Friday, August 7, 2026
RecallGazette

Vehicle problems, recalls & safety intelligence

2002 Saturn LS engine and engine cooling problems

200 owner complaints filed with NHTSA name the engine and engine cooling on the 2002 Saturn LS41% of all complaints for this model year.

200
Engine and Engine Cooling complaints
41%
share of all complaints
78,000 mi
median reported incident mileage
2 / 0
crash / fire reports

What owners report

  • I was backing out of a parking spot and my 2002 l200 stalled after a rattling sound from the engine. I had the car towed to the saturn dealership in marietta, georgia. They diagnosed that the timing belt had slipped/broke and had damaged the engine. They also said that the engine would need to be…

    filed Jul 30, 2014

  • The vehicle has been well maintained with regular oil changes. While turning onto a main street the engine just quit, leaving me stranded in the middle of the road. I was fortunate I was not on the highway at a high rate of speed as I would have had no means to remove the vehicle from the highway…

    filed Aug 7, 2013

Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.

Related service bulletins

  • This technical bulletin advises of a new fuel injection cleaner kit used for decarbonizing the intake valves to correct conditions of rough idle, Crank no start, extended crank or misfire, MIL with DTCs, and explains…

    16-NA-383 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 13, 2024
  • This service bulletin provides service information to technicians on guidelines to replace Oil Cooler, Oil Cooler Lines and Oil Tank if the engine was replaced where large amounts of debris has flowed throughout the…

    22-NA-074 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Feb 22, 2024
  • This PI bulletin advises the technician on the proper way to install the pistons in an engine.

    PI1394B · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Jan 12, 2024
All 2002 Saturn LS TSBs →

Engine and Engine Cooling problems in other LS years

YearReportsShare
2001 LS30052%
2000 LS14037%
LS engine and engine cooling problems by year →

Counts are unique NHTSA complaints naming this component group. Complaints are unverified owner reports; mileage is computed only from complaints that included a usable odometer reading.