitted with no ill effects.
Bit of a fiddly job but sounds worse than it is.
Good luck.
Peter Jenkins.
