But I was an old timer at the other website. Anyway, nice to be here. I have a Saturn L200 2002. I coming up to 100,000 miles. I ask in another post (as a followup) if anyone has any suggestions on maintenance at this point. When do you think I should change the transmission oil again? FYI, I don't do major driving with the car. It's been very local driving. Thanks

 

Welcome.
Andy, who I believe just retired (yay!), will be along eventually to answer your L Series questions.

 

thanks. much appreciated. Also, I'm looking for a mechanic in New York City who has worked on Saturn cars. If anyone knows someone in Manhattan or Queens that was a mechanic at a Saturn dealership, I would appreciate the information on contracting that shop (or person). thank you.

 

I have four more days next week, and go in to turn in my keys etc next Friday.
Welcome to the site! I had the same handle on the other site.
It never hurts to service the transmission, especially with stop and go driving.
Have you changed the spark plugs and coil boots yet? How about the fuel filter? It is just ahead of the right rear tire. How are the suspension cradles holding up to the salt on the winter roads. Have you changed the thermostat and coolant? Low miles but 23 years old now. My 2002 L200/5 has about 290k and my LW300 is at 125k.

 

All of the mechanics that worked on my Saturn vehicles have long since retired. I keep in semi-contact with one of them who laughs at me every time I text him a picture of my 95 coupe. They got in on the ground floor in the early 90s, so there may still be a handful of original Saturn techs. There are some folks over at sixthsphere,com that have more hands on knowledge with the S cars and ions then I ever will. They mainly exist as a Facebook group. I believe a few of them live in New York or New Jersey. While they are probably not going to work or your car, I expect they have the ability and knowledge to guide you either to someone qualified and knowledgeable enough to work on your vehicle or to explain to you how to repair it. Many of the caveats include things not to do. A lot of it is tribal knowledge at this point.

Today's techs simply don't understand how certain things were done 30 years ago. They try to apply knowledge of today's car designs to a 30-year-old engine design and PCM. And apparently are not especially motivated to look up the information in the Alldata database that tells them how to do the repairs correctly. That's why they only person that works on my Saturn is me. The few times I have taken it somewhere, people have effed up rather simple repairs. So I'm done with it

A Saturn S-Series is a pretty simple design actually. The first two generations didn't even have body control modules. They are not that hard to maintain and work on.

 

GM used the same 2.2 in Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevrolet mid sized cars unchanged through 2006. They also used the 4t40 automatic transmission, so the basic powertrain is not exclusive to Saturn on the L series models. Most mechanics familiar with any GM cars through the 2000s have worked on your engine and transmission. GM continues to use different versions of these engines through the 20 teens also. The computer controls are constantly changed, but the basic engine design remains. The 2007+ have variable cam timing and six speed versions of automatic transmissions.
Just because it is badged as a Saturn should not turn most mechanics away. All the 2005 and newer models were rebadged GM models anyway.

Like Derf says, the early S series cars were their own thing. They were nothing like any other GM cars ever built. L’s, VUE’s and Ions were very similar to other GM models using the same powertrains.

 

Thank you both for replying to my posts. Congratulations on your retirement. You're going to love it!

Other than oil changes, I haven't done a lot with the other fluids. My radiator has a very small drip. So, I put in Dex transmission fluid in from time to time. I haven't had a proper tune up in a while. But having said that, the car has been running quite well. But even though things have been good, I still wouldn't mind putting some TLC into it.

If you know any mechanics in the New York area, please DM me. At one time, I went out to Long Island for repairs. But I'm not sure if the owner is still there. As i mentioned, if someone knowledgeable on Saturn's is in the 5 boroughs of New York, I would be interested in knowing. I would prefer Queens of Manhattan. Thanks!