One of the problems with adding tranny fluid through the vent is that the vent gets coated with sticky fluid which will attract and capture crap which is not what you want to do.

The fill hole and filling can be managed using a hand operated pump and some high temperature tubing. If you slightly overfill it before starting it, it will expand with heat, the amount coming out will increase but eventually decrease as level reaches its proper point. Got to make sure the car is level. I have seen people take a tire off and place a floor jack on the frame as close to the front wheel as possible and put a level across things, dipping the car down enough with the jack to simulate as if the tire was on then holding it there while they adjust the fluid level. I will be doing similar activities on my wife's Ford Escape this week.

 

yes I forgot to mention this part derf. PassengerTire off, jacked so that it is level and I read that have the car running and up to temperature then fill. And of course I didn't get fluid anywhere in or on the cap. I used a very long skinny funnel. I may have just added a little more than I needed because I kept going back and forth checking to see if any was coming out. So once I saw that I had used 2 guarts and it was coming out I let it collect in a pan until it slowed down. Then I replaced the plug and the cap. Of course this was one of the first things to do when checking why your solenoid is throwing a code.

 

all right well I was able to finish fixing it Tuesday night about 1 a.m. and took it for a test drive and it did all right. Now when I was ready to add fluid I added 2 quarts to the vehicle prior to starting so that it was not as low. And then at that point I added 1/2 quart at a time and waited a minute to see if it was coming out my level hole. So in total I ended up adding about 5 and 1/2 quarts and decided to go ahead and add the last half court and would it flush a little bit from the excess fluid. So after about 5 to 10 minutes it was done dripping so I put the fill plug back in. And took it for my test drive everything shifted fine and has got me back and forth to work the last couple days. I started my new job Monday so I couldn't work on my car till after work both nights oh, LOL. So I'm pretty exhausted I did get some sleep last night but I'm still lagged a bit. Oh and just for an extra piece of information for anyone reading. Your car needs to be running when you take that level plug out or else your transmission fluid is just going to run out figured you'll lose a lot of fluid otherwise. Not that I did that but that was definitely something I remember reading in my procedure for checking the fluid level on this vehicle. So changing the shift solenoids on the 06 Saturn is completely possible without taking the transmission out of the vehicle but if you have to get to any of the other parts there in the valve body it's going to have to be pulled or maybe jacked up more than what I did to be able to get the cover off. I didn't want to push my luck with any of the mounts or anything else with as little experience as I've had working on vehicles.

 

I went back to my AutoZone Hub the one I was go to for when I buy parts from AutoZone if it's cheaper than Advance Auto Parts. Anyways I bought the other one that they had and didn't pay any attention to it till I get home on Sunday but when I went to look at it and compare the other one to make sure they were both look the same and whatever the box was all messed up and when I looked at it there was something falling around inside of it. Not the normal solenoid rattle.

 

it's a close-up photo of the finished job so you can't tell how hard it is to get both hands in there. Top one was a lot easier. The B shift solenoid the middle one. Was a lot harder to get in even with the top one out. I dropped the retainer clip about a dozen times. And thought of you derf. I wasn't very shaky. I don't get shaky but every once in a great while. But lack of sleep and working hard can cause it for me after my motorcycle accident and many other various types of damage of done to my body.

 

So after 2 days of driving it and even being on the highway the vehicle seems fine for now. I'm so happy. I haven't had my check engine light come on anymore and no codes. So I do believe this is the end of my thread. I hope this becomes a good source for anyone else that has this issue with the shift solenoids on the 2006 ion. I do suggest that if you can afford a real mechanic or are able to get the transmission up more get the cover off, get the hundred-dollar kit with all the parts that go in the valve body. There used to be a kit for about $100 I don't know if we can still get them for that.