If any of you are fortunate enough to have kids, at some point in their lives they may come to you seeking help in selecting a car. That is what my daughter did. You should also be aware that the car you help select is really yours if it needs repair. You become your kids' official 24-hour, on-call mechanic. Unfortunately, when I recommended that cute little Saturn SL2 to her, I should have had a clearer mind. There is a reason why this brand went belly up.
I have worked on my own cars for many years, so I didn’t consider myself an inept mechanic, and I certainly didn’t mind helping my daughter get back on the road again. Throw out the memories I had of cars that survived to 170,000 miles while never requiring anything but routine maintenance. This Saturn was different.
One day, my daughter said the car was misfiring. I learned that oil had seeped into the spark plug cavities, and the valve cover gasket needed to be replaced. At 68,000 miles, this must be an anomaly. Be reasonable, I thought. Oops, same thing again, roughly 20,000 miles later. Hmmm. I must have neglected something. Once again, at 110,000, it had the same problem. That’s it! What the blankety blank is going on?!
Once I learned that there were plenty of Internet forums on the topic, I learned that I too must make a special trip to the local hardware store, buy a tube of RTV silicone sealant, and place a generous bead line between spark plug number one and two, in addition to the gasket kit, due to heat warpage variation with the cover. That’s funny; no one at Saturn offered me this suggestion, nor was there anything in its wonderful gasket kit installation instructions. I also noticed on the forums that this very issue had been around for many model years, and not just my daughter’s model year, 2001.
For me, I will never know if my final attempt to fix the leaky gasket worked. At roughly 120,000 miles, the car left her stranded on the side of the road for the umpteenth time. I learned that a fifty cent piece size of molded plastic connecting the linkage cable to the shift lever had broken. That required the purchase of the entire cable. I bailed-wired the cable to the shift lever and drove it to the junk yard where it belonged. I am glad these Monkeys are gone!
This entry was submitted by John T. Anderson and edited by Rob Spiegel.
Tell us your experiences with Monkey-designed products. Send to Rob Spiegel for Made by Monkeys.
Unfortunately, when I suggested that adorable little Saturn SL2 to her, I should have had a better thoughts. There is a purpose why this company went tummy up. I have proved helpful on my own vehicles for many decades, so I didn't consider myself an inefficient auto mechanic i just bought some Saturn parts
I too am the proud owner of a Saturn (2003 Saturn Vue). I took two trips from Phoenix to Denver and depended on it for local travel around town. I still own the beast. I no longer attempt to drive any distance (more than 100 miles). My most recent trip to Florida from MO was accomplished with a Hertz rental. It was quickly determined that the Saturn was not reliable for trips or even use around town.
After three transmissions, replacement of front end hardware, dash light problems, exhaust manifold problems, etc. I do not consider this vehicle a very good investment. Since the car was purchased for retirement there is no incentive to buy another car for now. The next car if there is a next car will be a "made not in America" model. (I found out the Saturn transmission came from a former Soviet block country. Hence "made in America has lost meaning.").
One thing I hear over and over again from these Monkey postings is that "I went on the Internet and found dozens and dozens of complaints about the same problem I was facing." So, it wouldn't be hard for brand owners to seek solutions to their SNAFUs by looking through customer complaints. I had a problem adding a memory chip to a Toshiba laptop. I went online and found tons of complaints. Nobody has been able to add a certain amount of memory without causing crashes. Funny, the company still recommends and sells that memory upgrade.
"I've always wondered whether brand owners make it a practice to read these forums to find out what their customers are suffering due to design SNAFUs."
They do, but they don't use the information to communicate design improvements to the Chinese ODM. Instead, they retaliate against the vocal customer on their next visit.
This saves you from buying the whole cable assembly. Shame to see a perfectly good car go to the scrapyard for lack of a $17 part and and some RTV. The DOHC valve covers do have leak issues, but the RTV works (the design of the cover could be better). The SOHC engines don't have this issue. Saturns are about as easy to work on as your lawnmower. My 96 SL still runs sweet and gets over 40 mpg:
http://www.fuelly.com/driver/nels/sl
That's what gets me to work every day. I've never been stranded or disappointed by it.
At one time it was a standard service alternative to entirely replace the valve cover with oil-proof silicone sealer, which I have done many times. Chrysler has had problems with stampings creeping since the 1960s, and the reason that fixes did not appear is that nobody wanted to tell the upper managers about it, since it was a career-killing move. Perhaps they have got it togather a bit more by now, but it certainly did take them a whole lot of years. I can relate this fact now because the person who explained it to me is deceased, and beyond retributions
My guess is that other car companies also had a few similar problems, but not on all of their stampings.
Rob, I can tell you that where I work (recreational products industry), we take Internet user forums very seriously. It's a great way to see how our products are doing in the field, as well as how our competitors' products are doing. It's a good complement to our dealer network and our aftersales department.
I'm not sure whether companies in other industries do this, but for recreational products, whether the product is a bicycle or an outboard engine, user experience is everything. After all, these are products which people buy for no other reason than to have a good experience.
I agree, Charles. They had a good idea, and I would guess the brand could have been buffed back to a good sheen. But I think GM got overwhelmed in 2008 and threw away Saturn because it was too much to deal with.
It's sad that it came down to this with Saturn. When this brand came out in 1990, it was all about feel-good relations, serving the customer, and building better-quality vehicles. In the beginning, Saturns really were good vehicles with high reliability ratings. But that changed. The fact that Saturn dealerships were unable to deal with this problem is appalling. No wonder Saturn is gone.
Given the number of frustrated consumers writing to our Made by Monkeys column regarding their cars, trucks, refrigerators, dishwashers, ect., I'd say I highly doubt brand owners are paying much attention to these forums. The general thought, in my opinion, is that they believe most people will just go out and replace the broken down auto/appliance rather than try to figure out what's wrong with the current one. Of course, they didn't count on the likes of the Design News audience!
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
2 
