04 Saturn Ion, ?? miles, Worst UOA I have seen.

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Attached is a UOA from a Saturn Transmission, probably worst wear analysis I have seen in 30 years.

My daughter bought a used, one owner 04 Saturn Ion a few years ago. Her first car. It has ran fine except I noticed it always had firm 1-2 and 2-3 shift. It never slipped or showed any other problems, even in the coldest/hottest weather. The transmission dipstick is bolted down and down low. I suspect the owner never checked it and the transmission cannot be serviced except for D&R or fluid replacement. No accessible filter. It now has 210K, bought it at 190K.

I decided to check the fluid. It was dark brown, smelt burnt, and it felt gritty. I have always heard stories about gritty fluid/engine oil, but this was the first time I saw it firsthand. Auto service techs probably see it more often.

I dumped the sump, and got about 4 qts, replaced with Valvoline ATF. Wasn't sure if it would start slipping. After a month all was good, no change in shift behavior. Fluid still dark brown and gritty.

Another D&R with 4 more quarts. Shifting 2-3 is much smoother. 1-2 is still firm. Fluid is still dark but less gritty. No slipping or any other issues.

Should I chance a 3rd D&R?

Saturn Ion Transmission UOA.png
 
Wow.. those numbers are... staggering.. and that's AFTER one previous D&F? Holy smokes!

If it were my car, I'd definitely do another D&F after running the current fill for a few hundred to a thousand miles or so. You want the new stuff to circulate for a while to make sure it's fully distributed.
 
Can't speak about the automatics, but the 5 spd's are okay.
The 2.2L engines run great. and the plastic body panels don't rust.
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted by sdowney717
Yes, do another. And you can add a secondary filter if it has a trans cooler line. The primary filter in AT is not a very fine filtration number.


Agree.

I had a friend who had a transmission that was not shifting right, he did a pan drop and refill and it got better… Then it got worse again... repeated that three times and he never had another problem with the transmission for 150,000 miles when he got rid of the car.

Don't know what the fluid looked like, but transmissions are designed for fresh fluid and there has been no negative change with the previous drop and refills.
 
I'd add an auxiliary spin on filter, maybe an xg8a. If it was mine I'd do another drain and fill and add a bottle of lubegard red. Any subsequent drain and fills should be treated at 1oz/quart or LG red.
 
If it hasn't started slipping after the 2 drain and fills, it almost certainly won't after this one.
FWIW, the X5 in my sig had similar shifting symptoms. If it's easy to pull the pan and change shift solenoids, it may be worth doing. With that level of neglect, there's a solid chance a solenoid is causing the harsh shift. They just don't work as well after sitting in a crusty bath of old transmission fluid. Did solenoids in a half day on the X5 and shifts perfectly now.
 
Originally Posted by Talent_Keyhole
Attached is a UOA from a Saturn Transmission, probably worst wear analysis I have seen in 30 years.

...My daughter bought a used, one owner 04 Saturn Ion a few years ago. Her first car. It has ran fine except I noticed it always had firm 1-2 and 2-3 shift. It never slipped or showed any other problems, even in the coldest/hottest weather. The transmission dipstick is bolted down and down low. I suspect the owner never checked it...


Undoubtedly the fluid was never changed as the analysis shows and what you are seeing is the remaining crud being dispersed.

Originally Posted by Talent_Keyhole
Should I chance a 3rd D&R?


Absolutely and 1oz. of LubeGard Red per quart of replacement fluid to clean the varnish from the valving.

It took 5 D&R's before the fluid in my Frontier finally cleared up and it only had about 34,000 miles on it when I received it. It was black and the viscosity was about a 30 grade instead of a 5W20 ATF.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by 1978elcamino
There's your lifetime fluid


So far all it has is 16 years and 210K miles on mostly DEXRON III assuming the fluid has never been changed.
 
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