I have an 2000 Sl1 with 100,000 miles on it. I have owned it since 75,000. Nothing had been replaced on it before I bought it except tires and routine maintenance.
I have replaced the front struts and had it aligned.
This is my daily driver and I cannot afford downtime in my work season. Now I have some weeks off and I'm planning to go over the car and replace items that might cause me problems in the next 50,000 miles. I intend to keep the car as long as it runs dependably.
Everything on it now works now except the air and it runs well.
These are the things i have thought of to replace,inspect or service.
Air Cond. compressor and evaporator, water pump,alternator, starter,spark plugs and wires, serpentine belt, radiator hoses, thermostat. Inspect brakes, check wheel bearings, new tires, new rear shocks. Change fluids.

What else should I be looking at or replacing?

 

You pretty well have it all covered with your list. You may also want to inspect the boots on the drive axles, tie rod ends and ball joints. You can do this all at the same time if you want to. Jack each wheel up and pull on it in the six and twelve o'clock position and check for play, then switch to three and nine o'clock position and check for play. If all is well, then your ball joints and tie rods are okay. Just put a jack stand under the car or pull it up on ramps and inspect the rubber boots on the drive axles to make sure they're not split and slinging grease.

 

I have a 2002 SL with 265k miles on it and it has been a very reliable vehicle, even more reliable than several Hondas, Toyotas and Nissans that we own or have owned recently. I would hate for anyone to look at my maintenance records because I pretty much do as little as possible. I change the oil when the light comes on, most of the time, and I use the cheapest oil and filters I can find as long as they meet manufacturers specs although I use 10w30 instead of 5w30.

I use double platinum plugs so they haven't been changes but every 100k or so. Speaking of spark plugs, before your remove the current plugs, find someone with an air compressor and blow all the grit from around the plugs, otherwise it will end up inside the engine.

I use a universal long life antifreeze at a 2:1 ratio instead of 50/50 and I only use distilled water. I do NOT flush anything except brakes and toilets. A little old antifreeze left in the engine is a lot less harmful than the contaminates from flush chemicals and minerals in the flushing water.

If the maintenance schedule has been followed, then the only thing I would say to look at is the ATF if you have an automatic transmission and the brake fluid. If the brake fluid is a dark brown, flush it. When you flush, do it in a manner where you don't introduce any air into the system, that way you wont have to bleed it.

 

And more information form you or others will be appreciated.
This is a great forum!

 

Take the time and go to the new member area and give yourself a proper introduction. While your at it open the USER CP go to signature and add your first name, location, and car info.

 

Thank you for the heads up, I did.

 

You will get multiple opinions because regular maintence is almost a personal preference.
So here is mine.
Change the ATF.
That is automatic transmission fluid and it's filter. There is a drain for it. Past that? As some one said on various flushes, those belong to toilets.
Regular oil changes you are doing, My suggestion is keep doing it but use a 10 W 30 or a 10 W 40 if you are not using that.
As the engine ages a heavier oil works better with it.
As to other things? Just keep it in good shape. Mine was purchased in 1996 as a late model used car and I have purposely not driven it into the ground so it has a smidgeon over 100 k on it.
Sitting in the driveway in the Arizona heat has done a lot of cosmetic damage all of which I have spent time and money to take care of it. I even repainted the car and screwed up so I need to repaint it again.
So why do I do that? I like the little beasty and it runs like a watch.

 

My son picked up a 1995 SL1 for his daily commute to/from Seattle which is about 100 miles round trip. He's enjoyed the size and gas mileage so much that he now drives it for just about everything, leaving his other car sitting most of the time.

Right after he got it he and I went through it in pretty good detail and replaced a few items (see below).

From looking at the above posts I don't think it's gonna add much but at least it may serve as a confirmation on a few.
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At 97,000 miles the 1995 Saturn SL1 was riding rough and running ok, not great, just ok, and the gas pedal was sticking. The engine temperature was never getting up to normal.

Between June 23 and July 7th, 2012…

1. Replaced all 4 strut assemblies with new Monroe ones.
2. Replaced jack retaining bolt in spare tire compartment (doesn't sound like much but really noisy without it)
3. Removed and cleaned a very dirty throttle body and re-installed it on a new gasket.
4. Inspected all hoses and metal lines. Replaced two PCV-related ones.
5. Replaced the thermostat and O ring.
6. Installed 4 new (NKG) spark plugs gapped to .040 and a new set of resistive wires.
7. Replaced the Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT) sensor.
8. Replaced the Intake Air Temperature (IAT) sensor.
9. Replaced the Idle Air Control (IAC) valve.
10. Removed, cleaned and replaced the EGR valve.
11. Replaced the Radio/Cassette player with new Pioneer CD Receiver with Bluetooth for hands-free cell phone use.

In August of 2013 the radiator starting leaking at the connection where the AT fluid enters the plastic radiator tank. Two hours and $68 later that was fixed and the radiator filled with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and distilled water.

The car drives, rides, and runs very nice now, and the new CD Receiver system looks and sounds great.

 

Did you replace those engine parts based on error codes or just as a preventative against future problems?

 

It's been a while but I'm pretty sure that only one of the items was based on a check engine light -- I never read the code -- and I don't remember which one.

The rest were changed for a combination of preventative maintenance and trying to address things like low idle, high idle, sticky gas pedal, etc.