I picked up a '95 Saturn SL1 (I think). Hope to get it serviced for my mom. She drove her '99 Lumina from Pittsburgh to Rockhill SC (town just outside of Charlottle NC) about 2 months ago with a bad head gasket. I tried to tell my brother the head gasket was leaking on the Lumina before she took that trip but he insisted that someone put oil in the coolant resivior. I told him that NO ONE was that dumb, he thought otherwise.

Anyway, I charged the battery on the Saturn, cranked it right up, and 30 seconds later had to shut it down because gas was dumping gas under it near the firewall drivers side. All in all it doesn't look to bad. Lots of cleaning, stop the fuel leak and figure out where all the brake fluid went and she should be good to go.

 

Cool, nothing wrong with the Saturns. They're cheap, disposable cars. Have her dump it at around 180,000 miles unless it has the 2.2L. That engine is dang near bullet proof.

 

I was told by the prev owner that the motor was rebuilt about 10 to 15k ago. How can I tell what motor it has? It's a I4 with 16 valves.

 

8th digit of the VIN is engine code

 

So if it's a 4 I have a 2.4?

 

Should be a sticker somewhere under the hood that states the displacement of the engine.

I doubt you have GM's 2.4 under there. That was mostly in limited edition Cavaliers (the one that pretended to be sporty). Swapping one in would involve putting an adapter kit on the transmission and I doubt anyone bothered.

The only engine offered in '95 on the SL1 was the 1.9L. Not a bad motor, but very finicky on having maintenance ignored.

 

At this point, the smaller the better, unless she lets my nephew ride. That dude is about 580 lbs. If it's nice and small she should get 28 mpg around town and 35 on the highway.

 

Got the fuel leak fixed and the brakes blead.

Now I need to figure out why the ac don't work. My guess is it has a freon leak. Not sure which side is the side I need to hook up the gauge to. It has 2 connections. Once near the front of the compressor and one on a line that comes out the back of the compressor. If anyone knows please chime in.

Pic of AC compressor. Which would be low, yellow or orange?

 

Good luck, nothing wrong with these cars. And i would guess the orange.

 

You are right. It's the orange one. It would not fit on the yellow one, only the orange one. Now I have AC, AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! In this 110 degree weather.

 

I know how you feel, topped today at 103 degrees at my house.

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Lost a tank of gas today. I jumped in the car on my way to a doctors appointment and 1/2 way there I seen the gas gauge dropping fast. By the time I pulled over I was down to 1/4 tank and gas was leaking out of the front/input side of the fuel filter. I pulled the front tire and cliped it back together only to see the gauge dropping again before I made it to the hospital.

After my appointment I tried connecting it again, another failed attempt. I didn't make it home before I was at a gas station waiting for my daughter to bring me some money for gas. While there I decided to wedge something behind the clip to try to get it to stay. I ended up using a filter from a cigarette butt. It's holding for now. Not sure if I'll spring for a new filter or not. I'll see how this holds up.

 

Well, the cigarette butt got me home and a couple of hours later it's leaking gas again. So I picked up a filter and the one on the car is definately broken. So, I'm off to replace the fuel filter and thermostat.

 

Installed the fuel filter on the 1996 Saturn.
Fuel Filter Replacement on a 1996 Saturn SL2

 

Replaced the thermostat on a 1996 Saturn SL2
Thermostat Replacement on a 1996 Saturn SL2

 

Almost totaled this car this morning. I took the car for a spin to make sure the thermostat and fuel filter were good. Drove around the corner and the windows started to fog up. I reached down to turn on the defroster and the controls are so low I took my eyes off the road for a few seconds to long. By the time I looked up I was off the road going into a ditch. The passenger side tires were totally in the ditch and the driver side were just leaving the road. Well, they (my town) just installed a new guard rail on the edge of this road about 2 months ago. It's just a small piece and I was heading right for it. I headed behind the guard rail into a concrete drainage and didn't want that so I aimed for the road and did not hit the brakes because it was raining. After about 50' the car finally bolted back on the road missing the new guard rail by about 50 feet. I spun out and was tossed into the low median. The cars behind me stopped and waited for me to stop and get contol of the car.

Nothing like excitement at 7:45 in the morning. Not sure if the front suspension is damaged but it did feel like I was driving on a flat or something is going on up there. I guess I'll check that out and keep my eyes on the road.

 

Wow, first the maxima tried to get you now this saturn?? Be careful, get ur mom a volvo or equivalent and say peace out to whatever you have that's not european...

 

Man, I wish I could. These people around here think Volvo's have gold gas tanks. Every time I see one with a blown head gasket or some other defect(s) that stops them from being road worthy, they want $1,100 to $1,500 for them. I honestly think the mechanics are picking them off.

The customer takes them to the shop for repairs/service and the mechanic gives them a high estimate, the customer walks or sells them to the mechanic for peanuts, then the mechanic services the car and sells it. They win.

 

This Saturn is winning. I was trying to clean the car up and get the windows and power locks working right and things went south. The front passenger door window went 1/2 way down and stopped. Wouldn't move up or down, dead door motor. Called on a price and it had a core. When to pull the window motor and could not get the window clips loose from the track. Pulled a little harder and wham, the entire window shattered. Mother What!!! So I decide to get another door from the pic-and-pull. Start the car and now I have a service light. Push the button on my code reader and it will not work on the car now. Hopefully it's a fuse or something. The car seems to run ok, just has a service light and no OBD-II port.

 

I don't care what anyone says, Goodbye Saturn!

When you go to the junkyard for a door, just leave the Saturn and walk home.