99 SL2 SES Service Code 49 after brake job
 

Hi, All,

Glad that this is still around, anyway. No disrespect to this forum, but it's crazy that anyone would drop or sell saturnfans.com with all that data in the forum! Guaranteed moneymaker with a few ads.

Had to get back brakes fixed after my foot went all the way to the floor, terrifying. Firestone charged me the outrageous fee of $1000, but my usual garage was closed.

Drove it 10 minutes home and then I went out again and in 15 min I heard like a ticking sound and the car started to buck and I felt it slipping gear and I thought my brakes wouldn't work. Came home and called Firestone and took it back there. I have a code reader and it says ECM Code 49 Gear Selector Error.

Took the car back to Firestone (check engine light doesn't come on until it's warmed up) and they kept it a whole day and couldn't find the problem.

My usual garage has a new manager who said they don't have anyone to work on a car like mine, nor the tools. :(

I looked it up here and maybe it's the Transmission Control Module? Can any shop repair this or does it have to be a transmission shop? And is this related to the back brakes somehow?

Thanks for being here!!!

Firestone does tires. How did you retrieve the 49 code? That's an OBDI code.

Beat me to it

True. Firestone was useless, and ignored it when I SHOWED them the book and told them the code.

I bought one of those code testers from Amazon last year, since no garage in LA that I found, not even Autozone, had one for my car. It has a little tester and a booklet with the codes. Fortunately, I get very few SES alerts, so that was the only code that came up.

I couldn't find that code 49 online, however, or in other code reader guides. For other kinds of cars they don't have a 49 - or some said it was the ignition. I just assumed this was right for me, thought, since the symptoms matched this.

I don't know how to help the garage fix this, though!

Do you live on Mars?

I finally found another guide that even includes Code 49 - but it says it's for Fords. It says code 49 means Electronic Transmission Shift Error. https://www.scribd.com/doc/57858226/OBD-1

Groan, I didn't want it to be the transmission. I only have like 60,000 miles on it.

You're not that far off - Los Angeles. I almost never see a Saturn out here. Worse, they keep trying to get rid of any car over 10 years old, by requiring more smog checks, insurance will write off any repair as demolished, I forget the word and won't pay for repaits, says it should be totalled, etc.

Is your car all original from the factory?

Are you sure it's not a 96?

Please post a picture of the diagnostic port as well as a picture of the car from one of the front corner's diagonally

Ok, I'll take photos tomorrow.

But yes, it's original. There's only been one other owner before me. I have the original bill of sale, the title, all the original paperwork, and a list of every time they took the car in for anything since day 1, including for oil changes.

Yeah. You are being forced into stuff that don't work. The entire country is headed the same way with these Marxists in control.