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P.S. I love ZAINO!
t56gen3
T56gen3
Front rotor warpage every 12-15k. Top engine mounts are known to give. Temp gauge will go 3/4 before turning the cooling fan on ("fix" this by turning the AC on).
T56gen3
The only reason I still have this car is that it's paid for and it runs. Otherwise, there's nothing to recommend it. Nine and a half years down the line, it's now inexplicably running hot, and the clear coat is starting to flake off the front end of the car. This car has received conscientious maintenance, with fresh Quaker State every 3,000 miles since its purchase. Nevertheless, it has burned/dripped two quarts of oil every 3,000 miles for years (the Saturn guys tell me it doesn't), and I carry a case of 5W-30 in my trunk. Its mileage has never been better than a mediocre 30 mpg; on the rare long highway run it'll get 33. And get this - on my plastic car, the little steel bars that split the back door windows are both rusting away. Who knows what else is rusting away under there?
I've found Saturn retailer personnel to be the same creepy Scotchgard-and-Ziebart peddlers that you'd find at any other dealership (probably because all the Saturn shops are owned by the old-time hacks anyway), and that there's nothing in a Saturn service bay that you can't get at a local garage better and cheaper. Somebody else can have my share of Saturn warm fuzzies; next time I'm shopping elsewhere.
cold starts real rough so I took it back to service and they told me it seems to be losing
coolant into the engine. This car has 6440 miles and I am breaking out. I want to give it back and get my money back............. any suggestion...
Was it purchased at a Saturn dealer or another brand? You should have at least the rest of the warranty at any rate.Did you buy it new or used? Take a deep breath and insist that if the engine IS leaking coolant into the oil that in a car so new, that they need to replace the engine at the least.Above all,don't go in there ready to burn the place down,that'll get you nowhere fast.
There is a process to getting a buyback under the lemon law, but it'll take a little time. You have to do YOUR part and prove your case,just like in small claims court.
Let me start by saying I think these were pretty good little cars. In fact I just traded mine in on a brand spanking new '02 SL2, but I still miss MY little car. In the 6 years I owned the 93 (bought it in 95), I had some trouble, and it left me stranded a few times, but it was my first car, it was a used car, and after a while it was an old car, so I took these things as unfortunate but they never made me want to dump the ol' girl.
The driver's pwr window stopped working a few years ago, mysteriously regained partial use of it's motor (like a stroke victim or something) which got it about halfway down and then back up again for a couple of years, but you had to watch it carefully and stop it in the right spots or it made unbelievably loud grinding sounds at the up or down limits. Recently it hesitated again on the way up so I retired it and had to get out at parking garages and drive-thru windows for the remainder of our relationship. It would have been a simple replacement, but I just never bothered.
The moonroof motor started to fade within 6 months of the window and I promptly retired that one since I never really used it anyway. Again, a simple replacement from salvage that I didn't bother with.
The weather stripping/seal on the roof leaked once on the passenger side about 2 yrs ago--glued it down and no more problems until mid-June. Then, while raining very hard, both it and the one on the driver's side gave way and I had trickling waterfalls in both seats. Glue would have fixed it if I'd kept her.
Several battery problems with absolutely no warning of expiring life left me jumped, stranded, and towed from interstates more than once. Not a car problem, but a faulty battery problem.
The gasket seals that cushioned the spoiler corroded away, so that rattled over harsh bumps and trunk closures, but it never leaked.
The water pump went suddenly one morning, leaving my engine in the red and steaming as I finished the last block to work. Another tow. That same service trip resulted in a new belt tensioner and perhaps a new serpentine belt (I don't recall).
The temp. sensor was replaced, but I think we overreacted because I didn't understand the gauge and got all freaked out that it was nearing the red while stopped on a warm day in interstate gridlock. Afraid to run the AC so instead blasted the heat because I was told the AC heats up other cars, but as it turns out, it also runs the engine cooling fan in Saturns. After that I just watched the needle in heavy traffic and cranked the heat or AC if it got too close. The needle quickly receded to midline every time.
The bearings in the right front wheel went some time in 99, and replaced a CV boot (no joint) in 97 or 98.
It had a habit of pulling to the right from the very beginning so had it realigned after a month or so, but to no avail. Figured I'd rather it pull to the right than to the left, so I just left it alone. New tires and alignment in Dec. 99 fixed the pulling problem -- great for me.
My step-father did the maintenance while I still lived at home and for a while after I moved out, but I didn't really understand the importance so I usually went around 4K between oil changes and probably more like 6 or 7 a couple of times while the responsibility was transferring from him to me.
Back in the spring, the engine idled high and revved high before changing gears until it warmed up completely. Thought it might be due to cool mornings, but it didn't stop as the weather warmed. It was something like a $50 fix at the dealer. Pretty cheap.
Two weeks ago today a transmission fluid gasket blew out in the parking lot after work and I found an ever expanding bloody puddle under the engine. It looked like a crime scene. Easy, quick and cheap fix for my step-dad, but the last straw, so we went car shopping the next day.
There were really no major problems with my little car though. Just minor ones, and probably in line with average life expectancies for those parts. It had 46K miles when I got it and 97K when I sold it -- high mileage in, average to low mileage out. And mine were mostly city miles. Lots of stop and go. I never replaced a starter, I think there was one new alternator, did the plugs and wires twice (the first was a precaution after purchase b/c of high miles), never a headlight, no trouble with the auto seatbelts, no transmission trouble, no worn engine mounts, no cracked heads, no ignition trouble, no random wire corrosion or replacement (blown dash light fuse once), no key trouble, no timing chain (though that might have been on its last links), no thunking when changing gears, no wiper fluid hose, no upholstry wear holes or tears, no warning chime problems, the steering wheel vibrated a little at idle, one intermittently rattling speaker in the passenger door, the plastic pieces that run from the roof to the dash have pulled free from the things that secure them but they don't rattle, and the dash finally got a small heat/sun crack in it a few weeks ago -- pretty good for 8 hot hot hot sunny and humid summers.
I definitely can't say I babied the car. I didn't abuse it mercilessly, but I just didn't know how important it is to take care of it. I think it did probably consume some oil though, and I probably should have been checking that, but no problems as a result. Even right up til the end. For as much as I neglected it, I never complained about the things that went wrong. It should have been a lot worse in my opinion.
I know you won't know how the one you're considering was treated in the last 8 years, but I ignored mine, and it was the faithful old hound dog that forgave me.
93 was a good year.
I am going to the dealer today to pick up my service manuals and talk about the following before the warranty expires in a few weeks: Cold start piston slap (generally not a durability issue, just annoying), hot idle valve tick (same comment), I have had to add coolant three times (maybe normal maybe not), noisy exhaust, and brake rotors that are warping. I also have a little paint peeling near the top rear of each door window. Overall I feel the car has been a good car....to date. I am concerned about long term engine durability since I run the engine for 50 miles at 3400 RPM twice a day in heavy traffic with a lot of WOT accelerations, plus more miles at a slower speed. Oil consumption right now is 1 qt/5000 miles. With a K&N air filter I get an average 38 mpg or 36 running the A/C. The K&N filter seemed to give me 2 mpg more than stock.
Just some comments, have a great day.
Floridian
However, i don't think most of those other issues are acceptable. The piston slap and idle tick could be endemic of a serious problem. Peeling paint? Unacceptable, period. Coolant loss? BAD. I would INSIST on getting ALL of these issues fixed before the warranty runs out!
dave
I agree with you on your 3400 RPM comment. I just like the larger engines that run 2500 RPM at the same MPH.
I can't complain about the car to date. For a highway runner it's a good car. I just need it to last at least 150,000 miles. If I happen to get a job closer to home, I will sell the Saturn and buy a truck.
How about the peeling paint and the other issues?
dave
Rotors - I feel that they should do something. I drive highway and country road miles, my pads look new. They said after 19,000 miles it's out of their hands. Anyway, for about $20 I can take them off and get them turned. That is a lot less trouble than taking the car in and wasting a half day while I wait for it.
Coolant - They said it works its way through porous areas of the block/head. True or not, I don't know. They offered to put sealer tabs in the coolant but said that they were told to quit using the tabs at one time since they were causing hot spots that may have been related to high mileage oil use. I don't know. The tech thought that they were allowed to use the tabs again. IF this is the case, I will just top off the coolant at oil changes and leave it alone. Again, I'm trying to pick the lessor of two evils.
Paint - The part that peeled is at the top of the piece that makes the back of the window frame. I think that I may be better off just using touch-up paint since only the edge paint came off. No more has come off in a couple months. A body shop would have to refinish the whole piece. Then the whole piece would peel next year.
I like new cars and I like warranties but I have serious problems with anyone but me working on my cars. If something does break under warranty I will take the car in. My Grand Prix's heads up display is malfunctioning and it needs a new left rear interior light switch. I will be getting it in soon for those items.
Like I mentioned earlier, I'm rolling the dice and only time will tell if I win or lose. At least I have no one else to blame but myself, which is how it should be.
Re: the engine coolant leakage. I read over there that it has happened and the solution is you get a new engine and a free extended warranty. Some people still aren't happy with that as non-matching car/engine VIN numbers are troublesome for resale.
Re: the vibration problems. Have you had the bushings replaced yet? Apparently the bushings were the problem on some.
Knock on plood, my 2001 LW200 is running fine. Only problem so far was a creaky front driver's seat, fixed by the dealer relubing it. And I didn't like the traction or noise of the Firestone Affinity tires so I replaced them with Michelin X-One's which I find to be completely satisfactory.
Harry
Anyway just another idea for ya.
Bob
Another thing I just thought of, check the floor panel where the arm of the clutch master comes through and see if there are any leaks, this would suggest a faulty clutch master cylinder.
Good luck!
Bob
Anything else I can check? Just chalk it up to wire gremlins?
Someone on the Auto101 link mentioned a switch on the tranny that controls the lights.
-Brian
Hopefully someone else will be able to tell you if indeed there is a switch. If there is a switch disconnect the wires and make a jumper to connect the two together and have someone look to see if the lights come on. If not, the switch is not the problem and you will need to meter the wires to see if one of them has power going to it. If no power then the problem is before the switch. If there is power going to the switch then you will need to meter the switch or there could be a break in the other wire leading to the lights or bad ground at the connector or something like that. If you could get a hold of a schematic then you should be able to tell where everything goes.
I don't know if I was much help (but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once!!), but like I said I can't verify this on the wife's car as we just traded it in on a sl1 auto. I did run into a similar problem with my 80 mustang many years ago and had to track it down like I stated above, so hopefully that will help out.
Bob
I think I found that 2 wire switch on the tranny last night. It's just about below the battery. I unplugged it and plugged it back in, but didn't try the jumper thing. I'll try that tonight.
-Brian
If so what number in the fuse panel is it? Thanks for any help anyone can give. My dome light will not work with a new bulb. There is no light coming from under the dash either. Can't remember if there ever was.
-Eric
Excellent car, smooth and comfortable. I recommend it highly.
HE ALSO SAYS WE CAN DRIVE IT FOR SEVERAL MONTHS BEFORE WE REALLY NEED TO DO ANYTHING.????
HELP! GREAT CAR, BUT NOT WORTH THE MONEY TO FIX.