I have a 99 SL1, Automatic with 236000 miles. About a year ago I had a no start issue that I could track down to the chime module. I swapped it out for a used one, and it took care of the problem for awhile.

About 6 months ago, the problem arose again. I swapped back to the original, and it started and ran fine. But within the last month or so, I start my car and notice the signs (no chime, no radio, no rear defrost, no start). I tried swapping agian, but started to have less and less success. I have found that if I "wiggle" it around, it will make contact and I could start the car, but it would die out on the road. A quick wiggle later and It would start again. I am at the point where I have to head out to the car 15 minutes before I need to leave to get the car started due to messing with the modules.

This to me is signs of a greater problem. Is there any where I should start looking first, or a common issue that I should investigate?

Already I have taken both modules out of there housings and cleaned the pins, and used contact cleaner on terminal where the module plugs in.

 

I also thought I should add that I bought the car with an aftermarket deck install. Previous own had a professional install it. I have had a chance to look at the wiring job and it looks very well done.

 

The dreaded F4 or f2 issue in the instrument panel junction box.

The contact on the fuse box where power is distributed for those components is melted.

The fact that the aftermarket deck does not work tells me that whoever installed it wired it to F4.

The cigarette lighter was designed to be one of the highest current draws from that fuse box pin.

That pin was never meant to see continuous higher currents but people wire their stereos to them and now with cell phones play constant 2 amps on top of whatever other current is constantly pulled.

The wiring ist's not large enough diameter, the Pin and wiring cannot dissipate the heat, and the contact usually melts the plastic in the fuse box. Additionally, it gets hot enough that the connections will separate from that location and hence no fuel pump, no chime, no dome light I think. That's for the older s car generations. Don't know for the third gen off the top of my head.

Basically you need to get into the inst panel junction block and assess the damage at that Pin.

And move the stereo off of that or whatever you do for a fix will eventually fail.

There are many write ups on the Saturn forums and I think I stumbled across are YouTube video last week.

Saturnfans.com has a good write-up on it. Sometimes you can re spring the pin but sometimes the fuse box itself is sufficiently damaged that there is nothing left to connect to because the pin actually melts.

Let me know if you need any more assistance.