Three problems related to engine have been reported for the 2002 Saturn VUE. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2002 Saturn VUE based on all problems reported for the 2002 VUE.
My vehicle lost power and would not exceed 10 miles an hour.
While driving my 2002 Saturn Vue 2. 2l 4cyl last night at approx. 55-60mph, my reduced power light came on, along with the service engine soon. I had no forewarning noises or indication my car was going into failure. I immediately put my car into neutral, shut the ignition down, and pulled off the road as safely as I could, still at approx. 50 mph speed as I had my 3 children in the car with me. After the car was shut down for 5 mins and speaking to my gm dealership, they advised me to try to turn the car over in case it was just a "glitch" in the computer system, to no avail. It wouldn't turn over. After being towed to my gm dealership, I was told my vehicle had a "zero tolerance" engine, and that my timing chain had broke. I was told my engine was most likely blown, and that I needed to have my engine replaced. The minimal cost of this timing chain error is $3,000 even with a used engine going into my car. I see many complaints about Saturn's 2. 2l engine in the approx. 2001-2002 range, and I believe my vehicle is part of this. I am contacting Saturn on Monday the 21st to see if I can get some sort of help in replacing my engine, as this is apparently an obvious problem with their engines.
Timing chain failure causing engine damage.