2001 Saturn L200 from North America - Comments

Word at my Saturn dealer is that there is going to be a recall. The catch is... it is only for, I think, 2000 cars. It will happen in either January or February of '08. Although, knowing that certain dealership... they were probably just trying to say anything to get my out of there with a smile on my face. Stupid.

Just want to add my experience in with all these others. 64,000 miles, highway speed, chain broke. Towed in, extended warranty covered $100 of the $130 tow. The windshield that was bashed in during it's 16 hour sit on the highway was out of my pocket. ($208). the dealer demanded maintainence records which I produced. If I had not been able to produce these records, I'm sure they would have denied the claim on the extended used car warranty plan. As it is, it is being repaired and should be fixed tomorrow or tuesday. I think it's BS that the dealers are leaning on this "oil hasn't been changed" story to try and deny any known problems. I'm in on a class action if it gets started. Contact me at midnitemaster@hotmail.com.

Steve.

2002 L200 SW. Same song & dance Chain broke & detroyed all the valves. $2500 to repair. NHTSA reports that GM is going to have a recall. (Letter from GM dated Nov 7, 2007 is on the NHTSA web site.) Wonder if it'll cover the damages caused by the defect? (Hahaha! My warranty ran out last July. Four months past warranty is not a very good record!)

Up date to this^^^^^^

Recall GM # 06074 is limited to 20,000 2001 models. (Out of over 400,000 complaints from model years 2000-2003)

This is criminal. My car had a little over 50,000 miles with a blue book value of $6000. (Now I'll have to pay to have somebody haul it off.) Saturn did offer me a $2000 dollar trade in. (Dream on A%@holes. GM will never get another dime from me.) If anyone knows of any class action lawsuits, e-mail me at robscott3366@yahoo.com.

2001 L200 Same old same old. Motor let go in spring of 2005, only 47000 miles. Let sit for 4 months until could borrow money to replace motor (1,100$) and install it (1,500$) at the dealer we bought it used from (18000 miles). While still making payments on car. Wish I had Internet savvy back then. Note I still have the old motor, waiting on class action.

I too am changing out my 2.2 engine on my 01 L200. Is there a certain year or engine that I should be looking for? It looks like if I buy any engine- I should put the update timing chain oiler in before I install the engine. If I have the engine rebuilt, is the update kit a standard item now?? I was going to order a used engine, today, but after reading this, I will wait a while to get some good advise from the people in this forum.

I am another victim... I have a saturn l200...honestly it has been a great car other than the brake light recall... I have my car in the shop right now and received a letter in the mail yesterday notifing me of the recall... I hope I can come back and say that saturn is going to fix this for me... But from what I'm reading this is going to be a crap shoot... My car never stopped running, but I did bend the hell out of my valve stems for sure. I had it looked at by a private mechanic... He said it was the timing chain jumping the cog really bad... said it bent all of the cog points... not normal stuff... That is when I sent it to saturn of rockford... We will see how this goes.. I will report back on these forums very soon with my outcome.

Nick.

Well my experience is over and I'm glad to say that it went rather well. Saturn replaced everything free of charge and I had my car back in 3 days... I had bent some valves and the head needed to be replaced. No problems with them at all. In fact I think I'm going to buy my next car from them.

Nick.

Dear Saturn.

I found this site when I went online looking for replacement parts for my car. My 2002 L200 timing chain broke at 54,987 miles - no warning - no noise - nothing. I was stopped, waiting for a chance to turn right onto a busy road (Storrow Drive in Boston)... I pulled into traffic and nearly got killed. My infant son was in the back seat...

Do you have children? Could you at least warn other owners?

I have a Saturn L200 with 93000+ miles on it. Thankfully I have never had a problem with the timing chain. I did receive a recall notice on the timing chain recently and will be taking my car in to have the replacement done later this week.

Anyone who had to pay for their replacement should have a good case for being compensated.

Make / Models : Model/Build

Years:

SATURN / L SERIES 2001.

Recall Number: 07V519000.

Summary:

ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH A 2.2L 4-CYLINDER ENGINE, LINKS IN THE ENGINE'S

TIMING CHAIN CAN SEPARATE.

Consequence:

IF A TIMING CHAIN LINK SEPARATES WHILE THE ENGINE IS RUNNING, THE ENGINE WILL STALL AND WILL NOT

RESTART INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.

Remedy:

DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE TIMING CHAIN FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING

JANUARY 2008. OWNERS MAY CONTACT SATURN AT 1-800-972-8876.

Notes:

GM RECALL NO. 06074. CUSTOMERS MAY ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY

ADMINISTRATION'S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), OR GO TO

HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV.

I know, I'm on the wrong board, but COUNT ME IN on the timing chain failure... 2002 Saturn Vue 2.2L, timing chain went at 117K with FAITHFUL ON TIME MAINTENANCE. (Should of lasted much longer!) I'm currently fighting with my dealership that I had the warranty work done at, claiming that I had a warranty up to 91K miles (Which turned out to be January 2007) and that they've had this "tech bulletin" out since 2003. I stalled going almost 60 MPH with 3 children in the back (6yrs, 2 yrs, 4 months) in 15 degree weather. Had to sit for 1/2 an hour in the freezing cold, no running car with my young ones. I've had hardly any problems with my car until now, and I'm fighting tooth and nail for reimbursement. After I brought all the statistics to the dealership, they told me to bring the car up, but "no guarantees" on repair help. (Another $300 to tow it up? NO) Reported this to the NHTSA, my Better Business Bureau, working up to Attorney General for NY. I'm one very mad consumer... Paid $700 for a new engine, $900 to install, my local GM dealership who serviced my car took the old one out and new engine in in 1 day, gave me a free loaner car, just been wonderful. Even kept my old engine as proof I changed oil, to show it was cheaper to replace engine than straighten pistons, rebuild head, ETC... And Saturn? Refuses to even speak to me after telling them there is a class action against them for this...

So much for a "Family Friendly" and reliable company.

Tear.

Thought I would just throw my experience in.

I just bought a 2002 L 200, I started to read into all these posts and called Saturn and asked them if my car was part of the recall, they told me no and that it was fine, it was made in April of 02, was the oil-er and chain fixed in during this time with this model of l200. or is my car still one of the cars that will still have chain going out, could some one please let me know.

Thanks

Daniel.

I have a 2003 Saturn ION with a little over 100,000 miles. Had a timing chain failure as all the others in this bog. When I took the head to have it rebuilt (had valve failure) the exhaust cam looked like it hadn't had any oil on it while the intake one was fine. The exhaust cam bearings were burned and the head was no good. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem?

I too had the timing chain go at 54,000 miles on my 2001 L200 2.2L. Paid $1100 in 2005 to get it fixed. Received a notice in the mail Jan. 08' that they had finally recalled the timing chain. I called saturn to see if the one that they had replaced the first time, needed to be done again. It did. I also got reimbursed for the $1100 that I spent already. As I should. As long as you had the timing chain replaced at a Saturn dealer, they will refund all of your money. One thing is though, I'm not sure if I was notified about all of the recalls. Does anyone have a link to find every recall for this car? I've looked everywhere and the timing chain recall is not even posted yet.