16th Apr 2007, 18:16

I am the owner of a 2001 Saturn LS200 WITH 78,000 well maintained miles on it. The timing chain broke last week thus destroying the engine which will now cost me over $4,000 to replace. Saturn is more than aware of this and is using the exact same "you didn't change your oil" scam. Apparently, this is their response to squirm out of their lack of a recall on a defective part in the engine (see TSB 01-03-06-107). I am taking them to court and have filed complaints with BBB, Consumer Affairs, NYS Attorney Generals office and the NHTSA. Everyone please listen!! Do not let them blame you for the timing chain defect! Write to everyone I've listed and let them feel the heat.

29th Apr 2007, 18:54

From the Bronx,

This is not good... i have 2001 L200 with 54k and just starting seeing oil and the floor of the passanger side. What should I do?

23rd Jul 2007, 13:09

I just received a call from the mechanic where my 2002 Saturn L200 with 38,000 miles was towed after it died on the road yesterday. They tell me that the timing chain broke and there are at least 6 valves bent. Bottom line $2,789.50, unless there are more valves broken. I wish I would have seen this website before I bought this car for my son last year.

31st Aug 2007, 19:09

My 2000 Saturn LS1 died as I merged onto the GW Parkway last weekend, and I thought it must have been out of gas, but even after adding gas it didn't start.

I ended up having it towed to the nearest Saturn dealer, who said they did a number of tests and that it is more than likely the timing chain has broken, but it will cost $275 to take apart to be certain, and then about $2700 to fix and that's only if the valves aren't also broken, in which case it will be more.

It's sad because the value of this car is still $5000-$7000, even though it has 76,000 miles, but that is in good running condition. The dealer only wants to give me $400 for a trade in since he said it will cost so much to fix.

I wondered if I caused it by not changing the oil often enough, but after reading online, they always say it is due to a lack of oil changes, and many people have changed their oil regularly, I have to wonder. Everyone I know says that's ridiculous, and timing chains should not break this soon. If the oil is that low, a warning light should come on and stay on if a major part is about to fail.

Now I'm literally stuck home without a car, when mine had been paid for for 4 years, and I really like how well my car ran and how nice it looked for its age up until now. Help. : (

7th Oct 2007, 20:46

My 2000 Saturn L-Series just died while driving. It has 75,000 miles on it. My mechanic friend says it sounds like the timing chain and hopes it didn't effect the valves. I guess from reading this site that I'll be paying a few grand to get it fixed.I'm so disgusted after reading all these comments that this has been an ongoing problem for awhile with this model.

13th Nov 2007, 18:17

I just took my 2002 Saturn L100 into the dealership last Friday 11/09/07 because my timing chain was loose. Friday I was told by the mechanic who hadn't even looked at my car that my engine was done and it was my fault due to a lack of oil. I told him he was wrong the car only have 56000 miles on it and gets regular oil changes. I told him I have looked at consumer reports website and this is an issue with these cars. Well yesterday, Monday I was told the chain broke while in the dealerships care. After getting in a fight with the service manager, getting my brother, uncle and Saturn Corporate involved I was told that Saturn would probably help with the repair. Today, Tuesday I am happy to report that Saturn will be paying 75% of my repair bill with me paying about $500 in labor costs.

I urge all of you to go to the dealership and fight this like I did. Saturn is in the wrong here and has not issued a recall for this car. They have issued a recall on the VUEs and IONs for this reason after the NHTSA opened up an investigation about this. Why the L Series I do not know.

To find the article I found google Saturn timing chain and it should come up.

27th Nov 2007, 17:50

I recently purchased a 2003 Saturn L200 with 49,000 miles on it. I checked the car fax reliability report on this car and no major problems appeared. When I took it in to do regular scheduled care (Transmission Flush and Fuel Filter), the repair shop said the Water Pump was leaking. I then looked online for other problems with this model and timing chain failure appeared. I had the timing chain replaced as well, but there is an occasional strange rattling noise, especially when I accelerate and make a left turn. I am planning on taking the car back into the shop to see what the issue is, but I am wondering if I should trade the car in with so many issues. I took out a 5 year loan on this car, so if I can't get 5 years out of it, I'm in trouble.

3rd Dec 2007, 14:54

In my 2000 LS, I had to have my timing chain replaced at 50,000 miles. Now I don't put on a lot of miles, so my car was almost 7 years old.

I didn't bring it to Saturn to do this, and my mechanic told me that the replacement parts (it's not just the timing chain, but a timing chain kit) Saturn recommends doesn't have the same size hole. I'm talking about a little cylinder shaped metal piece that has a hole running through it which squirts oil on the timing chain.

So, if the original hole was too small, I don't think all these problems were caused by user maintenance, they were caused by improper engineering to begin with. With all the comments here, it sounds like a class action type offense if I ever saw one.

Luckily my bill didn't run as high as those here and I had this done in time to get me another 50,000 + miles in the future.

However, now my blower (heat/AC fan) has gone out. I checked the fuses and they are all good. Replacing the fuses made it kick in for a while, but it went out again. Slamming the passenger side door allowed it to kick in a couple times and it worked for a while—now it's really out. I hope this isn't too expensive. Overall, I've been happy with the car considering it's about 8 years old and these are the only troubles I've had.