I have a 2005 saturn vue with only 65,000 miles. I’ve had this car for a couple of years. The past 6 months I’ve been having problems with the check engine light intermittenly coming on and off. When the light is on the car runs badly, no power, black smoke.
My husband replaced the maf, and a temperature sensor.
Gm ran a diagnostic, the car was running rich, then running lean. Here is what has been replaced on the car by the dealer. They said o2 sensor went, fuel filter was clogged. The fuel was backing up into an are where it should only filter fumes. The carbon buildup was cleaned.
$1000.00 into the repairs at the dealer and now the car is still running rich and will not pass emissions inspection. They’ve had the car for the past 20 days, they have no idea on how to fix.
I am so fustrated. At this point it can not be fixed. This is a fairly new car and making payements. Should I contact GM corp directly??? There is no warranty on this vehicle. I should have thought twice when GM would give any warranty on this car. Advice???
First, you don’t need to use a dealer. A good, local, independent mechanic can usually provide equal or better service for less.
Second, if you want some suggestions for sorting this out break out all of the invoices. The check engine light is associated with specific diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs). These look like “P1234.” Hopefully those codes were recorded on the invoices. Report the specific codes along with exactly what work was done each time.
If you don’t know what your current codes are you can get them read for free at large chain auto parts stores.
If your engine is a V6 I would try a Honda independent shop. Your motor is likely the Honda supplied V6. It is quite common across many Acura and Honda vehicles.
Maybe GM can help however you have dead brand vehicle and no warranty.
This is a situation where I would have to review the records of both diagnostic procedures,repair attempts and the qualifications/certifications of the man put on this job. Right off the top of my head I say the man doing the repairs is not qualified and there is a reluctance in the Dealership management to pull him off the job.
Holy heck would fly with the mechanic given the car (the next mechanic) he would want all the money paid too the first, and this is assuming he even agrees to take the job. It is a real mess in the shop when one mechanic gets so much time in a car and has too bail out.
Thanks for the reply…it’s a 4 cylinder.
Thanks for your reply. Several auto parts tried bringing up the codes to no avail. I brought it to sears and they couldn’t either. Only gm has been able to get any codes from it. This car has been a headache.
The last generations of Saturns were crap, sorry to say. “New GM” officially has no responsibility for “Old GM.” The only thing “New GM” could do for you is, if you can get the car fixed somewhere else and the problem turns out to be easy to fix, you might make a case for a refund from the dealership. Take it to an independent repair shop
I don’t care about politics…I just want my car fixed. I will look into reviewing the records. Thank you for your feedback.
I am learning very quickly why GM dumped the Saturn brand. It’s convenient the “New GM” has no responsibility for the old.
I don’t think they’re working on it anymore, they are waiting for me to come pick up the vehicle and foot a $1000 bill for work that was worthless. Thank you for your response.
Well, regardless of who brings up the codes you should be able to find out what they have been. Without the codes people can only blindly guess - and 95% of the guessing would likely be things that have been checked and/or worked on.
Or, in other words, if this board is of any help you you it will only be if you can supply the codes.
At what point do you think the warranty should run out?
If the car was neglected maintenance-wise until the problem surfaced 6 months ago and combined with the fact that you were continuing to drive it for 6 months along with some guessing on your husband’s part it’s quite possible this car has multiple problems due to the poor performance being a chronic problem.
I have no idea what’s wrong with the car without knowing the details but my feeling is that the dealer should have refused to touch this car other than a preliminary look-over. The last thing a shop or mechanic wants to see is a poorly running, shaky history vehicle that someone else has had their hands on.
Huh? That’s a very self-interested point of view and I hope I never bring one of my vehicles to a shop run with that attitude. The OP is not expecting the work to be done under warranty, but that the problem be fixed for a reasonable price. So far he or she has paid $1000 and the problem is not fixed, does that sound acceptable to you?
Thank you all for your help. The code we finally got the GM deal to pull came up as P1072. When the light came on we checked some forums and read on a few about people unable to fix the problem. We brought it back to the same dealer we purchased the car from in case it becomes a lemon issue. Any additional advice would be appreciated.
this is in NO way a ‘lemon issue’ this car is WAY out of any warranty. the issue of a ‘warranty’ is only concerning the warranted work done to repair your present situation. However, since they have NOT actually repaired it, there is no warranty to be upheld.
there is NO reason to keep going back to the dealership for repairs to an out of warranty vehicle. the dealership mechanics are NO better than a good independent mechanic shop.
your dilemma IMHO is should you have to pay for work that has NOT remedied your problem.
What do actual mechanics think of this topic?
No, never looked a this post and will need to search a little on more to see if I can find answers.
Have you thought of asking for a substancial amount of that 1000.00 you spent to be returned…conditional upon you taking the car away? make the offer, they probably want the car gone also.If they resist demand that a different mechanic be put on the job.
That link contains a very fine thread - especially the last post. Perhaps you can verify that all the basics have been done (and I’m adding a couple)?
- checked for vacuum leaks (including esp. the intake tract)?
- checked fuel pressure with special attention to the fuel pressure regulator?
- checked for leaking fuel injectors and/or fuel lines?
- checked evaporation system for liquid fuel contamination?
- checked for exhaust system for restrictions or leaks prior to O2 sensor?
Are you running any kind of special after market air filter such as a K&N?
“Holy heck would fly with the mechanic given the car (the next mechanic) he would want all the money paid too the first, and this is assuming he even agrees to take the job. It is a real mess in the shop when one mechanic gets so much time in a car and has too bail out.”
Don’t mechanics get paid by the hour whether or not there is work to be done? So the first mechanic didn’t get paid for work, he got paid for showing up. I could be wrong about that, never had that job. And it’s spelled “to”. Mechanics get to turn jobs down? Really? It would be a shame if someone who didn’t want to work got fired. But that’s just me.
"I have no idea what’s wrong with the car without knowing the details but my feeling is that the dealer should have refused to touch this car other than a preliminary look-over. The last thing a shop or mechanic wants to see is a poorly running, shaky history vehicle that someone else has had their hands on. "
Yeah, because no one would want those BILLABLE hours. You two are presenting two totally different business models but you both imply that no one should work on the car. I would think the last thing a shop, and especially a dealership wants is someone being in a position to badmouth them.
If you read the last line of the original post it appears to me the OP thinks warranty is in order and is even considering contacting GM about this.
The car is an '05 with a likely in-service date of '04. This means the 3 year warranty was up back in '07. Everyone always wants an exception to the rule and in this case the OP apparently did not buy the car new as they state they have only had it a couple of years.
Couple generally means 2 so the factory warranty was dead and gone before they bought the car.
On this forum not too long ago a poster was wanting warranty on a dozen years old car that suffered a transmission failure at 160,000 miles. Make an exception for them too?
Car repair is not an exact science anymore in spite of the perception by many that a computer spits out the problem and voila, instant progress. It doesn’t work that way.
The OP is into this for a 1000 dollars. Maybe it’s a 3 grand fix, who knows? No one on this board including me knows the history behind this car nor how deep the husband has been dinking around with this car. There’s some credence to the old saw about X dollars if we fix it, XX dollars if you watch, XXX dollars if you help, and XXXX dollars if you’ve been working on it.
That being said, the code is rich on Bank 1. Since this weeds out Bank 2 I’d tend to think (along with the comment about raw fuel) the problem could be related to the fuel pressure regulator, raw fuel is being pulled through the canister from the tank somehow, there’s an ECM glitch causing the injectors on Bank 1 to hang open, a faulty injector (singular) hanging open, etc.
There’s just too many unknowns to make much of a guess at to what the problem is and as to why a faulty fuel pressure reg. would not affect both banks that could be due to where on the intake the vacuum line is routed.