ION wont start when cold

I have a 2003 ion. I have owned it just over a year it has close to 30K
miles on it last winter i had problems when it would get cold out the car
wouldnt start. When you first try to start it, it acts like a dead batt.
It doesnt crank or anything after several attempts to start it will start
to crank. I tried starting my car for a hour (with breaks in between
trys) Finnaly the car turns over like nothing was ever wrong! After three
times of this happening i put it in the shop. They couldnt find anyting
wrong with it and actually suggested that i wasnt pushing the clutch in
(like i would drive the car for half a year and not push the clutch in)
The weather got warm and we didnt have the problem. This morning was very
cold and the problem began again my husband tried to start it nothing not
even trying to turn over. He tries again and it cranks but doesnt start.
Gives it little break 5 mins or so tries to start it, it starts up and
shuts right back off. Tries to start it again doesnt even crank gives it
another break and it starts right up! The shop cant seem to find a
problem nothing is registering on the computer so they say. ( which to me
doesnt mean nothing is wrong) I wanted to know if anyone had any
suggestions on what could be causing this. The car goes to the shop again
tomorrow and i would like to have and idea of what they should at least be
checking! Any suggestions would really help sorry about my awful
spelling!

 

My brother's 03 ION did the EXACT same thing...the dealer couldn't find
anything wrong with it after multiple attempts at fixing the problem. It
did it again 3 weeks ago and he took it back into the dealer and demanded a
differant car. He now has an 04 quad coupe....It definitely is a recurring
problem with the 03 ION....take it back...demand an upgrade...be adamant and
persistant...you will get your way eventually.

R.

 

Once had a similar problem - turned out to be an ignition switch with
a lubricant that got too viscous at low temperatures. If you turned
the switch to the start position and waited long enough, the contacts
carrier in the switch would finally move through the lubricant and
provide power to the starter. Solution at the time was to use an
aftermarket switch with a different lubricant.

 

well i had my car in yesterday and it was the ignition switch i guess they
are now equiping all new ions with a newly designed switch so they dont
have this problem unfortunatly since my ion was one of the first it had
the old ignition switch in it so if anyone else is having the problem tell
the garage to replace the ignition switch with the new one and it should
fix it thanks to all

 

The first saturn I bought, a used 98 SL2 did exactly the same thing (it was
purchased in Feburary, in Montreal, so yeah, it was cold as hell), I had it
in and out of the dealers for 2 weeks and they couldnt find a single thing
wrong with it, I finally returned the car for another used Saturn which
never had the problem (knock on wood).

Wurm

 

I have an '03 Ion QC bought it August 18, 2003. 21500Km now.
I live in Saskatchewan and the winters here are FREEZING.

I had no problems starting last winter at all. Even when it was not
plugged in, it started fine. I hope I don't have any problems this
coming winter <knock on wood>

http://www.cardomain.com/id/thegecko
J

 

Hi, I'm in the same boat here with my ION. Did you have any resolve
yet? I wonder how long you can have a car and still be able to return
it?

 

I am still trying to resolve this issue as well. I had my ignition
replaced back in October. They say they put in a new model. However,
last weekend my car did the same thing. It wouldn't start for about 5
to 10 minutes. Once it starts all is well. This time, however, it
didn't log any errors. They basically told me to take it home and wait
until it "fails" again. I figure, I'll give them one more chance. If it
does it again and they can't figure it out I will be extremely
disappointed if they don't try and take care of me. I didn't pay full
price for a car that starts when it wants to.

Also, every time it has happened it was in my garage where the
temperature doesn't get below 40 degrees.

Andy

 

Ok. I just had the same problem again this morning and I have had my
ignition replace back in October. My car wouldn't start, but after six
minutes it started just fine. Fortunately I had my camera so I took
some video of the problem and then took my car and the video into
Saturn.

http://www.lust4sun.com/ftp/video/satrun.wmv

Once they saw the video they said it was the ignition and that they
were going to replace it again. I took it in a couple of weeks ago when
it wouldn't start but they said that it didn't log any errors so they
couldn't replace anything. So I figured this video would be the next
best thing. We'll see if this new ignition works any better.

Also note that this problem is occurring here in Las Vegas where the
weather is fairly warm and while my car is in a garage. So it doesn't
seem to take much for the problem to occur.
Andy Cooper
2003 Saturn ION QC
Las Vegas, NV

 

Wow.... this same thing has been happening to us with our 2000 LS Sedan.
Problems started last year. Happens in all kinds of weather, cold, hot, can
happen after the car has sat for a day or two or after it has sat for 1/2
hour. Took it into the dealership. Told me without "duplicating the problem"
there wasn't anything they could do. They had one of their mechanics drive
it to and from work for 2 days then said there was nothing they could do ,
to come and get it. I told them they could keep the car until they COULD
duplicate the problem. It isnt any good to me if it isnt reliable. Only has
63000 kms on it for heavens sakes. Well can you believe it , the very next
day they managed to duplicate the problem and they replaced the fuel pump.
Was fine for a couple months then wouldnt start again one day. Wait the 10 -
15 minutes... Starts up fine. Didnt bother taking it into the dealership
this time. I never thought of video taping it. We will do that next time.
And unfortunatley I am sure there will be a next time *sigh*