I have a 2004 Saturn Ion with less than 50,000 miles on it. It has not given me any trouble except in the winter. I live in Minnesota, so the weather gets very cold. Last winter whenever the temperature would dip below 15 I couldn’t get my car to start.
When I would turn the ignition key it would start to turn over, but never catch. If I continued trying it every couple of minutes it would eventually start within 20 minutes.
Of course, when I took it in to a garage they could not recreate the issue.
Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas of what might help? I should reiterate that in the warmer months it is never an issue. It starts just fine every time.
Thanks!
I would suggest first make sure you are using the recommended oil. Second have the battery and charging systems checked. Many places will do this for free. Try removing both ends of the battery cables (both of them) and cleaning both the cable and where it goes very well and reattaching making sure they are secure.
While you are at it, it would not be a bad idea to replace the plugs and plug wires if they have not been replaced recently.
All of that is easy and cheap to do. It may or may not make any difference, but it all should be done anyway.
If it continues I would suggest having the compression checked. It also would not hurt to see if there are any error codes stored in the car's computer. You should be able to find someone to do this for free as well. In the US several auto part chains will do it for free. Sometimes there are error codes stored when there is no light showing.You may get some ideas here:
http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/
Search the Ion Tech Forum and Ion General Forum. Saturn Techs tend to post more in the Tech forum, and may have seen this issue, along with other owners. You could start a thread if you need more troubleshooting support.