I have been given a 95 SL1, and have just started fixing things a bit. I have noticed that it puts out a _lot_ of soot. I've read the earlier posts and arguments about soot in the tailpipe, but this is not even close to that. If I start the engine, and idle for, say, 15 seconds, then go to the back of the car, the ground below the tailpipe is black. If I put my hand under the tailpipe, it quickly gets coated with soot. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be causing this? Other things on this car that might be relevant: - diagnostics says the egr system has a fault (probably bad egr valve?) - diagnostics sometimes says that o2 sensor claims engine is running rich - consumes enormous amounts of oil (1qt every 100-200 miles -- so like every few days) - smells terrible, and puts out a lot of smoke. Any help is greatly appreciated! A new, old saturn owner, -Kevin
Kevin, it sounds to me like you're burning a totally ridiculous amount of engine oil (reminds me of my 1979 Olds). Oil doesn't burn cleanly so that's where your soot is coming from. What grade of oil are you using, and how many miles are on the car? You might consider a heavier grade, but in the end you'll probably have to have the engine repaired (valves or piston rings or both). There's some Saturn oil talk here: http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/...opicID=00018148/firstrecord=0/finalrecord=14/ OD
Well, the oil consumption is obviously something mechanical, though quite likely you have other problems as well. The procedure described on this page has been reported by some to fix high oil consumption on the 1.9L engines - it seems that the oil control rings can tend to stick: http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=23676
You can also try SeaFoam - Part SF16 from any NAPA store and follow the directions below that I got directly from their staff... I think you could do a cylinder soak with this stuff too, but I didn't ask about that. To unstick the rings, put ½ can of Sea Foam into the oil and drive the vehicle for 15 minutes or so, and then change the oil and leave it in until the next oil change. This should unstick your rings. The only caution I will give you is that if you have a very dirty sluggish crankcase, check the color of the oil after you have driven the car for 15 minutes to ½ hour after oil has been changed. If oil looks tan, continue to drive vehicle until next oil change. If oil looks black and dirty again, repeat the process until the oil comes out clean. This will gradually clean the crankcase. This will free the scraps rings, which will usually relate to belts compression performance. Of course if your rings are worn out, we will not replace metal, but whatever is left of the rings will function better. Good luck, and thank you for using Sea Foam. -- Joe - V#8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com Ask me about "The Ride" on July 31, '04: http://www.youthelate.com/the_ride.htm I'm not a total idiot... I am after all, missing parts.
