'96 Saturn SL1 114K Miles: Reliability?

[Bob Shuman]

Looking at a used, one owner, 1996 Saturn SL1 (1.9L, 4 Speed Automatic w/Air) for my nearly 17-year old middle son (he is buying it and it will be his first car). Appears to have been well maintained and in reasonable shape for the 114K mileage and 7 years of age. We are looking for a good, safe, economy vehicle that will get him around town reliably with low cost of ownership/operation (I do pretty much all of my own maintenance on my three other vehicles).

Since I have no experience with Saturn vehicles, I'd appreciate some experts letting me know where these usually fail. Thanks in advance for the input.

Bob

 

[Philip Nasadowski]

If maintained right, they last a long time, if not abused. The alternator's a popular 'renewal' item, though. No idea on the automagic tranny, but check the fluids and such and it should be fine - GM trannies are generally nice. The TCC solinoid will go bad on it eventually, though. You can probbably just unplug it and forget about it though*. Parts aren't always easy to find, and are more expensive than regular GM parts. They can be 'fun' to work on, but not horrid, and it won't rust away on you.

The radiator might eventually go, but it's easy to replace. The alternator's less so, and the water pump looks tricky too.

*Yes the EPA says you need this, yes it theoretically cuts mileage and increases tranny heat, but both of those are theoretical anyway, my wagon went for years without it and was fine....

 

[Bob Shuman]

Philip,

Thanks for the response. We went ahead and purchased the used vehicle. Turns out that the alternator has already been replaced at about 80K miles and the head was re-worked under some kind of recall/warranty at about 60K miles. They appear to have replaced the water pump at that time along with all the hoses as well. Otherwise, the vehicle has seen routine maintenance.

I replaced the rear brake shoes and hardware at 114.6K miles this afternoon. They were still the original equipment! I also rotated the tires, changed the oil, filter, trans filter, trans fluid, spark plugs, ignition wires, fuel and air filters, and cleaned the throttle body. I was surprised that the front pads still looked like they have another 20K miles despite the 40K they have on them already. I also could not believe the general tires were still in pretty good shape despite having about 45K on them. (The owner provided receipts/records showing that the originals went 69K miles!)

All in all, most of the stuff we did today was fairly easy to do, with the exception of the fuel filter which was located in a difficult location. I also was surprised that the oil filter was located in a pretty tough spot to get to considering it needs to be changed every 3K miles... Lastly, I was impressed with the ease of draining the transmission and changing the filter. I've never seen a spin on (oil type) filter on a transmission before. Seemed to be a good design for serviceability and it makes a lot of sense to go this route.)

Any one else have any other thoughts on weak points to keep on the watch for in the future?

Bob

 

[Philip Nasadowski]

Philip,

Thanks for the response.

No problem

Lastly, I was
impressed with the ease of draining the transmission and changing the filter. I've never seen a spin on (oil type) filter on a transmission before. Seemed to be a good design for serviceability and it makes a lot of sense to go this route.)

Intersting. The manual version doesn't have a filter. The oil and and tranny oil changes are quite easy on the car, though yes, the oil filter isn't. Then again, my '99 Harley needs a funky little tool and spills oil everywhere (they haven't put the filter in the oil tank in ages....). Then again, my neighbor when I was living in CT had a GSX-R that used to puke oil out when you tried to add any with the motor running*, not to mention a sight glass that required an upright and level reading >

The car is generally decently serviceable, though GM needs a swift kick in the ass with a few boneheaded things they did (like making the water pump a royal pain to remove....)

*or off, the add oil hole was about 8mm wide...

 

[Kirk Kohnen]

"Bob Shuman" wrote:

Philip,

Thanks for the response. We went ahead and purchased the used vehicle. Turns out that the alternator has already been replaced at about 80K miles and the head was re-worked under some kind of recall/warranty at about 60K miles. They appear to have replaced the water pump at that time along

with

all the hoses as well. Otherwise, the vehicle has seen routine

maintenance.

I replaced the rear brake shoes and hardware at 114.6K miles this

afternoon.

They were still the original equipment! I also rotated the tires, changed the oil, filter, trans filter, trans fluid, spark plugs, ignition wires, fuel and air filters, and cleaned the throttle body. I was surprised that the front pads still looked like they have another 20K miles despite the

40K

they have on them already. I also could not believe the general tires

were

still in pretty good shape despite having about 45K on them. (The owner provided receipts/records showing that the originals went 69K miles!)

All in all, most of the stuff we did today was fairly easy to do, with the exception of the fuel filter which was located in a difficult location. I also was surprised that the oil filter was located in a pretty tough spot

to

get to considering it needs to be changed every 3K miles... Lastly, I was impressed with the ease of draining the transmission and changing the filter. I've never seen a spin on (oil type) filter on a transmission before. Seemed to be a good design for serviceability and it makes a lot

of

sense to go this route.)

Any one else have any other thoughts on weak points to keep on the watch

for

in the future?

Yup. Look at the thread for a 97 SL2 in which someone else asked what things to watch for.

All of them pretty much apply to your 96 SL1.

As a bonus, YOU get to watch for the head cracking on your single overhead cam engine.

Bob

"Philip Nasadowski" wrote:

> If maintained right, they last a long time, if not abused. The
> alternator's a popular 'renewal' item, though. No idea on the automagic
> tranny, but check the fluids and such and it should be fine - GM
> trannies are generally nice. The TCC solinoid will go bad on it
> eventually, though. You can probbably just unplug it and forget about
> it though*. Parts aren't always easy to find, and are more expensive
> than regular GM parts. They can be 'fun' to work on, but not horrid, ...

 

[Bob Shuman]

Kirk,

Thanks. Unfortunately, the thread you referenced is no longer available in this newsgroup on my server. I will try to do a google search to see if I can find anything there.

On the head cracking, it turns out that this vehicle already had this problem at 60+K miles and this is why the head assembly, water pump, thermostat, coolant and all the hoses were replaced under warranty. This was in 2000. Does anyone know if the defect that caused the head to crack in the first place was fixed in the replacement head assembly by this time? What are the typical symptoms? (discolored engine coolant? lower coolant level in the recovery reservoir? etc)

Bob

 

[Timothy J. Lee]

I also could not believe the general tires were
still in pretty good shape despite having about 45K on them. (The owner provided receipts/records showing that the originals went 69K miles!)

Probably means that the original owner was a gentle driver (probably a lot of straight highway cruising, as opposed to lots of start, stop, and turn city driving), and/or the tires are long life tires (that may not necessarily be very "sticky" in terms of handling and braking traction). Of course, on a FWD cars, rotating tires is necessary to have them all wear out at the same time so that you can replace with a matched set.