2004 Saturn ION 2 from North America - Comments

I have a 2004 Ion level 2 Quad coupe. I bought it new in February of 2004. As of today it has just over 49000 miles on it. I had the starting issue just a month or so after I bought the car. The dealer replaced the ignition and now... almost 5 years later, I have yet to have the problem again (crossing my fingers). I live in Wisconsin and it gets cold here as well. My car has always started. I do have a few issues however:

Seat staining.

The reverse lights went out.

The license plate bulb needs to be replaced every year.

The check engine light is on but for a "cracked gas cap". I had a friend who is a mechanic run a diagnostic on it for me and it came back as a fuel system problem but he could not find any problem other than the gas cap. I disconnected the battery cables and it reset itself and was off for awhile but then came back on.

The rattling in the front end on bumps.

Other than that I love this car. It has been very dependable for us and I only have a few more payments left, so I hope it stays dependable for a long time to come.

I do not think I would buy another Saturn, however has the dealership has treated me badly every time I have been in there. They have lied.

At 6,000 miles (yeah 6,000!) they told me I needed new brakes and rotors (which I did not have replaced. My dad checked them and they were like new)

At 9000 miles, the service manager told me that I needed a new fuel filter and some other things done to the car. I was in for the reverse lights issue.

I refuse to even talk to one of the service managers now as he has lied to my face and tried to refuse to let me take my car from the dealership because of a "nail" in the tire that needed to be fixed right away (I was in for warranty work - not anything to do with the tires). He was trying to scare me into letting them fix this so called nail for $75. My brother happened to be with me and overheard the conversation. He threatened to call the police. I left WITH my car and took it to another shop and there was no nail in my tire, just a bad valve stem, which was fixed there. This happened at about 10,000 miles on my ion.

I no longer take my car to Saturn for any work at all.

I currently have a Saturn Ion 2004. I also share the same start up issue and have tried many different things to try and resolve it. The one thing I will not do is take it to a dealer so they can tell me how much money they want. I bought a 2004 so I wouldn't need to dump money into it.

Anyway, this sounds crazy, but as scary as it sounds, it has worked for almost 3 months. Keep your gas tank above 1/2 tank. Now I know it sounds stupid (and if someone's car doesn't start with above 3/4 of a tank let me know) but I haven't had a problem since I tried keeping it above 3/4 tank, and then I drive 400 miles to see my family and it sits at 1/4 tank. Guess what, 3 months no problem. s

Started in -20F weather and it DOESN'T START. I immediately filled it back up when it started after 10 minutes of waiting, and 2 more months later not 1 problem... I hope this is the answer, but it could just be high high high coincidence...

04 Ion 3 and encountered no start problem... great help and will try ignition switch, keeping tank over 1/2, turning off heater & fan before shutting off car for night, turning ignition slowly and letting lights and bells stop before starting, cutting white wire...

This is my 7th Saturn and I'm confident something will work...I've saved thousands in body repairs owing Saturn vehicle... my kids have hit my Vue and w/it, and neither vehicle needed other than buffing off paint transfer..

I also have a 2004 Saturn Ion Quad Coupe... guess what? I have the same problems getting it to start! My husband and I are going to try cutting the white wire... if that doesn't work, I'm going to have to get a new car. It sucks though because I love the gas mileage on my Ion... but it just isn't dependable.

Have the same "no start" problem, but the way I get around the problem is to turn the steering wheel all the way to the left, turn off the car, remove key. Turn the wheel a little to the right until it locks the steering. It now starts every time, except when I forget to lock the steering wheel. Works in cold or hot temperatures.

I have a 2004 Saturn Ion 2 with the same no-start and key locking in the ignition problems, as well as water staining the seats. I have replaced the starter three times and the ignition switch twice within the past 2 1/2 years. Latest starter last month and yesterday what do you know, it didn't start. I took it back to where the starter was put in, they ran a diagnostic and I was told it could be the BCM or Ignition switch but they could not guarantee that replacing them would fix the problem since they could not re-create the problem in the shop. And of course it's expensive to replace the parts. This is very frustrating!! I live in the South, so it's not just a cold related problem.

Took my 2004 quadcoupe to a Saturn dealership on September 3rd. They told me I need a new ignition switch. I said "why, it starts all summer, I only have problems in cold weather?" They said it's natural wear and tear (right). I was informed my reverse lights do not work (don't think they ever have). I was also told that my swaybar was not put on correctly... I've never had any work done to it since I've owned it!! Told Director of the dealership I would not pay for ignition switch because that isn't the problem, it's the passkey system. He said take it up with Saturn. I did, they will not provide any assistance, could not explain why swaybar was installed incorrectly and couldn't explain why the temperature is the factor that causes the car not to stop. Thinking about filing a BBB complaint. Any suggestions?

I too have been having the same issues with my car not starting due to COLD weather! I have a 2004 Saturn Ion-2 coupe. I have experienced this once in a great while for the past three years. Last winter it got really bad to the point that my son and I had to leave 40 minutes early for school and work just to make sure we had enough time to try starting the car. During the summer there were no problems -- the car started fine.

Now that the cold weather is coming back my car has not started 3 times in one week!! It takes anywhere from 15-25 minutes to start. I have tried bringing it in to Saturn and have paid $250 to be told that my car is perfectly fine and there is NOTHING wrong! I can't recreate the problem because it is so intermittent. Some days it starts fine and some days it doesn't. I refuse to put any more money into the car trying to figure it out, and if Saturn wants to turn a blind eye to something that is clearly happening too many people across the United States, I am wondering if there is something that can be done about it! I hope I can find more info into submitting some class action lawsuit. Good luck to everyone and keep posting!

I too, have the starting in cold weather problem with my 2005 Saturn Ion2. I live in Wisconsin and just this past week it's gotten cold (below 40). I had problems with it starting last winter, but just lived through it. It worked fine all summer. Now it's fall, I've had 2 episodes already that it wouldn't start. But if I wait 10 minutes and try again, it starts right up. I work odd shifts, so many times I'm not leaving work until 11pm or 3am, so it's always cold out at night. I can't take another winter with this happening. With that said, and if the problem truly is the Passlock system, then I'd think by bypassing the Passlock system, the problem should be resolved. So tomorrow I have an appointment to get a remote starter installed, in which they have to bypass the Passlock system. I'm hoping this works.

I have a 2004 Ion, with the same start problems.

After reading all these comments, I went to the dealership and told them. They switched the ignition switch and reset the bypass module. I actually had it done October 15th 2009. So it's about a week later and no cold start problems yet!! And I live in Canada!!

Hopefully I solved it, but if not I'll write again.

Went out to my car 7am (30°) outside and "what do ya know" my my 2004 Saturn ION wouldn't start. Last time it did this was February of 2009.

Just got off the phone with a Rep from Saturn. I called 866-790-5700 and filed my complaint. The Rep gave me a Service Request No. and told me that Saturn would offer cost assistance to me for the repair. I told him that unless the "cost assistance" means FREE to me then I'm not interested.

I'm going to look into the remote starter idea. I'm also interested in the possible "class action" some people have mentioned. So disappointed in Saturn and GM.

I love my Saturn other than this stupid problem...

Can anyone who has done the remote starter and had it work please comment so I don't waste anymore money or time.

Thanks and good luck this winter.

I have a 2005 Saturn Ion and have also had many problems with the car not starting. I took the advice of the gentleman that wrote a while back, and I cut the white wire on the ignition switch and followed the procedures he recommended.

I cut the white wire (not the white with black stripe) while the car was running. After cutting the wire (the "car and lock" icon will illuminate right after cutting), shut the car off. Then, put the key to the ACC. position, the start position, then back to the ACC. position every 10 minutes for three times. After the third time, put the key to the off position, wait for 5 seconds, then start the car. This completes the resetting of the PassLock.

After doing this, my car has started ever since without any issues. This is very easy to do and only takes about 30 minutes.

Good luck!