Battery problems of the 2002 Saturn LS

The contact owns a 2002 Saturn l200. While driving approximately 25 mph, the vehicle lost power and the battery warning light illuminated on the instrument control panel. The vehicle was inspected by a local service shop and they stated that the timing chain failed, which caused the valve in the engine to fail also. The dealer stated that the repair would cost $2,300. The vehicle has not been repaired. The failure and current mileages were 60,000.

I purchased my 2002 Saturn l300 back on 9/30/2002. Car, at time of purchase, was brand new. Since its purchase my vehicle has been in the shop more times than I can remember. Recently I had a problem where vehicle wouldn't start so Saturn had the vehicle towed to their columbus, GA location to evaluate the problem. Was advised battery had died and I needed to replace it. The new battery represents the 3rd battery this vehicle has had since I purchased it (vehicle currently has just over 55,000 miles on it). I asked, while they had it in the shop, to look at the tires as they were wearing unevenly. My wife went to pick the car up yesterday 8/29/06 and was advised all 4 tires needed to be replaced. This will be the 4th set of tires this car has had since it was purchased back in late 2002. At time of purchase I added a 5 year 60,000 mile b-t-b warranty with no deductible. Saturn, following complaints both to the service department and their corp headquarters has decided that the car in fact does not have a problem and that my pregnant wife (with 1 year old in back seat) must be driving it poorly. To date, the vehicle's tires have not been replaced and the problem causing the tires to wear down so quickly has not been identified.

2002 Saturn lw300 with approximately 40k miles (bought new). Positive terminal of ac delco battery found leaking. I replaced it with a sears diehard. Afterwards car would not start and was locked in park gear. Disconnecting the battery activated the anti-thief system which I could not reset per owners manual. Dealer said it must come in for reprogramming. At dealer I was told that the bcm unit was bad and would cost $600 to replace. I did nothing wrong when changing the battery, and the car was fine before. Ac delco 78-6yr (false labeling) is owned by gm and their leaky side-terminal batteries are a well known problem. I believe these batteries and Saturn's bcm units are designed to fail and generate profit. As an electrical engineer, I can't understand how changing a battery can kill a module like this. I am 56 and have replaced many batteries, all correctly. I have found many cases like this on the internet. In some cases the cars stop dead in their tracks due to ac delco side-terminal batteries. I am amazed at how many dealer try to immediately blame the customer for doing something wrong (as I was by Saturn).

Contact stated the positive battery terminal separated from the battery. He did not think a lot about it; but a friend of his had a gm truck that had the same problem with the battery post separating from the battery. This happened on 7-26-05. He replaced the battery. It was the original battery that came with the car when he purchased the car new.

This car has been nothing but trouble. I have had to have the drive shaft replaced, the motor mounts replaced, the tail light assembly replaced, the steering assembly replaced and I too have a problem with the dash lights dimming. The technicians at the local Saturn dealership are nothing but rude. They dont fix the problems you bring the car in for and you end up having to take it back the next day or even sometimes that same evening for a repair that wasnt done properly. I thought this was going to be a good car but it has been constant trouble and is constantly in the repair shop.