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Car Forum / Saturn Cars / June 2006Tranny blew at 84K miles on 2003 ION
My wife's ION just blew its tranny at 84K miles. The dealer said its a belt in the transmission and will cost $4700 to replace. We still owe about $7K on it and are looking into options. Just don't know what the optins are for this kind of vehicle considering it front wheel drive and all. Any advise would be appreciated. Also, does any one know of a class action lawsuit for this tranny problem? Thanks in advance. >My wife's ION just blew its tranny at 84K miles. The dealer said its a >belt in the transmission and will cost $4700 to replace. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >Thanks in advance. I would get a tranny from a rebuteable boneyard before I would spend 4700 bucks at dealer geting it replace. (you might get quotes at a few other shops and find out if this is a common problem to) I would also be calling up Saturns hotline about this one as to way you car has a belt tin tranny that breaks at 84K miles and cost so much to fix and tell them why in the world would you ever want to buy another Saturn after this if they do not make it right. ----------------- The SnoMan www.thesnoman.com Thanks for the advise SnoMan. I figured these CVT trannys are rare and hard to find. I'll check out some local tranny shops. My wife wants to protest in front of the dealership. We'll see how it goes. >Thanks for the advise SnoMan. I figured these CVT trannys are rare and >hard to find. I'll check out some local tranny shops. > >My wife wants to protest in front of the dealership. We'll see how it >goes. If you check out the link below it seems that you have a early one and they had problems with it before it was even offered in cars. GM/Saturn should make this right and likely will if you fuss enougn about it. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go1459/is_200203/ai_n6829835 ----------------- The SnoMan www.thesnoman.com >Thanks for the advise SnoMan. I figured these CVT trannys are rare and >hard to find. I'll check out some local tranny shops. > >My wife wants to protest in front of the dealership. We'll see how it >goes. Also check www.car-part.com as they list CVT (M75) trannies for a 03 and around 600 bucks and the regulars automatics (M43) average about 100 bucks more (around here anyway) ----------------- The SnoMan www.thesnoman.com > Thanks for the advise SnoMan. I figured these CVT trannys are rare and > hard to find. I'll check out some local tranny shops. > > My wife wants to protest in front of the dealership. We'll see how it > goes. They're rare and hard to find because they have horrid reliability problems. My advice would be to scour the boneyards for a used one, get your car back in operating condition and dump it. The CVT is a known problem child which is why it's no longer even offered as an option. Cheers, > > Thanks for the advise SnoMan. I figured these CVT trannys are rare and > > hard to find. I'll check out some local tranny shops. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Cheers, VT25E FTW. I knew it was a problem when the idea was still a concept. I never rely on belts to turn a cam shaft, why would I want to rely on one moving a 3000 lbs car? Sigh... 4700 to replace the belt seems way way high but then again a NSX timing belt is a 1500 dollar job. I think they will just swap in an updated 2004 cvt design and reprogram the car... I went through the TSB's and didnt really find anything relevant. It would be nice if it were easy to swap in the AF23-5. Good thing someone posted that it was a CVT, next time please state specifics ex: engine, AT, MT, etc... it helps us to help you. You have a Quad Coupe with CVT then? Go directly back to your dealership and inquire about the warranty extension on CVT trannys. Saturn Corp designated this not that local shop as CVTs are problematic, so they should do good on it. If not (and I hope they do good on it), call Saturn Customer service (dunno the 800#) and explain the situation to them. Especially if you bought the car brand new they should extend the tranny warranty. Hope that helps. marx404 >Good thing someone posted that it was a CVT, next time please state >specifics ex: engine, AT, MT, etc... it helps us to help you. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >marx404 Good tip. Also it seems you drive a lot as well and I would think that the CVT tranny is not the best choice for this either because in mhigh mileage you will wear one out long before the engine and rest of car does. ----------------- The SnoMan www.thesnoman.com <snip> > If not (and I hope they do good on it), call Saturn Customer service > (dunno the 800#) <snip> I believe it's 800-553-6000. http://www.saturn.com/ should list it. We contacted Saturn and now they have offered to do the tranny work for $1800 only because we did purchase the extended warranty. I would have wished they would have done it for free, but that's the best they said they could do. I am seriously considering just getting it done, but I want to get some other points of view on this. The car is a 2003 ION 3 Coupe Engine: L61 2.2LL4 4 Speed Automatic > We contacted Saturn and now they have offered to do the tranny work for > $1800 only because we did purchase the extended warranty. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Engine: L61 2.2LL4 > 4 Speed Automatic A 4 year old car under extended warranty and they're trying to charge you 1800 for a transmission repair? Something doesn't add up here. Does the extended warranty go to 100k miles or have you passed the mileage limit? >> We contacted Saturn and now they have offered to do the tranny work for >> $1800 only because we did purchase the extended warranty. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >Does the extended warranty go to 100k miles or have you passed the >mileage limit? I agree, something is strange here because on extended warranty work I have had done on my GM truck it has been zero deductable (you can get that or 100 deductable when you buy it) not a 1800 dollar deductable. Something is a bit fishy here. Also that tranny is only good for maybe 100K miles anyway (if that) and GM knows this too. ----------------- The SnoMan www.thesnoman.com >> A 4 year old car under extended warranty and they're trying to charge >> you 1800 for a transmission repair? Something doesn't add up here. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Something is a bit fishy here. Also that tranny is only good for maybe > 100K miles anyway (if that) and GM knows this too. 100k? You're being VERY generous. :) >>> A 4 year old car under extended warranty and they're trying to charge >>> you 1800 for a transmission repair? Something doesn't add up here. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >100k? You're being VERY generous. :) Maybe I am at that. The point is that GM knew that it would not last long but used anyway to boost fleet MPG averages at the expense of reliablity for the end user. The sad part is is that for the first several years they were out Saturns were tuff little cars that would go a lot of miles as you see a lot of old hi mileage ones on the road but GM has cut cormers on the newer ones and the expense of the durabilty the earlier model established for the brand. Subaru played with CVT trannies in the 80's but stopped when durabity issues could not be licked effectively and the bigger the engine, the shorter the life of the CVT because of how it transfers power. It is a nice theory that looks good on paper but it is not practicle to apply in hi mileage usage because of design limitations. ----------------- The SnoMan www.thesnoman.com The Saturn service guy says its the endcover for the tranny and Saturn is offering to pay 50% of the service, so that leaves me with $1800 to pay. The issue is the extended warranty went to 75K miles and we went over that at 84K miles. I am trying to check with Aamco to see if they have worked on those transmissions and how hard it is to find and replace an endcover. The price that Satrun is giving me sounds ubsurd. >The Saturn service guy says its the endcover for the tranny and Saturn >is offering to pay 50% of the service, so that leaves me with $1800 to [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >The price that Satrun is giving me sounds ubsurd. So, this appliies to automatic transmissions?,my 03 ion is a 5 manual,i certaintly hope so!. >>The Saturn service guy says its the endcover for the tranny and Saturn >>is offering to pay 50% of the service, so that leaves me with $1800 to [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >So, this appliies to automatic transmissions?,my 03 ion is a 5 >manual,i certaintly hope so!. Only the CVT tranny, not the manual. On the end cover, it should not be hard to find in a bone yard. The original poster must of had a catistrofic failure of chain to took out case too. I think I would be talking to a lawyer maybe because this is getting better all the time. GM would not want pictures of that tranny explosion in the media or in a court room as it woud not speak well for saturn (one picture is worth a thousand words). What ever you do and how every you fix it, do not lets those bad parts get away from you as they may come in handy if GM does not fully foot the bill on this one. ----------------- The SnoMan www.thesnoman.com I blew my tranny on my 94 SW2 at 159K (probably from getting out of snow ruts) and went to http://www.6thplanetusedparts.com/ and while getting a tranny picked up the motor as well because I had a nasty valve tap. I paid $1200 for both. They guarantee for 12K miles and are very nice people. It comes from Florida and they shipped directly to my mechanic. You may want to have Cottman transmissions http://www.cottman.com/home.cfm get you an estimate and or see if it can be delivered to them for a test & install. I'm having Cottman test my tranny for a long trip I'm planning, my mechanic uses them. The engine I got from 6th Planet is better than the day I rolled her off the showroom floor. These options can help in comparing prices. Linda > My wife's ION just blew its tranny at 84K miles. The dealer said its a > belt in the transmission and will cost $4700 to replace. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Thanks in advance. |
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