My Saturn SL2 (2000) troubles just starting. The service (with wrench by the word) light comes on and off. I have not been able to pinpoint any pattern. The transmission, automatic, shifts hard & most recent problem now is that it is bogging down, like the car is going to stall or out of gas, but neither happens. I have taken it in for the Service light paid $85.00 and was told it was nothing.
Any suggestions especially on the most recent one of bogging down.
One last question how do you check the transmission fluid? For the life of me I cannot find the dip stick & nothing in the manual except to take it in for service? Am I missing something here? Money is tight, on a fixed income, appreciate any help Thanks.
Service light
Bogging Down
Shifting Hard.
I own an L-series and am familiar with the problems you describe. FYI--there is no dipstick for the transmission fluid, since it is a sealed system. Your dealer (or mechanic) can check the fluid level. I suspect nothing is wrong with the trans, but it is worth checking.
Some good news about your other problems--I would suspect the MAF sensor, which (on the V6 models, like yours) can cause engine performance issues, the service light, and strangely enough, erratic shifting. The part, installed, costs about $130 or so. It may or may not throw a service code.
Check first with the dealer about the MAF sensor. They may give the option of simply putting in a new one to test if it fixes the problems before you commit to the repair, and only the dealer is truly familiar with the L81 engine since it is rather rare.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Sounds familiar. It started the same week I mailed in my last payment to Saturn, so I imagined all the worst, and I was on a road trip with a deadline. Frustration? I just kept driving through the hesitations, stalling, and service light. I called the Saturn service number to find the nearest dealer (they are a great resource and I will save number to my cell phone book). There was a wait at the dealer and they would have closed by the time my number came up. It was a Friday at rush hour so, that was not going to work with my schedule. I kept driving thinking it was minor i.e. fuel injection or fuel related. Well, when I did get to Saturn they did the full run through. About $400 later I was confident that the car that I now fully owned would be up to snuff, until the service rep informed me that they could not find the culprit of the service engine light. Ugh oh. Things did seem better for a day or so. Then the trouble started again. Traveling again I took the car to a good San Antonio, TX dealer and they covered everything. They even put me in a rent car at no charge and scraped off/installed my new tags and inspection stickers. The service report was 4 pages long, and there was no charge. I asked if they looked at the fuel filter and was told no. That seemed like something important to me from the symptoms. The problems returned. Finally, I paid Pep Boys to replace the fuel filter. It was $7 for the part and $50 for the service, so it must be hard to reach. I just drove on a 1100 mile trip to New Orleans and back and I only received the service engine light once and that was probably caused by my incessant honking at the deer herds grazing roadside at night. There was no stalling, sputtering, hesitation or anything from before. Cool.
I have owned my 2000 Saturn Ls2 for thirteen months without incidence, that is until recently. Hard shifting, sub par gas millage, and service lights are my new problems. The Olympia Saturn dealership is pricey, but have been knowledgeable and helpful. After $1,440.52, my problems have been alleviated.
Well, I would like to know what they did to repair the problem. All you state is that it cost $1440, but that doesn't help anyone with similar symptoms who wants to know what to suggest to a mechanic to check.
I would also like to know what cost $1,400. Has anyone tried one of those check engine light devices (OBD2 or something like that) to see what these codes are exactly? I am curious if it is worth the $50 on e-bay to get one before the next time I take my LS2 to the shop. I recently was ripped off at the Saturn dealer in central VA for over $100 to tell me I need a new gas cap and they had to do an extensive smoke test first to make sure before calling me. All I needed was a $10 gas cap, would one of those OBD2 devices have told me enough information to not have been ripped off?
My LS1 has 183000 miles on it and in the past 6 months I replaced the transmission and the hesitation and bogging went away until about three weeks ago the bogging is back. Other than that the car runs OK if you like to be jerked every time you stop and go. also the transmission fluid is easy to check in my 2000 LS1 you just check the red dipstick next to the oil, but most likely that is not your problem it is most likely the transmission itself.
I am a current owner of a 2000 Saturn LS2 with the V6 and Automatic Transmission. I have had the car since August 2006 with only 91,000 km on it. The car has currently over 102,000 km on it and the only problems I have ever dealt with the car is that I had the MAS Airflow Sensor replaced and a new Power Steering line. However this Saturn model is a pleasure to drive. Being at 6'6" it is very comfortable to drive especially for great distances. The only complaint is that the V6 should be mated to a 5 Speed manual transmission. Your thoughts??
"The only complaint is that the V6 should be mated to a 5 Speed manual transmission. Your thoughts??"
I think it would be a great combination. We have the V6 too and it's blazing fast with the automatic. At least the auto knows when to shift, but I agree, a manual would be ideal.
The car's based on the previous generation Opel Vectra, and the engine (L81) was used in the Opel Omega. I believe that it was available in Europe with a manual.
I own a 2001 L Series. I really like the styling, and performance of this car. I do not like the cheap quality in the parts Saturn used in making this car. I had to take it in @ 20,000 miles to have a leaking steering rack replaced. Not long after that my ignition key would not turn. The car was just out of warranty, so I called a locksmith to come and see if they could fix it. The locksmith had no luck, he suggested I take it in to the dealer. I ended up replacing the whole unit.
The factory tires barely lasted past 25,000 miles. I had to replace the stabilizer links not long after that. The window crank knobs fell off, the windows rattle. The car drives great, I like the fast pick up it has. I get good gas mileage with it. I just wish that Saturn made their cars with a little more attention to the small details.
My recent problem, is that I have a heater leak. I have antifreeze on my passenger floor area. I looked into the problem, I discovered it is the o-ring seal on the tubes that go to the heater core. I checked at my local Saturn dealer for the parts I needed to do the repair. I was told in order to get the o-rings I needed I had to buy the whole heater core. I personally think that is crazy. Why spend $211.00 when all I need are the o-rings supplied in the kit? My car currently only has 46,000 miles. Which is very low miles for a car 6 years old. I was also told from that same parts guy that, they are changing a lot of heater cores in these models. My guess is that the o-rings go bad, but since you can only get them in the kit they are changing the whole heater core out at the owners expense.
The car is currently for sale. I do not agree with Saturn policy forcing you to buy parts in a group, instead of the individual part you need.
For the man that has hesitation in his car. I think that your problem may lie in the the carburetor. For 70 they cleaned mine, you can do it a lot cheaper if you know how and the hesitation has stopped. I have a 1995 SL2 I believe.
I have this same car, 2000 LS2, smokin hot car, blazing fast, but I have the same bogging down problem and I have replaced the MAF sensor, what is up with that?
We have a 2002 Saturn L300 with about 100,000 miles. After changing the thermostat at 90,000 miles the Service light, the one with the wrench, started coming on intermittently. When the Service light comes on the transmission shifts with a jolt. I have a Scan Tool and can read the codes, but no code is stored to read after the Service Light comes on, in fact shutting the car off a traffic light and then restarting the car "fixes" the problem.
The hard shifts seem independent of temperature and distance driven. The light comes on more often for my wife, the car is a transportation module to her, she is not as aware as I am. She accelerates harder than I do and takes the engine to a higher RPM.
I tend to feather the throttle to cause the engine to shift at an earlier rpm hoping for better gas mileage.
I thought I had done something wrong while replacing the thermostat, then the temperature sensor, and finally the front O2 sensor. Then I drove a friend's 2000 L Saturn with the V-6 and he warned me that accelerating hard away from a light would cause the Service Light to come on and then the car would shift hard.
The engine runs fine and gas mileage has not fallen off. Anyone else have this problem?
I see the Mass Air Flow, MAF, sensor diagnosis and will check ours, it did get disconnected when I replaced the thermostat. I have also seen a Transmission Pressure Sensor, TPS, diagnosis as well as a shift solenoid diagnosis (or are these the same part? I only have experience with manual transmissions). But those solutions seem to involve pulling the engine to access the side plate of the transmission. I have also seen a solution of just putting a can of transmission cleaner.
Anyone have this problem and can give a solution?
I agree with your guess of the MAF sensor. It's relatively cheap and easy to replace, and a faulty sensor WILL make the tranny shift pretty rough. It's a common problem on the L81 V6.
I have a 2000 LS1 Saturn with 118,000 miles on it. My transmission fluid is black so I would like to change it. But I want to do it myself. The only thing I have don't myself on my car is change the oil. Does anyone have any suggestions or a website I could go to that tells me how to do it? I heard that Saturns are made very tricky, so that only dealerships know how to change it. Is this true?
Back to my posting at the start of October about my wife's Saturn with the intermittent hard shifting that occurs with the sporadic appearance of the Service light, the one with the wrench.
I changed the Mass Air Flow Sensor yesterday and this morning she reports the light came back on and it was shifting hard. Yesterday she let me know the problem is becoming more frequent. So much for the $130 fix.
I changed the Automatic Transmission Fluid and filter at 90,000 miles. The fluid was not burnt, not quite as red as the new fluid, but still in good shape.
My next thought is to try some "miracle" cleaner in the transmission in case a shift solenoid is sticky (this is my first experience with an automatic transmission, I'm not fluent in terminology) At least this is a cheap approach. The next two steps would be for me to get a new engine computer at $400. After that would be having the dealership do a transmission rebuild at $1000 to replace the shift solenoid and the pressure sensor.
Does anyone have a recommendation on a transmission cleaner?