Saturn LS misfire problems

Filed Oct 10, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 164,155 miles · CA

I lost power at highway speeds and at full throttle there was no acceleration. It made a loud boom like a backfire and a large piece of material that looked fiberglass matting and rocks blew out of the exhaust. The car accelerated fine for about 15 miles then started to bog down again. Shut off vehicle and tried to restart unsuccessful, waited a few hours then car restarted with no issues ran vehicle off and on over a three day period, that is when it started malfunctioning again with very rough idle, almost dies, extreme loss of power w/almost no acceleration at full throttle. Contacted mechanic the vehicle resonator was expanded to the point of splitting the seam, he removed the resonator to find all the fiber packing gone and the resonator packed with what looked like rocks. He stated the bits that looked like rocks were part of the catalytic converter packing that had been heated above the limits of the material. The disintegrated material made a blockage in the resonator not allowing the exhaust gasses to flow he checked for tsb's and recall campaigns and found camp # 03v231000 action # 03033 recall # 03-c-06 (electrical system ignition control module) and camp # 07v519000 action # ea06009 recall # 06074. (eng. Timing chain) called gm recall center given case #8-2430110427 per brandy she is getting many calls on this, she shows only the recall 03-c-06 only and she is to deny any additional claims even though they replaced the part with the same part that was recalled to begin with. Investigated recall # 06074 and found that did not include the 2002 saturn l series however per my mechanic both recalls are contributing factors with the outstanding issues with my vehicle. The car is unsafe to drive. The 2002 saturn l series should not be on the road and it shouldn't take an accident or a death before you people decide to recall these vehicles.

Filed Jun 15, 2013 · Engine · 137,000 miles · OH

Car over the time I have had it for the past 7 or 8 months has had a rough idle and now the car is hard to start. I suspect it is the timing chain going bad but my 2002 does not fall under the recall.

Filed Dec 5, 2009 · Engine · 53,000 miles · NH

My 2001 saturn sl200 had extreme vibration at a traffic light while on a long trip out of state. This car is driven by my college age student. Car engine was jumping, idling very rough, and losing power. Fortunately, she did made it back to college safely. The car was brought to saturn of manchester, new hampshire and plugs, wires and spark plug cassette were replaced due to a misfiring diagnosis. When the vehicle was picked up, it still ran rough. I returned to dealer and they said valve cover and engine were dirty. Also, they said timing chain sounded like it was slipping. I was not the original owner of this automobile. When I asked about the saturn timing chain recall, they stated this car was not included in the recall. To me, driving the car, it sounds exactly like a timing chain problem. Saturn charged me an exorbitant amount to do all the above work (over $900.00). I strongly believe that this car should be on the recall list, since saturn continued to make cars with the exact design after february 2001. I believe that gm is trying to get out of repairing an extreme safety issue for this car. This car is a potential death trap. The first in service date of this vehicle was june 2001, so I can almost conclude that this vehicle was manufactured during the recall time frame. If not, shortly thereafter. I am sure there were additional cars made with the same problem after gm's cutoff of problem VIN numbers. My car needs to be included in the recall.

Filed Jun 8, 2009 · Engine · 49,000 miles · NY

Tl*the contact owns a 2001 saturn l200. While driving less than 25 MPH, the engine would skip and eventually stall. The contact took the vehicle to a repair shop and the mechanic stated that there was a misfire in the vehicle. The contact was advised to take the vehicle to a saturn dealer and they stated that the timing chain needed to be replaced. The manufacturer stated that his VIN was excluded from the federal safety agency campaign id number 07v519000 (engine and engine cooling), although the failures were identical. The vehicle is still at the dealer and has not been repaired. The current and failure mileages were 49,000.

Filed Nov 7, 2007 · Engine · 83,000 miles · OH

My car was paid off in may 2007 and the timing chain broke in november 2007. I brought it into the dealer about a year ago with poor fuel economy, rough idle in the morning, oxygen sensor failure and random cylinder misfire. The dealer could not isolate the problem. They pressurized the fuel system to check for leaks. Cleaned the injectors and charged me 150$... Did not help. They said it was probably a bad injector... Had the injectors checked and they were fine. Had the oxygen sensor replaced 3 times. Nothing helped. Turns out the tensioner on the timing chain was failing. The dealership never thought of this even though it is a very common problem on this motor. Well the problem persisted until the chain jumped and the car would not start. 1250$ is the estimate to install the updated timing chain kit not to mention the cost of a rental car, the time and aggravation caused by a saturn design flaw. Ps. My car has 83,000 miles on it.

Filed Mar 31, 2007 · Engine · 36,303 miles · MA

I wish to report the same defect already identified by action number pe06006 (and subsequently ea06-009). The timing chain defect was discovered before complete failure due to very rough idling, and after getting a first opinion from my saturn dealership and a second opinion from a local garage, I paid $820 for a timing change. Saturn refused to cover this obvious defect under warranty.

Filed Mar 11, 2007 · Engine · KY

My wife's 2002 l100 saturn sedan, began to idle rough, so I changed the spark plugs figuring it was a bad plug (I always kept up with maintenance on the vehicle, I am a qualified aircraft mechanic for the military, so I am mechanically inclined). The vehicle ran fine for a couple of days, then became extremely worse. The vehicle had a rough idle, low power and would stall. We had the vehicle towed to the lexington, ky. Dealership. Later the service rep. Called and said I have some bad news, the catalytic converter was bad and the ignition module, you have gone 3,000 miles over the warranty. I asked how does a catalytic converter go bad in less than 5 yrs. And under 100,000 mi.? The rep. Said I don't know but it is going to cost $3,000 to replace everything. I told him wait a minute, you all already changed the ignition modulator on the recall before. I contacted an out in town mechanic, who provided me with recall info about the bad ignition modulator, that when it fails it could/would damage the catalytic converter. I called the dealer back with this information and documentation provided to me from the mechanic I saw. Rep. Said we have changed three modulators before you came in with this problem, they seem to keep failing and you should call saturn's customer service line. I did and informed them what the mechanic told me and what the dealer informed me of. Saturn said they would contact me back after contacting their engineers. Saturn called back and said they would fix the repairs if I paid the deductible as if the vehicle was still under warranty. I paid $100 and asked what about this constant problem with the ignition module, they said when it acts up again call us back. So, saturn is avoiding the problem at hand which I was shocked because I was told they always back their products and appreciate their customers. I plan not to purchase a saturn in the future and have been advising others not to either.

Filed Aug 18, 2006 · Engine · MN

I was responding to an emergency call with my local fire dept when my 2002 saturn l series motor quit running on the main highway. It turned out that I am one of many that had the timing belt break without any warning signs. No rough idle or hesitations, piff it was dead. The motor has only 75000 miles. I can not afford to have saturn fix it nor want to give them the funds so I am having another mechanic fix it with still some high expenditures. Luckily I was not like some who had to replace valves and such. The chain fell to the lower area. The whole assembly needed to be replaced. Looks as if engineering or quality materials are an issue, not oil changes as it appears saturn is using as an excuse to avoid the issue.

Filed Feb 28, 2006 · Engine · 53,000 miles · KS

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.

Filed Nov 15, 2005 · Engine · 25,994 miles · CO

Dt: the consumer stated that her vehicle experienced rough idle. The consumer then took the vehicle to a mechanic. The mechanic discovered a problem with timing chain. The timing chain was replaced by the mechanic. The consumer paid for the repair out of pocket. *nm (12/01/05)