I'm looking at buying a 94 SW2 wagon (manual 5spd, pwr steering, a/c) and wonder if there's anything I should be especially wary of. It runs nicely, tires are good and there's no apparent rust (even around the door frames) but it has 148K miles (about 110 on the engine: original threw a rod at 105K, was replaced by a used, not rebuilt, one with 73K on it). Any help/advice would be appreciated.
Bob--I would stay away from a used saturn. I had a 1993 SL2--the WORST car I ever owned. I had to have the alternator replaced at 33,000 and 64,000 miles. At 67,000, I had the blower to the vent replaced. Then, at 85,000 miles, the auto transmission went belly up--Saturn wanted $3,100 plus $300 diagnostics to rebuild the damn tranny. I got rid of the thing about a year ago (donated it to the Kidney Foundation--and warned them about the history of the car). One of the happiest days of my life was seeing that heap towed away for good!! Get a Toyota, or Honda, or some other reliable car.
Bob-- I have a '93 SW-2 with 136K on it. Looks and runs as it did when new. Weak spot on this one is the alternator (three replacements so far). Radiator fan replaced at 74K. Oil - 1qt/1.2K Whitey Bob--I would stay away from a used saturn. I had a 1993 SL2--the WORST car I ever owned. I had to have the alternator replaced at 33,000 and 64,000 miles. At 67,000, I had the blower to the vent replaced. Then, at 85,000 miles, the auto transmission went belly up--Saturn wanted $3,100 plus $300 diagnostics to rebuild the damn tranny. I got rid of the thing about a year ago (donated it to the Kidney Foundation--and warned them about the history of the car). One of the happiest days of my life was seeing that heap towed away for good!! Get a Toyota, or Honda, or some other reliable car.
Thanks for the response(s). This one had the alternator replaced 20K ago and is from Colorado, has only been in Wisconsin a few years. It looks nice sitting in my driveway. Looking forward to taking it up north.
How do you guys manage to pop alternators so fast? I've only killed one in 200,000 miles on mine... Oh yes, the injectors wear out by 150k, supposedly. I'm hoping that solves my mileage problem. I cleaned the throttle body out the other day - black oily gunk EVERYWHERE in there! Where'd it all come from, anyway? I wouldn't be surprised if some's clogging up the injector heads... BTW, instead of following the can's directions, just unbolt the thing, pull the TPS and IAC off, and really clean it up good. I cleaned the IAC off sepperately, and all the channels for it. Idles really nice now Got more or less every last bit of junk off, pulled the MAP and shot stuff down that hole, so hopefully that's clean. But man, there's like a 1/16th thick layer of oily black junk in the whole manifold
No idea about the alts - my first one went about 3 weeks after getting a new batt. The 2nd one was a surprise at the dealer. On my 3rd one now at 82k on an 97sl2. I believe the gunk in the throttle body comes from that vent line from the valve cover to the intake tube - I'm guessing an older engine will allow cylinder gases to get past the valve stem seals and blow oily crud through the line and into the intake. Maybe someone can speak better to this...
