Manual Transmission Problems of Saturn SL1

The contact owns 1999 Saturn Sl1. The contact was driving 45 mph when the shift cable fractured and caused the vehicle to shift into neutral. The contact was able to drive the vehicle to the dealer. The dealer made repairs to the vehicle. On a later date, the contact applied the emergency brake before exiting the vehicle. When he returned, the emergency brake had independently disengaged. The contact discovered that the emergency brake button was defective. The contact was able to order the necessary part from the dealer to make repairs himself. The contact was concerned that had he been parked on a hill, the vehicle could potentially have rolled away. The failure mileage was 103,000.

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The contact owns a 1997 Saturn Sl1. The contact stated that when attempting to shift from 2nd to 3rd gear the shift lever cable fractured; thus disabling the vehicle from shifting into 3rd gear. Gear failure while driving increases the risk for vehicle crash. The vehicle was taken to a dealership in which the shift cable assembly was replaced. The current and failure mileages were 102000.

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Driving along community road and manual shift linkage became inoperative. Failure was total, shifting was impossible, was lucky to be able to get to the side of the road. Saturn used a plastic push-in button to retain the shift mechanism to the eyelet of the shift cable. . . . . . . . A plastic bushing for a part of the car that is critical! a replacement was bushing fabricated out of suitable material and a tapped hole, and bolt, was added to the shifter rod so that complete failure is not possible. Too bad detroit engineers seem to have forgotten their responsibilities to society, they should be ashamed to put peoples lives in such danger with such a poor design of a critical part.

Set screw that holds the shaft that holds the spider gears in place came loose causing the shaft to back out breaking the transmission apart and locking up in middle of road. Had to replace transmission trans is available.

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Purchased the Saturn Sl1 in sept 24 of 2004 with 94,32 0miles. I had the oil changed that very same day. I 've kept up on all fluids and service religiousily. At 96910 miles the car would not go into 1st, 3rd or reverse without force. On 9/10/03 I had the clutch replaced and the slave cable. Then is when it started having problems overheating, mechanic did two diffrent diagnostic test both came back with no conclusions. The car still heats up everyday ,but I have no other car to drive. There is no power in the car now and the oil is sludge filled. I've purchased temperature sending units, both O2 sensors, thermostat, coolant,clutch,relays,etc. . . To try to solve the problem of the over heating. Pretty much it's a matter of time before I'm like the other 1996 Saturn drivers who will have to pay the $ 1000. 00-2000. 00 to fix my head gasket that was a known factory defect. What can we do.

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Manual transmission pops out of gear and grinds. Sometimes you can't get it into gear. All componets of the clutch are fine.

While driving, the shifted cable bushing (which is made of plastic) broke preventing the driver from being able to shift gears. Nlm.

Transmission has popped out of gear.