the newest addition to the family

[Dakota1820]

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/dakota1820/2012-07-15_14-15-21_255.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/dakota1820/2012-07-15_14-15-30_535.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/dakota1820/2012-07-15_14-15-42_767.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/dakota1820/2012-07-15_14-15-53_3.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i377/dakota1820/2012-07-15_14-15-59_470.jpg

this is the new car has 168,000 miles all that was wrong with it was the glove box wouldn't close. the piece the latch locks on to was bent i grabbed it bent it back and it works fine. one owner. he did say it burns oil but i think he is just honest because plenty of people i talked to said the saturn they were selling didn't burn oil and i dont believe them ALL saturns burn oil . or at least 90% do. i am replacing spark plugs oil and thermostat. preventative maintenance. anything else to consider? i think i got a pretty decent deal on it to.

 

[01rangerxl]

Looks clean. I'd check all of the rubber parts and fluids, but if they look good just replace as needed.

 

[Dakota1820]

everything looks good. only thing i noticed that shows its age is the rear stabilizer bar bushings are cracked. but there's no slop or anything. i think i may put a new pcv on it looks original and from the looks of it is the reason its using oil. or atleast part of the reason.

 

[Turk]

Check/replace the ECTS.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I like the idea of another Saturn. There is a lot of technical support. Parts of cheap. Taxes and insurance are cheap. For what they are, they are safe. Fuel economy is good. Congratulations!

Since I replaced my PCV with the fixed orifice one I no longer get plumes of smoke accelerating on the highway and am using less oil. Best $3.00 I ever spent on my Saturn.

 

[Turk]

Put a nice coat of wax on that new baby!!

 

[brentalan]

Looks like a good buy. Congrats!

 

[brelandt]

Looks good! I'm a suspension/ alignment guy. Check the inner tierods, ball joints, and control arm bushings with that many miles. I do not believe these cars had any issues in that area but just double check them.

 

[lt1man]

You should:

1. Change oil/ filter
2. Change trans oil/filter
3. Change coolant, lower hose and thermostat
4. Air filter
5. PCV valve simple and cheap

Add this up, about $100.00 bucks worth of parts and free labor if you DIY.

This is stuff I like to do, its so easy to do. Typical issues:

1. Water pump leaks if its really old
2. Valve body becomes bad or input shaft nut becomes loose on trans
3. Tie rods to wear out and some times need replacement


I've never figured out an easy way to change the power steering fluid. I'd do a brake flush, but I'd worry about breaking off a bleed screw.

 

[SLCraig]

I'd drive it. I like first gens.
Nice man, good job.

 

[eljefino]

Nice! They look good in black and 95 is a great year. OBD-I and the new interior. They also had peak production around then so you see a lot of them.

I've had almost two dozen SOHCs and only a couple DOHCs. The handling is worlds better on the SL2s. It's not the tires, b/c I switched those over, it's the quick ratio rack & pinion and the thicker sway bars. In fact I might put a SOHC in a SL2 for fuel mileage if the right combo of parts cars came along.

So what are your plans? Drive? Flip? Hoard?

Did you detail it or did the seller?

 

[JHZR2]

That's awesome. How much commonality is there in parts for example belts filters hoses and other things like that?

I would imagine that learning a job on one car to translate pretty easily to doing it on the other car.

Good luck with it!

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
That's awesome. How much commonality is there in parts for example belts filters hoses and other things like that?

I would imagine that learning a job on one car to translate pretty easily to doing it on the other car.

Good luck with it!


I just replaced the radiator on my sons 01 sc1, it was almost the same as it was changing on a 93 sl whe had years ago. The same after market radiator fits the manual trans as well as the automatic. Thats one reason i bought him that car, i already knew how to work on it and it gets 42-44 mpg hwy.

 

[Dakota1820]

parts are easy to get. drive train is identical to my 98. i really like it. i think there's a heat shield rattling a little bit every once in awhile. i will be probably keeping this car for a long while to come. as long as it runs good and isnr a money pit itll star around. the transmission is a manual so no filter and fluid doesnt require changing. and it looks good. im doing oil tomorrow and the thermostat. i am thinking i maybe i should do the ects to to be safe. temp is all over sometimes very cool and sometimes above half. so im thinking ill do the ects to be safe. it isa pretty darn good car for 11 bills. i feel very accomplished.

 

[01rangerxl]

For $1100 you definitely did good I think.

My sister had a '95 automatic that was a pretty reliable car. I think she had over 150K on it with no major repairs, just odds and ends. It did eventually need a head gasket at which point it was traded, but considering the minimal maintenance it got I think it did well.

 

[Dakota1820]

was it the sohc? they are more common for head issues. the dohc just drinks more oil.

 

[MONKEYMAN]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Nice!
So what are your plans? Drive? Flip? Hoard?


I was thinking now he needs a cheap parts car. Three is a nice number....

Many believe the 95 SL2 is the best year. It seems like the other day we were trying to guess when Luke would hit 500,000 in his 95 SL2 over at Saturnfans.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
was it the sohc? they are more common for head issues. the dohc just drinks more oil.


Probably a SOHC, I can't remember. The car never had serious oil burning issues, the head gasket or head problem was the only engine problem I remember that car having. I don't even know what exactly went wrong with it, just something went wrong with the head or HG and it got traded on the Mazda 3 she has currently. Her Saturn was just driven and maintenance was kind of an afterthought. The 3 gets maintained pretty well, but when she had the Saturn she couldn't care less about cars.

 

[Dakota1820]

doesnt the 95 have two temp sensors? where is the one for the gauge located?

 

[eljefino]

Gauge one is an inch and a half above the PCM one, and has a single wire going into it.

If you still have your year-correct stock engine.

I put a newer motor in a two-sender saturn and had no hole for the self-grounding temp sender. Being soft brass I simply jammed it in another tapped and threaded hole-- just not tapped to water. It worked, sort of, at reporting temp to the gauge while the one tapped to water went to the computer for fuel mix etc.