01 Saturn SL1...What do folks think?

Hi...I'm looking at an SL1 for my college age daughter and wondering at what
folks think about this model. This one has 55K miles on it and seems to be
in pretty good shape. What should I ask about it? How often should the
timing belt be changed?

Jim

 

Saturn has an timing chain not a belt. The chain is engine oil lubed and
should last the life of the engine provided that it receives clean oil. It
is an interference-type, non freewheeling engine that will be damaged from a
chain failure. Dirty oil may cause tensioner problems but the chain should
get noisy long before failure. Mine has 150,000 miles with no noise and no
failure. It would be a big job to change but would normally only be
serviced if it was necessary to open the engine for some other reason.

IMHE it is a very good engine that has very good low speed torque. Check
the oil change records and try to determine the type of usage and driver
that was using this car. Some report high oil consumption that I believe is
caused by excessive high rpm operation. Short trips bad, highway better.

Happy trails

 

I'll jump in with my $0.02 about the timing chain. In my '94 SL2 I
noticed a definite decrease in acceleration and torque at around 75K
miles. I brought it in to Saturn and the mechanic on duty told me the
timing chain needed to be replaced. Knowing how much that was going to
cost, I questioned that diagnosis since the car had been serviced
faithfully, and the Saturn claim to fame was that those chains lasted a
good 150K-200K miles if maintained properly. I didn't get it changed,
and kept driving the car. At my next oil change, I discussed the problem
with the service manager and he told me the chain simply needed to be
*tightened*, not replaced, as the chains sometimes got a little slack in
them. Tightening wasn't a big deal or huge expense, but due to my not
bringing this issue up immediately, the looser chain did cause some
minor damage which was repaired fairly quickly.

As always, YMMV.

-Russ

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russ Benoit
AIM: ltricshoes

He tried to tell us all the world was spherical, they burned his body
but not his soul...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Strange a service manager would not know that the chain is automaticly
tightened by an automatic tightener that has pressure on the chain, the
tightener is made like a ratchet once it moves out to tighten it can not
move back to loose position! the only problem i see with these is poor
maintenance with the oil change!

 

For some reason, mine was looser than it should have been and was not
being tightened. This problem occured in 1997, so my memory of the
events and conversations may not be exactly as they were, however my
recollection of the event was that for some reason the chain wasn't
being tightened, the service manager had seen it before and knew how to
fix it, and I got a bit of a break on the cost of repair (not much
admittedly, but better than nothing) due to the service tech incorrectly
telling me the chain needed to be replaced.

I bought the car used from the dealership with approx 30K already on it
and I commuted over 100mi per day with it when I had it, plus some
extended road trips for work. All regular service was done at the same
dealership since the car was new, so there wasn't an issue of lack of
oil changes at the proper intervals.

-Russ

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russ Benoit
AIM: ltricshoes

He tried to tell us all the world was spherical, they burned his body
but not his soul...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~