My new 2009 Saturn Outlook developed a surging problem about a year after I bought it. Took it back to the dealer and told them it felt like the transmission was hunting between gears. They called and said they could not duplicate the problem.

Went over and took service tech for ride with his analyzer plugged in under the dash. When he felt it, he said the no.1 cylinder had misfired 56 times since leaving the dealership. They claimed they replaced the coil, but really the problem never went away. So a few years later after living with this surging, which only happened under certain conditions, like at 55 mph, car load of people and a very slight uphill the problem got worse.

We drove home from Las Vegas one day and it started doing this all the time for about 400 miles. I was so pissed I wished it would have blown up, but really the misfire doesn't do much harm. So, rather than take it to a dealer and get soaked and me being a mechanic, I ordered 3 new coils. That would be cheaper than having the dealer tell me which one it was. Once I watched a video on changing them, I ordered 3 more. I was only going to do this once, at least for now. $320 in parts and a couple of hours later and problem gone for now. I say for now because I now know these coils area destined for failure due to their location in the heat.

A very poor design in my opinion. This car will be out of my life soon.