22nd May 2007, 08:59

Update - after the $1,400 repairs, car is still broken and the mechanic says, "oops! We were sort of wrong, it's actually a different part that's broken. We'll fix it for free - you've been through so much - will be ready on Friday."

I call Friday - car's still not fixed. The new repair is no longer free, either. Well, went and took her back as is and now she's back with my usual mechanic.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing again is to encourage all of you with these problems to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE report them and the treatment you receive to your local Better Business Bureau! I have met tons of people dissatisfied with the dealership I've been going to, but when I checked the BBB report on-line, there have been no complaints formally lodged in the past 3 years! I suspect this is because you can't lodge anonymous complaints. Do your neighbors a favor - submit a complaint to the BBB and maybe you can save someone else the headaches you're having, maybe (ha ha) it will even make the dealers improve their business practices.

Still, it's the responsible thing to do, IMHO. I'm preparing my BBB complaint right now. Many BBB offices have on-line forms for submitting complaints and databases for searching for complaints by business name.

It's worth it. Checking my local BBB site will be my first step when I'm looking for a dealership for my next car.

23rd May 2007, 14:16

I too fell under the "spell" of Saturn, and bought a 2001 L300 in spring of 2002. What a huge, huge, huge mistake. This car has been nothing, but the biggest piece of crap I have ever driven. My husband's 1993 Ford Taurus station wagon with 160,000 miles on is way more reliable than the junk that I drive. It is now, as we speak in the shop getting another fuel pump installed. This will be the 3rd one since I bought the car!!! I too have replaced almost every sensor, belt etc in this car. I will never, never, never buy Saturn again, unfortunately, due to severe illness in my family, and my husband being out of work because of it, I had to use this piece of crap as collateral on a loan, so I'm stuck with it for at least one more year. Wonder how much more it will cost me to keep it on the road!!!

1st Jun 2007, 08:24

I'm the one that's written before about my $1,400 mistake of going to Saturn for repairs. IF YOU HAVE THE SYMPTOMS OF THE DREADED "REVERSE SLAM" - Be sure to have a mechanic check the car's ECU before you have the valve body replaced. Turns out that's what was wrong with mine. Got a used ECU for under $100, and with labor, the repair was not even 15% of what the dealership charged. I had the car back the next day and it's been driving perfectly ever since.

To add insult to injury, I've had several calls from the dealership to ask about my satisfaction with their service! The first time I got one of these calls, I had to tell the lady, "I can't comment on my satisfaction yet, YOU STILL HAVE MY CAR!" Apparently, no one there has any idea what is going on.

Seriously, though, make sure to get several opinions before going to the dealer to work on the "reverse slam." It might save you a ton of money and time and keep you from having a thrombo...

4th Jun 2007, 16:20

I have a 2001 L300 and had the SES, Service with the wrench and Reduced Power lights all come on at the same time. The codes all pointed to electrical of some kind.

They tried the Throttle Body. Replacement did not fix it. So now they are saying it is the wiring harness or ECM. They wanted to replace both. So, I asked them to run a continuity test on the wiring to see which one it was. Apparently it is the harness (the more expensive of the 2).

Don't get me wrong, they have been great and have been nice about everything, but it disturbs me that a person that knows nothing about cars is telling a Master Tech how to do the diagnosis. They even had to call the Saturn engineers for this as well.

I am really not sure what to think since I have had no problems with this vehicle up to this point. This was an all of a sudden thing. I was driving, shut it off to go into a store and 5 minutes later when I started it this happened.

Wiring harness replacement is going to cost around $1200 dollars. AT least they are not charging me for the Throttle Body Replacement that did not work.

11th Jul 2007, 14:42

Reading two comments above, my 2001 L300 had the same problem with the SES, Service and Reduced Power lights coming on out of the blue. This happened over this past weekend. They replaced the battery, terminal and posts (which were also gone), as well as the entire throttle body unit (per the codes in the danged computer), dismantled everything to find out why a cylinder was misfiring - then finally replaced the powertrain control module which did the trick. $1000 later, I have a car. They decided not to charge for the throttle body, and stopped charging on labor early on (when they determined they had no clue what was wrong).

So many of the comments above seem familiar. The car's computer module leads the technicians on wild-goose chases, making them replace parts that don't solve the problem. "We think this will do the trick, or at least will help us get to the problem...". I'm not blaming Saturn service technicians - I think it's the GM/Saturn sensors and modules on the danged car that have made it very difficult and expensive to service.

AndyMac - Boston, Mass.

23rd Jul 2007, 15:05

2001 L300 Crapturn...Saturd

The list goes on and on doesn't it? Did I mention in a previous post that my Saturd dealer brought in a regional service manager to try to figure out what is wrong with my hunk-o-junk? They couldn't! Thousands of dollars later... I just ride around with the SES light on... and I almost hope the whole piece of crap explodes... What more can I do? If a Saturn dealer can't fix it... and they call in a regional guy to fix it, and he can't figure it out? Where do you turn? It's just not right that the car manufacturer isn't responsible for selling a car that EVERYONE HAS TROUBLE WITH...and, THE SAME TROUBLES AT THAT! Where's that Ralph Nader when you need him?

Anyone want a deal on a 2001 L300???