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Thanks!
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
In July 2009, I purchased a 2003 Saturn Vue from a dealership in Roseville, CA. There was no lighter in the car so the salesman gave us a "random" lighter and when we tried to use it apparently a fuse blew. The fuses we bought at Kragen did not work and according to my husband there is something "strange" about the wiring for the electrical system relating to the lighter. Do you know where I can purchase a lighter if the cause of this problem is that the salesman gave us the wrong type of lighter? What type of fuses do we need to purchase?
Second Issue: There have been three occasions when I start my car and go down the street but the car isn't really driving....I coast to a neighbor's driveway and have to turn the engine off...and wait a few minutes. When I turn the engine back on, the car seems to "kick into gear" and I can then drive it. Weird! I assume this is probably a transmission issue. The vehicle has 59,000 miles, automatic, and has the transmission that I have subsequently learned has a lot of problems.
I contacted a warranty company and was told that if I chose to buy a warranty that the company would require me to put some fluid that it was going to mail to me into the transmission since there have been so many transmission problems with this vehicle. I have not yet purchased the warranty but am curious what type of fluid the company was going to send me. I went to Kragen and almost purchased some transmission fluid for slipping transmissions but after reading the instructions on the fluid container, the fluid was not designed for this type of transmission. Do you know of any type of prevention measures that I can take so that my transmission may last longer? Also, where is the dip-stick for the transmission fluid?
Also, the dealership where I bought the vehicle did not have an owner's manual and I did not want to pay the $50+ cost for a manual but I desperately need one. I understand that the 2003 Saturn Vue has many, if not all, of the same features as the 2004 Saturn Vue. If that is correct, I can download the 2004 Saturn Vue manual from the Saturn website. Thougths?
I apologize if these questions seem as though I am ignorant about my vehicle...but basically I suppose that is a correct assumption...smile!
Thank you for any assistance you may be able to provide.
You don't mention which engine/transmission you have but I'm going to take a wild guess:
You have a 4 cylinder engine with the VTi transmission. The fluid they want you to add is called the VTi additive and GM said to put it in at the 50,000 mile mark. Its supposed to prolong the life of the transmission...it doesn't really work as this transmission was poorly designed and it fails at an alarming rate in the Vue. Don't put anything in the transmission except for the fluid that it calls for or the VTi additive as the VTi fluid is not compatible with any other fluids. Also, as I understand it, they don't typically rebuild them so if it needs repair they replace them to the tune of about $ 5000.00. And its unlikely that anyone but the dealer will even want to touch it. And at this late date, replacement transmissions are likely getting hard to find since they discontinued them about 5 years ago.
The owners manual is the least of your worries with a 2003 Vue with a VTi transmission but if you can find the 2004 edition, its likely almost exactly the same. GM had an extended warranty on the VTi transmission because there were so many failures, I believe it was 5 years/75,000 miles. Sounds like you're past on that but you may want to try to pursue it with a Saturn dealer. Maybe they will give you a break since its low miles but I wouldn't count on it.
Best of luck with your car but I'm afraid I'm the bearer of bad news for you. Its almost amazing that your transmission lasted as long as it did already- many failed much sooner. There are no preventative measures that you can take to make this transmission last any longer - it is on borrowed time. I'm sorry, I wish I had better news for you...If I'm wrong and you have a 6 cylinder engine, then disregard everything I said as its a different transmission.
All the best....
The owners manual has NO info about fuel filter service. The Haynes manual says replace every 60K. It also says Note: Only 02 and 03 models have external fuel filters. Later models have filters inside the fuel tank. They give no info on how to replace it. (See my other post about Haynes manual) Since the owners manual has no info, should I take that as Do Nothing or should I have it replaced? Thanks Mike :confuse:
I suppose if you're one of those people with lots of free time on your hands, you could replace it just for fun but I personally wouldn't bother.
Its not a difficult job - any competent mechanic should be able to repair it. I can't guess on how much it will be but I'm thinking you're under $ 500.
Good Luck
This issue has happened a few times in the past 2 weeks. The radio will kind of "freeze" on what ever it is doing. None of the buttons will operate, I cannot turn it off, change anything, lower or raise the volume, nothing.
I was out shopping when it first happened and I thought maybe it was a fuse. The radio was on too loud and it was annoying me so, I attempted to take the fuse out. I couldn't get it out with my fingers so I just left it alone. When I got back in the Vue to leave though, I turned the volume and it went down. Everything was normal again.
This has happened twice more. And each time it seems just moving the fuse around works. It is a good fuse, so what is the issue?
The radio I have is the am/fm cd player w/ mp3.
I researched buying a new vehicle for a year, and finally decided on the Vue, since the V6 was made by Honda. I'm hoping I'm not going to regret leaving my old reliable Honda for this Saturn! I'm keeping my hopes up since this issue is what I would call minor, or at least I hope it is minor and the only one to come.
I still need to verify if the Rear Defroster is even working - I doubt it.
'Service' light does go out after restarting, comes back on when Defrost button pressed again.
NOW it sounds like a train, ignition locks up, wont start most of the time. You can sit and turn it over 2 to 20 times before it will start. Have to give it gas too, which I thought you were not to give gas to the newer vehicles. I believe the front end of the car is falling apart. rides like it is wobbling and so loud. :sick: Now the lights are starting to dim when driving, like the battery is bad or the alternator(if it has an alternator.Help me so I can have some sort of thing to tell the repair place when I take it in.
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
I wish you luck!
Here is what I am seeing when I lose the A/C. The fan seems to be cooling yet you can see the gauge is a little higher or right about at half, sometimes it stays at half & other times it comes down. Now I have brought these lines in from two different dealerships & the have been on other sides of the state I live in. I also travel a lot. I have 188K miles on the VUE. I am thinking about replacing the condenser since it seems pretty beat up, but wanted to check to see if anyone else has had this problem with blowing the line out. Any ideas well help me a lot. The dealerships that I have spoken to said they have no idea & shouldn't be happening "DUH"
and now when I am driving it seems to idle high right before it shifts gears-
does my computer need to be reset? Someone said that it would do this automatically in a couple of days. Any help would be greatly appreciated.