Why Do Saturns Suck...

Your a F$%@ing IDIOT! Boohooo side mounted battery post! Gee yeah that hasnt been the NORM for the past 2 decades! Oh and by the way Saturn doesnt make batteries. Next time you want to bitch about a battery email Exide or shove it up your a$$ so we dont have to hear your UNRELATED BS RANTINGS.

Hey I know! Lets blame car manufacturers when a piece of road debris shreds our tire! Lets blame our car manufacturers when a tree falls on our car!

moron...

When a battery does that it's normally the terminal was in far too tight and stripped the soft contact. If it was the original battery, that would be amazing it had lasted that long, anyway. I've always had more trouble with top mount than sides. But Why Do Saturns Suck? Mine's had the engine, manual transmission, clutch, belt tensioner, and badly leaking valve cover gasket replaced. Next up, power window motor and exhaust...

And the battery on the Saturn is easy to undo. It's a standard 8mm bolt. I think you need a 10 to get the cover/strap thing off, though.

Anyway, I found after a few batteries that replacing the bolts isn't to bad an idea, and they're easy to get anyway. Better than dealing with a chewed up one.

Um, heeres some more "good news" for ya. Saturn doesnt make the batteries. If it was the oem battery it is an AC Delco which I agree sux. They leak like sivs. I just replaced my leaky battery. Replace it with a Diehard or an Optima and you are all set. The old Delcos in the 1st gens were good, Delco has dropped the ball on quality since 2000. marx404

Sorry to burst your bubble you puke - the battery was Delco and that is nothing but GM by a different set of letters...

I suppose I have just been fortunate enough not to get a "normal car" since 1972 - because I have not had a side mount battery mobile in all that time. What are you some punk 20 something ?

Take your sorry ass whine about my Saturn unhappiness and shove off - it looks like you are the " F$%@ing IDIOT!" from where I'm typing...

A POS is a POS even if YOU own one.

Hmm...Saturn's and lots of FWD cars/vans have side mount batteries and Saturn has been that way for oh....14yrs. Also Delco has been it's own company for close to 6yrs now. GM spun it off just as Ford and Chrysler did their parts divisions a decade or more ago. It cost too much to own your own parts division any more.

Jim

Sorry dipstick - I don't recall going vulgar in my original post...

I've had several failed batteries over the years and NONE were due to the terminal falling off the thing till this piece of junk design battery failed.

To me it is a doink such as your self that is showing they "Don't Get it" and have no clue.

The battery is from a vendor to the vehicle vendor - they are both root causes of the problem - the vehicle vendor used poor design (but cost effective to them) designed equipage. Your dim little mind probably has a problem grasping that Corporate AmeriKa is more than willing to use low quality and cost parts to sell you something that will drain your wallet further down the road...

Blah Blah Blah to you to DS. Click elsewhere if the water is too hot here.

Is it better to Snipe or be Sniped ? TheSnipeAtdisplace-MindspringPeriodCom < AntiSPAM spelling

I had the same problem a few weeks ago with the battery setup in my 2000 Saturn L series wagon. This vehicle has very low mileage (around 40K), always garaged. One day I inspected the battery, the corrosion was built up so bad it was falling off in chunks around the engine- I'm not arguing against replacing the battery after 5 years, but I agree w/the original poster, the design is so cheap that the ring that holds the hot wire to the terminal is just a washer! Battery acid had actually ruined this ring, it fell apart in my hands...I replaced the battery and all the damaged parts, which was an expensive repair. The whole setup is just cheap junk!

Terry

Spinning off a parts division is just a way to dodge tax and inventory costs as well as play balance sheet games for stock valuations - A simple look under the hood shows that the "separate company" is really still the same thing it was before the spin off.

I have yet to see any Autolite parts in an "enemies'" new products... Likewise AC/Delco

As to there be>

Is it better to Snipe or be Sniped ? TheSnipeAtdisplace-MindspringPeriodCom < AntiSPAM spelling

Yeah, or that battery form also dies when you get in a crash and your hood shorts the battery out and it explodes!

Thats why they came out with the side terminals. I've never seen any problems with them. Likely the battery terminal was tightened too tight. And besides, if the battery was 5 years old, you have nobody to blame but yourself.

Happened to me. Pos side terminal cracked at teh housing on my 2002 leaked battery acid on my AC lines and Wiring harness. It was a mess. I fixed it no biggie nuetralized the acid and away we go. That being said you should sell your Saturn and find another car to buy. It looks like no matter what you will not like the car. Loose the stress.

n/t

DK666

The ranter is ignorant and wants to stay ignorant, that is the only point he has made. Dont be like him and instead learn something about the problem and how to address it rather than going off in a tirade of ingorance. (read on if you wish to "learn")

The design is not "cheap". If anyone had any real experiance with batteries they would know 90% the problems lay with the owners, not everyone else they try to blame.

Problems with the old Top post designs are similar if not more plentiful. I have dealt with many top post batteries that leaked around the post. The Top Post batteries get just as corroded up... I get a bunch of top post batteries that dont make any connection at all without wire brushing them. (hence why they make wire brushes specific for top post batteries) The clamps on those stupid things break and crack all the time from being over stressed. The wires tend to break where they clamp do to vibrations and melt from high amperage soon after.

The only problems with Side post batteries that I have seen have been contributed to no one "lubricating" them or keeping them clean. Whenever you get corrosion or a bad connection on any battery the amperage spikes going through those areas and they get hot enough to melt the lead and debond the plastic (hence where the leaks come from). I've also seen top post batteries with the post nearly boiled off. How is that better? Something as simple as putting "Vaseline" on the mounting/clamping surface every couple of years can prevent that. If you have been keeping up with what I have been saying you should now know the failure isnt the battery but those who fail to maintain them. If this is to much for anyone to do then might I suggest a shopping cart as a means of transportation?

For further battery care information, for the people smart enough to read, goto google and do some searches on battery care. Pretty soon I'm just going to start ignoring these complete idiots that keep coming to ignorant baseless conclusions... Especially ones with no automotive education/training backgrounds that think they "somehow" know more.

I think that was why they started putting plastic short sleeves over the top terminals years ago...

The side terminal on the Saturn I had my problem with did not have any shielding on it's terminals - of course it's saving grace is that most of the stuff around it in the engine compartment was plastic to start with so it would only like short if it got a hood crunched into it - what a thought the same thing that would short out an unshielded top terminal battery...Hummm And which way do you suppose the battery twists as the front end folds up on itself in a front end collision... Sorry bad baked beans again

As to the battery be>>I've had were top terminal battery types and that battery

Is it better to Snipe or be Sniped ? TheSnipeAtdisplace-MindspringPeriodCom < AntiSPAM spelling

Hah, 90% is probably accurate, maybe higher...seems like nowadays most people want to completely ignore what's under their hood for 200K and then complain when something goes wrong....but I still say that terminal design is not durable, in my case it fell apart after less than

39K. Seems in that respect not to be a great improvement over the old top- mounted terminals-- the old car I drive ('68 camaro) has never had that problem. Maybe it's just easier to SEE corrosoion starting on those terminals--

My 95 has a cap that goes over the positive terminal. Besides, even with side post unshielded, its much more likely to crunch a hood down into a top post then a side post. Which way does the battery fold in a front end collision? If the front end collision is severe enough to where something hits the battery and makes it fold under, the car is going to be junk and the driver is going to be dead, at which case it doesn't matter.

I didn't realize the battery was new. As such, I would guess the tech overtightened the terminal(s).

Not to nitpick, but you mean the resistance(therefore heat) goes up when you get corrosion. The corrosion is a poor conductor, there for resistance and heat goes up.

should sell

Same leak problem here today on my '02 SL2 - suppose I should have taken the "36 month battery" much more seriously...it lasted 38 months. Couldn't tell there was a leak at all until I unscrewed the positive terminal - or more correctly gave the terminal 1/2 turn before the post broke off inside the old battery. Fortunately the battery acid was contained in the tray - baking soda and water doing the trick right now.

What irks me is that my other Saturn ('01 LW300) had just about the same problem 6 months ago. And I thought it was just a fluke. So it goes.

OD