Tranny went out on our SL, for the 2nd time

[oneroundko]

My dads 2000 SL tranny went out at around 70,000 on the odometer last year. Now, my sisters 2000 SL tranny just went out last week at 99K on the odometer .

Is this common among these types? Because usually same car models tend to have problems on all of them. But this is just utterly baffling. A ton of money to change the damn things too

[peppermrj]

Not common that I have heard. Where the fluid changes done at the 30,000 mile intervals? Only Mobile 1 synthetic used?

[sierrap615]

depends on the cause of failure. a blown differencial is the most common cause of replacement by far for the S-series. however there are plenty with over 200K miles.

[Mines69Olds]

Depends on how you drive them I guess. I bought one with a bad tranny that a guy drove really hard. The guy that sold it said that there is a pin-like device that hold the bottom end together, and if it comes out it allows for about half and inch of travel. Which means BOOM gears come together and blows a whole in the tranny casing. A friend of mine has a 2001 that already had 3 tranny replacements, but he drives his like its stolen. (He doesn't know what the hell he is doing)

[peppermrj]

He should read up on welding that pin in place.

[96sl2playa]

both auto and manual trannys had issues with the final drive they sheer the roll pin that holds the gears in place allowing the pin to slide out and wear a hole in the transmission case if you are mechanically inclined it is a relatively easy fix you must take out the trans and separate the case remove the final drive and weld the pin in place on both ends put it back together and you now have a nearly indestructable saturn transmission for more detailed info on this procedure E-mail me at [email protected] i am a mechanic at a saturn dealership and i see this an awful lot so i did this to my personal car before it became an issue

daily driver 2001 sc2 W/ turbo

[96sl2playa]

Originally Posted by peppermrj

He should read up on welding that pin in place.

the pin thing really worx

[oneroundko]

Originally Posted by Mines69Olds

Depends on how you drive them I guess. I bought one with a bad tranny that a guy drove really hard. The guy that sold it said that there is a pin-like device that hold the bottom end together, and if it comes out it allows for about half and inch of travel. Which means BOOM gears come together and blows a whole in the tranny casing. A friend of mine has a 2001 that already had 3 tranny replacements, but he drives his like its stolen. (He doesn't know what the hell he is doing)

My God. THREE tranny's?

[oneroundko]

Originally Posted by 96sl2playa

both auto and manual trannys had issues with the final drive they sheer the roll pin that holds the gears in place allowing the pin to slide out and wear a hole in the transmission case if you are mechanically inclined it is a relatively easy fix you must take out the trans and separate the case remove the final drive and weld the pin in place on both ends put it back together and you now have a nearly indestructable saturn transmission for more detailed info on this procedure E-mail me at [email protected] i am a mechanic at a saturn dealership and i see this an awful lot so i did this to my personal car before it became an issue

daily driver 2001 sc2 W/ turbo

You're talking before the tranny is destroyed correct?

What do you think we're looking at ballpark wise for this procedure (new tranny installed)?

[oneroundko]

Originally Posted by peppermrj

Not common that I have heard. Where the fluid changes done at the 30,000 mile intervals? Only Mobile 1 synthetic used?

Not that I know of. In fact, I don't think they were

[saturnspeed_12]

yeah what exactly happened to the trans? i mean yeah there are saturns out there running well over 200K without trans issues, quite a few. the main problem is like whats been said, differential pin giving out. yeah saturn transaxles are nearly indestructable because they are constantly meshed, so there is much less stress. the worst part is just that differential pin.

[96sl2playa]

as far as hours or cash

[drew300]

For what it's worth, a friend of mine owns a transmission shop. He said just don't spin the tires. According to him, it's when only 1 tire spins that the pin comes out.

[saturnspeed_12]

no the reason for the pin blowing out is because of the differential being shocked from switching power. like take for example: your in the snow and one wheel is spinning, this is ok, but once it gets traction the differential will get shocked and either transfer power to the other wheel or split the power. when doing a burnout the differential is constantly switching power unless one wheel shows way less traction.


here is the issue. #2 points out the retainer pin. it is HOLLOW! its a rolled piece of steel. it can easily bend, smash, break, wiggle out and its the only thing that keeps the diff pin in place. why didnt they put a solid pin in, i have no idea.


this is what you do to solve the problem in the cheapest way. you weld the pin to the housing on both sides. other then this there is a diff pin saver kit which is like $100 and im not sure if it wont become and issue or buy a $1500 quaife differential. the welding cost me like $10 since i dont have a welder.