I have a 2001 saturn ls that I bought used in october 2004. It has about 54, 000 miles on it and the timing chain just broke. This caused damaged to the valves which is costing me over $2,000 to fix. This should not have happened.
2001 Saturn LS engine complaints
Page 11 of 12: complaints 281 to 310 of 339, newest first, as owners wrote them.
My wife and I own a 2001 saturn l200 sedan that we have been very happy with. Over the years there have been nothing more than the normal little problems with the car. About two weeks ago my wife started noticing a 'ticking' noise coming from the engine. The sound came and went but mostly when she started the car. We had it in to a garage and they were unable to determine the cause, but assured my wife everything would be fine. Two days later everything was not fine. My wife, who is a nurse, went to start her car after work. The car started, with the noise, and then stalled. She tried to restart the car but was unable to. All of this happened sunday july 9th at 4:00 am in the morning. We had the car towed the following monday, at an increased expense because she was in a low clearance parking garage. We had the engine checked and it was discovered to be a timing belt failure. Lucky, for us it happened when she started the car not when she was driving, so there was no other damage done to the motor. As I stated earlier our car is a 2001 saturn l200 that has only 78,000 miles. Never before have I heard of a timing chain failing, let alone at 78,000 miles. The last car we owned, a 1993 nissan maxima had a timing belt and the manufacturer did not recommend replacement until 90,000 mile at that. I have had many cars and have driven them well beyond 100,000 mile mark and never have I had to fix a timing chain before.
My sixteen year-old daughter was driving our 2001 saturn l200 and came home to tell me that the car started making a knocking sound. I took it to the mechanic to investigate the problem. He called me to show me the results: a shattering timing chain. The links of the chain were breaking apart, but had not yet completely failed. Since the pieces that had broken off could not be confidently recovered from the engine, we are currently in the process of replacing the engine. This failure could have caused an emergency that my daughter would not have been able to handle had this timing chain failed completely while she was driving on any of the busier streets in our area, where traffic can be moderate to heavy. The engine with the failing timing chain is still currently available if needed for ea06-009.
Dt*: the contact stated there was a groaning noise coming from the engine compartment, which may have eminating from the power steering system, on 6/19/05. The sound was more pronounced during a cold start. The vehicle was diagnosed at the dealership and the timing chain was replaced. The same problem occurred a few days later. The dealer refused to correct the problem a second time at no cost.
Engine shut off in the middle of the street doing 50 miles an hour.
After driving five minutes, I was accelerating my 2001 saturn lw300 up a gentle slope to enter a highway on-ramp when the engine unexpectedly and for no apparent reason stalled. Engine could not be restarted. Problem has not yet been diagnosed by saturn of austin.
Timing chain failure, vehicle died while driving on highway.
2001 saturn l-200 car has 50k miles and the timing chain has broken. Have seen on different internet forums at least 50 of the same exact complaints. The saturn corp is aware of the problem and has changed the design but is not willing to help in any of the repairs.
I was driving on the highway when, without warning my engine turned off and I was forced to the side of the road. I did not know what had happened and I called a tow truck to take me the 30 miles to my home. Turn my car into the manufacturer and they said that the timing chain broke and it might have damaged the heads as well, resulting in a $2668 repair. I had no choice but to pay and have them repair it.
While traveling at highway speed, the timing chain failed in my 2001 saturn l200. This caused sudden loss of power on a major highway. The vehicle had to be towed. The timing chain had snapped, causing significant damage. The damage was repaired by a saturn dealer, costing approximately $2000.
I was traveling on the highway in the middle lane at approximately 60 MPH I moved to the fast lane to pass a slower moving vehicle and pressed the accelerator at which point I noticed a sudden loss of engine power and rapid deceleration. I managed to get the car over to the right side of the road without any serious incident. After having the car diagnosed it turned out to be the timing chain, after looking at your web site I found there was an investigation into the timing chain on this make and model. The file number seems to be pe06-006.
With no advanced warning signs, my 2001 saturn l-200 had the timing chain spontanteously break. All oil changes and maintenance was done at the regular intervals. Because saturn designed this as an interferance engine, the broken timing chain caused permanent damage to the valves in the motor. No one was hurt as a result of this engine malfunction. The failure was corrected by replacing the blown engine with a low mileage salvage engine at the cost of $2606 to me. I am the original owner and my vehicle only has 69,000 miles.
The timing chain on my saturn l200 failed when I was traveling south on highway 169 in golden valley minnesota. At the time of the failure I was traveling at 65 MPH and the vehicle became was difficult to control. Thankfully it was 3 am in the morning and there were no other vehicles on the road so I was able to successfully negotiate off the highway without incident. Upon investigating the failure I found out that this has already been logged in defect investigation pe06006. In addition I found that 29 other people posted timing chain failures on this message board http://www.carsurvey.org/viewcomments_review_56674.html.
1. Driving at highway speed on interstate. 2. The engine timing chain broke which caused the engine to immediately stop, all power was lost but fortunately traffic was light and I was able to maneuver to the shoulder of the road. 3. The broken timing chain caused engine valves to be damaged. The timing chain, head and valves had to be replaced at a cost of $1969.00.
I own a 2001 saturn l200 4 cylinder sedan. It has just over 70k miles on it. All maintenance has been done on or before schedule. Almost 2 years ago the computer had to be replaced. After that incident, the lights started doing weird things. So I took it to the dealer and that issue was resolved (a recall). I have also had to replace the brakes 3 times. On 3/30/06 I was in rush hour on a busy highway passing a car in the left lane. My car just died (no lights came on indicating the engine stopped, just no power). Thank god I got to the right land. I sat there for an hour and finally got the car towed. The timing chain broke. I have spend $200 just to find that out. I am not sure what other damage has resulted. Saturn is acting ignorant about this problem. They say they cannot tell me anything unless I have it at a saturn dealership. (another tow charge and diagnostics charge). I saw that there is an investigation into this matter and wanted to file a formal complaint. I strongly believe, after the research I have done, that saturn should take responsibility and fix this problem.
2000 saturn l100 timing chain failure. Sudden power loss at 50 MPH.
The timing chain failed on my 2001 saturn l-200 at highway speed. The engine abruptly died. Fortunately I was able to coast safely to the side of the road. A valve bent and the head cracked.
My 2001 saturn l200 with 69k miles on it had the timing chain break - it ripped through the engine, shearing off the gears and busting the valves. I now have no way to get to work, no money to fix the car, and have discovered online that this is a common problem with this make of saturn and saturn refuses to issue a recall or pay to fix the problem. Please help!
Dt*: the contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, the engine would not crank. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for inspection. The dealer determined the timing chain inside the engine broke and recommended replacing the engine.
No events leading up to this failure. I own a 2001 saturn l200 sedan. Up until now this has been a good vehicle. The car just turned over 70k miles and the timing chain just broke. This leaves me with a car that I am making a payment on, yet unable to drive. It is not in my family budget to have this repaired by a professional, that means I will have to do the work myself unless saturn decides to help me. I have been doing a lot of research into this issue and see that there has been a service bulletin issued for this problem, but no recall yet.
2001 saturn ls 4-door - timing chain went bad after barely 100,000 miles. Repair to fix will cost about $2,000. We relied on saturn's claims that timing chains are better than timing belts because chains never have to be replaced. That being said, we now have a busted timing chain with exhaust valve problems on a 2001 saturn ls 4-door sedan.
Our 2001 saturn l200 stopped working as a result of a broken timing chain. Oil changes have been done on a regular basis, but the chain still failed. The engine was destroyed due to the internal design of the chain leading to a need for engine replacement (cost of $2800). The new motor is on order and will be replaced this week, all costs are on us. Saturn has no idea how to prevent problem from happening, there are no warnings to tell us there are issues, and their customer service was of no help.
My car simply would not start. It is a 2001 saturn l200 with 31,000 miles. Vin [xxx]. I had it towed to a gm garage in town. The problem turned out to be the timing chain. It had come loose and moved 2 links, so the engine had no compression and could not start. The timing chain and gear were replaced, oil and coolant replaced. The total bill was $1,104. With only 31,000 miles, this failure of the timing chain is very premature and unexpected. *nm updated 07/16/2012 *js information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
I purchased a 2001 saturn l200 in october 2004. It had roughly 64000 miles on it. This past october my daughter was driving the vehicle. The car slowed to a complete stop. The car would not start. We had it towed to a service station and the next day I was told that the timing chain was broke. I contacted the local saturn dealership : saturn of saginaw. After I explained what happened ,they made it sound like it was my fault . They claimed that I was negligent with my oil changes. I told them that I had every oil change receipt and that they were always around the 3000 mile limit. They informed me that there was no service bulletin about this problem. They informed me that it would cost $2500 for a new chain and repairs(bent valves) or $ 4000 for a new engine. They claimed that I should expect no help from saturn. So I had the engine repaired for $1700 from the station that initially diagnosed the problem. Since the repairs, the car is running fine, I read on the web about other people that has had the same problem as myself. My car had 71000 miles on it when it failed.
I have a saturn l200, 2001 with 54,790 and the timing chain broke and bent the valves. Saturn said there was nothing they can do.
Sudden catastrophic failure of the timing belt on start-up one very cold morning(15 degree.) service mgr. At dealership later explained that water pump was leaking onto belt and frozen coolant may have forced the break. Dealer replaced belt and pump at my expense ($1100). Only "warning" I had was low coolant warning light that came on briefly daily at startup beginning 1 week before failure. No visible signs of water leaking on engine nor any puddling under the car before complete failure.
Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle would run rough at any speed. This first happened a year and a half ago. The dealership determined the third cylinder was not firing and replaced the spark plug and coil pack. The vehicle began to run rough again and the dealership determined the problem has reoccurred.
1) the car was driven two blocks from home to bring a family member to work. The car started normally, drove fine and gave no warning of anything going wrong. There were no strange noises or anything. No warning lights came on either! 2) with a load banging noise, the timing chain inside the engine broke causing the engine to immediately stop. All power assisted steering and braking went out and the car coasted to a stop. It was navigated through traffic to pull into a store parking lot narrowly avoiding being hit by other cars on the road. It was a very frightening experience. 3) the engine was fully disassembled to replace the timing chain, related tensioner(s) and 6 bent valves. Several gaskets and other miscellaneous parts and kits were used to reassemble the engine.
2001 l300 saturn has been to dealer for continuing repairs. Car bucks when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear and wrench light or ses light will come on. Dealers service personnel document they cannot see light on diagnostics, but problem continues intermittently. Car failed completely on interstate in commuter traffic. State police assisted owner. Car exited interstate. Car failed again. Car towed to repair shop for a battery which had just been replaced by dealer a month earlier. Car driven from repair shop and failed for third time same day. Car towed to dealership. Car fixed and customer charged. Complaint filed with saturn corporate. Car bucking and shifting returned in less than two weeks. Lights up intermittently. Car unsafe! Saturn corporate says dealer will offer a discounted repair. Customer no longer trusts dealer or corporation due to repeated repairs for same issues. Car has always been serviced by selling dealer except for single tow day of failure. Supporting documentation and complete repair history available.
(01-03-05) consumer saturn timing belt broke. *ts the blower fan was inoperative. The consumer stated the manufacturer re-designed the oiling nozzle and included it with a kit when replacing the timing chain, because they were aware of the potential failure of the timing chain.
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