![]() To me, this has been one of my best car experiences by far. I have been attempting to take care of my cars since the late 1970's. If you are a do it yourself person, I believe these cars are the one of the best in that regard. It just keeps running better every day, but I give it a lot of TLC. Bought my Saturn at 71,000 and now at 116,000. The first 3 days I had it cost over $1,000 in repairs at 76,000 miles. Some things will not need to be done for a long time. OK, that is the main things after 45,000 miles. Oil change: $10 plus make-up oil every 3,000 miles or so/3 months. Clean corrosion on coil terminals and ignition module (my labor).ġ2. Front rotors and pads-Auto Zone $75 (my first brake job).ġ1. ![]() Air filter $15.00 currently Fram when needed.ĩ. Currently going to replace drive belt and tensioner. Transmission service: OEM Spin-on filter $10-$15 OEM + 5-6 quarts Dex III (30,000 miles)ħ. PCV OEM (may help oil consumption) $4.00 OEMĦ. Coolant flush and fill: 1 gallon Dexcool, distilled water, ginger root tab. ECTS: OEM about $15.00 ( common repair, may cause poor fuel economy).Ģ. Common repairs that I am able to do myself:ġ. The support and technical info on this site is something I have not seen elsewhere. For me, despite 1 quart per 1,000 miles of oil I am consuming, this has been a very reliable car, and easy to maintain, and runs better as it ages. If they feel uncomfortable with that question, oil burning may be more of a problem in that model. If it is an individual, asking them the oil consumption rate would be helpful. Regular 3,000 mile oil changes will be a good sign. Also, I still have a dark stain on my dipstick 1 1/4 quarts low to the tip, which tells me it was run low on oil. Many oil changes were at 5,000 to 6,000 miles. Unfortunately, I did not check service records or the dipstick before purchasing my car. Also, once oil consumption starts, oil needs to be topped off on a regular basis. Regular oil changes can go a long way in reducing the problem. The main cause is oil control rings getting dirty/not working properly. I work on them all day just as I do american cars.įrom what I have read, the single overhead cam have less issues with oil burning. Most people just won't admit such things. It will burn 1 quart of oil every 4K miles but I am nto very easy on the poor car either. I have 180K on my 99SL1 and it runs great. The head is what cracks and not the gasket. I've never really looked into purchasing an American vehicle before, but now that my budget is very tight, the Saturn SL1's fuel economy and apparent reliability have me captivated.ĭo you reckon that the 'oil burning' problems that a lot of SL1 drivers claim to experience is directly related to the head gasket design issue (and thus just oil leakage), or is this an altogether unrelated, common problem in S-series engines? Also (since I've had about enough research for one day ), what are plausible causes of reduced gas mileage I've been reading so much about? On this forum and on various other websites, there have been many complaints about oil burning. He has all the service records, including the one for the head gasket replacement, which he admitted was a very common issue. The owner that I'm looking to buy the car from claims that it is highly reliable and great (cheap, easy) to maintain. ![]() I've been doing a lot of research on this vehicle, and amongst other, three very common (and major) problems for this year model - cracked head gaskets, oil burning and reduced fuel economy - damper my excitement. I'm looking into purchasing a 1996 Saturn SL1.
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