SEAT CABLE REPAIR

A Special thanks to Joel Heer & Julie Ryan for the contribution of this material. It is guys like Joel that keep Saab owners capable of working on their own cars. Kudos to Joel!

Step 1 ...........remove front seat with Torx 50 wrench (I think a 45 would work also) two in the front, two in the back of the seat (at least on a '94 900 convertible) Incidentally this seat cable was being replaced on a 94 Saab convertible but the actual job is similar on all models that require this seat cable.

Step 2.........there is a hard plastic mounting plate that holds the motor and brackets for the cable ends in place. I found it best to remove the two screws from the BACKSIDE of the plate with a small wrench with a 5/16 socket
(I think it is 8mm though). Then the cable end snaps off the clamp to pull it out of the motor easier. The two screw holes are shown in the photo with the two white arrows.

Step 3........before putting it all back together, it may be necessary to insure that the seat is aligned at the same angle on each side. With the end of the cable secure in the OTHER end, (into the gears at the angle of
the seat), you might want to turn the seat right side up and sit in it, or just eyeball it to be sure it is lined up with the other side. If not, you can use a 3/16 socket slid on the squared other end of the cable to turn it,
and line the sides up manually before you insert it into the motor.

Use torx 50 (45 would probably work too) to remove front seat.
It may be necessary to manually turn the cable (I used a 3/16 socket slipped over the square cable end) to insure the right and left sides of the seat are symmetrical before inserting the cable into the motor. I also put a little grease on the cable before I slid it through the housing.

First Photo.......seat tilt motor on bracket, two mounting screws, cable housings for cable to each side of seat

Second Photo.......close-up of two screws that should be removed from the BACKSIDE that hold the mounting bracket to the frame. This will allow easier removal of the cable housing from the clips that hold it.

Third Photo......this is a close-up of the broken cable housing

Thanks to Gerry Alexander for contributing to this FAQ!

Broken seat cable solution. I have found cheap solution to the broken power seat cable problem. The problem occurs when the hard sheath around the cable breaks. It allows the tension on the inner wire cable to relax and come out of its seating deep within the seat. Its made more difficult to replace because its workings are so deep in the padding. I have found a broken cable can be salvaged with no more than an inch or two of spare hose to act as an elbow. Best is fuel line hose because its reinforced but any rubber hose that you can jam the broken ends into and that holds tight will work (for a while anyway). You unscrew the seat...adjust to get to screws, remove the seatback motor...unplug the cable connectors...slide out broken cable...slide on your new elbow, jam it in place...then jam on the broken half for a snugfit. Make sure the line is about the same length, plug it back in and its done. As long as the lenght of the cable is sound it will properly seat theends in their respective holes and your seat is back to normal. I did the whole thing in less than 20 minutes and it cost me about 80 cents. Make sure to even up both sides of the back before plugging everything back in.