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Saturn ION Maintenance and Repair

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  • weatherdivaweatherdiva Member Posts: 2
    So, car was fine until yesterday. we changed front brakes & rotors on my 2006 saturn ion. since that, the battery light is on, the ac is blowing hot and if you drive it, the brakes start smoking when you park. i am stumped.
  • weatherdivaweatherdiva Member Posts: 2
  • gmcustsvcsarahgmcustsvcsarah Member Posts: 1,964
    Good morning weatherdiva,

    Was your brake work performed with one of our dealerships? If so, and if you would like for us to follow up on this with them, please contact us via email at socialmedia@gm.com with further details (including your name and Edmunds username, phone and address, the last 8 of your VIN and current mileage, and the name of your involved dealership).

    Sarah, GM Customer Service
  • iluvmysaturniluvmysaturn Member Posts: 3
    I purchased my 05 Saturn Ion 3 almost two years ago and i looove it. But all of a sudden my alarm started going off on its own a few months ago. I recv'd lots of noise complaints and cops coming to my house until i finally was forced to stop using my clicker(passlock..?) to lock my car, since it activates the alarm. Instead, I have had to lock it manually while getting out. I've still been using my clicker to unlock my vehicle though. I've observed when I used to lock my car with the clicker, when you push it twice, the second time it usually honks to lock the alarm in place. It will not do that anymore, it does not honk when I push "lock" twice. The SAME time the alarm issues began, issues with lights coming on inside the car started. I've had the overhead dome light inside the car come on, on its own, when i'm stopped at a stop light. Then i start driving again and it fades. When I get out of the veh and lock it, the lights inside stay on!! But the car never dies and has never died. Sometimes when I walk to my car I notice the lights inside are STILL on, but once i start driving it goes off. I've taken it to body shops many times and they can't figure out what is going on. This has been going on for months so i thought nothing of it since i've had no problems starting my Saturn OR battery problems. Yesterday my car wouldnt start, no sputter at all. We tried to charge the battery with jumper cables. The lights inside my car are still on, very dimly, but NOW my key is stuck in the ignition. This has been a downhill of problems. What should i do? I want to take it to a dealership but i don't want to get the run around and spend a lot of extra money obviously on a bunch of parts since no one knows what the problem is. If it is just the ignition switch since now my key is locked in the ignition, then where do the alarm problems and the light inside my car staying on problems come in?
  • gmcustsvcgmcustsvc Member Posts: 4,252
    iluvmysaturn,

    If you need help finding a Saturn-friendly dealership in your area to get this checked out (I know that you may not be fully ready to do this given the last bit of your post), please contact us at socialmedia@gm.com with your name and ZIP code.

    Sarah, GM Customer Service
  • jcamperjcamper Member Posts: 1
    MY Saturn 03 ION eats keys....i don't know how else to describe this oddity..Anyone else having this issue, any quick fixes...WHAT TO DO??? Early on i noticed that my keys "points" were rounding off...to the point where, as i attempted to start my car, i had to jingle the keys to get passed the first 1/4 turn in the cylinder when the steering unlocks. Then it got worse and worse, so i got new keys cut...this became a regular occurrence and i was getting new keys more often then changing the oil. Now the car is 9 years old with 100,000 miles/160,000 km and if i turn the key to lock and the steering locks, the key wont work to turn the car over..I now leave the car off, but DO NOT tun the key to the point where the steering would lock..if i accidentally turn the it all the way off...i wont be able to turn the car on..I was hoping to pass this car down to my teenage son, but not with this condition. my local GM dealer says this is a regular occurrence for these cars..changing the cylinder to a used cylinder any have the same issue and a new cylinder and labour is really expensive...so anyone else having this issue, any quick fixes...WHAT TO DO???
  • iluvmysaturniluvmysaturn Member Posts: 3
    Everything turned out perfectly. My insurance was going to pay for a free tow, but the tow truck driver ended up fixing my ION. Who knew? It turns out my battery was dead (embarrassing) which in turn locked my key into the ignition (as a security he said). And this whole time i thought i needed a new battery AND ignition switch. Whew! He used the jumper cables thru my trunk which is something ive never seen before. He then bought me a heavy duty 60 fuse from O'Reilly's and plugged it in on top of my battery. It was FOUR dollars. This fuse helped fix my power steering and other small things connected within the fuse such as lights, etc. The issue with my car alarm going off on its own and the lights inside the veh coming on and off were still proceeding though so I followed the tow truck driver in my ION to one of the best electrical mechanics that he knew in the area. They had my veh diagnosed within an hour. My passenger side door switch was bad which was telling my ION that a door was ajar all of the time, setting off the alarm and the lights coming on. He replaced this door switch and with the diagnostic and a state inspection it was all under $100. Talk about my prayers being answered! God is so faithful!!!
  • iluvmysaturniluvmysaturn Member Posts: 3
  • etothevetothev Member Posts: 4
  • etothevetothev Member Posts: 4
    Hi I have had nothing but problems with my ION. First MAIN problem was the car not starting during the cold, which turned out to be a faulty passlock wire. Snipped that, haven't had a problem starting since. Thank God I didn't drain my bank account into figuring out the problem like SO MANY OTHERS DID!!

    My main concern is with the shifting linkage. I own an 04' ion, 2.2l , 5-speed manual. There is a small cotter pin/roll pin that goes inside the shifting linkage. I have had this pin break on me 10 times in 5 years. When this pin breaks, you lose ALL ability to shift. The shifter will not go into gear.

    I have had several mechanics work on it, trying things from original roll pins,grade 8 bolts, nails, jb welding it in, and recently the BEST thing that has worked so far AS A LAST RESORT, the mechanic had to TAC WELD in a bolt, and it has worked for 6 months.

    but as of lately the shifting has started to mess up BIG TIME again.

    i'm just so tired of having things replaced and still having my car shift like crap.

    Even with a clutch master cylinder and clutch assembly replaced..which should help the shifting linkage MOVE 110% better, the gear synchronizers are so bad that I can barely shift into 3rd or 4th gear. I definitely cannot downshift into 3rd gear. All i get is the most horrid grinding noise you can imagine. if i have to drop to 3rd gear to pass someone quickly, again I have to fight to put it in 3rd gear. And with the grinding, it is just grinding away at my shift linkage and pin again.

    I hope there is some kind of RECALL or something on this shifting linkage? I am running out of options here, I just want to get to point A to point B without worrying if my car is going to shift or not.

    oh ya, and also the CLUTCH PEDAL itself...the back is made out of PLASTIC. so after all these years of shifting, the piece of metal that attaches to the back of your clutch pedal, the one that gets pushed in and out to open and close your clutch.. well that metal has worn away the plastic grooving in the clutch pedal...so now my clutch pedal pops out of position everytime i let my foot off. I was told I had to get a new clutch assembly to fix this problem. It's just like .. COMMON!!!?!?!? Why would you use plastic, it gets worn out.

    I have nothing bad to say about the engine. I have not had ONE engine problem other than related to the shifting.

    I guess I just want to know if anyone else has experienced this shifting problem , bad synchronizers and if there is a fix?

    I should of kept my 1993 F150 5-speed manual. I NEVER had one grinding noise from shifting, never had a clutch problem. the only thing that went wrong with that was the gas tank leaked because it rusted out. I think that's what we should expect from a vehicle...it should rust out before mechanical failure.

    thank you for taking the time to read my book :D hopefully someone has a good solid answer on this shifting business. I would love to keep my car, especially considering I finally paid it off after 5 years. LOL .. go figure, finally pay it off and it starts to completely break to the point I can't use it .. AGAIN!
  • mom2kadenmom2kaden Member Posts: 2
  • etothevetothev Member Posts: 4
    Hi, i understand how you are feeling! Can't trust to drive your car from point A to point B without worrying if your going to make it or not.

    My first question is do you have a manual stick shift?

    because what happened to me was there is a Roll pin/cotter pin that goes into the shifting linkage that allows your stick to go into gear. If that roll pin cracks or breaks in half or just falls out, you will lose ALL ability to shift.

    I've had this happen to 10 times which ended up making me stranded. I tried a few things from bigger stronger pins, to bolts, to jb welding it in there. The ONLY thing that has kept me shifting for more than 6 months is that I got the bolt TAC WELDED into the linkage.

    Shouldn't be too costly of a repair. Just explain to your mechanic you only would like that done.

    hope this helps. My roll pin hasn't fell out, but with the syncronizers being so bad, I grind against the pin every shift.. so I'm sure something will break again
  • calimomacalimoma Member Posts: 1
    my ion has been acting up. when I turn off the ignition the radio and windows are supposed to still work til you open the door...mine doesn't anymore. but sometimes it does. also my front two reading lights stay on when they are supposed to fade off. if anyone can help me with this id really appreciate it!! thanks!!
  • sunstar100sunstar100 Member Posts: 1
    So frustrated. I have had my Ion 3 '04 since 05. Got it from dealership and have been the only owner. I love the look and feel with my car, but it's a lemon. Two years after getting it it started stranding me. I had the column replaced because of the passlock issue. It stranded me 2 times in 2 weeks. I had the column replaced twice, once right after picking from the dealership only to have the key get stuck leaving the car on. I drove it back the column replaced. The dealership wouldn't take back as a lemon, so I sued and they settled. I still have that issue but I found the ignition override in my column which allows me to fully turn off my car and get my key. I however now have the power steering issues. My car is over 100k miles on it but the columns don't. Thinking about calling the lawyer again. Either way, I'm done with this car. .
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