"Brian" <unisaw@hotmail.com­> wrote in message news:irle049ot6lonm­hkd42krhonem812otp6l­@4ax.com...

The main issue, as far as I am aware, is the casting flaw that caused oil and coolant to mix either in the oil

crankcase or the coolant system. If your SL has over 100,000 miles, chances are this flaw has either been caught and

corrected or (more likely) your engine did not suffer from this flaw. There are other, less serious, problems such as

wrong plug gapping and fuel pump but, again, your car has either had them and they've been fixed or your car never had

them. I would expect that as long as you ensure your SL gets regular maintenance (especially timing chain replacement),

the only problems you can expect are those endemic to all older cars.

Brian wrote:

A timing CHAIN is made up of a few 100 metal links that rub and rotate against each other. They are designed to do this and oil is continuously applied. But over time they will wear gradually and play will develop. Modern (last 20 years) engines are designed to deal with a bit of this play but at some point they need to be replaced. If they break bad things can happen.

As to lasting the life of the car, when we drove cars 100K miles or less, well they usually did. (A 10 year old car with 100K miles in the 60s was usually a clunker worth little more than scrap.) I own cars with 210K, 135K, and 190K miles on them. "Life" has a new meaning than in days of old.

David Ross

Ok, so my b/f took a look, and had me change the gears

from park to neutral to drive and etc. while he looked at the

engine, with the hood open, and he noticed that when I shift

gears, the engine itself moved. The whole friggin engine! So

he said he though the problem was the motor mount, that

maybe that needed to be checked.

So what do you think, could it be the motor mount?

I decided to start this thread anew since the previous one sort of got

hi-jacked.

My local (non-Saturn) mechanic just gave up on this.

My 2000 LS2, with like 260,000 miles, has been acting oddly in the

automatic transmission category.

Symptoms are sort of steady.

I drive to work 50 miles each way (into NYC yet) every day. Hence the

mileage. Coming home, at night, after i get off the highway, i will

usually see the service light about 10 minutes into local driving. At

this point, the tranny bucks; shifts hard in lower gears.

This can also happen during the day, or even after a lot of local

driving. Doesn't happen every day.

My mechanic finds no error codes (i have not been able to get the car

to him with the light on). He thinks it's the transmission but says

any such problem is beyond fixing in a car with so much mileage. He

also adds there are slight leaks in the water pump and radiator and

says the way Saturns are built, fixing those would get me over a grand

in repairs, so all this might be moot because he would not recommend

those repairs either.

So because of this tranny problem, which is intermittent and not

severe, i might be junking the car instead of doing repairs i would

otherwise make.

Kicker is my friend's wife has same car, same year and it is doing the

same thing. She brought into Saturn WITH THE LIGHT ON! and they

couldn't figure it out. So they're driving it. That car has a lot

fewer miles than mine.

Thanks for reading this far!

I have had to have radiator replaced on my 93 SW2 twice in the last 3

years and both times I got my car back with no refrigerant in the A/C.

Does the A/C on this model have to be emptied to replace the radiator

on this model? If so why would refilling it not be included in the

work?

George

My sister has an '02 L. She says she hears a grinding coming from the

rear. breakes ar 3 years/30,000 miles old. What should i look for?

BV

Ok, to be as precise as possible, Im going to list the entire chain of

events in detail, so get ready, this is a little long...

March 16th - I had my starter replaced with a remanufactured starter

at a local Pep Boys after having to push-start it a few times

recently. I knew it was going bad, so it wasn't a surprise.

March 16th-March 18th - Normal driving to and from work, no problems

except that when I started the car in the mornings (im in the

Northeast, so its cold), the RPMs would shoot up to about 2300 or so

for about 3 or 4 seconds, then settle down to normal idle.

March 19th - I made a 2 hour drive to an airport, where I left the car

parked for 5 days. Nothing out of the ordinary.

March 24th - I drive back from the airport, turn the car off to get my

mail, and when I turn the car back on the starter motor continues to

turn. I turn the car off and take out the keys, and the starter is

still turning (or at least I believe it was the starter). I open the

hood and realize I dont have any tools to disconnect the battery

without getting shocked, and when I touch a metal part of the car, I

get a small static shock. Luckily, after about 5 minutes, it stops.

March 25th - I take the car back to Pep Boys, and they replace it with

another remanufactured starter and Im on my way. Heres where the

problem starts.

As soon as I get the car back from Pep Boys, I start the car and the

RPMs shoot up again like they did in the cold. They eventually settle

down, so I start driving out. Once I do, I notice that every time I

push in the clutch to change gears (manual trans), the engine will

jump about 200-300 rpms while the clutch is disengaged, making it kind

of odd to re-engage. This behavior occurs in all 5 gears.

Also, whenever I switch into Neutral to coast to a stop, the RPMs will

go to 2000 and stay there until I come to a COMPLETE stop. It doesnt

matter if I slow down quickly or slowly, the engine stays at 2000RPMs

until the car has COMPLETELY stopped. Once Im stopped, the engine

settles around 1100-1200RPMs, typically.

I called Pep Boys and told them about this, and they said that it

"sounds like a voltage problem." Im an engineer, and I realize that

this is likely just blabber coming forth from the technicians mouth.

I dont know if the problem was due to the installation of the new

starter, or if another part, specifically the Idle Air Control Valve

(IAC), was accidentally damaged during the installation of the

starter. Or it could be something else entirely, all I know is that

it only appeared after the starter was installed.

Anyone have any ideas as to what this might be?

I have a 2005 Saturn ION-3

Where did they hide the RESET OIL button ?

Does anyone know what make/model ABS is used in the 2000 Saturn S-

series? I've read several places that it's Delphi ABS-VI, and I have

an Haynes ABS book that says the same, but the pictures in the book

don't match what's in my car. I've also read that the ABS-VI was

replaced by Delphi DBC-7 in Saturns starting in 2000, but I haven't

been able to confirm it, either by other reliable internet sources or

by photo comparison.

Any ideas?

I'm just curious whether the older pumps

had some sort of an adapter plate on the output of the pump to

acommodate the EVO and the high pressure hose

Hi all...just came back from the auto wreckers with a replacement

power steering pump for my 92 Saturn. I pulled it put of a 95 or 96

model, which I thought would be the same.

Well, as it turns out the newer model pump does not have the EVO

solenoid like my car does and the high pressure line goes in the same

spot where the EVO solenoid goes in my car.

Removing the pump is a pain in itself, so I really am not up to

exerimenting at this point. I'm just curious whether the older pumps

had some sort of an adapter plate on the output of the pump to

acommodate the EVO and the high pressure hose, and that plate was

removed in the later models so only the high pressure hose goes in?

Yeah, I know...I'm grasping here but getting the thing out is a pain

in the rear and I really don't feel like going back to the wreckers

and doing it all over again. LOL.

And no....I'm not going to a dealer... ­

thanks