2004 Saturn ION 2 from North America - Comments

So I think the Saturn gods were reading my post of April 5, hahaha. I don't think they liked it.

I posted that I don't have to wait a full 10 minutes, I just have turn keep trying and it will start on the 3rd or 4th attempt. Well, not anymore, every day since then, at least once, I have had to wait for the 10 minutes...grrrr!

I read the posts on the other forum that there was a link posted to on here, and I also watched the you tube video of cutting the white wire. I'm DEFINITELY cutting it this weekend!

Good luck to all the rest of you!!

Well people, I too have a Saturn Ion 2. I live in central Texas, so I don't really have to worry about cold weather. But guess what? My car won't start. Now the car is officially dead and when I try to start it, it just makes this constant clicking noise and the battery drains. I'm about to have the starter looked at, and am interested in looking at ignition problems. The wait 10 minutes thing is quite irritating.

My car has 97000 miles on it, I've only had it for 30000 miles. It happened for the first time on Thanksgiving of 08. So from where I'm at, it's not the cold weather, it's the car.

It's also annoying that everyone talks about getting their car fixed and letting us know something after they take it in, I haven't seen that on this forum. But I promise people, when or if this stupid car gets fixed, I'll let you guys know.

I own a 2004 Ion, Few years ago I started experiencing the problem of not starting in the mornings. Every time, if I wait 10 minutes, it starts. After reading these comments, it is very sad that Saturn has neither acknowledged, nor done anything regarding this issue! Sad to say Saturn will not be a consideration for my next car! Since GM owns Saturn, it will not be from the "New GM" either.

I have a 1986 Toyota pickup truck, to this day, it has never had a start issue, nor any major issues. Because of these start issues, I end up using my 86' truck if I am in a hurry!

Since GM has announced that it expects to phase out the Saturn brand by Oct 2010, you don't have to. Saturn was an innovative company in the nineties and then had a lot to offer, but now it has become just another GM brand, to put it like that.

So here is the real deal with the starting problem. I own a Saturn Ion2 2006. I researched it and asked Saturn and they confirmed it. This is only for Saturn Ion 1 and 2 for the years 2003 to 2006.

The ignition switch has a fluid in it to ease startup. Unfortunately that fluid starts to freeze around 35 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit and takes about 12 hours to completely freeze up. So if you start the car again within about 8 hours of the last start, it will start up again easily and warm up the ignition switch enough. But that is very inconvenient thing to do overnight, which is why most problems arise on the first startup of the day. Once the startup fails once, you have to wait at least 10 minutes to try again. Saturn Ions have a failsafe that prevents theft. The car basically interprets the failed start as a hotwire job and locks out another startup for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the thief should be annoyed and leave or get caught, at least that's the idea.

Removing the fluid causes even worse startup problems and replacing the ignition switch means replacing with a part that has the exact same fluid in it. Saturn will not recall this part and change it because they say that a recall is not warranted due to that fact that this part does not cause a hazardous situation (like Ford Explorer exploding tires in the late 90's for example). I disagree on that point. Not being able to start in cold weather could put someone in a position to be stranded in the middle of nowhere and possibly die if it is cold enough or they are not found for long enough.

The only solutions I have found are these (solution 2, 3, and 5 work best together) :

1) Get ready early on cold days and expect a problem.

2) Keeping the car in a garage helps a lot because it is not exposed to any wind that might lower the temperature around the car. Also some garages are slightly heated.

3) Wrap a heavy scarf around the steering column to insulate the ignition switch. I found this one works pretty good.

4) If you have a heating pad and can run a cord to the car, when you first get up place the heating pad on the steering column and set it on the lowest heat setting. Leave it there until you are ready to leave and the ignition switch (and the steering wheel) should be warm.

5) If you can't do 2, 3,and 4, then try to start the car once, will probably fail. Remove the key for 10 minutes, put the key in the ignition switch and turn it only enough to get the electricity going (!!! don't start it yet or you will have to start all over again!!!) leave the key in the switch with the car off and let the heat run at its highest setting. It won't seem hot because the air is not running through the engine to heat it, but it will be enough to normalize the temperature in the car. After 5 or so minutes of running the heat, try to start the car again. Keep doing this until the car starts.

Have not tried these two yet:

6) I have heard of cordless hair dryers, can't find one to buy yet though. but I read about someone using it to heat up the ignition switch before the first start and it working.

7) Try heating the key. I heard this may work also.

I just bought a used 2004 Saturn Ion from a Honda dealer and had it for four months, and have today just started to experience problems. I was going to take it in for service, but now that I hear of this ten minute rule on Saturns I suppose I'll just do that. I'll also try the scarf trick and maybe cut the white wire to disable pass lock? I don't know yet, but this was SUCH a helpful website! And it saved me lots of time and money, and it's great to know I'm not the only person... though I wish none of us had it.

I bought a 2004 Saturn Ion with 68000 miles on it. The transmission slips occasionally between 1st and 2nd gear. Now have 90000 miles on, and hasn't got any worse. Any suggestions?

- Craig Bannister, Old Hickory, TN.

I have a Saturn 2003 Ion. Very frustrating!! Having the start up issue even after my car has already been started and driven then shut off for a few minutes. I have changed the ignition and the starter sounds like I just wasted money! Very sad about this. This is the 3rd Saturn I have owned and never had trouble with the other two. I am sorry GM is not taking care of its consumers.

OK EVERYONE - I can't believe you all are still talking about the ion problems. The ignition thing is actually a wire that is too small for the wiring in the car, and it has to stay at a certain voltage, well they put this small @#$ wire in there, and when it gets cold and you go to start it, the voltage is not where it is suppose to be, and that makes the computer not recognise your key. The only sure way to stop this from happening is first pull your cover off of the fuse box and take out the fuse for the air bags, then start your car, take off the panel on the bottom of your steering column, you will see a green or white plug in there and you will see a white wire, snip that in half, put wire plugs on the ends, tape them up.

Now there may be 2 wires, but I am not sure which one to cut, I did mine 2 years ago, so I can't remember, but if you google Saturn ion white wire, you will find a ton of information on this and there is even a guy on youtube who filmed his cutting. The ignition thing doesn't last, the new key thing doesn't work, the new battery doesn't work or anything else. The white wire is the only thing that works for sure. So look into it before you do it. I can tell you that my car was done 2 years ago and has never had the problem again.

While we are at it about Saturn Ions, do you happen to have some clunking going on during the summer and then it gets worse in the winter in your front end??? That would be the cheap bushings GM put in your sway bars. One on each side right behind your rotors and stuff. If you take off the tire, you will see the sway bar straight up and down, you may as well change those also.

Hope this helps someone out:) Later.

Purchased my 04 Ion 3 with 19 miles on it in 05. Very first winter in Chicago I had this problem. Every time it's cold, no start. Summer it runs great. I just got done paying it off so I'm gonna look into this whole white wire thing. Just FYI, if you have any modifications to your car like I do (cold air intake, exhaust, and new ECU) do NOT bring it to the dealer. They will say it's because it's your mods that it's not working. Definitely not true. Radio stopped working as well. Brought it in and they said it was because I had an amplifier powering subwoofers and wanted to charge me over 500 dollars to replace it... It was a fuse. 13 dollar part you can replace yourself. Glad Saturn is going the way of the dinosaur. Good riddance.