HI there everyone. I recently bought a 94 sl2 from a friend for 50$. Getting it running wasn't very hard but there are some very odd problems I'm having. First off the odometer stopped working around 196,333 miles. She also burns ALOT of oil talkin about a quart per gas tank. After telling a friend of the family mechanic abut the oil loss told me it prob needs a valve job. He also told me Saturn's were pieces of crap and I shouldn't bother. After reading the reviews of many people swearing this car will not die you have to kill it, I decided to look into trying to fix her up.

Besides the oil usage, it also over heats because the fan will not come on by itself. If I turn on the AC "Which works Great!". And it starts the fan and seems to cool it right down. I switched round the relays it doesn't seem to be the problem. It seems like I read somewhere there's a way to by pass everything and make the fan stay on. I don't know how good of an Idea that would be though.

Yet another weird thing is when I go to start it I sometimes have to let it turn over for a very long time. Well past the point where the engine should be flooded sometimes the till it seems like the battery is about to die.This is also strange because when its hot out sitting in the sun its starts right up. I know starting a car for that long it a bad idea, but yea 50$. I also realize just because it was cheap means I shouldn't try to take care of fix it. This is also strange because when its hot out sitting in the sun its starts right up.


It also has a weird short I think its the ignition. The key falls out on its own and its hard to tell if everything is really off or not when I shut it off.
It used to be fine when I drove it every day but if it sat for more that 2 days I would turn it on and everything would start clicking. It wouldn't start and even after I tried to shut it off the clicking and flashing continued.

One more thing is the fact that it stalls when its idling even after its been running for awhile. When I'm driving gas pedal suppressed it will bog down and then jump back up again. If my foots not on the gas it dies.But in the rain I rarely have this problem?

Last but not least it should be know the previous owner DID NOT TAKE CARE OF THIS CAR!!! I had to use an additive before changing the oil to try to get it all out after about 3 changes it started to look semi normal. I have bought a new battery, flushed the radiator, and changed to T-stat.

Any help on any of this would be most appreciated

I really do like this car and from what I have read its a car that should run forever!

 

Saturn along with many others that were built around the time that the manufactures started recommending a 5 w 20 oil usage have turned in to oil consumers after a steady diet of that stuff over years and miles.
Why was it recommended? Paranoia over fuel mileage, the buzz word today is MPG, spelled out, not stated as fuel mileage. Light weight oil does in deed give better fuel mileage numbers if you can measure it and need the information to satisfy the federal government and the advertising companies. What is not said, if light weight oil is detrimental to to engine life and reliability?
How detrimental? Who cares if the responsibility to the car stops with the end of the warranty period. And that is generally 30,000 miles.
From that point on it is the owners problem. Fast forward 10 years or better and you have a high mileage oil consumer. If something like a 10W30 was used from the get go, you would not be asking that question.
What do you do?
Nothing, the damage is done.
Mechanical wear is generally solved by replacing worn parts.
On a $50.00 car that can mean a $4000.00 engine.
Is that what you want to do? If not and you are any kinda decent shade tree mechanic the choices are now up to you.
Deal with oil consumption and feed it oil. It is cheap.
Change to a heavier weight oil, it is too late to prevent damage, it's done, but it might slow up the consumption a little.
Feed it some form of upper end engine fix it in a can and try to get the oil control ring to free up. it is probably stuck in place due to heat and carbon caused by excessive mileage using a light weight oil. There is a thread in here using an outboard engine product that might do the job. Or forms of engine treatment such as Bardahl and things like it. Off the top of my head a product name does not surface but if I wanted to find it I know what I would be looking for. I might even try loading the cylinders up with Acetone to try to free up the rings. Just to see if I could. But then again the procedure in doing that is important as you can screw things up through indiscriminate use of chemistry and motor fix it in a can.
But the solution is to replace the rings and what ever other mechanical repairs are deemed necessary when that takes place.
If it were mine I know what I would do and it would in part depend on my finances at the time.
And then it would be partly just a band aid to get by with.
The other things? Partly wear and tear, partly correctable using lubrication where required like the key thing, some wd-40 and graphite should help, changing the sensor that monitors the temperature of the engine is probably in order. That is a big player in things you are describing and tons of threads here giving information about it.
But the important thing in running for ever? To use maintenance procedures tailored to favor mechanical operation not an advertising budget and an accountant.

 

Uncljohn has some good suggestions. Personally, I'd get a can of Marvel Mystery oil and pull all of the plugs out and fill each cylinder with the Marvel and let it sit for two days. Crank it with the plugs out, change the oil and filter to a 10w-40 and drive the hell out of it. It's a fifty dollar car, so you can't expect much out of it. I'd also remove and clean the throttle body and take the EGR valve off and clean it and make sure it's working. You'll need to clean the carbon off the pintle and most likely need to clear the passage on the intake with a stiff wire of some type. I have used a small drill bit to get a hole started in the carbon build up on intakes from time to time. Not on a drill, just gripped with a pair of vise grips and slowly turning it.

 

One final recommendation -- REPLACE THE ENGINE COOLANT TEMPERATURE SENSOR (ECTS) AND IT'S ASSOCIATED CONNECTOR!!! Use only OEM parts. Will cost about $40 bucks for the parts. Should fix your starting problem, and may even fix your overheating issue (not a guarantee, but possible)

 

My dad had some Marvel Mystery Oil so I'm waiting on that stuff to do it's magic. The EGR valve was just a dirty so I wonder if I should just replace it.

 

I cleaned everything up replaced ECTS cranked it changed the oil and filter and now its smoking ALOT!!! It's idling high and the adjustment screw is backed all the way out. Not sure what I can do now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The throttle body was very, very dirty.

 

O.K., lets face it, slathering oil all over the place (filling with marvel mystery oil is slathering) what do you expect.Some of that has to burn off yet and it takes a few miles of driving. At the moment if you just started it, not to worry. A week from now if it still is we will discuss it.
What weigh oil did you fill it up with?
5W20 like it says on the fill plug?

Wrong

That is how it got in trouble in the first place.
Like the suggestion that was made 10W40 is a good selection.
I use 20w50, but that is my choice to do so. If I could not get it I would use 10W40.
Maybe with the soaking in marvel mystery oil some of the problems might be addressed and maybe not.
You need to drive it for a while.
What adjustment screw?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Motor fix it in a can is rarely a viable substitute to replacing worn parts.
One of the evaluations made to go that way is simply;
$5.00 for a can of motor fix it.
or
$4500.00 for a new motor.
If it does any good at all, it is worth the 5 bucks.
Oil and additives are cheap.
Dirty stuff though can be cleaned and usually works better clean.

 

It does take a while for that stuff to clear up. If the engine has a lot of crud in it, I'd recommend doing it again and then after warming it up to operating temp, change the oil and filter like Uncljohn said. I don't know where you live, but Unc is in the desert southwest and can get away with the 20-50. You may want to use 10-30 or 10-40.

 

I used was 10w-30 it's what all I have right now but, I will switch to 10w-40. One of my teacher suggested adding transmission fluid to my oil and driving it lightly for awhile then changing the oil. I'm not at all objectionable to the engine fix it or 10w-40. I'm just using what I have that is freely available to me. I do believe I saw some 15w-40 fairly cheap at Costco and I was wondering if that would work better.

As for the adjustment screw, it's the star bit screw on the throttle body that adjust the idle. Right now it's idling at 2,000 RPMs I didn't check for the proper torque on the throttle body I just tightened it as securely as I could "Which I know might very well be the problem". I was just running out of time and couldn't find it in my book.

 

A 2,000 RPM idle would suggest to me that there's a vacuum leak somewhere, although if the car has been running with bad sensors for a while, it may take a couple of driving cycles for the computer to relearn things. Watch your oil level, and let things cook off for a week or so ...