Three problems related to engine knocking noise have been reported for the 2001 Saturn LS. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
The contact owns a 2001 Saturn Ls. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 mph, a banging noise emitted from the engine before the vehicle suddenly stalled. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and examined by an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that the timing chain had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact was informed that the vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 07v519000 (engine). The failure mileage was 170,000.
The contact owns a 2001 Saturn l200. While driving 65 mph, the vehicle shut off without warning. The contact heard a persistent knocking sound coming from the front of the vehicle. The failure occurred intermittently and she was unable to restart the vehicle. The contact stated that the instrument panel lights flickered when she depressed the brake pedal. The dealer inspected the vehicle, but was unable to diagnose the cause of the failures. The current and failure mileages were 77,535.
My sixteen year-old daughter was driving our 2001 Saturn l200 and came home to tell me that the car started making a knocking sound. I took it to the mechanic to investigate the problem. He called me to show me the results: a shattering timing chain. The links of the chain were breaking apart, but had not yet completely failed. Since the pieces that had broken off could not be confidently recovered from the engine, we are currently in the process of replacing the engine. This failure could have caused an emergency that my daughter would not have been able to handle had this timing chain failed completely while she was driving on any of the busier streets in our area, where traffic can be moderate to heavy. The engine with the failing timing chain is still currently available if needed for ea06-009.