Oil for 2001 Saturn SL with oil consumtion issues

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Mazda3LA

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Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of buying my cousins 2001 Saturn SL with 140K miles. If I'm not mistaken, Saturns are prone to oil consumption. My cousin changes her oil every 3k Miles and adds about a quart in between oil changes. I was wondering what you guys recommend for this car with oil consumption issues and whether its even worth buying. Other than the oil consumption, the car runs well and has been taken good care of. Thanks everyone!
 
Had one of those, great car. They will use oil and just keeping it topped up is all you really need to do. I had the best results using the correct weight oil and keeping it topped up. Also what worked for me is making sure it has an OEM PCV valve. Replacing the aftermarket valve with OEM actually cut my consumption in half. Hard to beat the fuel economy as well. Great cars.
 
how much is she selling it for ? got any pictures? if its in good shape id probably buy it my saturn has 200,000 and is great. the oil consumption is common but doesnt hurt anything and at a quart per change i would run mobil 1 10w30 in the summer and that might make it use a little more oil at first but long term itll help also can do a piston soak a lot of guys have luck using marvel mystery oil. that and the chemtool b12 worked best for me. they are great cars. if its in good shape and the price is reasonable i wouldnt pass it up
 
She is selling it for $1500. I unfortunately don't have pics but the car is well maintained and has never been in an accident. I will be using if for work. I drive about 80 miles round trip all highway. Only reason I'm thinking of buying it is because I'm selling the Mazda 3 to pay off some bills since my wife won't be working after the summer to focus on school.
 
for 1500 bucks id hop on that deal!! that a decent price for that car. i would buy it in a heart beat. you wont regret it if she has taken care of it itll be a great car for you.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Do you guys think that Valvoline maxlife would help any of the consumption? Do you recommend the 5w30 or 10w30
 
Does the 1 Qt. fill it, or bring it off the bottom? How much is in when changed?

A Qt. every 1.5k is ok & normal. If everything else is fine, it's a deal.

This will help with oil consumption:

- New OEM PCV (If bad, a fixed open one helps bad burners, see saturnfans.com for P/N).

- Keep the RPM's below 3k.

- Use a high quality oil with a high Flashpoint. Keep it topped off!

- If bad, a piston Soak may help.

Also, there's a few things like:

- ECTS (Engine Coolant Temp. Sensor) that NEEDS to be the nwer Copper one.

- Thermostat change if the Temp Needle sits on 1/4. Should be at 3/8 to 1/2 on the gauge.

- These engines NEED NGK Copper to run correctly with it's waste spark system.

Go to Saturnfans.com & read the "New or Returning S-Series Owners Checklist Version 3.0" in the S-Series General Section & follow it. Then the car should last a long time.
smile.gif


Hope that helps.
 
Originally Posted By: tpitcher
A Qt. every 1.5k is ok & normal.


Not in any engine I've ever run...GM found that out when they tried to tell Australians that emptying the sump in an OCI on a new engine was "normal"
 
Oil consumption is poor break in(parts not seating),poor build quality,neglect,cheap parts quickly degrading,or poor design simple as that.I think as GM never made a dime off Saturn,they cheaped out in everything and rings and such suffered as a result.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: tpitcher
A Qt. every 1.5k is ok & normal.


Not in any engine I've ever run...GM found that out when they tried to tell Australians that emptying the sump in an OCI on a new engine was "normal"


For THAT engine, I'm not talking about any other...
33.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Mazda3LA
She is selling it for $1500. I unfortunately don't have pics but the car is well maintained and has never been in an accident. I will be using if for work. I drive about 80 miles round trip all highway. Only reason I'm thinking of buying it is because I'm selling the Mazda 3 to pay off some bills since my wife won't be working after the summer to focus on school.


If its a manual trans, id buy it. I paid $1300 for my 98 sc2 with about the same mileage. So far, so good.
 
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It's not so much cheap rings as they thought low tension rings would help fuel economy. But they aren't springy enough to fight against the sludge and goo that tends to form. Ergo, pursue high quality oil. In sandy eggo I'd run a 15w40 year round in a heartbeat with no loss in MPG.

The corolla/prizm 1.8 from 1998-2002 has a similar ring design and similar problems.

A quart in 3000 is hardly worth worrying about or, IMO, mentioning!
 
I use in my saturn regular 10/40 and during the summer 15/40 , it has 160 000 miles , I get around 36 miles per gallon , the only thing that reduced the oil consumption is 10/15 40 w oil
 
Originally Posted By: Mazda3LA
Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of buying my cousins 2001 Saturn SL with 140K miles. If I'm not mistaken, Saturns are prone to oil consumption. My cousin changes her oil every 3k Miles and adds about a quart in between oil changes. I was wondering what you guys recommend for this car with oil consumption issues and whether its even worth buying. Other than the oil consumption, the car runs well and has been taken good care of. Thanks everyone!


Prizm's are a known car that many of them become oil burners. I have read reviews about these cars burning lot's of oil. I bought a Prizm once that the owner said had a bad head gasket due to it used lot's of oil and it did not drip one drop on the ground. The head gasket was good in that car and it did not overheat. The piston rings were worn and the car was burning oil in the combustion chamber and it was going right out the tail pipe. Some Prizm owners recommend using once quart of Lucas oil treatment in the oil and this slows oil consumption down some, but it will not really stop it.

If you do not want to use Lucas then just keep the oil topped off. I check the oil in all my cars every 1,000 miles and top them off, but I am using full synthetic motor oil and full synthetic does blow past the piston rings in both of my cars faster than conventional. I'm using about 1/4 a quart of synthetic motor oil every thousand miles in both of my cars which do not have problems. I would use conventional motor oil in a car that was an oil burner.
 
Originally Posted By: Moab
Prizm's are a known car that many of them become oil burners. I have read reviews about these cars burning lot's of oil. I bought a Prizm once that the owner said had a bad head gasket due to it used lot's of oil and it did not drip one drop on the ground. The head gasket was good in that car and it did not overheat. The piston rings were worn and the car was burning oil in the combustion chamber and it was going right out the tail pipe. Some Prizm owners recommend using once quart of Lucas oil treatment in the oil and this slows oil consumption down some, but it will not really stop it.

The Prizm is a rebadged Toyota Corolla 1.8L If its a 99-02 the problem is design of the pistons - too few, too small oil return piston holes that clog. Clean the holes consumption goes away.

As far as the Saturn, if you don't mind being constantly under the hood checking your oil I guess its cheap enough.

So far so good with the Rotella T6 I'm running in my oil burning Corolla. Oil consumptions cut in half, thats a good thing. Something to consider for the Saturn if you decide to buy.
 
Yeah I was either going to go with Maxlife, Rotella T6 or PYB. Which one do you guys think would be best for my situation.
 
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Originally Posted By: Mazda3LA
Yeah I was either going to go with Maxlife, Rotella T6 or PYB. Which one do you guys think would be best for my situation.


If its the Mazda your mileage is still considered low. If all is good, no oil consumption, etc. stay thin. Only use a HM or a thicker oil to solve/help with oil consumption or a leak that you cant afford/not worth repair.
 
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