Attn Tommy, Pls Help

Jim · 01-08-2004, 04:36 AM

Joey gave me your name. I have a 2002 Saturn Vue AWD V6, I live in Canada and I am thinking about taking on GM for help. Here is my story: Do you have any suggestions or knowledge of these problems?
It has been in the shop constantly, and I am frustrated with the constant breakdowns and "unfixable" items. I have looked on your site and many other sites but cannot seem to find info on the 2002 Saturn Vue SUV.

In addition to the constant breakdowns, on mine, there are currently 4 items the Saturn Dealer says are unfixable and calls them maintenance.

1. Electronic gas gauge. Apparently the gas companies are producing bad gas and is is corroding the gauage in the tank causing it not to work properly. They will replace it as courtesy once(already done) but not after I repeatedly used their recommended fuel additives which did not work. They will not replace it when it goes again. They say the gas has too much sulphites. When I bought my Vue they said I could use any brand name gas.

2. Rubber boot or sleeve in steering column. It seems to go every 20k and the dealer says it is a factory defect with no repair. The solution is to take apart the steering column and lubricate! After the warranty runs out @ 60 k it is a chargeable item.

3. Vibrating/sqeaky front side windows. Anything but a freshly paved road causes these windows to vibrate. Load up the vehicle with weight and it gets much louder. I have had it checked 7 times at the dealer. Finally a saturn tech admitted that Vues have this problem and it is not fixable. It appears that road vibration transfers to these windows and cause them to badly vibrate, esepcially under load or bumpy roads.

4. Noisey engine. It sounds like a rocket ship sometimes. It was loud when I bought it and seems to be getting louder. A dealer staff just told me that because it is so loud, GM decided to replace my engine with a honda 6 cyclinder in the 2004 model because it is quieter.

I am writing to ask you folks if you know of any secret warranties, cases where Vue lease has been bought-out, anything that would give me help to take on GM Canada and also to be able to fix my Vue. I called GM Canada and they told me they can't do what I want(buy my lease out) and then they asked me what else I wanted. It was more of a "limit the exposure of General Motors phone call" than a "customer service phone call". They wouldn't even suggest alternatives. If I had know this was going to happen I would have returned the vehicle within the 30 days saturn warranty time. My Vue has 56,000 km on it.

Help!

Thanks

Jim Taylor
jtaylor1@ca.inter.net

**Ssicarman** · 01-08-2004, 06:07 AM

Welcome to the Board.

#1
If the GM Port Injector cleaner does not fix the problem after two bottles (max) then the sending units are supposed to be replaced. As far as I am aware this should be taken care of while the car is under warrenty regardless of how many times the sending units have been replaced. Note --- should be. Try another store to see what they will do.
#2
There is a special grease kit out on a TSB For this problem that s supposed to fix this. I sure hope that it does not reoccur ewvery 20K km or we will be seeing a lot of them back in out shop.
TSB #03-02-34-002 - (10/27/2003)
#3
New one to me. I don't think that we have seen that in our shop.
#4
The noise reduction in the VUE's is less than great but not much can be done there unless the engine is actually getting louder due to a physical problem.

No secret warrenties or anything like that. Once you hit the 30 day thing I doubt that there is any way of getting the car back to Saturn. When they ask you what else you want say that you want the car fixed. Polite, calm and firm will get you further than anything else.
Hope that I have been of some help.

monkeyracing · 01-08-2004, 11:25 PM

Damn GM Canada, huh? They're even tougher to deal with than the Saturn mothership in Tennessee.

I am not sure which provinces have them, but lemon laws have started to gain ground in Canaduh.

The laws here in Alberta aren't quite as stringent as they could be, but I do believe there is a clause in law that forces a manufacturer to buy back a product if it's proven to be repeatedly defective.

Jim