Got a new(er) Saturn

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ToyotaNSaturn

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The '96 has the will to die. I did my best to keep it on the road.

This week saw new plugs, new alternator (warranty, thankfully!) + labor, leaky valve cover gasket repair. Then late yesterday, in the ever-simple attempt to move the car from the curb to the driveway, the H-pattern turned to a pure rectangle pattern as the shifter decided it no longer wanted to live.

So the car is in the driveway, stuck in 1st gear. Sure, a new shifter cable or connector would make it work, but it's time to fix it, then sell it, for whatever it's worth.

So I'm thankful that I was able to find a near cream-puff 2001 SL2 with 75K in one day. It's nice to finally have power windows and locks. woohoo! lol

Drained the dealer's oil, replaced with 12oz of Auto-Rx and Pennzoil 10w30.

Photos in the "Let's get Acquainted" thread.
 
Glad to hear you got a new Saturn. Yours is definitely nicer than mine, as I have crank windows and the SOHC engine.

Gotta love the gas mileage.
cool.gif


95,560 miles on my SL1 with zero mechanical problems/failures so far. Just routine maintenance. With all my receipts, I think it had about $800 of maintenance on it since new. Other than that, gas and oil.
cool.gif
 
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There's a bandaid fix with zipties applied under the console boot. Might take 10 minutes. Will help you move it around.

Good to hear you're putting it back into circulation. Best case someone is parking a ford expedition and driving this car to work. Worst, someone's 16 year old will stop taking the bus to school. :D

There is also a "toyota wiper bushing" shifter fix.
 
Doing well with my 00' hand cranked window SOHC so far. Bought it at 45K, now have 73K. Getting a consistent 46 mpg @55 on the same 54 miles stretch of highway that I frequently travel on. That seems to be the limit with MPG's on that car. I cannot do any better than that unless I put the tires at max sidewall pressure.

I've done the ECTS, plugs, wires, throttle body cleaning, EGR cleaning, coolant flush, etc. when I first bought it.

The only problem I have with mine is that when the temperature gets above about 60F and the car is sitting in the sun all day while at work or what not, it sometimes is hard to start, coughs a little, and then cranks over. When below 60F she fires up like a brand new car. Weird.

Currently looking for another SL to purchase, refurbish and make some money with the high gas prices.
 
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Saturn_Fan, are you using Fuel Power?

elj, I found that topic at Saturnfans regarding the Toyota wiper bushing. When I have the time, I'll go for it. Sounds like a cheap way to fix it for the long haul.
 
The only fuel additive I have been using on the old Satty is the Gumout Regane stuff after much love from this board for the stuff. I run it about every half dozen fill ups or 2500 miles roughly.
 
Sorry to hear. Hope the new one serves you well.

My 96 is starting to have a mysterious coolant leak as well.
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What are your maintenance plans for your new ride? You didn't see such good results from M1 0W-20 on your old one, and it seems your best results were with YB 5W-20. I notice you're using YB 10w30 for A-X'ing, planning on sticking with YB?
 
It's pretty common knowledge from those in the know with the S-series Saturns that one should avoid going with long OCI's, thus, avoiding the use of synthetics in them is desirable. They are definitely vehicles you do not want the oil level to drop on, but they do go a long time. I have an SL and would run a good quality 5w30 conventional such as Pennzoil or GTX. S-series are known as being oil burners due to a faulty ring pack design from Saturn. I wouldn't go longer than 5K max on these engines. If you do not neglect the oil levels on these cars they can go 500K as documented on Saturnfans.com
 
The use 20wt oils was purely for fuel economy. And that it did!

It is interesting to see how well Pennzoil 5w-20 fared vs M1 0w-20. It's as if the iron molecules are attracted to the M1 products...

Eventually, I'd like to try Amsoil 0w-20 in the new ride. I have a bottle of Amsoil 0w-30, but I'll keep that for the Vue.
 
Not to second-guess you, TNS, but I'm pretty sure your Vue is spec'ed for 5W-20, and I know your SL2 specs 5w30.....wouldn't it make more sense to use the 0w30 Amsoil in the SL2, and try 0W-20 Amsoil in the Vue....? BTW, nice find on that Saturn!

Anyway, yeah, I do think it is interesting the difference between the YB and M1 results....considering there is only about 2700 miles that separate the intervals, and you had something like 5 times the iron wear with M1.....
 
Well, I'll keep the better oil for the Vue as I want to go for a longer OCI on it. Yeah, it does seem backwards doesn't it? :)

The subject of higher iron on M1 has been beaten to death here, but it's interesting to see it again.
 
Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Have you tried the florescent dye option?


Don't I need some kind of UV light to make that work? Where can I buy some?
 
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