Any of you that know me know how good of luck I have... I think this proves it! My girlfriend has a '96 Saturn SL. We took it out for breakfast the other day, and it started running like ****. My guess was a plugged convertor, but we stopped at autozone to scan it. Convertor efficiency code, O2 sensor code, MAP sensor code, and a random cylinder misfire. I figured they could all be related to a plugged convertor, right? I pulled the convertor off, and the guts of the convertor had come out, and completely plugged the pipe behind it. I took a long screwdriver and the shop-vac, and got it all out. I hooked the hose to the blower port and made sure the exhaust system was flowing freely (it was). I put a new convertor on it, and fired it up, and it makes NO oil pressure!!! Checked the oil, it's clean and full... It's not just the light... there's a ton of valvetrain noise too! I called the only muffler shop that was still open, and they said that the backpressure over loaded the motor and took out the mains... they claim it's common on Saturns. Is this possible??? I'm really sorry for the O/T, but I figured if anybody would know, it would be a HAMBer! PLEASE give me some good news!
*sigh* Your guy is right...Saturns are the garbage cars to end all garbage cars...I tried to warn ya last year, Bro...they're time bombs on wheels. (Working for a used car dealership you kinda get a feel for what's good and what ain't...and you see patterns and notice common problems on certain types of cars!) The only positive ray of light I can offer is that they are pretty easy to swap engines on...and we used to do about one a week. Once they start to go...they die quick and pitifull deaths, too...and the good salvage yard engines are starting to climb in price...because truly GOOD used engines are getting scarce as **** these days. I just cringed whenever our purchasers absent mindedly bought a Saturn for the dealership...and priced an engine and transmission for whatever year and model just arrived. If it didn't show up needing one, it would be ready in about a week! Yes, the oil pressure problem and related engine noises are real common...sorry to say.
I work at a GM dealership... I hate these cars... Relativly easy to work on though as far as modern **** boxes. Sounds like its motor time.. My advise to u is find one in a low mile WRECKED car. Its an easy swap. If it doesn't have the DOHC motor in it, you can easily swap this in as well. Just grab the wiring harness and the puter. Its labled perf. on the DOHC puter. OR s**** it and buy another one... there cheap.
want to buy a 96 lincoln that needs air ride switched to coils cheep and cozy for ya. yea swap the motor there easy enough. or just get rid of it cause its just going to happen again. sorry to hear dude
Stupid question time.Is it possible to drop the pan and change the bearings without pulling the motor ?
Hey there HRTH, Sorry to hear of your misfortune, It's H-bob up north in Beulah. I just happened to be at a small local salvage yard today, and as I was leaving they wheeled in a wrecked saturn. I paid no attention, of course, but I will try to check it out for you tomorrow. Hope this doesn't buzzkill last weekend for you. I saw your car at b-proof, but at the time didn't realize I was a witness to hot rod history. later Phil
Seriously consider getting a different car. Saturns are the epitomy of planned obsolescence. Absolute ****. I think Saturn engineers are hard at work as we speak trying to design their perfect car (one that will self destruct the day after the warranty expires). And I'm not saying this to be a smart-***, just making a suggestion.
I hear this stuff a lot, but honestly, this car has been really good to us! We bought it with 104,00 on it, and it needed a cylinder head. It was a VERY easy swap (I went ahead and changed the timing set while I was in there); about 140,000 it needed a clutch. Kind of a *****, but I had favors owed to me, so no biggie... At 150,000 I replaced both front wheel bearings. At 175,000 the convertor killed the bottom end! We were going to look for a new car NEXT tax time. If I can fix this for a few hundy to get me by until then, it might be worth it, right?
Saturns are near and dear to my heart, and my garage. Stop laughing. But yeah, most of what everybody says is the sad truth. The main thing people run into with these motors is a huge thirst for oil. I believe the rings are made of delicious gouda cheese. Delicious yes, but durable no. I've had good luck with a junkyard in Florida. I just got a bunch of body panels and **** from them. It's called 6th Planet Used Parts. The website is easy to find. Yes, shipping is a bit much from FL to MI. But the body panels came pretty cheap. They do a lot of motors. Joey and Melissa Cutrone are the people that run it. Good folks. Or you can abandon the car somewhere in Detroit. Nobody will mind. I swear. While the HAMB is a well spring of knowledge on 90s economy cars, you might want to check out saturnfans.com. The forum there has everything you ever wanted to know about the car that almost nobody loves. Except me. I like the underdog.
Find a ****py, rusty old Dodge Shadow or Chevy Celebrity...you could drain all the fluids out of either one and drive it ten times farther than a BRAND NEW Saturn!!! Really, they're junk...you just got one that managed to cling to life a wee bit longer than normal! Consider yourself lucky and move on! (Unless your junkyard connections can score you an engine cheap...they're easy to swap, but it'll still be a Saturn when you're done!!!)
I guess the only reason I suggested a different car is that I see late 80's / early 90's caprices, crown vics, and grand marquis quite often for under a grand. You could buy one of those & drive it forever. I used to have an 88 grand marq in near perfect shape that I paid a little over a grand for (but I swear, this thing looked like a brand new car). It got like 18 mpg, had a/c that would give you frostbite, and I couldn't kill the ****ing thing (and I usually kill every car I drive). If you have any car dealer friends who have auction access, I would suggest looking for an engine donor there. I used to sell cars at auction for the finance company I worked for, and I swear you can barely give them away there. If one crosses the block with body damage, you could score it for practically nothing (as in, like fifty to a hundred bucks). You could actually hear & see it running. Most car dealers won't go near them. Best of luck man.
ok i've got to pipe in to. i've got a '93 saturn wagon that i got nearly 3 years ago for the wife and she couldn't learn to drive a stick. in turn it became my car and i have driventhe hell out of for that time. it had 135,000 when i got it. the odom stopped working 6 or so months ago at 189,723. in reality if it isn't on 200k it damned close. the only problem i have had is the waterpump took a **** 6-7 months ago. other than that i does have the usual saturn thirst for oil thats common once they get more than 20k on them. i've heard lots of complaints on them but this has actually been a good car and it's a wagon so it's got room for me to throw **** in there and use it as a hauler to. all that and 36mpg. now that i've said all that it'll probably die next week. damned i had to open my big mouth...ken....
I have a friend that likes these things. He has a fetish to build every car he drives.. He WONT buy a runner. If it runs he has to tear it apart and build it back for himself. He uses saturns for his daily drivers. He hasn't paid more than 400 bux for any of them. Parts are cheap, easy to work on and great on gas milage. If you like workin on cars and driving ****ty little snap tight cars they are for you. If you want a car you can drive the dog **** outa and end up with a great parts car...get a caprice or a crown vic.
oh man now if you want to talk pieces of **** i had a dodge shadow about 15 years or so ago and that thing was a huge piece of ****. now before the current New Beetle the wife had a '86 olds cutl*** moredoor that i gave $650 for with 79,000 miles. she's a reporter and until it started giving her m***ive problems in it's 3rd year of ownership that was a damned good car that she probably got her money out of 5 times over. traded it on her beetle and up until a few months ago i saw the car daily driven by a local hispanic guy who did the work the car needed that the wife refused to do and moved on. i gues it was time. i love cheap cars. about half the cars i've ever owned cost less than $500. including my buick. all time best deal was my '69 vw. $150 drove the hell out of it for a year with only putting a battery in it and bearing on the front . ah cheap cars....ken....
Satan's are notorious for upper valvetrain oiling problems BTW I only ***emble them. The 'Engineers' are some of the strangest people on the planet(s) Sparky
i get cheap asian cars out here, toyotas, nissans, (hondas are too much $$$) for my girl to drive. right now she has a 88 corolla 2 dr that i got for $200, shes put some dents in it (good ones too) and now i'm selling it for $600. looking at buying a $1500 95 nissan altima (95k), which is alot more then i should spend. sadly domestic cars **** ***, and don't last into the 200k area.
Just picked up a chevy sprint with 150,000 miles on it for $100 canadian and plan on running it in to the ground then getting my $100 back out of it since the body and gl*** is good. But for your money you cant really do much better than a mid 80's toyota car or truck, just gotta watch for rust. Also have to add that i've never had any major problems with the pre EFI hyundais aswell, once they hit 200-250,000km they start smoking but will keep goin till 3-400,000 easily as long as you keep oil in it
I really need to pinch myself. A thread about Saturns on the HAMB. All my interests are melting together. If somebody starts a thread about Public Enemy, autocross, and 80s toys like Transformers and GI Joe, I'll never have to visit any other website again. I had a Plymouth Sundance once. Same as the Shadow. Terrible. I've always wanted a cheap Caprice. 9C1 preferrably. Always wanted a beater S10, a mail Jeep, and a late 80s Mustang too. And an Astro van. Well I had the Mustang once. But I want another. Please sir can I have another? And yes, the Japanese cars will last forever. But you get no soul. None. Sparky, keep up the "good" work in Spring Hill. Too bad you can't build the old school Saturns anymore. 1.9 liters of oil consuming aluminum. I sure do miss those days.
Damn, Airkooled...I just sold a beater S10...where were ya??? (Oh yeah...and I got the FULL set of figures and vehicles from "Battle Of The Planets"!)
I've got an economical 2 seat roadster for sale. Gets about 30 mpg. Likes a little oil now and then and rides like chit. You know how to find me when it's time.
domestic cars lost their soul along time ago...............i think it was replaced with dex cool........................
They still havent found the 'lost foam'(saturn joke) The '96 wagons were cool. The factory even had some painted up like Nomads,I wish I had pics. Sparky(second generation GM)
i own a 96 with 156,000 miles and i love the car other that tires,brakes,and an alternator it has been great!plus a bonus it has no dents!why because the doors are plastic! so **** off haters i would rather own a saturn than a ****in **** box commy honda!
I work at a Saturn dealership and see old s series come in every day with 150k-180k or more. They aren't as bad as you guys are making them out to be. Take care of the car and it will take care of you. Change the oil, don't beat the **** out of it, and do your other schedualed maitenance and they last forever. Like I said in my PM to Hot Rod To Hell, what most likely happened was that the oil pump lost it's prime. Wiping out the bearings would in no way affect oil pressure. The oil pressure sensor is right after the oil pump. As long as you didn't run the motor for more then like a minute, you shouldn't have done any damage. Prime the pump and run it. Saturn recomends packing the pump with petroleum jelly in order to prime the pump but I usually just use oil. The pump is located in the front cover. When you remove the front cover, you will see a cover on the back side with some Torx bolts. These bolts can't be reused so get some new ones from Saturn. To get the front cover off, you need to remove the upper motor mount, water pump pulley, idler pulley, and tensioner. The front cover bolts are 10mm. Be sure to get the 2 bolts in the middle of the cover. They are difficuly to find and if you don't remove them you will be replacing the cover. I believe one may be an 8mm but don't quote me on that. One of them has an arrow pointing to it. There are also 4 8mm bolts on the oil pan that attach to the front cover. To remove the one fiurthest to the left you will need to use an open end wrench but for the other three, you can use a ratcheting box end wrench (like a battery wrench). You will need to use a thin piece of metal to hammer between the oil pan and front cover to seperate them. Then gently pull the cover off with a pry bar. It will come out through the bottom. When you put it back on, it goes on from the top. Be sure to use some kind of sealer when re***ebling. Be sure to s****e all of the gasket surfaces.
I love that the Saturn thread won't die. Dare me to do a tech on how to install Eibach lowering springs on an SC2?
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