Like many other European cars of the last 2 decades, my Saab 9-3 faced the troublesome pixelation of the onboard computer. Mine was missing most of the middle section, but I’ve seen it happen all through the display on other cars.
I happened to stuble upon a direction set on ebay of all places detailing the repair of this on my saab.
The jist of it is that the ribbon cable leading from the motherboard of the SID to the LCD panel is glued to the motherboard. Over time and through various hot and cold climate changes, the glue dries and separates. The real fix to this problem would be to take it all apart and use something like a circuit writer to fix it. Not being very good at that kind of delicate work, I instead followed the manual and sanwhiched a piece of foam between the vertical LCD panel and the motherboard where the ribbon cable attaches. It took me two tries with various thicknesses of foam, but I got it and now have a full display.
I also managed to replace my broken cup holder at the same time, so for under $30 I got a new cupholder and fixed my SID bfore winter!
