Prior to the actual repair, I did a bit of research. The forum at Saab Central is of great help, especially a post written by "win_k" on this subject. Apparently, the whole repair will take less than an hour.
My car is right-hand drive. Saab part number = 4777371
The plastic slider is within the shifter assembly. In order to get to that, the face plate and the shifter stick must be disassembled and removed. The starting point is a Torx 10 screw hidden in the shift lock actuator.
To fit a screwdriver to the screw, the shifter should be at least pass the third-gear position. It goes without saying that, before proceeding with this repair, the car must be parked on level ground, and turned off with the parking brake fully engaged.
Once the screw is gone, the front half of the shifter stick is free. There is a metal C-clip that holds the shift lock actuator in place. I used a precision screwdriver and a pair of needle-nose pliers to take off the clip. With the clip removed, the shift lock actuator can be removed by pulling it straight up.
With the help of a butter knife, the face plate is easily pulled off.
The slider has a lump that attaches to the semi-transparent gear indicator strip. These two entities lock together by a 90 degree turn.
The slider and gear indicator strip have their own "rails" or "tunnels" to fit into.
At this point, the replacement is complete.
Everything after this is just a reversal of the disassemble process.
The wires for the sport-mode button fit in a special channel inside the stick.
Proper routing of the wires is important to prevent pinching and stretching.
Here are a few important points to note:
A = The T-10 screw goes through this hole on the metal stick.
B = The T-10 screw goes into this hole.
C = The C-clip locks into this groove to secure the shift lock actuator.
D = Terminals for the sport-mode button. Don't forget these connections.
E = Wires should go into the molded trench.
A close-up of the shift lock actuator. The brass-looking shaft goes through the circular opening. The C-clip is then inserted to lock this whole plastic piece to the shaft.
Mission accomplished.
