Engine Shut Off Without Warning problems of the 2002 Saturn LS

I had no pre-indication of this. 2002 Saturn l200. Purchased 6-2002. ~78,500 miles. Date of incident: 3-9-09 @ 10:00am. My timing chain fell apart. It happened while I was driving. I was turning a corner and the stearing wheel locked. (the engine is quiet enough I couldn't hear it shut off). I managed to get to the side. Saw the oil pressure light on & shut the car off. It then wouldn't start up & was towed home. My boyfriend is a mechanic & has been working on it. It was hard to find the problem, since the car was on at the time the valves stayed open, he thought it was the starter (-$200). The chain's pin fell out and has literally fallen apart. We have kept the chain thus far and will investigate if I am allowed any refund for the time, money and/or hassel of this. We are worried about pieces getting up into the engine and creating more problems with that, and looking into a new vehicle possibly. (having feedback on what to do now would be greatly appreciated. Do we stop work and take it to a shop or continue to fix it? I need a car soon. Are there other problems with this car? do you know of how I can get reimbursed? do you know what the chances are of pieces reaching the engine).

My husband was driving down the highway when the car shut down without warning. The vehicle would not start back up. He was able to get the car to the side of the road. He called a roadside service to give him a jump with no luck. The service tech informed him it was probably the timing chain. It was after hours so we had it towed to a garage. We were unable to find someone to look at the vehicle and could not afford to have it towed to the shop. I spoke with the dealership and they said if the vehicle stalled while driving most likely the cylinder head was damaged. We were finally able to get it towed to the dealership. They said the timing chain was out and the cylinder head needed replace along with some other repairs. The dealer informed us that our vehicle does not fall under the recall on previous models. The total cost would be $2527. 84. We have not repaired this as of yet. I have researched all of the other complaints and all are similar and I believe this should be recalled.

The contact owns a 2002 Saturn l200. While driving 10 mph, the vehicle shut off and there was a total loss of power. The contact crashed into a curb. The dealer stated that the timing chain failed. As of September 4, 2007, the dealer had not repaired the vehicle. The VIN was unknown. The current and failure mileages were 100,000.

The contact owns a 2002 Saturn l200. While proceeding through a green light at 5 mph, the vehicle shut off in the middle of the intersection. The failure occurred without warning. While the vehicle coasted, the contact was able to turn the steering wheel to the right and pull over. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who diagnosed the cause of failure as the timing chain. The dealer found other related failures as well. The contact paid $3,000 for the repair. The powertrain was unknown. The current mileage is 38,850 and failure mileage was 38,800.

The contact owns a 2002 Saturn l200. While driving 20 mph, the vehicle shut off without warning. The vehicle was towed to the dealer who stated that the timing chain had failed. The dealer replaced the timing chain and the valves. The current and failure mileages were 75,000. The valves were bent. Updated 08/07/07.

I purchased a 2002 Saturn l200 about 1 1/2 year ago with a 1 year warranty it now has 80,000k miles. My warranty ran out a few months ago. I was backing out of a parking lot at about 2mph and my car just shut off. After taking into the shop they said my timming chain broke which caused a lot of damage to the engine. I am very upset and done a lot of research and found many people having this same issue. I get my oil changes done on time and I dont think this should have happened. My car bill was $2725. 00. I went to the Saturn dealership and they pretty much did not want to talk to me and said they did not know of this problem.

The contact owns a 2002 Saturn l200. While driving 20 mph the contact felt a loss of power and the vehicle shut off. The vehicle became immobile ,and the contact was unable to drive it. The mechanic informed the contact that the timing chain broke. The timing chain assembly was replaced. However; the vehicle still would not operate properly. The mechanic also stated that the intake valves needed to be replaced. The vehicle was towed to a Saturn dealer, and the intake valves were replaced. There have not been any occurrences since the replacement of the intake valves. The contact felt that Saturn should have replaced components listed on service bulletin # 03-06-01-017. Also, the contact filed case number sr1-23172743 with Saturn. The current and failure mileage were 64000. Update *4/23/07.