Problems with new 2001 Saturn SL1
Lori Pringle
This afternoon, I tried to go see a movie. 4 blocks from my house, the
engine quit. I couldn't get the car started again.
The battery was fine, and the car has over 1/2 tank of gas. But the way the
car was acting, you'd think there was no gas. When I tried to start the car
again, you could hear the starter going, but it was like the engine wasn't
getting any gas at all.
Has anyone else had this problem with their 2001 Saturn S series car?
(Please reply to mu...@canada.com)
Thanks.
Alan Quan
Fuel pump? Maybe the fuse for it is broken, or a fuel pump cutoff switch was
activated. In any case, you're still within the 30-day period, so you might
want to think about swapping that car for another one.
-Alan
--
99 Saturn SL2, 58K
98 Ford Taurus SHO, 38K
94 Ford Taurus GL, 75K
89 Nissan Maxima SE, 193K
77 Mercury Marquis Colony Park S/W, 148K
85 Honda Accord, 140K (gone)
83 Honda Civic, 340K (gone)
Duncan Craig
"Lori Pringle" <do...@spam.me> wrote in message
news:32Ih6.10246$O3.4...@news1.rdc1.ab.home.com...
Geo
"Duncan Craig" <doughnut@don'tyouDAREspamme!idirect.com> wrote in message
news:VnZh6.111917$9v2.1...@quark.idirect.com...
> May be as simple as a frozen gas line.
>
drygas in winter.
_George_
Natural Light Black & White Photography
http://www.accesshub.net/~naturalight
Lori Pringle
whole front end (including engine) was taken apart. I had them explain and
show me what went wrong.
They don't know why it happened, although they thought probably
manufacturing defects of some sort, but the timing chain had broken, one of
the gears that the timing chain goes around had a notch broken off of it,
and all of the pistons and valves were damaged.
They told me that any one of these things could have caused all the other
things to go, because they are all inter-dependant on each other.
They were ordering parts for the engine and are going to rebuild it. (It
will take all week.)
I didn't want to have them swap the whole car out if it was just something
minor, but it looked pretty major to me. I asked some mechanics that don't
work at the Saturn dealership. They all said I should ask for a new car,
because after the engine's been taken apart like that, it's most likely
going to cause major problems again, even if it isn't for a few years.
So I phoned the sales guy back this afternoon and told him I want another
new car. So far, they've been pretty good about it. They said they'll phone
me in the morning and let me know what's available for a replacement. I just
have the basic model with air, cruise and a remote starter, so it shouldn't
be hard for them to find another one with the same options.
I haven't been able to find anything else about anyone having these kinds of
bad problems with their 2001, so hopefully, I will get a decent one this
time. (fingers crossed)
Lori
"Alan Quan" <sparhaw...@poboxes.com.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:3A87503D...@poboxes.com.NOSPAM...
Kirk Kohnen
Get the replacement car!
I can't think of a better reason to take them up on the replacement car offer
than your new car's engine blew up. I think if they're honest, each and every
one of the folks who work at the dealer would agree with this statement too!
Alan Quan
entitle you to get a replacement car for whatever reason, and having to have your
new car's engine torn apart is a darn good reason on why you want to get a
replacement. Sounds like you got a very rare bad apple within the batch of cars
for sale, and chances are very unlikely that you'd end up with another bad apple.
-Alan
--
99 Saturn SL2, 58K
98 Ford Taurus SHO, 38K
94 Ford Taurus GL, 75K
89 Nissan Maxima SE, 193K
77 Mercury Marquis Colony Park S/W, 148K
85 Honda Accord, 140K (gone)
83 Honda Civic, 340K (gone)
Lori Pringle
looked all over the place, and didn't find anything about anyone else having
any serious problems with their 2001 SL1.
Kind of a bummer that I have to get a dark grey one now - the other one was
gold (very nice looking). But, oh well. Maybe I'll put some pinstriping on
it to jazz it up a bit.
I'm supposed to be getting the new one on Friday (they have to install the
cruise control and remote starter).
Lori
"Alan Quan" <sparhaw...@poboxes.com.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:3A8A17A6...@poboxes.com.NOSPAM...
Kirk Kohnen
Lori Pringle wrote:
> Yep. Hopefully the new one will be good. I think it will be, because I
> looked all over the place, and didn't find anything about anyone else having
> any serious problems with their 2001 SL1.
>
> Kind of a bummer that I have to get a dark grey one now - the other one was
> gold (very nice looking).
F&#K that! Tell them very nicely either you get a gold one, or you get your
money back.
You aren't returning their car for a silly reason by any means. The engine blew
up on you. You just happened to be so lucky that it happened during the free
return policy. There is no reason that you shouldn't get exactly what you want
in your new car.
In this case I think you would be justified in telling them they jolly well
better find you a gold one.
Lori Pringle
on Sunday, and here it is Friday night, and I still don't have a new one. I
don't know what their problem is, but I'm getting really ticked off.
They gave me the original new car (with the rebuilt engine) as a "loaner",
and it died again this morning. Easy fix - just the battery, but who knows
why it died. Pretty sad for a "new" car.
When I was buying the new car last month, they were very anxious to get me a
car within a couple of days. But now, it seems like they're stalling, and
I'm quite sure they're avoiding my phone calls.
I'm really starting to think they're trying to get me to keep this junk
bucket long enough that I'll go over the mileage and have to keep it, but
it's only at 800 km, I'm not going anywhere, and if I don't have a new car
by Tuesday (Monday's a holiday here), I'm just going to drop off the gold
car, and they can keep ALL their cars.
And what IS with the colors of the cars, anyway? Why do they have 4 shades
of blackish-grey to choose from? Seriously, does anyone ever go into a car
dealership and say "I'd like to buy a road-colored car?"
You can't buy a blue car, because it seems that Saturn only manufactured
about 4 of them, and they've been sold already, and the only other actual
*color* is red, which might be OK if every other car on the road wasn't red.
Grrr.
Lori
"Kirk Kohnen" <kkoohh...@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:3A8B5850...@attglobal.net...
Xuequn Xu
of becoming the "Saturn Family" by getting an L200, but now I think I'd
better back off and re-consider my decision. I have owned Japanese cars
only so far and I would really want to try something different, such as a
Saturn, but if it's quality cannot give me peace of mind AND it's after-
sales service isn't as good as advertised or promised, I would stay with
those good-old "more reliable" choices.
Lori, thanks for posting this experience and please continue to do so.
xux
Lori Pringle (m...@blah.blah) wrote:
: Yes, you're right. I think I'm being too nice here. The stupid thing blew up
: Grrr.
: Lori
: > > > > > >
: > > > > > >
: > > >
: >
James Taylor
walk all over you. :(
You might consider contacting Saturn HQ to let them make you happy.
This dealership should *never* give you the same bad car for a
"loaner." It doesn't work!
Some Saturn dealerships are quite good, and some are truly bad.
You've got a bad one there. You could easily raise enough of a fuss
to return your car and go to another dealership to pick up the new one
there. You may also like dealing with the new people.
When I looked at used Saturns this past summer, I was told by several
dealerships that if they didn't have the car I wanted at that
location, they could do an inventory transfer and have it on their lot
in a few days - at no additional cost or hassle to me.
This place is really feeding you a line.
Good luck.
-J
Lori Pringle
than it should be and it doesn't seem right anymore. I would have been
happier if they'd have given me back my old '98 for the last couple of
weeks.
You should have seen how their attitude and behavior towards me suddenly
changed early last week, after I started getting a little more assertive.
But, yeah, you're right. You'd think that when the engine died under the 30
day / 2500 km period, they'd have been falling all over themselves to get me
a new one, without my having to hound them about it and find my own car.
To tell you the truth, I was about an inch away from going to the other
Saturn dealership in town. The reasons I hadn't done that to begin with were
that the same sales guy was so excellent the last time I got a car from him,
and that the sales guy at the other place was always trying to sell me a
fully loaded car, and any time I'd say I didn't want one of the options,
he'd say "Well, if you want to buy a crappy car, don't talk to me about it."
He has a bit of an attitude problem. (The service department at the other
place is far superior, though.)
Last Tuesday, when I started getting them to pay a little attention to my
problem, I got the excuse that each person thought another person was taking
care of it. I don't really know if that's true or not, but they've been
alright since then.
Anyway, I'm picking up the new one at noon. And I did tell the guy there
that this one better work ok, or I'll be driving around the circle on my
lunch hours with a lemon sign and their name on the side of the car!
I'll let you all know how the new one is.
Lori
"James Taylor" <jhta...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:5j8k9tk1lvm447nh8...@4ax.com...
Rudy Garcia
Pringle" <nob...@nowhere.net> wrote:
Good Luck!! Keep us abreast of your saga.
--
Rudy Garcia
rudyg....@jps.net (remove .nospam)