Saturn VUE No Start

I have a 2003 Saturn Vue. My wife left the key in run or Accessory position overnight and drained the battery. Now that I have recharged the battery the car will not start. The dealer where I bought it said to turn the ignition to the run position for an hour to reset the security system. Then turn it off and start it. They said this would reset the computer and reenable the fuel pump. Didn't work. Any ideas????? thanks
See Also
Diagnostic Flowchart For A Car That Won't Start Or Stalls
See Also
Diagnostic Flowchart For A Car That Won't Start Or Stalls
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Comments
The problem I had was the car would crank over but not start.
lemon I'm driving? The battery is not the problem.
Three months ago our 2006 2.2L Vue was at a gas station. I put the ignition key
in the ignition switch. The motor kicked over but would not stay running. It ran for a second and then stopped.
I noticed the On Star system was not working and the instrument gauges were also dead. It was hauled 60 miles to a Saturn dealer. They replaced the main control module.
The Vue was OK when I picked it up the following day. It started and drove normal until a month later. The same problem the engine would not stay running.
It was hauled 60 miles back to the dealer. They could not find any error codes so I went and picked it up.
The third time it refused to run and the instrument electrical system has not working. The interior lights between the front seats would not turn off. The security
door locks were not working. The shop foreman drove it for a week to see if it would
fail again.
When I removed the cables at the cars battery I had a feeling to put them back on and see what happens. That did as I expected it reset the computer and the car seem normal.
The dealer has found error codes but they can not find the problem. We know that removing the ground from the battery re sets the computer and the car will run and operate normally.
I learned trying to start the car a dozen times or more when it would not run Saturn has a fail safe mode. The engine will run but the power steering will not work and the instruments will not work. It will allow the car in an emergency to be moved.
I bought the car in California and they have a lemon law. I now live 250 miles from the dealer who sold us this SUV. I am considering filing a complaint in CA, as who wants to get under the hood of a car because the dealers service can not find the problem?
If anyone has had a similar problem please post it. We like the car and the dealer
60 miles away wants to correct the problem. I do not blame the dealer.
In Feb. 2007 I went out to go to work the interior lights were on. They wouldn't turn off. The car would start up then die within just a few seconds. I was already running late for work so I just took our spare car.
My husband tried everything he could think of to get them off however nothing worked. He even noticed the mirror (On Star, 911, etc) features were dead.
The vechile ended up having to be towed around 60 miles to the dealership. They had it a week before they said it was fixed. I don't go along with what they told us it was but what can you say. They charged the battery & put a new OnStar antenia on the back to fix the issues.
It's now November 2007. We are having the same issue again & the keyless remote will not work as well. This time I was at work when it happened. Again had to be hauled in however this time it was taken to a different Saturn dealership due it was closer to my work.
This dealership just called they are going to replace the Body Control Module.
Back during the summer I also had to have the key ignition switched replaced due to issues of it locking/sticking.
This is the first Saturn I've owned and it will be the last at this rate of issues. The only reason we purchased it was due to it had a manual transmission & they are getting harder to find.
Vue did. The cure is simple either insist they exchange our cars under the lemon law or remove the cables off the negative battery terminals for a minute.
Then replace the ground cable and the vehicles wiring harness and wait to the next time it refuses to start.
I believe the problem is the ECM does not reset to the manufactures ignition mode. The technician in our case can find an error code but it only gives him a
starting point to troubleshoot from.
Our problem occurs about every three to five weeks. I've experienced the interior light will not extinguish, the security system is dead as is the gauges and the On Star system.
It is one of the three computer modules that control everything electrical in our cars.
The reason our cars refuse to run is the vehicles fuel pump will not function plus the ECM module will not allow the engine to be started.
If you are in an place where no help is available to remove the ground battery and the harness to the fuses and you do not have the tools. Then your only hope is
keep trying to start the car it will turn over but not run for more then a second. Do that a dozen or more times and the engine will start.
Your still not out of trouble as the power steering, instrument lights and gauges
plus the On Star will not operate. It will allow you to drive home or in a better location. I must warn you without the power steering it is really difficult to steer.
We have a 2004 Ion 2 and we never had the slightest problem. I can only hope enough complaints to Saturn headquarters will get them to recall their problem cars.
Saturn will not ever use the term recall. They use campaign so people like us will not know there is a problem even the best trained Saturn technicians can not solve.
Other then the intermittent problem and the fact is the closest Saturn dealer is an hours drive away we like the car. We live in Pahrump Nevada and their must be at least 30 Vues and several hundred Saturn sedans driving around town every day. Let's hope someone at Saturn headquarters will issue another campaign.. :mad:
Oh I forgot to mention, we also had to replace the ignition. They also said we need a new steering column. WHAT NEXT, HUH??
Other then two flat tires and the ECM problem the car has been trouble free. :sick:
I found by accident that after removing the cables (2) from the ground side of the battery re-boots the ECM. Our Vue has not had that problem since I discounted the ground cables waited five minutes and replaced them.
The reason I disconnected the grounding strap and the cars ground wires off the battery terminal was the interior lights our not turn off. Had I not removed the ground cables the cars battery would have been dead.
I discussed the problem recently with the service shop foremen. They do not recommend anyone getting under the hood. Batteries are devices with lots of amps. I can only guess that the ECM did not drop the data in the computers
memory. The other could have been a bad connection in the ground cable or the ground return wires could have caused the problem.
It has been two months since I took the cables off and waited five minutes and carefully replaced them on the ground terminal.
Do not attempt to remove the positive cables off the battery.
If the car is under warranty have an authorized Saturn Technician solve the problem. If the dealer is not near you then find an auto electrical repair shop. Batteries are dangerous so do not attempt this unless you are a highly skill mechanic.
Does your Vue have the Pass-Lock Theft Deterant system? If so I would check that out. Take it to Schucks Auto parts. Or what ever they call themselves in your area. I had a similar problem with my 05 ion cept I only pulled it out of the garage and parked in the drive way. Came back a couple hours later and the darn thing would not start. I called the dealer and spoke with a mechanic and he told me to do the same thing you did. This happened a couple times and finally I took it in and they replaced the ignition switch. This solved the problem till I moved from Tacoma Washington to eastern Idaho where the temp in the winter is usually below 10 most of the winter. Nights it gets to minus 20 and then my car does the same thing sometimes. I have to fiddle with the ignition switch to get it to start. put the key in try to start it. take the key out, open the door, get out, close the door, open and get back in then try to start igain. Sometimes this works sometimes a variation of this works. Don't really know what is up. But I recommend testing the passlock theft deterant system. Especially if the key comes out with the car running. This system tells the computer that someone is driving the car without the proper key in the ignition switch, like the key with out the black plastic on it which is for when you lock your keys inside the car. That plain key does not have some kind of computer chip inside it. Best of luck
both were 500.00 repairs. The sensor can be intermittent before it gives out completely.
They pretty much have to take your car apart so its a day or two or three to get it back. This is a pretty common problem with the vues.
Like the last time I had to get under the hood and remove the ground strap and electrical cables on the ground side of the battery.
This time after driving to where we went the car electrical system was dead.
I tracked it down to a lose screw on the positive post of the battery.
Not sure how long the battery had a lose connection? The car seems to run better.
No doubt that was the reason my Vue has given me problems in the past.
Bottom line is take the ground cables off. There are two and then check out the screw on the positive side.
I've never taken the positive side cables off. The dealer in Las Vegas managed to
do that. I'm not pleased that the Vue computer system failed for the 5th time.
I do not recommend taking the ground cable and ground strap off the battery. You can do damage to the car or if you short out the battery serious injury can result.
Do so only if your a qualified mechanic.
I wish I could just tell you take it to an authorized service center and they will solve your problem. My experience is most technicians are not computer engineers.
They depend on the input of the customer and their diagnostic test set.
The standard method of trouble shooting a computerized vehicle is checking for ECM errors. If no errors are stored in the computer then it is a guessing game.
The problem could be as simple as re torque the battery cables or checking for good electrical connections to the starter.
One simple thing any person with minimum trouble shooting skills can do is carefully remove the battery ground cable and the ground cables. Replace them
after several minutes.
That reboots the complex computer system. It might be all that is needed. My 2006 Vue problem was solved after the service technicians could not find a problem.
The positive terminal bolt had come lose. I agree the tech should have caught that error. There is a risk of shorting out the battery so either know what your doing or let a person who does perform the task.
There will always be intermittent failures in vehicles with complex electrical systems.
I have not had any starting problem since I found the lose positive terminal cable.
Granted that seems simple to find but it took months before the bolt backed out far enough to disconnect all the battery voltage.
Usually the service people are as eager to find the problem as you are so work with the dealer.
I have had a similar problem. When I am unlocking car with remote, Saturn Vue 2003, the door locks automatically relock themselves before entry. Re open with remote again and then on occasion car starts and shuts off after a few seconds. Figured out that after disconnecting battery for about 5 minutes, the vehicle starts and everything goes back to normal.
Did your problem go away when the BCM was chaned or has it returned. Anyone who has found a solution please feel o respond.
Trinisaturn.
Since the ECM has been changed the problem in your vehicle has never reoccurred?, Re. the car shut off after one second and all instruments go dead?
How much did the ECM cost?
Please advise.
So 2 months past the warranty the security mod kit needs to be replaced, like $800
so now since June when the warrenty was up I have had the water pump go and this. security problem.
I am quickly loseing my faith in Saturn
and I also got an oil change and they left the old reminder sticker on windshield :mad:
Total bill
The warranty just expired in June, 08 The water pump died, coveder under warr still cost me 423.00,
Now the security light problem, took to saturn dealer and told me 45.00 to check it out, The gal came back and said the security mod kit had to be replaced like 756.00. and they ask if I wanted toget a new tire because one has low tread.
They changed the oil, somehow while they fixed the security module they moved my milage up 26 miles, and the left the old reminder sticker for oil change on the windshield :mad:
i am having problems with saturn vue 2003...:
on opening vehicle with remote...it is closing back immedately for itself...
then car start for 1 second then shuts off......would not restart....
flashing headlights when car is in park......
steering wheel goes hard....stiff.....
a few times when trying to open with remote...everything is dead....remote does not work...have to enter car manually turning key on door...when key inserted in ignition everything is dead.....
only way to get car started is to disconnect battery for 5 minutes..then reconnect and car works.....
anybody having these sort of problems and found a solution please let me know....
on opening vehicle with remote...it is closing back immedately for itself...
then car start for 1 second then shuts off......would not restart....
flashing headlights when car is in park......
steering wheel goes hard....stiff.....
a few times when trying to open with remote...everything is dead....remote does not work...have to enter car manually turning key on door...when key inserted in ignition everything is dead.....
only way to get car started is to disconnect battery for 5 minutes..then reconnect and car works.....
anybody having these sort of problems and found a solution please let me know....
i am having problems with saturn vue 2003...:
on opening vehicle with remote...it is closing back immedately for itself...
then car start for 1 second then shuts off......would not restart....
flashing headlights when car is in park......
steering wheel goes hard....stiff.....
a few times when trying to open with remote...everything is dead....remote does not work...have to enter car manually turning key on door...when key inserted in ignition everything is dead.....
only way to get car started is to disconnect battery for 5 minutes..then reconnect and car works.....
anybody having these sort of problems and found a solution please let me know....
i am having problems with saturn vue 2003...:
on opening vehicle with remote...it is closing back immedately for itself...
then car start for 1 second then shuts off......would not restart....
flashing headlights when car is in park......
steering wheel goes hard....stiff.....
a few times when trying to open with remote...everything is dead....remote does not work...have to enter car manually turning key on door...when key inserted in ignition everything is dead.....
only way to get car started is to disconnect battery for 5 minutes..then reconnect and car works.....
anybody having these sort of problems and found a solution please let me know....
I get home shut off the car, push the lock on the remote and the car beeped 3 times. I locked it again and it just did the 1 beep as normal.
About 15 minutes later my car is beeping like someone is breaking in to it.
I go out unlock and start up , it does ok.
I lock and go in and 15 minutes later it is beeping the alarm again, so I unlock start and lock, the 3rd time I decide to take to the Saturn dealer in Clearwater, because I don't want to be doing that all night long.
I tell the service gal my problem and she says it will be $45 to run a test on the problem. Then she comes back with the mechanic and tells me it is the security module and it will cost almost $800 and take about a hour and a half.
Well I think it needs to be done so I say ok. and do an oil change also.
So about 2 hours later, i'm the last one in the shop I get my car. I now have new remotes to go with the new module, I still wonder if it could have been fixed by new batteries in the remote?
On the way home I notice that there and like 26 miles added to my car, and the old oil change reminder is still on windshield. Today I filled up the gas tank and the arrow does not pass the Full like it use to.
I hate going to the dealer, I need 2 tires and have no money.
Thanks
It turns over like it want s to but does not made several attempts what in order what should i do for trouble shooting!
I assure you it is a BCM problem. Should cost you between $400-500 for parts and labor to install at dealer.
I had similar problems, procrastinated checked all sorts of things, at end of day it was BCM.
For now or to get car to dealer, disconnect battery for 5 minutes and then reconnected. Everything should return to normal temporarily so no need for towing. If it does not work first time the battery disconnection repaet it would eventually start. Go stright to dealer.
Change the BCM and the car will run like new. Common problem dont waste time searching anymore for solution.