Saturn Vue Electrical Problems
Recentley I have noticed that my security light has been blinking hysterically along with my interior lights when I open my doors and also the dash lights. I was just curious if anyone else has had this issue and is it easy to fix on my own or should I just take it in to the dealership???
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My Vue has a number of electrical problems going on right now.I bought it brand new in March last year.Right now it has just over 18,000 miles.
The other morning I went out to go camping and the thing was dead.I got it jumped and went to the camp site .when I
turned it off I heard the heater blower fan still running.I know this is what caused the battery to die. so I got under the hood and pulled the fuse.No big deal...but this is just a long line of electrical mishaps THIS THING HAS/IS HAVING.
About three months ago I was turning up the radio volume from the steering wheel control.I hit the up button...and it went down.I hit the down button....and it went down....
I then banged my fist on the steering wheel outer ring (right alongside the controls) and hit the button again ....and it went up and down with the right buttons.
Also the heated seat buttons are acting up,and then the child window lock button doesn't work either.
I heard a lot about Saturn having all sorts of electrical problems with many of their lines.
Just a shame I didn't hear it a year ago.
So Tuesday I'm going back to the Dealer and telling them of my newest problem.
And I am going to tell them they better give me a brand new battery as well.since this fan problem totally drained mine.
This will be the second trip there under a month and a half.
last trip was for front ball bearings going bad...at only 14,000 miles.While waiting for it I was listening to the other peoples finding problems and there was 6 others (different make cars) that were having the same problem...
that scares me big time.......
Anyone hear of a huge electrical problem with Saturn?
Thanks
estrtbndfan
Next, the CD player started rejecting CD's - again, just random times and if I kept messing with it, it would eventually work.
Today was the kicker though (the tow truck is on the way as I type), I was parked on a hill and used the parking break and when I drove away, with the PB off, the dinger and lights for it would not go off. Just kept screaming at me that the PB was on when it wasn't. I tried several times to set and release the break but nothing changed.
Then I went to get gas and filled the tank - and sat there in the parking lot for a while trying to decide if I should drive it home or not. I finally decided to try to drive home (about 30 miles) and as I was pulling out of the gas station, the gas meter went up to 3/4 full and then promptly went back down to E. Half way home, the lights came on - not the day time runners, but the ones that come on automatically at night.
I called the dealership right away and they said that I shouldn't drive it anymore and they were sending a tow truck.
Oy vey....
Good luck with yours! :confuse:
I brought it back to the dealer. They replaced the switch on the steering wheel. It's now a few weeks later and the same problem is back.
Need to bring it back to the dealer again.
Also, has anyone noticed that if you listen to AM for a while, then change back to FM, the FM volume is low (if it is set around 35 for example, it will sound as if it is set at 15)? This has happened a few times. If I turn the radio off when this happens, then back on, the volume is where it should be.
Other than the radio, they had replaced the middle console compartment, since the storage door would stick.
Hopfully that's it for me.
Good luck with those issues. Hopfully, Saturn has found the real fix for your electrical problems
Yesterday I was 95 miles from home and I had a transmission leak from the filter.
I lost 3 qts of oil. I replaced the filter and put 3 qts back . The reason I looked under the hood was 2 fold. I kept stalling at my destination and the ABS light was on. The engine would stall only if I applied the brake pedal.
Six hrs later in panic mode ,having to drive 85 miles back home I found 1 solution.
Remove fuse from brake and I made it home. If I but the fuse back in and press the brake pedal the engine will die .
Okay my transmission was soaked with oil. I cleaned off all oil. I checked the wiring harness and it was clean .
**In front of transmission are 2 sensors or switches.
If I look at wiring diagram it shows Brake transmission safety interlock ,Brake sense switch and stop light switch all in series. Could one of these be my problem?
Another thing when I step on brake pedal the dash board left and right signals light up dimly .
Please let me know what you think. Thanks
This week we had a big storm and all of the interior lights came on and the doors unlocked on their own. I brought it in and it was determined that the sunroof drain was completely clogged and the water was instead draining around all of the electrical wires and then draining onto the floorboard.
While I was picking up a rental car, someone in the rental office said I was the 3rd person this week with that problem and that they had seen this several times during the past year. They told me the problem was happening with Vues and Outlooks. I have not mentioned this yet to the service dept, but will when I pick up my car. This is my 2nd Vue and I never had any problems with the first one. Evidently there is some design flaw in the '07's and '08's. I have not seen any posts anywhere about this and was surprised considering the car rental people seemed quite familiar with the problem.
Since I've had it fixed, the ABS light, emergency break light, the car with the wrench light and the t/c light have been coming on and/or beeping for no reason. I've brought my car back to the dealership 4 times. Every time they told me it was a loose wire. It's at the dealership at the moment (for the past 2 weeks) and now they are telling me it's a computer issue.
Does anyone have any suggestions or know anything about the lemon law in NJ? I never saw the wires that the "animal chewed". This is getting ridiculous and I'm ready to tell them to just keep it.
Mine has been a moisture issue this time (4 times). The inside of the windshield was freezing over. They've found 2 others with this issue, for different reasons, and are looking to see if it is one cause this time. I've only been patient because I understand that it doesn't do it every morning and that they need to reproduce the problem to fix it. One other had a leak in the cargo area, which I don't, they can't find any leaks, and the other had a heater core leak. Mine is showing it may have that, but it isn't leaving a puddle, and it's odorless (heater core leaks) so they're taking it apart to see if it is leaking just enough to soak the insulation and make it freeze. This is their last attempt though or I'm lemon lawing it, and I've told them that.
We also had an electrical problem with our passenger rear window. My son rolled it down and it never came back up. We had the VUE for ONE day and had to send it back to the dealer. So far, I'm not impressed. I told my wife we should have bought the Subaru Tribeca.
On another note, they didn't put some parts back together very well, there's a gap in the plastic piece behind the steering wheel, little gouges in the plastic molding where you step in, and on the glove box door from them taking it apart. They're replacing these for me. Oh, and they swear the steering wheel is one piece and they didn't do anything to it, but it can be hard to turn and it squeaks sometimes now. My thinking is if you took my entire dash, center console, and seats out, wouldn't you have to do something to the steering wheel to be able to do all that considering it's part of the dash?? :sick:
When we got our '08 VUE last August, we noticed the same problem. It actually cleared itself up after a few thousand miles; now when we fill the tank, the gauge reads correctly.
Wish the mileage was a bit better, though ... getting about 18-19MPG in mixed driving so far.
I've heard of this problem - the reduced power feature is telling you that there's a problem with the circuit that connects your gas pedal with the throttle body on the motor. Basically, it goes into reduced power mode as a safety precaution.
There are 3 components to the syetem - the gas pedal, the throttle body and the throttle position sensor. It works like this: you press the gas pedal, a sensor on the pedal tells the throttle body how much to move the throttle under the hood and the throttle position sensor monitors to see that the gas pedal and throttle body agree. When they don't agree the car goes into reduced power mode as a safety precaution. Chances are one of those 3 components are not working correctly. Usually its the throttle body or the throttle position sensor that need to be replaced. If your dealer hasn't replaced these but instead just reset the computer, the problem will come back just like yours has.
My suggestion: try another dealer and explain your problem to them - now that you understand basically how it works you're better equipped to talk them into replacing the part that you need - best of luck!! Hope I helped...
THANKS!!!!
Anyway...I like the fact that they did 2 things - replaced sensors & replaced wiring...today's cars are so sensitive to good electrical connections its unbelievable. One bad connection can be a nightmare on a specific system...I think you're gonna be good..
All the best,
John
Just what I found out yesterday.
1. Daytime running lights- were intermittent, then failed. Dealer first replaced battery terminal, seemed to work for a while, then failed.
2. After the Day time running lights failed, the dash lights went out.- Dealer replaced a Daytime running light resister ($480.00) seemed to fix the DTRlights, but had the car for a week and said that the dash board harness needed to be replaced ($1600.00) and that there was a wiring problem (you think?). I said no thank you, went to AutoZone and bought some dash lights that stick on the dash glass and plug into the lighter plug (with a switch) $16.00.
3. I thought we were out of the woods, NO! now the tail lights do not work with the head lights on, but work when the brakes are pushed.
Can anyone please help with some advice, fix ? etc...
They did fix all the parts they didn't put back together right, for the most part. They replaced the piece behind the steering wheel (squeaking stopped, steering wheel stiffness was better), replaced the moulding where you step in, got the other gouged places out without replacing anything. Still no clue where the mystery screw came from. Still had the tapping noise in the engine.
Oh, and once I got it back from that my wiper fluid was leaking again (3rd time). Come to find out that the o-rings are bad on the fluid reservoir because in the '08 they made the reservoir and neck two pieces instead of one and Saturn sent a bulletin to the dealers about this because it would cause leaks when full or almost full, but it would quit when the fluid level was below the o-rings. Sooo they had to replace the reservoir and all that for me. (Rental car #8 or #9)
I decided I was fed up with all of this and didn't want to have problems again in 9 months or so (winter) in case the freezing wasn't fixed (they literally said "they hope", "they pray", "they think" it was fixed but we wouldn't know until next winter) and I was tired of wondering what is next and would they fix it right or not. Saturn wouldn't take it back after I invoked the lemon law and my lawyer didn't think I'd win in court, so I got a settlement. Saturn tried to low-ball me, I asked for more, and got more, though not what I asked for. My lawyer does this every day and said they don't pay out as much as they used to so that was a good settlement. I basically got almost all of my five payments back. The Saturn salesperson herself literally said, "whats the big deal?" to me when trying to get me to compare mine to the way a brand new one drives and behaves with the a/c and such (sounds like it's going to lift off when you first turn the a/c on). Got another similar comment out of someone else there. I later found out the newer production Vues have a different heater core in them so methinks Saturn may quietly be trying to cover this up so they don't besmirch their newly redesigned Vue.
I took my Vue around to various dealers to see who would give me the most for an 08 XE V6 with 3,500 miles on it. I ended up trading for an 09 Subaru Forester at the dealer I bought the Vue from because the dealer I bought from (the Subaru part at least) really worked for me and gave me 500 less than my highest offer for the Vue. Basically I got a new vehicle for $60 more a month and the same insurance per month. Everyone else was trying to raise my payments by 100-200+ per month.
I still hate that I had to do this since I loved it so much before the problems started, but to me it seemed a waste to keep paying for a vehicle I hoped would not have anymore problems.
So far the Forester is getting 22 city and 26 hwy (only been on it once) on average and it has 455 miles on it. I'm thinking it might get better as it is broken in since vehicles typically do. :shades:
I did this myself with my '04 VUE. The harness did not have a fuse attached to it, but I used a plain 4-prong harness from a hardware store for less than $10. I did have to splice the wires, since my VUE did not have a harness connector, but just wire loops to splice into. Overall, the toughest part was routing the wiring around the cargo bucket. There was no easy place to route the wires through without drilling through metal. I wound up routing the wire over the lip where the cargo bucket is installed into and loosely installing the cargo bucket over it. The other thing that I screwed up was that I left the cargo door open while I was installing it and the battery drained.
Hope this helps a little.
I have a 2004 VUE, 5sp manual, 4-Cyl. 2.2 Liter, 2WD . It is the base model so there are no features (power windows, power locks, etc). I have a reoccurring problem where the whole car will power down and I cannot go more than 10mph. There are 2 indicator lights that come on. I have to pull over to the side of the road, turn off the car for a minute, and then restart. I have taken it to the dealership twice already for the problem. First time they replaced the gas pedal assembly to replace the throttle position sensor. The second time they replaced the emission computer. It was only 48 hours between the first and second visit. Now it has happened again not even 2 weeks after the last visit. I am taking it to a dealership so I would expect they have access to the resources to figure this out. Has anyone had a similar problem that has not be solved by the solutions already mentioned? Thank you for your time.
Phil
1 - There are 2 throttle position sensors on the throttle body under the hood, if they don't agree you'll get the issue you describe. I believe the fix is to replace the throttle body...
2 - I've also read that an issue like this can be caused by bad grounds under the hood. The problem was fixed by cleaning up the grounds...
Good Luck,
John :shades:
I took the car to Auto Zone. They will connect the car to the device that reads to troubleshooting codes for free. The dealer charges $80 just for that. The code my car has is P2138.
Definition: APP Sensor 1 and APP Sensor 2 signal voltage fault.
Explanation: The ECM has detected the APP sensor signal 1 and 2 do not agree.
Probable Causes: 1. Poor Electrical Connection.
2. Failled APP sensor.
I am going to continue to investigate before taking it back to the dealer. I want to present a good case so that this issues is resolved once and for all.
"Tech found codes B0936, B2600, B2602, B2623, B2752, B3717, B3722, and U2105 in the computer. Tech found that the engine harness was rubbed and stretched in several places. The fuse block and the headlamp harness also had several scored spots on them. The tech replaced the Main Engine Harness, Head Lamp Harness, Main Fuse blcok and DRl resistor. "
Since is the not the first time I've taken it in for the problem, I will only be confident that the issue is taken care of if it does not resurface after a month of driving. If I have any issues, I will be sure to update this thread.
I am glad they were able to fix it because I do really love this car. I'm a tall guy and it is spacious enough for me. This is not the first Saturn I've owned either. I was happy with my last one too.
And you're not going NUTS either...
It sounds like your body control module( BCM for short) is going on the fritz...
It controls everything that you described and lots of other stuff too..
Generally a dealer only repair, I think its about $ 600-700....if it only happens once in a while I guess you can live with it short term...I've heard that disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes and reconnecting it can temporarily cure the problem but the only real fix is to replace the BCM...
Good Luck,
John :shades:
I am seeking your advice/information re: a 2004 Saturn Vue Redline edition that began showing the low battery icon after my 1 yr old turned on all of the lights interior/exterior while I was washing the car. I also had the radio on to entertain her. Needless to say I needed a jump to get home.
This was when the low battery light began popping on and off. If the car sat for a period of time it would come on and stay on about the first 5 min of my drive. Once I'd get to my destination if I began driving again 20-30 minutes later no light. So we purchased a new battery, which I thought would end the issue. Unfortunately right after the battery was changed and before we could leave the parking lot of the parts store the light came right back on. The guy said it might be a short or fuse related.
What information can you provide to us because the next step is the dealer, we are soon to go to Florida on vacation and we need this issue to be fixed.
Thanks in advance for you support.
I certainly don't have your qualifications as a mechanic but from what I've read, the symptoms you describe are indicative of a failing body control module (BCM) Apparently the earlier Vues are well known for this issue...
Good Luck,
John :shades:
about two months prior to the final diagnosis and replacement, the dashboard lights started flashing at random. The problem went away after a day. Then in December 2008 they began flashing again, this time persisting every time I drove over 30 minutes. There was no rhyme or reason; they would flash while I was speeding down the highway or sitting still at a red light. Then all four of my gauges started to dip during the time the lights were flashing. I never lost power to the engine. I could accelerate while the gauges were zeroed out. I had Vera - I named my VUE. Don't make fun - in for testing and the techs couldn't find any codes from the computer, so they had me look for a pattern in the flashing and dipping.
I had a six hour drive across New York the next day and still found no pattern. I bought a new battery after Advance Auto said I had a bad one, since I drive a five-year old vehicle and it seemed like it was probably time to replace it. This didn't fix the issue. Nothing seemed to cause the issue. I drove her until the flashing and dipping became more frequent, then I'd pull over for 20-30 minutes for a break.
After the return trip six hours back home, I had stopped to get an unrelated part from a salvage yard and when I came back out, Vera wouldn't start. After holding my breath and finally getting her started again, I was able to wheel into the dealer - without an appointment, even - where they diagnosed again and hallelujah! found codes that indicated the BCM.
So now I have a sparkly new battery and BCM and I've noticed that little things have changed. Where the running lamps used to only flash twice when I unlock the vehicle with the keyless remote, they now stay on. And when the doors are open and I hit the lock button on the inside of the door, she dings. I close the doors and they don't lock until a few seconds after. Before, they would lock automatically when I'd lock them with the interior door button. The headlights and interior lights seem brighter, too. I had to get new remotes because the old ones wouldn't work with the new BCM, so I'm attributing all these new things to that.
There's also an engine control module, which I'm not educated on at all but I assume basically monitors the engine and all things related to the engine and the hamster that runs in the wheel to propel the engine. Hopefully I never have to find out more about that one and mine just keeps on running.
The issues that I had leading up to the replacement of my BCM never included what you described, with only some of my dash lighting up.
If I were you, I would continue to monitor your dashboard for patterns. Does it start out only half illuminated all the time? Does your speed or road condition have anything to do with it? Etc... If your engine doesn't lose power and your vehicle starts on the first try and otherwise operates just fine and you feel comfortable, maybe it's a loose wire behind your control panel. If you don't feel safe, the technicians can try to look for codes from your vehicle's computer. I think that diagnosis alone costs about $50.