'95 saturn sl

[bengerman]

hi all, first time poster over here with the very common "what oil" question.

i've got a '95 saturn sl (SOHC) with about 165,xxx on the clock. burns about 1 qt every 1500, depending on conditions. i'm currently running valvoline maxlife full synthetic 5w30 on a 3-5k interval. i'm looking mostly to cleant the engine better (changed the valve cover gasket a couple days ago and it didn't look too clean in there)

 

[chad8]

mmo the miracle cleaner . 1 quart in the oil 1000-1500 miles before you change it.

 

[bobfather99]

The 1.9 engine in the S-Series is an oil burner, due to ring design and the lack of drain holes in the piston ring grooves.

If it were my car, Id just keep changing the oil every 3-4000 miles using conventional oil, and keep it topped off in between. HDEO also helps, but again, its not perfect. Chevron Delo 15w40 helped with my 95 SL1s oil consumption, might be worth a try depending on your climate.

Saturns can live [censored] near forever with this oil consumption, just keep checking the oil!!!

 

[Thermo1223]

I am still in awe on how the 93SL I had with 161k miles burnt NO OIL whatsoever. The level never changed.

Should have held on to it.

 

[Nick R]

bobfather is correct, the 1.9L has a design flaw. The piston ring grooves don't have drain holes, so sludge and gunk builds up in there, and it all just goes wrong. Doesn't mean anything's wrong with the engine, just means you should run the cheapest dino you can find, and since you are putting so much oil in it, changing it probably isn't even worth it, just keep adding oil, changes not required.

 

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted By: Thermo1223
I am still in awe on how the 93SL I had with 161k miles burnt NO OIL whatsoever. The level never changed.

Should have held on to it.


My mom bought her 1993 SL2 and brought it home on 2-19-93. I remember the day clearly... it was a big thing back then, and I was a 13 year old geeked about my Mom getting a 'cool' car and getting rid of her diplomat station wagon!! haha.

Anyways, the car is 17 years old, 130,000 miles and does not burn any oil between oil changes. Sold it to a family friend and I still service it. We run Amsoil 5w30 through it.

 

[bengerman]

Originally Posted By: rudolphna
bobfather is correct, the 1.9L has a design flaw. The piston ring grooves don't have drain holes, so sludge and gunk builds up in there, and it all just goes wrong. Doesn't mean anything's wrong with the engine, just means you should run the cheapest dino you can find, and since you are putting so much oil in it, changing it probably isn't even worth it, just keep adding oil, changes not required.


1 quart every 1500 is "so much oil"? 1 quart every 1500 is well within the normal range for a saturn. i'm well aware of the piston design flaw. and adding oil without changing will just lead to more gunk accumulating.

 

[Familyguy]

If you've got the time/inclination, some folks (including me) have had good luck using Marvel Mystery Oil as a piston soak to free up coked/slimed rings and improve oil burning on the Saturn 1.9L engines.

I'd add a quart of MMO 1000 miles before your next oil change (replacing a quart of burned oil) and see how that affects your oil usage over the next oil change interval.

Good luck!

 

[mechtech2]

Saturn engines were always worn, and used oil.
This is what I saw in the shop - a regular occurance and the worst modern single make engines.
But only some is attributable to the engine's design.
I think the original owners somehow were led to believe these cars were miracle high tech long life vehicles, with little or no maintenance needed.
The price was paid 50,000 and more miles later.

Using a 10-40 or some mixed in with your normal 5-30 will help oil consumption.

MMO is cheap and readily available - it is worth trying it to clean her out internally. Like mentioned, about 1,000 miles with one qt of engine oil replaced by one at of MMO is what I'd do. You may have to do this more than once. But MMO does clean things inside.

 

[saaber1]

I'd go for some kind of cleaning as suggested above or auto-rx. The posters above are correct that this engine is an oil burner. Have had lots of them and 2 engines shot after I sold them due to owner running out of oil.

I had one (8 valve) that became very noisy, sounded like valve clatter. I flushed the heck out of it with amsoil flush or some other solvent flush. It worked and that thing ran great for a long time. I hate solvent flushes because of the risk involved but for that car it worked. That's why I think some of the less risky clenaing options such as suto-rx etc. would possibly help.

 

[bengerman]

i'm not concerned about the oil burning. i'm concerned about the dirtiness of the engine.

like i said, i am aware of the lack of drain holes in the pistons, and the potential PCV issues that cause oil burning in saturns. i've done an mmo soak as well as mmo in the crankcase. i'm looking for an oil thast will clean out the [censored] that's accumulated in this engine. i'm not trying to reduce/solve the oil burning, i'm looking to reduce noise and improve the longevity of the car.

 

[Andyge]

I had a late 90's model Saturn SL that would burn 1 qt. every 3,500 miles on conventional or Synthetic oil.

I would stick with good 5w30 conventional oil.

Andy

 

[MDS]

Have a 98 SL2 with 149K, bought it with 36k on it. Same thing, qt oil every 1000-1200 miles at that time. Had the rings, engine block and one piston replaced at 48k under extended warranty because it was going through oil. Took about 50-60K to start using oil again, back to qt every 1000 or so. My OCIs are 4-5k with filter, always use brand name 5w30 conventional. When replacing the alternator couple months ago I dinged the oil filter so put on a new OCOD, oil had about 2k on it then. Decided to try MMO once the oil dropped. Put in 1/2 qt MMO after about 500 miles, then another 1/2 qt about 500 miles later. So about 1500 on the filter and 1000 with MMO in it when I changed oil last weekend. Drained great, thin and black as sin, couldn't get any oil to drain out of the filter it was so clogged. Cut it open to look at it and drained the oil out of it. Decided to try high mileage oil. Going to run that maybe 2k and change again and try MaxLife to see how it does.

 

[sl1driver]

Originally Posted By: bengerman
i'm not concerned about the oil burning. i'm concerned about the dirtiness of the engine.

like i said, i am aware of the lack of drain holes in the pistons, and the potential PCV issues that cause oil burning in saturns. i've done an mmo soak as well as mmo in the crankcase. i'm looking for an oil thast will clean out the [censored] that's accumulated in this engine. i'm not trying to reduce/solve the oil burning, i'm looking to reduce noise and improve the longevity of the car.


Hey, is this Ben? I can't think of anyone else who named his car "Doris," LOL. If this is Ben, then I know you from the SaturnFans forum. I haven't been over there for a while. I should go check it out again.

Anyway, to your question. If you are looking specifically for an oil, rather than an additive, then you want one with a good add pack, like PP. You don't need to pay the premium for any of the boutique oils, and I'm sure wouldn't want to since it would get mighty expensive keeping it topped up between changes. A few relatively short OCI's with PP or the like, and your engine should be fairly clean. If there is significant sludge buildup than honestly no oil or additive will get it completely clean.

After a few OCI's with the higher detergent oil, you should be able to go to any oil you wish, just stick with relatively short OCI's and you should be fine.