Our daughter's 04 Vue 2.2/AWD/CVT that she inherited last year finally had the trans bite the dust at 96k. It was expected, but she likes it & it was her late gardmother's, so she didn't want to part with it while we could still sell it. Truth be told it really is in excellent condition - absolutely zero body or interior damage, and I just put new snow tires on it 2-months ago.
I just found this rebuild kit for the Saturn CVT, but I'm not finding anything on google documenting successful rebuilds of them, either professional or DIY. So can these be rebuilt? Even if it only lasts another 60-100k I think that would be a better deal than selling it for scrap & finding a beater, since the Vue is so clean otherwise. I definitely wouldn't trust a junkyard trans.
My b-in-law had a four cylinder Vue and the trans blew so he went to Aamco and found out they can get parts and he can make payments. The cost was $7000 and he only qualified for a $500 loan so he gave them the title. Too many unanswered questions from me so I quit asking. The whole story seemed fake.
Junk it.
Awe man! You could have titled this as "A Vue to Kill"!!!!
So maybe this is a terrible idea, but couldn't you put in the getrag 5 speed and drop the rear driveshaft making it essentially a fwd manual vue?
Wish I could help, but my only experience is an 02 fwd 5 speed.
Mount the clean Vue body onto a Wrangler chassis?
There's dozens of Vue's in the exact same condition littering Craigslist and junkyards across the nation. Scrap it.
Economically sound idea: Part out anything that seems high-wear or accident-repair (interior, fenders, headlights, bumpers, tail lights, tires/wheels) and scrap the rest.
Emotionally bound idea: What part on the CVT goes out? Maybe you can buy some parts of that kit individually if you spend a little bit of time tearing it apart first to figure out what's died and only replace those. Could always find a crashed Vue/Ion on Copart or similar, because at least you know then that the transmission drove it to the accident.
GM eventually got rid of the CVT, right? Maybe you can bodge in the conventional slushbox they replaced it with.
I was thinking that finding a wrecked Vue Redline to steal the engine & trans from then would be fun, but the Vue is 850 mikes from my garage & tools...which are already occupied(plus my time) with the Vette.
'02-'04 fwd 4 cylinder Vues got cvts.
'05-'07 fwd 4 cylinder Vues got 4 speed autos.
In theory, you can swap to a 4 speed but it also requires a replacement Body Control Module.
Our beloved former JensenMan did the same swap to his daughter's Saturn Ion.
You can also find write ups about it on Saturn Forums.
It seems to be a fairly complex swap.
I'm sorry to hear that the day has finally come.
If you do re-shop for similar, the 4 cylinder awd continued to be offered in '05 and that continued to be cvt.
In mid year '05, the fwd 4 cylinder became a reliable GM 4 speed auto.
Maybe buy a '05-'07 4 cyl, fwd, automatic. This would mean your original cvt version could donate a set of good tire, a complete good interior and a complete spare engine, etc.
About the interior...
For '06 the Vue was updated. This means refreshed grill on the outside and refreshed dashboard and door panels on the inside. Your '04 would be completely identical to an '05
The dream buy would be to find a mechanically sound '05 fwd with a ratty interior and bad tires then swap over your interior and tires.
Unfortunately your stuck with a problem GM could't fix. I spent a while at a GM dealer and I've repaired a couple of those CVT transmissions. GM sent its dealers what they called a case half that included the drive and "belt" parts of the CVT. Even with the dealer special tools it was not the easiest of repairs. It was also not a real repair and many to most of them came back with same issues.
This transmission was discontinued because of its reliability issues. Unless an aftermarket company has come up with a fix, I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle.
Scrap it.
I'd say F23 swap if you have a free workshop, a ton of free time and you could get the parts cheap. It does not sound like that is the case.
Honestly, I'd do like suggested above and sell the parts you know can sell and then scrap it. Those CVTs were not good from the get-go and it's going to be difficult or expensive to get it repaired.
Wall-e wrote:
Mount the clean Vue body onto a Wrangler chassis?
Or a Chevy S10 chassis, to you know, keep the bloodlines pure. 
All of those plastic panels would be useful for splitters, airdams, ducts, etc.
Saw the roof off of it and use it as an underbody ground-effect tunnel for a smaller car!
If you try to sell the tires/wheels they are also a direct fit to the early Chevy Equinox which was essentially a stretched Vue but with a different drivetrain. So, be sure to include Equinox in your CL listing.
Thanks everyone!
The biggest problem with parting it out or repairing it is the 840-miles between myself(most of the time), my tools and the Vue...unfortunately that still wasn't far enough.
I do have two people who said they want to look at it this afternoon evening, so hopefully one of them makes an offer greater than scrap - which I haven't actually checked yet, but doubt it's much for one of these. Between the plastic body panels, trans problems, and generally low value I don't expect too many are getting repaired.
As for the part out, That 2.2L engine was used in a lot of GMs. A CVT'ed Vue is a good place to get one from because the trans always gave out before the engine could get abused.
Unload it and move on.
The original transmission lasted 100k miles .. sad to see it can't be rebuilt to give similar service.
JohnRW1621 wrote:
As for the part out, That 2.2L engine was used in a lot of GMs. A CVT'ed Vue is a good place to get one from because the trans always gave out before the engine could get abused.
The only abuse that hurts a 2.2 is ignoring oil level or changes, and you can do that very quickly.
