2001 Saturn L200 from North America - Comments

I purchased a used 2001 L200 just over a year ago, and had been very happy with the car. I got the recall notice in the mail for the timing chain, so I took it in to get it repaired. 500 miles later the crank seal went out and took the bearings with it; the dealer said they removed the crank cover and seal, but do not replace the seal, just put the old one back in. Now they want $7000 for a new motor, they say it has nothing to do with what they did; they say the seal will freeze and rip. Anyone heard of this?

Add me to the long list of people who have lost a timing chain, and had further damage to the valves. It happened at about 60 MPH, but on a sparsely traveled road, so there was no danger. The car, a 2001 L200, had about 102K miles on it. I made it longer than most people. To the one recently that got a recall notice, I wish I had received one. I did not. While my total bill was over $2400, part of that was for front brakes and rotors, so I actually feel pretty lucky. Thank you for lifting my spirits.

Add another one to the list. Not my car, but my sister's '02 Saturn L200. Last week, they came by my house on their way back from vacation in Branson. The car had ran perfect all week, and they got in it to go home and it would not start.

Took it into the mechanics, and no compression and all symptoms point to yet another timing chain failure. Their estimate is $2200 to $2400 minimum and the value of the car is only $6300. Just over 96,000 miles on it.

I live in Arkansas, they live in Central, Oklahoma so I had to take them home and the car is still stuck here. Reading all of these comments with similar problems makes me sick to my stomach.

I'm the sister from the previous comment.

Just wanted to make sure I added this. I purchased the car new in September 2002. I'm meticulous about changing the oil every 3000 miles and keeping up with all of the suggested regular scheduled maintenance. With the exception of oil and tires (I live 50 miles from the dealership.) ALL maintenance to this point has been done at a Saturn dealership.

In response to some other comments about no problems to this point. I had no issues with the vehicle until the first of this year. In January I took it in for a vehicle inspection, as I was getting ready for an across country trip. I had the catalytic converter replaced at that time, and several other "minor" things replaced. A month later on the cross country trip, the fuel pump went out just inside the Texas panhandle and had it towed to the dealer in Amarillo.

At no time was I warned of any other potential problems with the car. I was completely unaware of this issue until my brother started looking for information online, when his mechanic told us that based on what we told him happened, and what he found, it seemed unusual that the engine would just quit out of nowhere. I just thank the Lord that it didn't happen the day before when we were driving from Branson to my brother's house in northern Arkansas through the Ozark Mts., two lanes, no shoulder... (You get the idea.)

I'm starting to see a pattern here. I have a 2001 Saturn L200 with 72k. Until now the only trouble has been with the other recall, possessed rear tailights. My experience is nothing new... car was running perfectly and then stalled. It was towed to private mechanic who discovered the broken timing chain; bent valves, cracked cylinder head, and every other form of mechanical destruction.

Saturn dealer confirmed a recent recall on 2001 L200 timing chains, BUT determined, based on my VIN, my car is excluded from the recall. Saturn corporate suggested I have the car towed to the dealer for diagnosis. While the representative stated that she can make "NO PROMISES", she urged me to bring the car in to a dealer since Saturn has been known to extend recall coverage to excluded vehicles.

Bottom line: Without any screaming, yelling, threatening, disrespect or suggestion of poor vehicle maintenance, Saturn has offered to cover my tow bill and install a new engine with a $250 copay. While I was curious as to how Saturn arrived at the $250 amount, I figured I made out like a bandit and simply said "THANK YOU."

I understand I'm one of the lucky ones. I imagine the situation would have been different had this occurred prior to the recall. How can a company avoid a recall on something so serious from 2001-2008?

To anyone who has a vehicle exempt from the recall, stand firm and press Saturn for relief. There is precedent!

Same story. 2001 Saturn L200. Never received a letter in the mail regarding the recall. I made it to 87000 miles, and without warning, as I was merging onto I5, my car was left immobilized thanks to a broken timing chain. This happened maybe 3 weeks ago. I called the dealership and they decided not to tell me about the recall on these timing chains. Instead they sold me an 1100 dollar brand new cylinder head, which is completely unnecessary considering the only damaged parts of the head are 6 valves and the timing chain. All together with timing chain, cylinder head, and head bolts, this breakdown has ran me out of about 1250 dollars.. and that's doing all the labor work myself. Who knows how much someone would have to pay to get this professionally done.

Anyways, I saw the recall on this message board on a whim, called Saturn talked to a very nice lady, and hopefully something will get done to help me out here.

My main stem of disappointment is that you really cannot trust any type of professional mechanic to give you a fair diagnostic and/or work on your car these days. This is also apparently true for our renowned Saturn dealers : (

I'll definitely update, and let you know if Saturn ignores me, or hooks it up with some repair costs.

OK, here we go, Yes another '01 L-series timing chain failure. Mine broke as I was leaving a busy construction zone in Northern Louisiana (I live in Michigan) on I-55. I just started accelerating from 60MPH to 70MPH when it went. I had the car towed to an independent repair shop in the Kentwood LA. area and the guy was saying close to $1800 to repair if the cylinder head wasn't damaged. Well after hearing this, I figured I'd be better off to tow the car home (1200 miles) and do it myself. ($500 in gas + cost of timing kit, gaskets and head = cheaper than $1800. Made perfect sense to me.)

Then I found the recall information, so after speaking with the Saturn SA, I opted to tow the car to my local Saturn dealer to get this taken care of under the recall. (even cheaper than doing it myself right?) Well now I'm being told that my L-series isn't covered under that recall campaign, even though the VIN (1Y519XXX) falls between the vehicles covered, but they'll split the labor and parts with me and essentially only charge me the labor, 9.8 hours. ($810 still better than the initial quote of $1800)

In my opinion, that's similar to, if not the same as, admitting guilt. They know there's a problem, it's the same as every other vehicle covered under the recall, so why shouldn't they repair it as if it were covered under recall? Besides that, what's up with this, the recall states, "certain vehicles between 1Y504884 and 1Y559453", that statement gives the manufacturer the ability to pick and choose which vehicles they repair under recall, which just isn't right!

Anyway, I put in another call to Saturn Customer Care and I'm now awaiting a call from the District Representative who will hopefully resolve this issue for me. I'll keep you all informed of what goes on.

I have a Saturn L200 2001 sedan with 89k miles. I was accelerating from an intersection and the car stopped as if the engine had no power. I had it towed to a transmission repair shop. The owner told me that it wasn't the transmission but the "timing chain" that had broke.

I called the Saturn dealership and asked them how much it was going to be to repair my car with the failure of the timing chain. Saturn said it would be at least $2500 to repair it.

Luckily (and Thank You!), I found this website listing the recall for the "timing chain" problem. I called the 800 number for the recall notice. The person answered and asked me a few questions about the car such as the year, model number, vin number and number of miles on the car. They said that the car did qualify for the recall and that they would pay for the repairing of the car.

I had the car towed to the local Saturn dealership and the car was repaired in two days (no charge).

Thanks again for having the recall notice - it saved me a lot of money!

An update to my July 2,2008 post and a request...

Well after speaking with the Saturn District Representative, I have finally decided that this whole attempt to get my vehicle covered under this recall is futile.

The only recourse I/we have at this point is to file a complaint with the NHTSA at safercar.gov or phone 1-888-327-4236. The more complaints that are filed, the better the chance we(those of us whose cars are allegedly NOT covered under recall) have of getting the recall expanded to include all vehicles in the VIN range listed in my earlier post.

Now obviously this is not immediate relief, but there would at least be a possibility(as slim as it is) of recouping our losses. However sitting on our butts whining and crying about it leaves us still holding the proverbial bag for sure.

So if you are an owner of one of the vehicles that wasn't covered under the recall, I implore you to take action, as it could possibly lead to an expansion of the vehicles covered by this recall.

I must consider myself one of the lucky ones. I drove my car cross country twice, with my service engine light, going on and off. I checked the light before I left for the first trip, but the only thing the mechanic could tell me was that it was an electrical problem that he couldn't fix. But he did ask me if my car had ever stalled on me, my answer "No". When I returned home after my trip I received a recall letter from saturn. And after piecing together what the mechanic had told me and what the letter said, I brought my car in promptly and had it fixed. Now, I'm hearing a ticking sound and my engine jerks when idle. But I'm pretty sure it is merely my sparks plug, with a misfire in my 3rd piston. But we'll find out tomorrow.

Other problems:

A hole in my axle pinion steering.

Seepage around my oil pan.

Changing thermostats.

Water pump.

After reading many of the comments, I sure wish I had not purchased my Saturn... and with the experience I am having too.

My car was starting to have a slight "rattle" which I figured was the timing chain starting to get loose. I am somewhat mechanically inclined but do not like mechanic work persa. So, I was going to see about getting it changed. I drove it to work, and shut it off... no problems noticed. Went out to go home, and it would not start. It sounded funny like the starter was not engaging. So, I got a new one and changed it out there in the parking lot myself. No help, same spinning, this time I wised up to check if the engine was turning over, it was. This car usually starts with just a quick spin... but not now, not a peep. I called the dealer then and they said it sounded like the timing chain was broken or jumped a tooth. I had it "towed" (actually carried) to them. They did a diagnostic, nothing, then took off the timing chain cover (I guess it is the valve cover as when I finally arrived there they had it off to show me how loose the tension was on the chain (it wasn't broken) and that it had to have jumped a tooth ot more and therefore they were sure there is valve and head damage. They had done a compression check with no pressure in two or three cylinders (a good sign that valves are not closed, but I feel they can possible be bent without damaging the head because the chain had to jump when I shut it off, or when I first hit the starter (crossed figures anyway). They Suspect there is valve and head damage with this "no clearance" engine. Yep, $953 just to replace the timing chain kit (plus two hundred troubleshooting already) and I didn't even get to replacing the head assembly. Still don't know if the valves and head are damaged...didn't want to spend more money troubleshooting on a Saturday afternoon.

Looks like I will take the heads off myself and check them, heck the whole engine drops out on a frame assembly and is easy to work on then. If it only needs a chain and maybe some valves, I will try to find a secondary market timing kit hoping it is a better quality chain and gear. They also spoke of a used or rebuilt engine being cheaper (that's why I did not ask about a head change charge but it was sounding like $2500+) but a used engine would need a new chain assembly or I would have the same problem soon.

My dealership didn't say anything about a recall either, and I have gotten 130,000 miles out of the chain -unless the previous owner had it changed before... he is deceased so I do not have that history. It looks relatively clean inside and of course the topic of regular oil changes came up, but I am way out of warranty anyway and second owner.

So, it is good to find out about a recall but someone said the numbers are vehicles between 1Y504884 and 1Y559453...mine is later. These numbers I believe are serial numbers, so at least 559,483 were made... if 412,000 have broken, I have been lucky... course my # is 580K+. I will have to check to see if it has the update oiler... and it could be included in the repair of the recall. Recalls are a manufacturing defect, therefore any vehicle with the defect would be entitled to be replaced free of charge. Also, if I know my law right, past problems can file for restitution even after the fact.

No matter, I will file a complaint to help expand the numbers in the recall anyway.