Five problems related to alternator/generator/regulator have been reported for the 2001 Saturn LS. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Electrical issues - issues began with dimming dashboard and continued to worsen. Using power window one morning everything began flickering on the dash board including all msg lights and back off again. The car seemed to run fine and the radio didn't die. Initial thought was alternator was telling me that I was about to be stranded 175 miles from home. Driving further any blinker I hit would create same reaction, the last time the car seemed like it was going to die while traveling at 65mph. Parked car at my ending destination and took two times to start back up. Bcm seems to be the culprit as I've seen about 1000 posts from l200 owners with same issue and costing 400-600. It seems as though Saturn would not or should not be able to charge for this issue if this is one of the many on the list of problems. This is not ethical and in this time, very unfortunate they would treat customers like this and generate revenue from a faulty car to begin with.
The contact owns a 2001 Saturn l200. The contact stated that her air bag light illuminated and would not dim. In 2007, she had her air conditioning system serviced, but it continued to fail. She took the vehicle to the dealer several times before the failure was finally corrected. Most recently, as the temperature became hotter in her state, the air conditioning failure recurred. The dealer stated that the alternator was the cause of the noise in the air conditioning. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer regarding a timing belt recall. After discussing the failures with the dealer, the contact was informed that they would only repair the air bag failure if she repaired the issue with the alternator. The recall number was unknown. The current mileage was 86,857 and failure mileage was 86,757.
The contact owns a 2001 Saturn l100. When the contact applied the brakes, the vehicle completely shut off and would not restart. The vehicle was towed to the Saturn dealer who stated that the timing chain, alternator, and battery were not working properly. The vehicle has not been repaired. The current and failure mileages were 83,000.
Electrical system shorts out during normal operation, causing turn signals not to work. Other symptom is that radio has interference when turn signal used. After five days of non-use, car would not start at all and technician who provided jump start said it appears to be an electrical short since alternator and battery were both working. This car has already received the recall work from October 2005 but this problem has occurred 3 times since that work was done.
The headlights (and other electrical devices) dim (lose power) for a millisecond at random times. In my opinion, the voltage regulator is not reacting quickly enough to random power surges (like the cooling fan kicking on) and therefore everything dims for a moment. This is very annoying and unsafe. I notice it when it is dark outside, especially on country roads (no street lights). Two different dealers have tried to convince me that this is normal - bull! I know a system design problem when I see one. I have had motorists accuse me of flashing my lights at them. What's up honestly Saturn??!! why can't anyone admit that they don't know?.