Just had mine done and excellent fast service.

Guy is on flea bay so search for it and look for a picutre of a labrador on the left and look for the one for 9-5. he has loads and does very quick turn around. He completely rebuilts them for £59.99 inc postage. You can also find him on www.totaldashsolutions.co.uk His name is Eric Lucas and tel 07736 649673. Don't talk about labradors though or you'll have big phone bill.

he did superb job for me even though we had the wrong SID in car which he resolved. Lifeteim warranty as well.

Good luck

 

had my 9-5 done by saab-display-repairs on a well known auction website 45GBP+PP

back with me in 48 hours of sending it off

no further problems with it

 

Thanks for the feedback, but I decided to buy a new one at what I thought was a good price (£80) Just looked on carpartsconnexion and they have just listed four, cheapest only £42!!!! http://www.carpartsconnexion.com/searchres...+year&cat=3 If anyone would like to buy my old one (SID 2) which is missing almost all the pixels, to use it as a spare while theirs is being repaired, please make me an offer so I don't feel so bad - of course this is after all those on carpartsconnexion have been snapped up tomorrow morning!

 

I'll buy both of your old ones Harry. You won't get rich overnight....Sorry! It will make you feel better though!


Send me a PM if you are interested!

 

I'll buy both of your old ones Harry. You won't get rich overnight....Sorry! It will make you feel better though!
Send me a PM if you are interested![/b]

You are welcome to buy the SID 2, but I did ask for anyone who is interested to "make me an offer". The other unit is a SID 1. and the ribbon is damaged after a slip with a "Biro". You may offer on that one as well, if you want it.

 

Hope you got the right one Harry??????

Mine happened to be the expensive one for MY03................

 

Hope you got the right one Harry??????

Mine happened to be the expensive one for MY03................[/b]

Yes jim, as you imply there are more than a few variants and not just SID 1 or SID 2. At least I can now see the display, but on start up it displays something like "unprogrammed". Have not yet had the time to check whether this is something I can do myself, but I have a nasty suspicion that unlike the older units, this one might need TECH2

 

All replacement SIDs need to be programmed in the car with Tech 2, regardless of MY.

 

New ones will need programming to your car.I assume if you bought new it would have been prorammed at the dealers.. Second hand ones may nned a tweak. i.e petrol/diesel.

I wouldn't bother to pay for any other changes. I've had four SID'S in my car. The first was a SID 1. That got binned for a progammed (I assume)

SID 2. I've bought two further ones since and all give similar figures. They all came from petrol cars!

 

All replacement SIDs need to be programmed in the car with Tech 2, regardless of MY.[/b]

Last one I bought (new) just needed to be plugged in and time/date set. There are also several posts on here saying that they do not need to be programmed with tech2 - no doubt one from me. Sometimes it seems like the partially sighted leading the blind!

 

Sometimes it seems like the partially sighted leading the blind![/b]

I'm just quoting the information from WIS, which as far as I know, isn't in braille...

If you don't programme the SID to your car then my understanding is that some of the functions will be uncalibrated such as DTE.

Of course, if you know better then please feel free to start the collection for my guide dog. Alternatively don't post personal insults...

 

I'm just quoting the information from WIS, which as far as I know, isn't in braille...

If you don't programme the SID to your car then my understanding is that some of the functions will be uncalibrated such as DTE.

Of course, if you know better then please feel free to start the collection for my guide dog. Alternatively don't post personal insults...[/b]

Mark you are so sensitive! I was not questioning the accuracy of your post and if you read it again, you might appreciate that it was not intended as a personal insult, just a general comment about some of the posts on here. The proper quote is "the blind leading the blind" but obviously just as the one eyed man who is king in a country of blind people, a partially sighted - the one with the WIS perhaps? - is leading.

 

You post a reply that contradicts what I had stated without any real substantiation (what about all the other calibration factors that need to be programmed to the car?) and there's an inference of not being able to see things properly when I had botherd to spend the time to research what was involved. If that wasn't what you meant to say then a simple apology would have been in order rather than another dig at me!

 

Gentlemen....
There may be some myths floating about! I can only speak of my experiences of SID on here.

I have had three SID 2's in my car. All came from petrol cars. With 16/17" Wheels.

In January I sold one of these to a chap with an estate. He was happy with his purchase

As I've already said....Each SID gives similar read-outs.....NONE of which is............UNPROGRAMMED!!!.

What I will do is look out for a SID 2 from a diesel and put it straight into my petrol 2 lt.

And see what happens!

I would expect that if I'd just bought a brand new SID from a Saab Dealer....

They would progam it (if needed) Having just spent £200+!! Free!

But........That's just my view!!

Reg...The time/date thingy............Tune in to a RDS station, press "set" or do nothing......BINGO!!


Harry.....If they charged you to do that.............???

 

I think that there was a little bit of confusion - in my mind, at least - because the SID does not need to be "married" to the car. It would seem that a new one would need to be programmed and I guess that the first one which I bought (about 4 years ago) was either programmed by the dealer or perhaps had been used briefly in another car. I will check on exactly what the display shows later and get back to you, but as I am on the IW and the nearest dealer is on the other side of the Solent, I will have to put up with it for a while! By the way, I need to press both of the small round buttons for a couple of seconds to get the RDS retime thing..

 

Oh dear this is getting heated - a bit.

Harry - my car is an 03 Aero auto and had the wrong SID 2 in it to start with when I got it as the paddles changed the volume on radio and switches on steering did nothing.

A brand new one was put in without any TECHII programming and worked fine but it would have cost me £327!!!!!!!!!!!!! Instead I looked around and the chap I posted earlier about had one from another car and rebuilt it for me. Cost me £50.99 (I think what I posted earlier) and when fitted all worked fine, paddles radio, cd and changer etc without any programming.

As silogic says' - use the RDS buttons to set time and date.

In my own view and experience as long as part number is correct it will need no programming.

Hope that clears the air.....................................phew

 

Oh dear this is getting heated - a bit.

In my own view and experience as long as part number is correct it will need no programming.

Hope that clears the air.....................................phew[/b]

Well, mark E has quoted from the WIS........... and it seems to confirm what I have experienced with a brand new SID 2. Every time I turn the ignition on the SID shows: SID-UNPROG

I would guess that a brand new SID needs some sort of programming when first installed. After that has been done, it may be used in any vehicle without further programming - whether or not it will show the correct information if it is swopped out from a Diesel to Petrol car, I don't know. So clearly, if a S/H unit is used or repaired, no programming will be necessary. I would also guess that the Tech 2 is required to clear the SID-UNPROG message, but it is not the same as the Divorce/Marry procedure necessary to use the radio or 6 CD player from one car to another.

On balance, it probably makes more sense to have a SID repaired with the "lifetime" warranty. Although only good for as long as the repairer is in business, the way Saab/GM are going, there is a good chance that the repairer will still be around after they have gone bust!

 

As has been inferred, although another compatible unit will "work" there will be some factors that may have been programmed into the original that will be lost. I haven't had a chance to work out exactly which ones but amongst other things I suspect it may also include time to service info.

 

I had the display changed on my SID by one of the ebay guys (I can't remember which one).

They fit a new display and give a lifetime guarantee.

The thing is, unless there is some adjustment that I don't know about, the background of the display is not very dark when viewed from the driver's side, but dark as it should be from the passenger side.

If there is no adjustment, I wonder if they are importing displays intended for the US market which have a different viewing angle.

Regards,

Mike

 

I've heard that BigMike.

Mine is repaired but the chap did an excellent job and it is easily viewable and he also talked to me about that.

It also dims slightly when you have the lights on which is excellent. Matches the aircon display.

I will just say that the brand new one that was first put into mine came out of the box and went straight into the car with no programming - nothing - all worked perfect except it would have cost me a lot. It was done the check that was the main problem for my paddles not working - I then went searching for the SID and unfortunatley mine is the rare expensive one but by chance he had one (very confusing as Saab/GM changed the part no. then) and re-built it even though it never came from my car. It was just slotted in and everything worked fine and is still working fine.

 

Silly question perhaps, but is the SID exactly what it says, or a bit more? If it is only a display, presumably the data that it is displaying comes from elsewhere (ECU, stereo, sensors) but is routed to the display purely for visibility (or in the case of the indicators and belt alarms, audibility) purposes.

Perhaps if that is so, is an "unprogrammed" SID missing basic firmware, rather than anything vehicle-specific?

 

I think you are right there CitTone as when mine was done the chap was talking about making sure it had the correct firmware