SATURN Complaints

LUCKILY MY BROTHER IN LAW WAS DRIVING HIS MOTHERS CAR AT THE TIME. THEY WERE COMING BACK FROM THE GROCERY STORE WHEN THE STEERING TURNED INTO A 1955 MACK TRUCK AS HE DESCRIBED IT. WHEN THEY RETURNED WE LOOKED IT UP IN THE MANUAL AS BEING ELECTRIC. WHEN I RESTARTED THE CAR IT WAS WORKING OK, THEN I TOOK IT AROUND THE BLOCK AND IT WENT OUT AGAIN. I RESTARTED THE CAR AGAIN AND IT WAS OK AGAIN FOR ABOUT A HALF BLOCK WHEN IT WENT OUT AGAIN. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION IF MY 81 YEAR OLD MOTHER IN LAW HAD BEEN DRIVING. *TR

TO START WITH IT STARTED SHUTTERING WHEN IT WOULD SHIFT IN THE LOWER GEARS . AS TIME WENT ON IT GOT WHERE IT DIDN'T WANT TO SHIFT OUT OF FIRST AND SECOND GEAR . HOWEVER ONE MORNING I WAS ON MY WAY TO A DOCTORS APPOINTMENT ,I STOPPED FILLED UP WITH GAS AND GET SOME COFFEE AND AS I RETURNED FOR MY DESTINATION I PULLED OUT OF THE STORE AND WAS WAITING ON IT TO SHIFT AND SOMETHING POPPED AND I HAD TO GET OFF THE ROAD BECAUSE IT LOST ALL POWER .I HAVE SINCE BEEN TOLD THAT THERE IS NO TRANSMISSIONS TO BE FOUND BECAUSE THERE IS SO MANY PROBLEMS WITH THE SAME VEHICLE AND THE SAME PART ! SO HOW MANY COMPLAINTS DOES IT TAKE FOR A RECALL TO BE INVESTIGATED? I'M BROKE AND CANT AFFORD TO PUT ANY MORE MONEY INTO A VEHICLE STILL PAYING FOR AND ON A FIXED INCOME. *TR

WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD AT NORMAL SPEED 55 MPH WE GET A DING DING DING WITH A PWR STEER LIGHT TO COME ON AND THEN WE HAVE NO POWER STEERING. LUCKILY MY HUSBAND WAS DRIVING. AFTER CALLING THE SATURN DEALERSHIP IT APPEARS TO BE THE POWER STEERING ASSIST MODULE. THIS IS DANGEROUS DUE TO YOU NOT GETTING MUCH OF A WARNING. *TR

DRIVERS SEAT FRAME BROKEN. SEAT WOULD NOT MOVE AND WAS SLIDING WHILE BEING DRIVEN. SEAT WAS REPLACED BY DEALER UNDER EXTENDED WARRANTY. DRIVERS SEAT FRAME BROKE AGAIN NOVEMBER, 2011. PART OF THE SEAT WOULD NOT MOVE. INSPECTION SHOWED THE FRAME WHICH ANCHORS IT TO THE FLOOR WAS BROKEN AGAIN. THIS CAR IS A 1 OWNER, NEVER IN AN ACCIDENT. *TR

PASSENGER HEADLIGHT WENT OUT. I ATTEMPTED TO FIX IT, BUT A NEW BULB DOESN'T RESOLVE THE ISSUE. THE PROTECTIVE COVER OVER THE WIRING GOING TO THE LIGHT IS MELTED AND THERE ARE NOTICEABLE BURN MARKS AROUND THE LIGHT AND LIGHT HOUSING. *TR

I HAD MY CAR LOOKED AT BY THE LOCAL MECHANIC TO FIND OUT THE HEADLIGHT ASSEMBLY ON THE PASSENGER SIDE HAS WENT BAD. MY CAR IS OUT OF WARRANTY SO ITS NOT COVERED. IT SEEMS THIS HAS BEEN A FREQUENT PROBLEM WITH THIS CAR AND THIS SHOULD BE A RECALL. *TR

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2008 SATURN AURA. WHILE STOPPED WITH THE GEAR IN DRIVE AND THE BRAKE PEDAL DEPRESSED, THE CONTACT SWITCHED THE GEAR TO PARK AND NOTICED THAT THE GEAR WOULD NOT ENGAGE IN PARK. THE FAILURE RECURRED INTERMITTENTLY AND MORE OFTEN WHEN THE WEATHER WAS WARM. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO THE DEALER FOR DIAGNOSTIC. THERE WAS AN INVESTIGATION UNDER NHTSA ACTION NUMBER: EA11015 (POWER TRAIN: AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION: PARK/NEUTRAL START SWITCH POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:LEVER AND LINKAGE:FLOOR SHIFT POWER TRAIN: AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION: GEAR POSITION INDICATION (PRNDL) THAT COULD POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN RELATED TO THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 30,000.

REPLACE DRIVERS SIDE HEADLAMP NOVEMBER 6, 2011 IT HAS BURNED OUT AGAIN WITH ONLY 1800 MORE MILES THAN FIRST INCIDENT. SO BY DECEMBER 16, 2011 IT HAS BURNED OUT AGAIN. MY PREVIOUS VEHICLES I HAVE PUT CLOSE TO 200K MILES ON AND NEVER REPLACED ONE HEADLIGHT, NOW I HAVE 2. THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THIS VEHICLE. *TR

MY POWER STEERING LIGHT CAME ON AND I NOTICED THAT I HAD LOST THE POWER STEERING ABILITY. WITH DIFFICULTY, I STEERED THE CAR TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND TURNED THE CAR OFF AND THEN BACK ON AND THE POWER STEERING WAS WORKING AGAIN. THIS HAS HAPPENED MULTIPLE TIMES AND WITH THE RESEARCH I HAVE DONE, I FEEL IT NEEDS TO BE RECALLED FOR MY SPECIFIC SATURN. I BOUGHT THE CAR USED 1.5 YEARS AGO AND DID NOT KNOW OF ANY PROBLEMS UNTIL NOW. I HAVE OVER 100XXX MILES ON IT BUT THAT SHOULD NOT EXCLUDE ME FROM ANY RECALLS THAT MAY BE ISSUED IN THE FUTURE. I DRIVE MY CAR OVER 200 MILES A DAY AND NO LONGER FEEL SAFE IN IT. THIS IS MY 3RD SATURN AND I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THEM BUT I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED THAT THIS HAS NOT BEEN RECALLED ON MY CAR WHEN IT IS A VERY SPECIFIC PROBLEM THAT IS HAPPENING AND BEING RECALLED IN OTHER VEHICLES. I GOT AN ESTIMATE OF OVER $1000 TO FIX THE PROBLEM BUT I DO NOT HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY LAYING AROUND. I JUST HOPE THAT I DO NOT GET IN AN ACCIDENT BECAUSE OF THIS. IF THAT DOES HAPPEN, GM WILL BE HEARING FROM MY ATTORNEY. *TR

SOHC LK0/L24 (FROM HTTP://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/SATURN_I4_ENGINE#SOHC_LK0.2FL24) THE SOHC (LK0/L24) CYLINDER HEAD HAD 8 VALVES AND WAS MADE OF LOST FOAM CAST ALUMINUM. THE CAMSHAFT WAS LOCATED IN THE CENTER OF THE CYLINDER HEAD AND DRIVEN BY A CHAIN OFF THE FRONT CRANKSHAFT SPROCKET. MOTION FROM THE CAMSHAFT WAS TRANSMITTED TO THE EIGHT VALVES BY THE HYDRAULIC LIFTERS AND ROCKER ARMS. THE LK0 ENGINE FIRST USED TBI (THROTTLE BODY INJECTION) FOR FUEL DELIVERY AND WAS RATED AT 85 HP (63 KW) AND 110 FTLBF (149 NM) OF TORQUE FROM 1991 TO 1994. THE L24 ENGINE RECEIVED MPFI (MULTI-PORT FUEL INJECTION) IN 1995 WHICH INCREASED POWER OUTPUT TO 100 HP (75 KW) AND 114 FTLBF (155 NM). THIS ENGINE WAS USED FROM 1995 TO 2002. THE SOHC ENGINE WAS AVAILABLE ON THE BASE MODEL S-SERIES VEHICLES (SC1, SL, SL1, SW, SW1) 1992 THROUGH 1998 L24 CYLINDER HEADS DEVELOPED ISSUES WITH CRACKS DEVELOPING IN THE FIFTH CAMSHAFT JOURNAL, LOCATED CLOSEST TO #4 CYLINDER. THE HAIRLINE CRACK WOULD DEVELOP BETWEEN THE OIL FEED PORT OF THAT JOURNAL AND THE COOLANT PASSAGES IN THE CYLINDER HEAD. SYMPTOMS WOULD RANGE FROM OVERHEATING TO LOW COOLANT, HOWEVER, MOST CARS AFFECTED BY THIS ISSUE EXHIBITED OIL MIGRATION INTO THE COOLING SYSTEM. THE RESULTING MIXTURE OF THE TWO FLUIDS WOULD RESULT IN A THICK BROWN "MILKSHAKE"-LIKE MIXTURE, VISIBLE IN THE COOLANT OVERFLOW TANK. SATURN RELEASED UNADVERTISED POLICY WHICH WOULD COVER THIS ISSUE, EXTENDING THE WARRANTY ON THE CYLINDER HEAD TO 6 YEARS OR 100,000 MILES (160K KM). REPAIR REQUIRED THE REPLACEMENT OF THE CYLINDER HEAD. AND FLUSHING OF THE COOLANT SYSTEM. BADLY AFFECTED CARS WOULD SEE COOLANT IN THE OIL, AS WELL AS OIL IN THE COOLANT, AND WOULD REQUIRE THE REPLACEMENT OF THE COMPLETE ENGINE ASSEMBLY. UNTIL THE CYLINDER HEAD CASTING WAS REDESIGNED ... *TR