Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | |||||
| 709 | 09/01/2005 | 10018126 | Oil life system reset procedures - cars. gm tech link. *tt | 12/15/2005 | |
| 3668 | 10016548 | Tick noise from engine. *tt | 09/21/2005 | ||
| 3135 | 01/01/2004 | 10010045 | Pop noise from engine area during heavy throttle input. *tc | 11/03/2004 | |
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE | |||||
| 3933 | 09/29/2006 | 10020485 | Timing belt replacement. *kb | 10/26/2006 | |
Investigations
| NHTSA ID | Manufacturer | Date open | Date close | Subject | Recall campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | ||||||
| PE06006 | GENERAL MOTORS CORP. | 01/24/2006 | 06/06/2006 | TIMING CHAIN FAILURE | ||
| On december 12, 2005, odi received a defect petition (dp05-008) requesting the investigation of timing chain failures that could cause stalling in saturn vehicles equipped with the 2.2l (l61) engine. odi opened pe06-006 on january 24, 2006, with 24 vehicle owner complaints that alleged a broken timing chain caused the vehicle to stop operating.on april 12, 2006, odi received information from general motors (gm) concerning timing chain failures in approximately 412,000 model year (my) 2000 through 2003 saturn l-series and ion vehicles with 2.2l engines. gm's response included 1,020 owner complaints and field reports concerning timing chain failure, including 228 that alleged the failure caused the vehicle to stall while driving.gm also provided warranty claim data that showed 1,902 subject vehicles receiving timing chain repairs, including 261 which indicated that a stall while driving resulted from the failure.the gm complaints, field reports and warranty claims that did not contain sufficient information to determine that a stall while driving occurred were provided in the category other.gm stated that the majority of these incidents probably occurred while the vehicles were parked since the timing chain is more likely to break during high chain load situations, such as engine startup.gm's data showed elevated failure rates in approximately 20,500 my 2001 l-series vehicles produced during a four month period from november 2000 through february 2001.over one-third of gm's total complaints and field reports (34.3%) and warranty claims (38.2%) involved l-series vehicles built during the 4-month period, which are only about 5% of subject vehicle production.the timing chain failure rate in the vehicles built during this range is over 10 times greater than the remaining subject vehicle population. for the my 2001 l-series vehicles built during the 4-month period, the 36-month failure rate for repairs involving stall while driving is slightly under one percent.however, if the incidents coded as other are added, the 36-month failure rate rises to nearly five percent for those vehicles.odi and gm are continuing to assess the number of complaints and warranty claims coded by gm as other that involve incidents of stall while driving.gm's statistical modeling of the failure data initially concluded that the failure rates were declining with age and mileage for any set of warranty data analyzed (e.g., stall while driving, other or combined).however, subsequent analysis showed that the failure rates are increasing. based on the high complaint and warranty rates for timing chain failure in the 4-month production period for the my 2001 l-series vehicles, this investigation has been upgraded to an engineering analysis to further assess the frequency of stall incidents due to timing chain failures in those vehicles (ea06-009). | ||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | |||
| 04/30/2010 | 60000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2003 saturn l300. the vehicle has been experiencing a recurring failure in which it would stall while driving at any speed. after allowing the vehicle to cool off he was able to restart it and continue driving. the vehicle was taken to authorized dealers as well as independent repair shops where they were unable to diagnose the failure. the vehicle has been repaired but the failure continues. the failure mileage was 60,000 and the current mileage was 62,000. sm. | |||
| 03/27/2010 | 133000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owes a 2003 saturn l300. the contact stated that the vehicle has a sharp spike in rpm's when she steps on the accelerator and the vehicle makes a loud roaring sound but the vehicle does not respond. she also stated the catalytic converter is not functioning as a result. the dealer stated they are aware of the failure but they can offer no assistance. the vehicle has not been repaired. the failure and current mileages were approximately 133,000. rd | |||
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - COOLING SYSTEM - FAN | |||
| 04/02/2007 | 2 | 03/24/2007 | |
| Purchased 2003 saturn l 300 on march 24, 2007 and had it in the shop on april 2, 2007 and april 9, 2007 with same problem. interior lights, headlights, and fan pulsate which could cause a safety hazard on the highway. the longer you drive it the more it happens. they say it is normal.*ak | |||
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE | |||
| 12/01/2006 | 44000 | 3 | 10/27/2002 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 2003 saturn l300. the contact stated that the vehicle recently ran out of warranty at 45,000 miles. three separate failures have occurred on the vehicle. the check engine light illuminated and the mechanic diagnosed it as electrical failure. fifteen minutes later, the failure recurred and the mechanic stated that the engine experienced master engine flow failure. three months later the engine failed again. the contact has spent almost $1,200 on repairs. he has contacted the better business bureau and they refereed him to nhtsa. the dealer offered to provide a warranty for the vehicle due to the number of failures. however, the dealer does not know why the failure rate is so high. the contact called saturn who stated that his description of the failures lacked mechanical knowledge. saturn was unable to provide an explanation, but responded by stating, didn't we help you out by extending the warranty to fix the issue? the manufacturer and the dealer both referred the contact to one another. he stated that saturn does not what any part in the matter and his vehicle does not fall under the lemon law for his state. the engine size was unknown. the current and failure mileages were 44,000. | |||