My DIY Saab maintenance experience...

Ok, that's your problem right there. Soaking the bolt in good penetrating oil and/or heating with a torch, followed by use of a 6-point socket, will get the bolt out intact 95 % of the time. And spare your knuckles.

It doesn't hurt to have some sort of breaker bar also.

John

Get a professional socket, one that grabs on the flats. Better yet, get

an air tool socket. The hammering of the air tool loosens better than steady pressure.

At least you can get service in a week. Try driving a Saab in Canada...have had mine for 13 years now....GM stocks...zero...(0) ....nada parts....... Everything is a 2-3 week wait. When my AC pressure switch quit, it took 16 days to get a replacement part . GM Canada will only order parts from the "Mother Ship" in Sweden. Two weeks ago, my clutch master started squirting fluid out on my foot. The dealer told me to leave it on the lot and they "might" get to look at it in 5 or 6 days. When I complained, they said it was not a concern as they probably didnt have one in stock. They told me I had to call thier parts dept and see for myself. Now thats service. I wish I had the money to buy them out...I close the bastards done. Im sure thats not the service that Saab expected when they entered into their "arrangement" with GM.

And Oh yes, no clutch master....15 day waiting period. I luv my car....I luv my car...I luv my.....I...I....I...

penetrating oil

Canada...have

You really need to forget the dealership and start ordering parts online, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Yup, let me mouse do the walkin.

parts.......

...

Aside from the humour element, yes, you have to accept that if you're going to do DIY, you need to consider any tools you buy as an investment that will be used over and over again so buy good ones. I vary my tools, if it's a one shot or other rarely used tool, I will buy a cheap one. If it's something i'm going to use regularly then a better quality one is worthwhile.

The Saab kit really is nothing more than a roadside toolkit (spare wheel change) so you can't expect much there. How many roadside repairs these days even involve changing the spark plugs?

Similarly some jobs just don't lend themselves to DIY. I don't bother too much with metal brake pipes because they often snap off, I don't have brake pipe making tools and if I end up with a bust pipe, i'm stuck for getting the car to the garage for them to do it.

On the other hand, other stuff is fair game.

I don't think DIY is necessarily something you can do on a one off, especially if you don't already have some tools.

Sorry it didn't work out too well for you.

David.

The standard car jack (9000) is quite bad and has worn out. I now use a 2 tonne hydraulic trolley jack and axle stands from Halfords. Makes life much easier. But the black plastic covers under the car is a problem; there is always one of the screws that just rotates and don't get off. It's maddening...

I wouldn't know, I would never use a roadside jack to lift the car to work on it. Like you have done, you really want a trolley jack.

I undid all mine and those that wouldn't come off, I ground the heads off then removed the rear rusted up fastener. I then replaced them all the broken ones with new jacknuts (which you can buy from the dealer or elsewhere) on the rear and used new bolts with some copper grease.

I don't tend to overtighten them now and grease them every time I use them. No problems! :)

David.

That sucks for you.

Not to mention that any tool that came in the SAAB tool kit is a piece of trash. No wonder he got skinned knuckles...

He must have got the swear words in the wrong order or something. That is, of course, critical. You of all people should understand that, given that you work on what I used to design build, Fred.

Dave

Depends on what decade we're talking, though. The '60s and '70s toolkits were fantastic.

What sort of a socket "grabs on the flats?" I've never heard of this type before and would sure like to load up my toolchest with a bunch of them. Any sort of a link to one?

Or did you just mean a 6 point socket (like the prior poster already said)?

Why would anyone buy a car that they can't get serviced where they live? If we didn't have some many dedicated SAAB dealerships here I don't think you'd see any of them on the road.

snap-on tools. Worth the price of admission any day of the week. There may also be lesser vendors, but I've never regretted buying a snapon anything.

Dave

Sockets that have hexagons with rounded corners, so they grab on the flat side of the nut/bolt rather than on the edges. See

Yeah, usually it is a rust problem, not over tightening. The trick is like you said, to replace them when they get bad and don't try to reuse them.

So how do the snap-ons "grab on the flats?" It sounds like a marvelous invention...

Roughly speaking, the corners are cut out in the socket, and the "flats" are somewhat convex in the socket as seen by the bolt. Um. Hangon. "flank drive" sockets by Snap-on. They make it hard to find a freaking picture, because apparently their website was designed by a brain-deaded lemur on crack or something. Well, picture a hex where the corners are dug out and stretched outwards. Rotate that against a hex head bolt and as the rotation happens, the minor diameter of the socket is going to bear on the head of the hex near the centers of the flats, rather than at the points as a hex socket does. Added benefit is that they go on and off easy, because they're not snug until you're turning them.

I can't believe they don't have a freaking page I can find by searching "flank drive", that shows this geometry. Of course, someone is going to find that link in seconds and post it. I'm fine with that.

Dave