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Saturn Outlook Transmission Problems

689 messages,  Last post on May 16, 2013 at 11:39 AM

You are in the Saturn Outlook Forum.

What is this discussion about? Saturn Outlook, Transmission, SUV

    

Messages Page 5 of 69

#41 of 689 Re: 2008 Outlook Transmission [davidlamphere] by kmanzi

Jul 06, 2009 (8:43 pm)

Replying to: davidlamphere (May 27, 2009 9:13 am)
I wanted to THANK YOU for posting this message on the boards. For over a year, I have been beating the crap out of my Outlook and have been in some dangerous situations when my car downshifts at 75MPH to pass someone or merging on to another highway and almost being rear ended. The delayed response, hesitation in acceleration and the feeling like I am constantly towing a trailer has now been solved. I had my car in 2 times this past year and Saturn assured me I have the "latest" software. But today I went armed with your bulletin number and document id number. What a difference! I actually think I love the car now.... I couldn't enjoy it before - that issue bothered me too much. Now I feel like I am driving a normal car. Thanks for taking the time to post this for everyone to read. I will try to spread the word so more folks can learn about it! They certainly are not promoting it.... not to mention, it is costing them money to fix this. With GM the way it is today, I highly doubt they would have a recall. I bet they are only fixing it when asked. THanks - I owe it to you!

#42 of 689 TIMING CHAIN PROBLEM for SATURN OUTLOOK under 25000 miles by donotbuysaturn

Aug 04, 2009 (10:52 am)

We currently own a 2007 saturn outlook with under 25000 miles. We were driving on the Parkway in NJ and our 2007 saturn outlook began to say "service stabilitrak" on the dashboard and "traction control off". We did not pay much attention to it since it said service...(we thought it would not be something immediate). The car did sound funny but we continued driving. Then it said "engine power down" and it would not allow us to drive faster than 40 mph on the parkway. We drove on the shoulder (SUPER DANGEROUS!!) until we finally got home. The next morning I had to tow the car to the closest dealership which is far away because the closest dealership closed down. They told me it has a timing chain stretch and has to be ordered and then fixed.
I will not have the car for at least 5 days and have to get a loaner from but have to pay $5 a day (its not about the five dollars its about the principle!) and they said nothing could be done about the $5 because of some gov't homeland security blah blah blah.
 
We feel cheated by saturn. We still owe 3 years on the car. What will the next three years be like? We are very unhappy. We bought American for a reason, wrong idea.
DO NOT BUY SATURN.
 
Is there something legal we can do? Saturn cars are as expensive as the competitors, they should stand behind their products.

#43 of 689 Re: TIMING CHAIN PROBLEM for SATURN OUTLOOK under 25000 miles [donotbuysaturn] by LASHAWN

Aug 05, 2009 (2:12 pm)

Replying to: donotbuysaturn (Aug 04, 2009 10:52 am)
Sounds to me like their standing behind their product by taking of the repairs under warranty. Now, I can't understand why their charging you money for a loaner car when your warranty will pay for a rental. I work at a Saturn dealer as a service consultant and we have loaner cars we lend out to customers and we don't charge them for it. What would you say if your car had been a Toyota or Honda and the same thing happened? Would you tell someone not to buy those also? You have to remember it's a car that's was made by man and like all things in this world made by man, it's gonna break down, that's what warranties are for. In your case, that dealer should not charge you for a loaner, should have put you in a rental.

#44 of 689 Re: TIMING CHAIN PROBLEM for SATURN OUTLOOK under 25000 miles [LASHAWN] by mruffini

Aug 05, 2009 (2:35 pm)

Replying to: LASHAWN (Aug 05, 2009 2:12 pm)
I think the point that "donotbuysaturn" was getting across is that these problems seem a lot more prevalent on the Saturn's and therefore they are not recommending you purchase one. I have a 2007 Saturn that has had two manufacturing defects; one was that the "spider gear" in the transmission was not properly seated and the other was that we had over 7 leaks in the sunroof, stemming from the fact that they didn't properly install it (we had confirmation of this from the local dealer and GM corporate acknowledge this). I will say that the local dealerships do indeed stand by their cars, but I don't think that Saturn/Corporate does. We have had our 2007 Saturn with < 20k miles on it, in the shop for over 1 month total, in just 1.5 years of ownership. Based on that, and based on the crappy response from GM, I would have to NOT recommend purchasing a Saturn either.

#45 of 689 Re: TIMING CHAIN PROBLEM for SATURN OUTLOOK under 25000 miles [LASHAWN] by donotbuysaturn

Aug 05, 2009 (3:07 pm)

Replying to: LASHAWN (Aug 05, 2009 2:12 pm)
I think that i should clarify that the loaner was an enterprise rental car that was down the street from the dealership and so I had to pay a $5 a day gov't fee. You might be right that they are fixing it, but I also have a volkswagen jetta with 160,000 miles on it and never had to do anything major like that. I believe that says a lot for a car.
I tried to be patriotic, I feel like I am paying for something at macy's but should have bought it at walmart. I mean it is a car that costs over $30000. Its not chump change. Should it have a problem like that at under 25000 miles???

#46 of 689 Re: TIMING CHAIN PROBLEM for SATURN OUTLOOK under 25000 miles [donotbuysaturn] by LASHAWN

Aug 06, 2009 (6:51 am)

Replying to: donotbuysaturn (Aug 05, 2009 3:07 pm)
No it shouldn't have that problem, in fact we've never encountered that kinda problem here at our dealership. But hey, it's a car and cars do break down. I have a 06 Sonata and haven't had a problem with it. Also owned a Chevy Malibu and parted ways with it after 58k miles and never had a problem same with Mazda Millenia, Nissan Altima and Maxima. I'm pretty sure you may never run into another problem with your car. Do you know if anyone else has experienced the same issue with their Outlook? Could just be just a fluke that it happened to your car.

#47 of 689 Re: TIMING CHAIN PROBLEM for SATURN OUTLOOK under 25000 miles [LASHAWN] by mruffini

Aug 07, 2009 (6:24 am)

Replying to: LASHAWN (Aug 06, 2009 6:51 am)
Fluke? Have you read any of the other postings or checked out the ratings in consumer reports? (Below average reliability). Saturn/GM vehicles have a poor track record.

#48 of 689 Re: TIMING CHAIN PROBLEM for SATURN OUTLOOK under 25000 miles [mruffini] by LASHAWN

Aug 07, 2009 (1:04 pm)

Replying to: mruffini (Aug 07, 2009 6:24 am)
That may be, but are their any relating to a timing chain.

#49 of 689 please help - sending forms to BBB tomorrow by mkos1

Aug 16, 2009 (10:55 am)

as i was getting ready to send in my paperwork for my bbb auto line claim, i thought i'd check to see the prices of the 09 outlooks to determine if i wanted to request a replacement vehicle or repurchase for my 2008 outlook, somehow i wound up on this website and was shocked that so many people have been experiencing the same shifting problems i've been... although i've also experienced warning lights for service stabilitrac, service traction control and engine service... it's been in for repairs for these three things five times - the whole time i complained about the shifting but was told that it was the "nature of the beast" and have been living with it... as i am sending out my forms tomorrow can someone who has had success with a repurchase or replacement please advise me... should i include a copy of all the blogs?? what should i include besides what they ask me (which is sales agreement,vehicle reistration and work orders) thank you!

#50 of 689 Re: please help - sending forms to BBB tomorrow [mkos1] by myshakti

Aug 16, 2009 (1:13 pm)

Replying to: mkos1 (Aug 16, 2009 10:55 am)
Hi,
 
I was unsuccessful with my BBB claim. Reasons ...since the vehicle was not out of service for more than so many days and I kept driving it with the problem (what was I supposed to do?), that I didn't take it in enough times (only to hear, "There is nothing wrong with the vehicle, it is just how it runs in order to get the gas mileage GM claims it should get.) to fall under the lemon law and had gone over the number of miles allotted for a buy-back. I think I had 18,000 by the time I went before the BBB. It also didn't help that the BBB "judge" when test driving took us on a tour of the Oakland Hills where he used to live and not on roads where the issue is more prevelant. In the midst of this issue I did have a technician who rode with me and then drove my vehicle and said that there was definetly a problem but then was not allowed to talke to me about it anymore or give me documentation. As far as taking copies of this blog. I did do that only to be told that I could of created this information myself and there was no way to verify the "truth" of everyone if it were a real blog. I am now stuck with a vehicle that has dropped so much in worth that I cannot get a good deal on a trade-in or private party sell. I am not sure if you have blue-booked yours and seen the dramatic drop in worth but it is significant. I thought I was doing a good thing by buying a Saturn/GM vehicle but regret my decision to this day. I hope you have better luck.

Messages Page 5 of 69

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