Saturn Outlook Transmission troubles

jswig

It appears I am having transmission problems with my 08 Outlook just as many of you have. The problem is that it will not engage in drive or reverse. I have had some luck by removing the keys and waiting a couple minutes. Any suggestions or any help including the best way to contact G.M. Would be appreciated as I am new to all this. I still have a big payment on the vehicle and it is my family's main car. I don't know what to do without it. This is very disappointing and hope G.M. Can stand behind this to help.

geno59

@jswig said:
It appears I am having transmission problems with my 08 Outlook just as many of you have. The problem is that it will not engage in drive or reverse. I have had some luck by removing the keys and waiting a couple minutes. Any suggestions or any help including the best way to contact G.M. Would be appreciated as I am new to all this. I still have a big payment on the vehicle and it is my family's main car. I don't know what to do without it. This is very disappointing and hope G.M. Can stand behind this to help.

I noticed that sometimes the GM service representative will respond and provide contact. The contact I have are Phone # 1-800-553-6000 or 1-800-790-5700 or 1888-790-5700 ext 11154 and ask for Becky. Really don't know which number will work, but worth a try.

premlor

We have been having transmission problems with our 08 Outlook XR for years. First trip to the dealer we replaced the TCM. $1200. The thing started hesitating after a few months. Couldn’t figure that out. Lived with it for over a year. It started getting worse so I took it to a dealership to get looked at. Apparently the “new” TCM went bad. Sorry, we only warranty our parts for 1 year. Had I had any inkling that the hesitation was being caused by the transmission I would have had it in much sooner. Fast forward and I found a service bulletin that recommended flashing the TCM with an updated program to fix hesitation. Paid $100 for that. I should have charged them $100 for having to find my own fix. So the hesitation stopped. That was good, but a new problem developed ... We will be driving and suddenly the transmission is very hard to shift. It also happens at speed. When that happens we completely lose 6th gear. Literally, it pops into neutral and you have to slow down and it will eventually hard shift into 5th gear. The fun doesn’t stop there. You can’t just run it in 5th gear because the trans starts to heat up. After a few minutes you will get a message on the display that says “transmission too hot, idle engine”. The only fix for it is to pull over, put the car in park and shut it off. You wait 10-15 seconds, turn it back on and the trans works like normal. Let me say I feel really good about my wife driving this thing around with our kids in the back and she has to pull over to the side of the highway. I can tell you with all certainty that our next suv won’t be from GM. GM customer service has been no help through this process and it’s been a frustrating one.