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Saturn Fails in Car Rapair/ warranty

5 messages,  Last post on Aug 06, 2008 at 5:14 AM

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#1 of 5 Saturn Fails in Car Rapair/ warranty by sneaky141 Jul 31, 2008 (8:48 am)
July 19th 2008 my daughter drover her new 2007 Saturn Ion through a street that had three inches of water on the road. The water spashed as she went through the water and the car died. After several attempts to start the vehicle it was towed to Saturn of Cedar Rapids. The starter would not turn the engine over and we were told that the engine had water in it and needed to be replaced at $6200.00 dollars. Her bumper to bumper 36000 3 year warrant would not be honored as the saturn dealership said it was her fault that she drove through the water. (Actuall milege 11400 bought in Novemner of 2007) Saturn Dealership would not help kept saying that it was not covered the engine had to be replaced. Saturn the company support echoed that it had to be the owners fault as quoted to them by the dealer. Questioned on why the engine could not be rebuilt and always told had to be replaced with new engine. Took my own mechanic to the dealership, vehicle was hydrolocked and after 15 minutes of work my mechanic had the vehicle running and there was not any damage to engine. So check the fine print Bumper to bumper does not help if they will not honor it. I have to question the ability of the service department to diagnose the correct problem. Saturn Ion has the air intake hose right behind the passenger headlight, nothing covering the opening so water can go into the intake any time water is splashed into the engine compartment in my opinion. Replies to this message: joelunchbox (Aug 05, 2008 11:09 am) sneaky141 (Aug 05, 2008 6:32 pm)
#2 of 5 Re: Saturn Fails in Car Rapair/ warranty [sneaky141] by joelunchbox Aug 05, 2008 (11:09 am)
Replying to: sneaky141 (Jul 31, 2008 8:48 am) I am curious, were you in the car when this happened? the only other time I have seen this happen is when a friend's two daughters made an effort to run through standing water at a great speed. You are lucky it didn't lift the head or bend rods. The dealership possibly could have tried to pull the plugs and see what happened next but--there was no way they could guarantee that there were no broken rings, pistons, bent rods etc when the car rolled out. As a part time mechanic, it is stories like this that make me think twice about being a full time mechanic. sorry, but, it was your daughter's fault and I hope she learned a lesson from it. Replies to this message: sneaky141 (Aug 05, 2008 6:32 pm)
#3 of 5 Re: Saturn Fails in Car Rapair/ warranty [joelunchbox] by sneaky141 Aug 05, 2008 (6:32 pm)
Replying to: joelunchbox (Aug 05, 2008 11:09 am) No I was not there, but I can tell you what other mechanics tell me. You are correct in the dealership had no idea what was wrong. Could not know untill they tore the engine apart to see what was wrong. So why did they insist the engine was broke and could only insist that it had to be replaced not repaired. All the mechanics I have talked to say they should have pulled the plugs and dropped the oil at the very first. The insurance believes that it was low speed that may have caused the problem as it allowed water to ride up into the engine compartment. Being that she was turning into a parking lot I really don't believe speed is the issue. Maybe the intake location is in a bad spot.
#4 of 5 Wow by joelunchbox Aug 06, 2008 (3:38 am)
I am going to go take a look at my car now! Sheesh! Is all I can say. I can see their position but, they didn't handle it well at all. And to say that a new engine is the ONLY way to go, well, that just showed their ignorance. Glad that your car is not showing any signs of damage. Replies to this message: sneaky141 (Aug 06, 2008 5:14 am)
#5 of 5 Re: Wow [joelunchbox] by sneaky141 Aug 06, 2008 (5:14 am)
Replying to: joelunchbox (Aug 06, 2008 3:38 am) Look behind the passenger side headlight, this is where the air intake is located and appears to me that water would be likely to enter here. Just appears to be in a bad location to me. I agree they jumped the gun, they pushed very hard to replace the engine. Both the adjuster and I wanted to tear apart and fix the damage and they kept repeating no had to replace. Thankfully I knew enough mechanics that knew that was not right. You are right as she was lucky that the rods did not get bent. My mechanic said because the car died right away probably was a blessing

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