2001 Saturn L200 from North America - Comments

Timing belt broke at 24,000 miles causing the valves to bend ruining the engine. Engine required complete replacement.

I have had the car for about 40 months and have only put 24,000 miles on the car when it died. I really only take the car to work and back so it has very little wear and tear on it.

I took the car to the dealer and because it was "out of warranty and you did not have any of its oil changes done at the dealer we cannot cover the damage" (their words not mine). Now I don't expect them to repair the car for free, sometimes these things happen, but they would not do anything to help. After I got a quote from a local repair shop the dealer priced matched the engine replacement ($2600) - so they were not making a profit. That was nice, but not nearly enough to ever get me to buy a Saturn/GM car again. Low and behold a search on the web shows that I am not the only person with this problem.

I had the same issue with Honda on my 97 Civic. This time it was a connecting rod in the piston that had a bolt fall out of it breaking the piston and sleeve. Honda asked for the oil change records and since they didn't perform the mainteiance, they did not cover the repair even though the issue was definitely not a lubrication problem.

I thought the Saturn was suppose to be a dependable and economical car. My '01 L series has had 2 ignition modules replaced, and last week my daughter was stranded on the highway- timing chain broke- 80,000 miles. I have done regular oil changes, so that wasn't the cause. Dealer said to rebuild, it would be $3600, or they could replace with a used '02 engine with 58,000 miles, for $2100. What other choice did I have? Randy.