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For those who may not remember or even know in the first place, Bridget is the name I have for my 2001 Saturn SL2. Got her brand new off the lot in March of '01 with the Starter Husband and I was awarded her in the divorce. She's got about 181,000 miles on her now and OEM things are slowly going to pot on her, as is to be expected. That being said...Aside from burning a bit too much oil and regular routine maintenance for the most part lately she's been basically fine...
We have been having some trouble with the ignition sticking when attempting to turn the key when starting her. That's been going on for a little while now, probably a couple of months. Jiggle the key a little bit and things are a "go", but yeah, annoying, and something to watch. Could be keys wearing out with all the use, or it could be something with the ignition mechanism...
Then today happened...
This afternoon J started her in the driveway and was about to put her in reverse to leave the driveway. While shifting his right leg he brushed the base of the other keys hanging from my key chain with his knee and the ignition key fell out of the ignition and he caught them before they fell to the floor. Bridget didn't quit, though--she kept on a running as if nothing happened. J put her back in park, put the key back in the ignition and turned her off. Took the key back out, put the key back in and fired her up again. Barely touched the ignition key and it came out again. And again. And again. And Bridget stayed running all the while. o.O Thank Bast for that, but damn! That key coming out of a running car while it's in the "run" position was just plain freaking me out!! J was more than a bit concerned, too, what with all the GM ignition switch recalls and all.
Drove her straight to the local Chevy dealership, which adverts that it services all Pontiacs and Saturns and went into the service department to talk to a tech to check with them to see if there are any recalls on her, particularly with the ignition. Nope, nothing. Described what was happening with her and the tech thinks it's the ignition cylinder wearing out, but she would need to be looked at by a tech *of course) to be sure and nothing was available til Monday morning. He did a rough estimate for us--if it's just the ignition cylinder that needs replacing it'll be about $400 give or take with labor and part ($300ish for labor, $125 for part and re-keying of same). I take her in on Monday morning at 0900. While she's in for that, I'm also having them look at the burnt out lights in the instrument cluster on the dash, which could just be burnt out bulbs or it could also be something wrong with the instrument cluster light system proper. We shall see...
We could probably get a slightly better deal somewhere else on the labor cost for the repair at a mom-n-pop mechanic, but J's a bit cautious when it comes to ignition/key mechanism repairs and would rather we go through a certified dealer. I agree, so she's going back to the dealership. As for the instrument cluster lights, we've tried fixing them through my go-to local mechanic guy, but he wasn't able to find the right sized bulbs through his resources. I'm pretty darn sure the dealer won't have that sort of problem. ;)
The tech says Bridget is basically safe to drive as long as she's not quitting on me when the key falls from the ignition, which it's not so far. Regardless, I don't think I'll be doing much driving with her until this gets resolved. Why chance it? I do have some minor and very short distance local errands to run tomorrow afternoon, which should be fine, but I'm still pretty nervous about driving her for now...
Monday can't come fast enough!! :/ I want my baby back! :/
We have been having some trouble with the ignition sticking when attempting to turn the key when starting her. That's been going on for a little while now, probably a couple of months. Jiggle the key a little bit and things are a "go", but yeah, annoying, and something to watch. Could be keys wearing out with all the use, or it could be something with the ignition mechanism...
Then today happened...
This afternoon J started her in the driveway and was about to put her in reverse to leave the driveway. While shifting his right leg he brushed the base of the other keys hanging from my key chain with his knee and the ignition key fell out of the ignition and he caught them before they fell to the floor. Bridget didn't quit, though--she kept on a running as if nothing happened. J put her back in park, put the key back in the ignition and turned her off. Took the key back out, put the key back in and fired her up again. Barely touched the ignition key and it came out again. And again. And again. And Bridget stayed running all the while. o.O Thank Bast for that, but damn! That key coming out of a running car while it's in the "run" position was just plain freaking me out!! J was more than a bit concerned, too, what with all the GM ignition switch recalls and all.
Drove her straight to the local Chevy dealership, which adverts that it services all Pontiacs and Saturns and went into the service department to talk to a tech to check with them to see if there are any recalls on her, particularly with the ignition. Nope, nothing. Described what was happening with her and the tech thinks it's the ignition cylinder wearing out, but she would need to be looked at by a tech *of course) to be sure and nothing was available til Monday morning. He did a rough estimate for us--if it's just the ignition cylinder that needs replacing it'll be about $400 give or take with labor and part ($300ish for labor, $125 for part and re-keying of same). I take her in on Monday morning at 0900. While she's in for that, I'm also having them look at the burnt out lights in the instrument cluster on the dash, which could just be burnt out bulbs or it could also be something wrong with the instrument cluster light system proper. We shall see...
We could probably get a slightly better deal somewhere else on the labor cost for the repair at a mom-n-pop mechanic, but J's a bit cautious when it comes to ignition/key mechanism repairs and would rather we go through a certified dealer. I agree, so she's going back to the dealership. As for the instrument cluster lights, we've tried fixing them through my go-to local mechanic guy, but he wasn't able to find the right sized bulbs through his resources. I'm pretty darn sure the dealer won't have that sort of problem. ;)
The tech says Bridget is basically safe to drive as long as she's not quitting on me when the key falls from the ignition, which it's not so far. Regardless, I don't think I'll be doing much driving with her until this gets resolved. Why chance it? I do have some minor and very short distance local errands to run tomorrow afternoon, which should be fine, but I'm still pretty nervous about driving her for now...
Monday can't come fast enough!! :/ I want my baby back! :/
