2000 Saturn's I own 2 low Miles and Transmission Problems

In my family we own 2 Saturn Cars.
One we bought new in 2000 Saturn Wagon V6 Automatic.
One I bought in 2002 , it is a 4 cyl 2000 LS Coupe.


About 10 months ago the 2000 Coupe had major transmission problems
with only 19,000 miles. thankfully it was under warranty and repaired
with a new transmission.

Now my 2nd car with 40,0000 miles went into the Saturn shop because
the service engine light kept flickering on and off. My local dealer
just called saying their is shards of metal in the transmission fluid.
This car is NOT under warranty.


Is this just my bad luck to have 2 Saturns with low miles both having
transmission problems?

This is going to cost several thousands of dollars to repair.

Dustin

 

Bad luck or driving habits. It's not a Chrysler, it's a GM, the tranny
should last a heck of a long time. Do you use the parking brake? Do
you set it before shifting into park? Are you SURE you're completely
stopped before shifting from Drive to Reverse (or vice versa)? Do you
have teenagers? Do you go for 'tire chirping shifts'? Do you tow?
Hot weather? Hot weather and tow? Do you tow it?

Lots of things affect tranny life, but they generaly last long - we've
gotten over 150,000 miles on automatics at our house...

 

We had a torqueflight auto-box (spell?) in a Plymouth Fury - talk about
bullet proof. Of course that was when Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge was an
American Co. (wink)

 

Well, don't talk to ca 1990 Chrysler minivan owners about "bullet
proof" Chrysler transmissions. For about 5 years there just aobut
every automatic off the line had problems within the first 50K.

 

Weird, I've heard two things about those:

* They never die.
* They die young.

People either swaer by them or swear at them, I know nobody who says
'well, it was a transmission but nothing special'. They did have a few
weird habits (not filling the converter in Park...)

 

Wow I was expecting a little bit more of a supportive answer from this
group , instead you point the finger at me as the reason.

To answer the questions:

My wife and I are the only drivers of the cars.
We do not "chirp" the tires or drive the cars like maniacs.
I do not use the parking brake.
I drive the car conseratively and we take care of the cars.
I do wait for the car to come to a stop before shifting from reverse
to drive
No I do not TOW anything with the car.

I do not think my wife or my driving habits have anything to do with
it.

We own the 2 cars outright and take care of them because we would like
them to last and we do not want car payments.

The car that I drive was bought used and I did not even put 8000 miles
on it before the transmission went. So the previous driver may of
beaten on it. The car looked brand new when I bought it from the
dealer. It was covered under warranty.

My wife's car was bought new in 2000 and she has never had a problem
with her driving habits in the past. She owned a Honda Accord and put
140,000 miles on it and never had a tranny problem. With the New
Saturn the tranny went at 40,000 miles.

I guess if there is any possible good news to this story, Saturn has
decided to cover the cost of the parts and we have to pay the labor.
So the repair will cost about 1900.00 instead of about 4000.00

IMO a car with 40,000 miles should not have this type of problem.

 

They've been flakey ever since the Ultradrive came out, period. They're
still flakey. Chrysler's been going in circles with that transmission,
it's a dud, period. Oh yes, and running Dexron in them is supposedly
fatal...

As an amusing aside - A realative of mine just got a Caravan (used) a
few months ago, I joked to them "How many transmissions has it burnt up
already?". Lo and behold, the tranny died the day after they got it.
My friend just had his rebuilt again, too.

 

*Some* small metal filings is normal. A lot or chunky ones isn't normal.
Did you have the ATF changed at 36000? (That's the recommendation for my
'92 SL1, I don't know what it is on a 2000).

Does the 2000 have the "Shift to D2" light? Did you get the code number
from the ECM?

Tim.