2006 Saturn Ion Grinding noise on acceleration.

UNOJOE

MEMBER
2006 SATURN ION
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
60,000 MILES

I have a 2006 Saturn Ion 2 with the CVT Transmission. While driving there is a grinding noise the increases frequency and gets louder the faster I go, it is directly related to vehicle road speed. I replaced the drivers side wheel bearing, but the noise is still present. During my initial inspection I inspected ball joints, tie rod ends, axles, and wheel bearings. The thing that really confuses me is that the noise is the typical wheel bearing noise, but while driving and loading of the wheel bearings the noise does not change as it typically would while swerving side to side to load and unload the bearing. Is this problem typical of Ion 2's? I am not a throw parts at it till its fixed type of person. I plan on doing a full inspection again, I just fear that it may be differential related, I have heard that the transmissions are weak. Any insite and direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!

9 Replies

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,870 POSTS

SO do you have a Ion 2 sedan?Also do you have a floor jack and jack stand's?Are you sure the noise is coming from the front and not the back?

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Thursday, November 4th, 2010 AT 10:38 PM

UNOJOE

MEMBER
4 POSTS

Yes I have an Ion 2. I am positive the noise is coming from the front, I had the front end supported by jack stands and spun the front wheels to approx 20 mph, the noise was present then. I already replaced the driver side wheel bearing but the noise doesnt sound any different. I am hesistant to replace the passenger wheel bearing, they are a little expensive. Thank you for your reply.

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Saturday, November 6th, 2010 AT 8:55 PM

SATURNTECH9

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Here's how I check wheel bearing with the front wheels off the ground and spinning put your hand on the coil spring if the bearing is bad you will be able to feel the roughness in the bearing thru the spring. Compare the left side to the right side so you can feel what a good one feel's like.

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Saturday, November 6th, 2010 AT 9:41 PM

UNOJOE

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Thank you I will try that and get back to you. Is there any known prob with the CVT Transmission? Is it possible that there could be a bearing problem in the transmission?

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Sunday, November 7th, 2010 AT 8:07 PM

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,870 POSTS

The cvt or vti transmission was only used in the 4cyl vue and the ion quad coupe not the sedan ion. They only used that transmission in 2003-2004 and in 2005 stopped using it it the ion so your ion shouldn't have that transmission. To answer your question yes they had a lot of problem's with that transmission but in the ion car not that much. In the vue a lot problem's I rebuilt a lot of those transmission's in the vue but only a few in the ion's. To prove to your self you don't have one of those piece's of junk transmission's in your car take a look at the transmission underneath your car and you should see a normal transmission pan with a lot of bolt's holding it on. Is that what you see?Because the cvt/vti transmission's don't have a pan at all.