Has anyone had any experience swapping/rebuilding a Saturn engine? I have an extremly bad rattle in my 95 SL. Originally it was the gas low octane ping or rattle but has graduated to a very loud knock; specifically at start up. After about 30-45 secounds of running the knock quitens down considerably. Upon acceleration the ping goes away until you let off on the throttle and then it returns. Saturn says replace the engine and they tell me only a 95 single overhead cam (SOHC) engine will work?? As anyone else had any experience in replacing a 95 engine with something other than a 95 SOHC? I understand the SOHC vs. DOHC problem but surely a 95 is not the only engine to fit? I am hoping to locate an engine at a salvage yard and have actually found a 96 SOHC (which Saturn parts says will not fit). Any ideas? I've never rebuilt an engine before but would consider it as an option if I could find someone to assist me in the rebuild. However, I understand Saturn engines are an animal of their own?? Has anyone had any experience swapping and/or rebuilding a Saturn engine?


Email me @ jeffhutchins@charter.net


Thanks!

You can use the engine out of the 96. The engines are the same from 91-98. I have a 93 sc2 that i did a complete rebuild on. I had a lot of performance parts to install and the car had high mileage so i did a complete rebuild less than a year ago. I had never rebuilt an engine before but it turned out great. I did have some help from my father in law but if you get the Haynes manual and you have some mechanical experience Im sure you could do it. Let me know if you have any questions, I may be able to help.

First ... thanks for your response !!! I have been told my problem are the rod bearing(s) and they can be replaced w/o pulling the engine (remove the oil pan). If I can be 80% sure this is the problem, I may go this route. Would you mind me asking the cost (parts) to rebuild the engine? In my younger years, I always repaired my cars but they were much simpler then (65 mustang, 71 monte carlo, 70 torino). Now with all the electronics you need specialized tools. However, rebuilding is something I would love to do just to say I have rebuilt an engine.

Take a look at this site http://www.importperformanceparts.net/imports/importssaturn (http://www.importperformanceparts.net/imports/importssaturn.html). html


You can purchase an entire rebuild kit at a pretty good price. When I did my rebuild I used this kit. There may be a few more things you would like for your rebuild but this is an excellent start. I also installed over $4,000 in performance parts so it took a while, but if you just stick to the basic rebuild it shouldn't take very long and it would probably be fairly cheap. Make sure if you do the rebuild though you mark all the wires. I thought they were pretty self explanatory but when it came time to connect them all again it slowed me down alot.