2003 Saturn Ion

2003 Saturn Ion

Overfilled transmission

This goes out to any “True Mechanic Worth His Work” My name is Regina. I’ve always learned about cars from Daddy growing up being his “Little Grease Monkey” so I am basically a learning shade tree mechanic.  My fiance’s car that he purchased had transmission problems front seal leaking, filter clogged and overfilled transmission fluid. Solenoid overheating. I replaced the seal changed the filter that was clogged and noticed that the bands that would shift it from 2nd to 3rd were kinda stretched. I told him to baby it and shift smoothly and slowly until I could get it in to someone that has more experience than my own shade tree mechanic skills.

It was running smoothly

It was running smoothly as long as he didn’t rough drive it. Three weeks after this he said he came home and ran over a pretty big hole about 1/2 mile from home but noticed it still was in alignment and drove fine the rest of the way. The following morning on way to work the engine wouldn’t rev up to shift properly and he had to put the pedal half way down and when it shifted it was like being on a motorcycle at a stop sign and trying to start off in 2nd shift. By the time he made it home it was more like 3rd. He said once he got going in 3rd it seemed okay but would lose power easliy and especially on incline.

Does ANYONE think it’s the bands and how cheaply could I get it going just for another month until I can afford to have it fixed or junked and get another one as it’s my source of transportation as well other than my bike ??? Please help a desperate girl elbows deep in Grease and living  paycheck to paycheck Thank you guys so much.


With the engine unable to rev at least you know the transmission was not slipping. If the transmission isn’t shifting it could be related to the VSS – Vehicle Speed Sensor. The best first approach would be to connect a scan tool and review the codes(transmission codes) to see if and what has been flagged.