PCM Recall/Campaign on 2005 - 2007 Saturn VUEs

[barlowc]

This has been discussed in the Saturn forum(s), but I don't see anything on here. The notice I received this past week states:

We have learned that some [2005-2007] model year Saturn VUE vehicles, equipped with a 5-speed automatic transmission, may have a torque converter condition that could result in a transmission vibration or shaking motion (judder) while driving at speeds between 20 and 45 mph.

Your satisfaction with your VUE is very important to us, so we are announcing a program to prevent this condition or, if it has occurred, to fix it.

What We Will Do: Your nearest General Motors dealer will reprogram the powertrain control module, and if necessary, replace the torque converter. This service will be performed for you at no charge until February 28, 2014.

For those not familiar with the Saturn VUE's powertrain, the V6 models prior to the 2008 model year had a Honda 3.5-liter V6 known as the L66 and a Honda 5-speed automatic transmission. Additional information here.

Most owners who have had their PCM reprogrammed under this campaign are saying that it's a night and day difference in shift quality, performance, and feel. I'm hoping to get our's in and flashed this coming week.

 

[MrHorspwer]

I did the reflash this past Thursday on my wife's 2006 AWD. Drove it a bit this morning and didn't notice a darn bit of difference. I suppose this is a good thing since there wasn't anything wrong with how it shifted in the first place.

It had the goofy TCC apply at 50,000 miles. I swapped the trans fluid with fresh Z1 and it went away. It's now at 65,000 and there the TCC concern hasn't returned. If the reflash makes sure it never does come back, I'll be happy.

 

[barlowc]

After owning our's for about 2 years and putting about 18K miles on it, I noticed two things about the shift quality and performance.

1) It seemed to downshift rather harshly when exiting the highway and getting on the brakes moderately. The best I can describe it is as a squirrely feeling when the tach would bump up upon a few hundred RPMs during a downshift. In all the years I've driven vehicles with automatic transmission, I've never had anything feel that way.

2) I noticed that if I held the accelerator very steady/constant at something that results in the engine taching around 1200, that I get little "blips" in the RPMs. I watch the tachometer go from 1200 to 1300 for about half a second and then back down to 1200. This repeats every couple of seconds. And it's not just the gauge; you can hear the engine's subtle increase in RPMs and feel it too.

After expressing concern to the dealer multiple times and having them tell me that the transmission was performing as designed, I did some research which led me to do a 3x drain/fill using Z1 at 30K miles about a year ago. The issues described above, mainly #2, were better initially but gradually resurfaced as I logged another 10K miles.

This is all very consistent with what many other owners have experienced and I'm hopeful that the PCM reflash will correct it.