Our 2007 Saturn Outlook has been great for 60K miles but has developed transmission problems. The first transmission problem was that the car would not immediately downshift when accelerating at high speeds in passing situations. The RPMs would increase and then after a few seconds the gear would catch and the car would lurch forward. Powertrain warranty covered new 3-5-R clutch housing, 4-5-6 clutch plates and associated parts, which had all basically disintegrated. One month later, while traveling at 65mph, the car suddently downshifted into what had to be first or second gear all by itself. After pulling over to safety I found I had no acceleration power at all, as if trying to start out in 4th gear of a manual transmission. Saturn service found an internally scored transmission cover but no other damage. They could not determine what caused the scoring. They replaced the cover, fluid filter and some springs. I did not get a good explanation as to what may have caused that dangerous downshift. My wife has no confidence in the vehicle and she thinks it feels different than it did before the problems. It appears fine to me at present. This does not appear to be a documented problem for the Outlook. I hate to think we might be repeating this routine until the 100K powertrain warranty runs out. Does anyone have any potential explanations and/or advice? Thanks! ? Ray
As this happened under warranty I would just be pressing for a completely new transmission.
In the meantime, keep full documentation - all of it. I would even keep notes after each conversation and/or visit with the dealer.
If you want people to guess about the causes of the odd behavior of the transmission, pull out the invoices from these service visits and describe as much as you can about what was put on the invoice. Especially useful would be any error codes that were reported (these should look like P1234), and notes about any diagnostic tests that were run.
Thanks, cigroller. I did press for a new transmission but they want to try these fixes first. I will gather all the invoices and post the service visit info in hopes someone might have a guess as to what went on or might still be going on.
While cruising the Alldata site, I came across a TSB for the 2007 6T45/70/75 transmissions that was outlining a replacement/return to factory program for these failed transmissions. Another TSB described your problem with the R-3-5 clutch down to a broken wave plate that allowed the piston to overtravel causing loss of apply pressure. That TSB mentioned that the transmission had to be thoroughly cleaned and certain parts replaced to forstall future failures.
If your present dealer is not giving you satisfactory warranty service, you might try another. The next step might be to talk to the district manager about the problem. You probably should angle for a new transmission with all the updated modifications; TCM reprograming; and possible TCM updating. It sounds like the 6T45/70/75s are having a few teething problems.
Hope this helps.