Hello all! I'm an owner of a 2002 Saturn SL2 named "Gold" with the 5-speed at 128k miles that I got for about $1k.

My saturn SL2 with my Sebring in the background and my dad's Suburban behind it.

Front facing photo of the SL2

I've already gone through the works with it, though:

• I replaced the coolant inlet on the intake since in Saturn's infinite wisdom, they made it plastic.
• I replaced the motor mounts, since it was about ready to vibrate the cabin apart.
• I did a massive interior detail since it lived on a farm prior to me getting it, so the whole thing was full of dust
• I then replaced the charcoal canister, which was completely blocked up with dust, only to get a used, also blocked up one.
• I fixed multiple wiring problems caused by some sort of rodent damage. (A couple sensors, and the trunk didn't open from the fob).
• I added a sick sounding muffler because why not

I've had it for about 6 months and 3.5k miles on it and love it! I do keep track of costs of fuel and other repairs and so far I've put $1.7k into it, so honestly a great car for $2.7k total including registration costs, etc.
The main reason I had originally bought it was to learn stick on, of which my previous experience was a couple times in my wife's truck. I didn't want to ruin her clutch or anything, so I decided to get my own car to have fun with.
There are still a few things that need to be done to it:

• A bad CV joint on the driver's side caused by going over a pothole at highway speeds
• It is still inundated with dust everywhere. Every single crevice of the car is just full of it.
• The two rear doors do not open from the outside, and the front passenger door doesn't open from the inside.

The car has some awful cosmetic damage to it. It got sideswiped at some point, to the point of removing a bunch of paint and material, it has a massive hole in the rear bumper, and every single one of the alloy rims has been curbed to hell and back. But weirdly enough I really love it that way, and don't plan on fixing a single one of the cosmetic problems. It is all plastic anyways.


Prior to this SL2, my first car was a 2000 LS with the small ecotec 4cyl which got the name "Bill" (In case you haven't noticed I love giving my cars mundane names), and I adored that car. It was given to me as a 16th birthday gift from my grandfather who had just gotten a new car.

My 2000 Saturn LS which I miss dearly after transporting me all the way from Central CA to Southern Oregon


Selling that car was an absolute mistake, especially for this 2003 Chrysler Sebring sedan named "John" that I genuinely hate.


John, the Sebring that I hate, but has somehow actually drove me and my wife all the way to Southern Washington.

But, all that behind me, I absolutely plan on continuing work on this car, and I've taken some wisdom from this fourm and decided I'd also give some back if I ever have any.
My brother has an SL with the small SOHC engine and a 5-speed as well, so perhaps you'll be hearing about that car too.

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome.
Highway pothole madness usually leads to wrecking a strut as opposed to a CV. Might want to double check on that. KYB struts are the standard Saturn community replacement. The front ones are a bit stiffer than stock, which you may actually still have on there at 125k even though they wore out at about 45 k. Replace both on the same axle.

If you have not already, You may wish to do a compression check to see how generally healthy the engine is.

Also, you are right around the mileage where the dohc engine, if it hasn't already, begins to burn oil. If you want to keep driving it until you drive it into the ground out of love for the car, do not let it get more than half a quart low on oil. It only holds 4 quarts, and letting it get low greatly accelerates the oil burning issue.

Sohc does not tend to have these issues. Slightly different internal design.

Again, welcome.

 

I just replaced it (since I had pretty high confidence) and it definitely was the CV shaft, as the noise I was most worried about is gone (it was the typical horse sound clunkata clunkata sound). You're right about those struts, however, and they definitely need to be replaced now, but I believe they are the stock ones.
Absolutely it has begun to burn oil, my exhaust tip has let me know. I do still need to figure it out since California emissions testing requires no smoke out of the exhaust. Maybe I'll just SMOG test it during the winter when it'd be blowing out stuff anyways .
As for the compression test, I actually don't own a compression tester. It's probably time that I do...

 

You can get a compression tester on the loaner program at most of your chain auto parts stores. You put a deposit on it, take it and use it and return it and get your deposit back. If you don't return it, then you bought it at an inflated price!