Did Jaguar do the electrical systems on Saturns?

[Satty]

My dad has been driving my mom's 2003 L200 while she's in England, the Sebring is sitting in storage somewhere, hopefully being stolen. Last night he was over here with some other family members and my car was parked in so I took the L to the store to pick a few things up. It started to die on the road, just losing speed, and the dash lights dimmed for a minute, then it got back to normal. When I stopped at a red light, it died and wouldn't start. Putting the key in the run position led to the dash lights flickering and all of the idiot lights flipping out. Putting it in ACC led the dash lights to sync with the hazard lights. The transmission wouldn't shift out of park no matter what I did. Eventually a cop pulled up behind me and my dad showed up with my car and got his towed back to my house ("Its closer" ) so now I have a dead Saturn in my driveway.

Our first L200 (an '01) had an electrical glitch that kept the dash lights from turning off, I had to take the fuse out when I parked it after driving at night. The red one I had never had electrical problems but had other issues. So I ask, did some British firm from 1967 do the electrical work on these things?

Edited March 18, 2007 by Satty

[Intrepidation]

Too bad you couldn't have taken the Sebring

[Satty]

Last time I drove it (last spring) the tranny was slipping really bad and the low oil pressure light was constantly on. When I was using it full time, a few years ago, I switched to synthetic oil, dont know if my dad went back to conventional oil or not, knowing him he just went with whatever was cheapest. Nobody is driving it currently because it runs like $h! and things quit working on it. The power seats dont move anymore, the motor for the top quit working, although thats hydraulic and shouldn't be too bad to repair, the radio antenna doesn't go up and down anymore. Its just a typical POS Dodge, which is what I said it would become when we got it. On the bright side, its paid off, so its not a financial burden for my parents to keep the POS sitting in a shed while they only need one car on this side of the Atlantic. When my mom comes back, the Saturn will have been paid off as well, it'll probably still be around depending on how its runnign, and the Sebring will be gone. My dad had wanted a PT Cruiser, but has now realized that Chryslers suck and is looking at either an HHR or a Yaris or an xB.

[PurdueGuy]

Unfortunately, the early to mid L-Series is kinda known for electrical gremlins. I've seen two or three where the odometer randomly adds 300k miles to the actual milage. lol It's a shame, really, because I like a lot of things about the L, but I don't think I would buy one for fear of the electricals...

[Intrepidation]

Last time I drove it (last spring) the tranny was slipping really bad and the low oil pressure light was constantly on. When I was using it full time, a few years ago, I switched to synthetic oil, dont know if my dad went back to conventional oil or not, knowing him he just went with whatever was cheapest. Nobody is driving it currently because it runs like $h! and things quit working on it. The power seats dont move anymore, the motor for the top quit working, although thats hydraulic and shouldn't be too bad to repair, the radio antenna doesn't go up and down anymore. Its just a typical POS Dodge, which is what I said it would become when we got it. On the bright side, its paid off, so its not a financial burden for my parents to keep the POS sitting in a shed while they only need one car on this side of the Atlantic. When my mom comes back, the Saturn will have been paid off as well, it'll probably still be around depending on how its runnign, and the Sebring will be gone. My dad had wanted a PT Cruiser, but has now realized that Chryslers suck and is looking at either an HHR or a Yaris or an xB.

Yep, all Chryslers are POS...yet with 177k miles on it the Intrepid runs and drives like new, with 211k miles on it, with the original drivetrain, the Shadow still runs and driver on the original drivetrain.

Not all of them suck as you might believe...although that one seems to. What year is it? I'd take it if the price was right

And remember: with all the Chrysler sucking, there's a dead Saturn in your driveway.

[Satty]

How about this, I haven't been in a post-1990 Dodge/Chrysler product that I myself would be willing to actually pay for. You can get better cars for the same, often less, money. Only reason we've got one is that it seemed like a better move than a Mustang vert.

Back to the Saturn, I went out and played with it a little and the electrical systems seem to be back to normal, but it still wont start so I'm betting its something of a fuel injector/pump type maintenance issue.

[Drew Dowdell]

Another possibility..... Alternator. Sometimes the electronics on them can go out and start causing "power spikes". Sure the inverter <or whatever it's called> is supposed to take care of that, it doesn't always work. If the electronics can't get clean electricity, the computers start shutting down and you get into the situation you described. What is especially telling is that the electronics seem normal when they're running on battery, but not normal with the engine running.

[Buickfosure]

I have a 2000 saturn L-series and the interior dome light never shuts off so i have to manually turn it on and off. But how does it crank over? since what you said about all the idiot lights and the dash lights dimming I would say battery or alternator.

[Satty]

It was the fuel pump, the damned thing is finally out of my way. The pump had to be replaced at the dealership because they could do it quickest, its apparently on top of the gas tank, so the tank had to be dropped. Talk about retarded. Almost as retarded as the location of the thermostat in the Sebring's 2.7 (since it had been brought up) which some of you may remember me starting a thread about a couple of years ago. Basically it can only be reached by a double-jointed midget.

[Ravenfreak13]

How about this...the battery for the breeze can only be accessed through the wheelwell...cost $110 to replace when it dies.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Ravenfreak13

[Satty]

The Sebring is the same way. Estupido.