Saturn Owners, What oil/filter are you running?

[ToyotaNSaturn]

The IONs just aren't selling all that well...
4 week production halt for IONs

 

[Mystic]

There is one thing I dislike about my Saturn. It seems to run kind of rough for a short period of time when I first start it up in the morning. But then it runs great, and if it is started up later on in the day it starts up great. I have tried to figure this out. I have used fuel injector cleaner, tried different oil filters, used Auto-RX, and it still does it. How about you other Saturn owners?

 

[joe4324]

@mystic does it have a rough idle? Like when your at a stop sign?

If so chances are you need to replace your upper engine motor mount. It only costs about $35 at nappa and it will make your car run MUCH MUCH smoother. many people on the saturn forums I go to consider it a consumable part every 30-50k. I replaced mine at 60k and I though I had a new car, it made a world of difference. its the easiest thing to change. (about as hard as changing an oil filter, seriously) if your standing in front of the car with the hood open, to the left of the engine you'll see kinda of a black hump of metal, it has a few bolts comming off it attached to the upper left part of your engine right next to were your vavle cover seal is. thats it. all you have to do is put a jack under your engine and put it at the exact level your engine sits. then unbolt it from your engine and your frame, put the new one on and your done. I encourage EVERYONE with a saturn that hasnt had it replaced in the last 50k to try it.

there is another mount on the bottom but its alot harder to replace so I would rather change the top one more often to keep excess stress from wearing out the bottom one.

 

[manualman]

95 SOHC SL 140,000 miles.

0-60k: Castrol 5w30 and Saturn filter
60-100k: Penzoil & Saturn filter
100-140: Mobil Drive Clean 5w30 & Supertech filter
Always 3k intervals.

Problems: Warps rotors every 45,000 miles (pads not worn, lugs torqued right)
Head cracked at 109k (Known SOHC problem, Saturn paid 2/3 cost)
EGR valve at 115k.

Oil consumption: 0.5qt / 3k until about the time the head was replaced. Rapidly moved up to about 1qt / 1,000 miles. Compression is low in cylinder #2 (150 psi vs 185 in rest, jumps back up in "wet test").

Still gets 36mpg ave / 40 on road trips. Never stranded me. I suspect the mechanic scratched the cylinder wall or let some debris fall into it during the head replacement. Does't take much damage to start burning the oil. DOHC heads have no crack history.

My opinion: best bang for the econo car buck. A guy at Saturnfans has about 380,000 miles on his 95 SL2. (I think LUKE has posted here too.)

[ June 19, 2003, 02:10 PM: Message edited by: manualman ]

 

[Mystic]

Joe4324, thanks for the information. The only time my car runs rough like that is the very first time it is started up in the morning. It does not run rough at a stop light-for a four cylinder it idles very smooth. Understand, it does not run extremely rough, but the idle is not smooth at this time when I first start it up in the morning.

The only thing I can figure is that overnight maybe all the oil drains off the engine, and it runs rough until the engine is coated with oil again. Maybe the oil filters I use slowly leak oil out, or something. The Saturn oil filters do not help-I am now trying a GM AC-Delco PF-53 on my car. I am not using a real thick oil-I use 5W-30.

I went to the Saturn dealership recently to get some oil plug gaskets. I had heard at this forum that Saturn may have another manufacturer of oil filters than what they had in the past, so I asked the woman in the service department if Saturn had a new oil filter. She became downright angry that I dared to suggest that Saturn oil filters are anything less great than the creation of the USA. She said that Saturn has never had any problems with their oil filters.

I really think that somebody needs to take a look at the adbv technology for oil filters. I think that motor oil should stay in those oil filters all night regardless if the filter is mounded upside down or sideways or whatever. If they can't make an adbv that actually works, then they need to engineer the oil filters so that they mount straight up and gravity will keep oil in the filter.

That kind of rough idle at start-up in the morning disturds me. But I don't know what to do about it short of putting a pre-luber on the car. Maybe there is some kind of oil supplement that can help. Otherwise, the car runs great and gets great gas mileage, and does not seem to burn any oil. I did get a fuel system cleaning at Precision Tune.